Iran: Head of Judiciary Orders Quick Sunni Prisoners' Execution

ordered that Sunni prisoners convicted of drug trafficking to be executed as soon as possible so that they won’t be subject to the new legislation approved by regime’s Parliament.

According to reports, a senior judiciary official has revealed a secret decree given by the head of regime’s judiciary ‘Sadegh Amoli Larijani’ to courts to quickly go ahead with the execution of Sunni prisoners convicted of drug trafficking.

Sunni Prisoners' Execution

Iran:Struan Stevenson explains why he supports the “Free Iran” rally in Paris

Struan Stevenson

Struan Stevenson, former Conservative MEP representing Scotland in the European Parliament from 1999 until his retirement in 2014, is the current President of the European Iraqi Freedom Association (EIFA).  Mr. Stevenson, also chaired the Friends of a Free Iran Intergroup (Caucus) in the European Parliament, and was President of the Parliament’s Delegation for Relations with Iraq from 2009 to 2014.

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IRAN:44th anniversary of execution of Iranian MEK founders

IRAN:44th anniversary of execution of Iranian MEK founders

 

بنیانگذار کبیر محمد حنیف نژاد ودو یار قهرمانش  شهیدان بنیانگذار سعید محسن  وعلی اصغر بدیع ذادگان 

 This week marks the 44th anniversary of the execution of the founders of Iran’s main opposition group.

On 25 May 1972, the founders and leaders of the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI or MEK), were executed by death squads after months of imprisonment and torture from the regime of the Shah.

The MEK, a group which sought, and still seeks, a secular Iranian government, was considered one of the main threats to the regime of the Shah.

The Shah’s secret police, SAVAK, arrested all MEK leaders and most of its members in a series of raids in 1971.

The founders, Mohammad Hanifnejad, Said Mohsen, and Ali-Asghar Badizadegan along with two other leaders, Mahmoud Askarizadeh, and Rasoul Meshkinfam stood firm in the face of the Shah’s regime and paid with their lives.

The origins of the MEK

The MEK was founded on September 6, 1965, by engineers; Hanifnejad, Mohsen, and Badizadegan. All three were once members of the Liberation Movement; created by Medhi Bazargan in 1961 and outlawed, along with other pro-democracy groups, in 1963 following the June Uprising in which opponents to the Shah’s regime were gunned down in the streets.

The men wanted to create a new path to democracy and began by meeting with like-minded friends for a twice-weekly discussion group focusing on religion, history, philosophy, and revolutionary theory.

They sought to discover the true interpretation of Islam which, they have shown, is incredibly democratic and compatible with modern ideals. The MEK views freedom, human rights and the equality of people regardless of gender, race or religion as commitments that were set out in the Quran, in teachings from the Prophet Muhammad and by other senior members of the faith.

British MPs urge EU’s Mogherini to cancel Iran visit amid execution spree

British MPs urge EU’s Mogherini to cancel Iran visit amid execution spree

NCRI - The following is the text of a press release by the British Parliamentary Committee for Iran Freedom calling on European Union foreign policy chief, Ms. Federica Mogherini, to cancel her upcoming visit to Tehran in light of the appalling human rights record of the mullahs' regime:

Press Release: British MPs urge EU Foreign policy chief to cancel Iran visit amid execution spree

The British Parliamentary Committee for Iran Freedom (BPCIF) regrets the decision by EU Foreign policy chief, Ms Federica Mogherini, to visit Iran on April 16, 2016.

The planned visit to Iran by Europe’s most senior official on foreign affairs and similar travel by other European state officials is highly inappropriate considering the regime's domestic repression and destructive policies abroad.

During the “moderate” administration of Hassan Rouhani, nearly 1000 people were executed in Iran last year alone, including juveniles in violation of international law. At least 47 journalists and social media activists were reportedly detained in the country as of January 2016, according to reports by the UN Special rapporteur for Iran and Amnesty international.

This is in addition to Tehran's destabilising actions and support for terrorist groups in the region as well as pressing ahead with its missile programme in clear defiance of the international community and regional concerns.

The EU should not allow itself to be deceived by Rouhani's charm offensive and his unfulfilled promises of “moderation” and instead pay close attention to the bellicose rhetoric coming out of Tehran. The Iranian Supreme Leader, who holds the ultimate power in the country, declared recently that “missiles, not talks, are key to the regime's future” emphasising that “Those who say the future is in negotiations, not in missiles, are either ignorant or traitors.”

Iran - Women: Sholeh Pakravan denounce juvenile execution

“Don’t, don’t, don’t execute Heiman Oraminejad

Sholeh Pakravan, mother of Reyhaneh Jabbari, young indoor decorator who was executed for self-defending against an intelligence agent,

addressed the mullahs’ head of judiciary in a letter after a death sentence was approved against a young man called Heiman Oraminejad. The letters reads in part:

“Don’t, don’t, don’t execute Heiman Oraminejad. Execution of under-age people supposed to be stopped.

U.N. panel rebukes Iran for allowing forced marriage, execution at nine years old

U.N. panel rebukes Iran for allowing forced marriage, execution at nine years old

Iran's regime must reform its laws that allows girls as young as nine to be executed for crimes or forced marriage with much older husbands, a United Nations watchdog said on Thursday.

Iran continues to execute children and youth who committed a crime while under 18 years of age, in violation of international standards, the U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child said, after its 18 independent experts reviewed Iran and 13 other countries.

The age of criminal responsibility in Iran is discriminatory, it is lower and lower for girls, that is to say 9 lunar years while for boys it is 15. At nine a girl can marry, even if the law sets the age at 13," said Hynd Ayoubi Idrissi, a panel member.

Nine lunar years in the Iranian calendar is equivalent to 8 years and nine months, a U.N. spokeswoman said.

The age for boys having criminal responsibility is 15, but the age for girls at 9 is "extremely low", Idrissi said.

"The Committee is seriously concerned about the reports of increasing numbers of girls at the age of 10 years or younger who are subjected to child and forced marriages to much older men." Girls suffered discrimination in the family, in the criminal justice system, in property rights, and elsewhere, while a legal obligation for girls to be subject to male guardianship is "incompatible" with Tehran's treaty obligations, the panel said.

The concluding observations by U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child states:

“The Committee is concerned at the reports that content-based offenses such as “propaganda against the state” or “insulting Islam” are not clearly defined and interpreted and can incur prison terms, flogging, and even death sentences, thus limiting the right of children to freedom of expression. It is also concerned about the broad interpretation of offences such as “membership in an illegal organization” and “participation in an illegal gathering” infringing the right of children to freedom of association and peaceful assembly.”

“The Committee recommends that the State party take necessary measures to ensure full respect for children’s right to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly and that these rights are not subjected to undue and vague limitations but that restrictions to these rights comply with international standards. The Committee urges the State party to review its legislation in order to ensure that children under the age of 18 years are exempt from criminal responsibility for such content-based offences.”

Iran - Iranian regime faces crisis in recruiting Afghans to fight in Syria

February 2015 photo of Qassem Soleimani (Left), commander

 of Quds Force with Afghan commanders killed in Syria

The Iranian regime has dispatched thousands of foreign mercenaries including Afghan refugees to fight in Syria and prop up the embattled regime of Bashar al-Assad, according to sources of the main Iranian opposition group, the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK).

Incapable of mobilizing and dispatching necessary troops from Iran to the conflict and apprehensive of a backlash within its forces due to rising IRGC casualties, the regime has resorted to mobilizing the mercenaries using various tactics including threating them with execution.

n recent years, particularly Afghan refugees living in Iran have been tapped for this purpose. The Iranian regime has threatened the refugees with deportation from Iran, imprisonment or even execution (all serious violations of human rights) to dispatch the Afghan refugees to Syria.

Iran ; Call by Iranian Resistance to save lives of 16 prisoners on verge of execution

Call by Iranian Resistance to save lives of 16 prisoners on verge of execution

Sunday morning, January 3, the Iranian regime transferred 16 prisoners in Gohardasht (Rajai Shahr) Prison in the city of Karaj to solitary confinement in preparation for their execution. The Iranian Resistance calls on all international human rights bodies to save the lives of these prisoners who are about to be executed. While these prisoners are placed for imminent execution, from December 23 to January 4, thirty-one executions have been registered as follows:

On January 4, one prisoner was hanged in public in Goharbaran Boulevard of Sourak city in Miandoroud in Mazandaran Province while another prisoner was hanged in a prison in Noshahr.

On January 2, Mehdi Ranjkesh, a mentally-handicapped and physically-disabled prisoner was hanged in Khorramabad Prison and two prisoners were hanged in Mashhad’s Central Prison.

On December 26, three prisoners were hanged in Khorramabad in Barsilon Prison. Behrouz Amiri, a married man and father of three who had spent five years in prison, was among them.

Sixteen prisoners were hanged in two mass executions on December 22 and 24 in Qazvin Central Prison. Five prisoners hanged in prison in Kerman on December 24 and two prisoners, 28 and 30 years old, executed in Karaj in Ghezel-Hessar Prison were among other victims of ongoing crimes committed by the Iranian regime.

As the sham elections of its Assembly of Experts and parliament approaches, the religious fascism ruling Iran is unable to confront the loath and escalating popular protests in various cities and is exceedingly resorting to suppressive measures, in particular the cruel death punishment.

IRAN - Forozan Abdipour, member of Iran national volleyball team

Forozan Abdipour, member of Iran national volleyball team

to all volleyball fans: In memory of Forozan Abdipour, member of national volleyball  team who was executed in 1988 by the Iranian regime

Ms. Abdi was born in Tehran in 1957. She was the captain of the National Volleyball team and a sympathizer of the PMOI. According to her cellmate, Ms. Abdi was very popular among other inmates.

Her cellmates remember her for her open-mindedness and tolerant attitude towards other political prisoners. In one instance, her cellmate recalls, when a repenting prisoner who was in charge of the cell ordered another prisoner to separate her dishes from the others (because prison authorities treated prisoners who did not believe in God as “unclean”), Ms. Abdi had intervened and stressed that “no one considers the prisoner as ‘unclean’ and whoever does, should separate her own dishes from others”. Ms. Abdi had also kept her athletic spirits during her years of imprisonment and organized volleyball games during the short period when female prisoners had access to a volleyball court at Qezelhesar prison.

Arrest and detention

She was arrested in 1981.

One of her cellmates saying: "I saw her in section 8 of Qezelhesar in 1982. It was a section for special punishment and sometimes there were 25 to 30 people in a cell [that was meant to fit 3]... They placed Foruzan and some others in a restroom in early 1983. The place was so dirty that all of them contracted skin diseases. Then, they were transferred to solitary confinement at both Gohardasht and Qezelhesar prisons where they stayed until early 1986."

Ms. Abdi was protesting against the inhuman rules and behaviour of prison guards. As a result, for almost a year and half (fall 1983 - winter 1984), she was held in solitary confinement and was deprived from recreation time outside, from having contacts with others, reading newspapers, and having regular visits from her family.

Sometime in 1986, Ms. Abdi was transferred from Gohardasht to Evin prison where she was detained until her execution. During this period, she also spent most of her imprisonment in the closed section of the ward that prison authorities used for punishing prisoners. Those held in this section were held in closed cells and were allowed to leave their cells 3 times a day (for 30 minutes), during which time they could use the bathroom, wash their dishes and their clothes.

Forozan Abdipour was executed along with 30 000 other prisoners, mostly PMOI, when the Iranian regime carried out the massacre of political prisoners in the summer of 1988.

Today, women are fighting to enter volleyball stadiums to watch games. Forozan Abdipour, member of national volleyball volleyball team was executed in 1988 by the Iranian regime for wanted all women to live in freedom and democracy.

In a case of RETRIBUTION IN KIND in Iran, the life of a prisoner was spared at the last minute before being hanged by a couple whose son was murdered by him

In a case of RETRIBUTION IN KIND in Iran, the life

The National Observer, Dec. 18, 2015 – Canada’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Stéphane Dion joined the United Nations in calling on Iran to improve its human rights record in a resolution passed by the General Assembly.

The UN resolution expressed “serious concern” at Iran’s high and increasing use of the death penalty without respect for any international safeguards, which resulted in the execution of 694 prisoners between Jan. 1 and Sept. 15 of this year. In addition, the resolution called on Tehran to ensure that prisoners received a fair trial with proper legal counsel and were not subjected to torture or other forms of harsh punishments such as sexual violence for forced confession.

“The text of the resolution reflects both the areas where human rights violations continue and those areas where Iran is taking steps to improve the human rights situation,” said Dion.

According to the United States Institute of Peace, Iranian authorities executed 753 people in 2014, noting that executions carried out by the Islamic Republic “have been rising at an exponential rate since 2005.”

Under Iranian law, a wide range of offences carry the death penalty, including murder, drug trafficking, political opposition, espionage, blasphemy or apostasy, adultery, and homosexual acts.

The most common method of execution in Iran is hanging, which is often carried out in public at the scene of a prisoner’s supposed crime. Other methods of execution include stoning to death, shooting and pushing the victim over from a height. Shooting the victim is no longer commonly employed, but in the immediate aftermath of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, thousands of prisoners were shot dead by revolutionary firing squads. There have also been a few cases of prisoners being thrown from cliffs in years past.

“Canada and the international community remain deeply concerned about Iran’s human rights record. We call on the government of Iran to implement its human rights obligations to ensure the full enjoyment of human rights for all people in Iran,” said Dion.

In addition to executions, the UN resolution condemned the Islamic Republic’s ongoing persecution of ethnic and religious minorities. It also noted that Tehran continues to restrict freedoms of expression, assembly and association by harassing, prosecuting, and detaining anyone deemed to be an opponent of the Islamic regime.

“Canada will continue to speak out about issues of concern such as human rights violations or Tehran’s regional policies,” Global Affairs Canada spokesperson Rachna Mishra said.

Under Stephen Harper’s former Conservative government, Ottawa severed diplomatic relations with Tehran in 2012 and declared Iran to be a state sponsor of terrorism. This policy remained in place even as Iran negotiated with the Americans and Europeans to resolve its nuclear crisis.

URGENT ACTION: JUVENILE OFFENDER FACES THE GALLOWS AGAIN

Salar Shadizadi

Juvenile offender Salar Shadizadi has been rescheduled for execution on Saturday 28 November.

Juvenile offender Salar Shadizadi has been rescheduled for execution on Saturday 28 November, despite the prohibition on the use of the death penalty against juvenile offenders under international law and standards, and his right to be granted a re-trial under Iran’s own domestic law.

Salar Shadizadi, now aged 24, was sentenced to death by Branch 11 of the Provincial Criminal Court of Gilan Province in December 2007 for stabbing his childhood friend. He was 15 years old at the time. The sentence was upheld by Branch 37 of the Supreme Court in March 20 08 and approved by the Head of the Judiciary in May 2013. Since then, the authorities have twice scheduled the execution and later postponed it. They have, however, failed to take the steps necessary to ensure that Salar Shadizadi is granted a re-trial, even though the General Board of Iran’s Supreme Court has ruled that all those on death row for crimes committed when they were under 18 are entitled to receive a re-trial based on the new juvenile sentencing provisions of Iran’s 2013 Islamic Penal Code.

Salar Shadizadi was arrested in February 2007 and charged with the murder of a friend when he was 15 years old. He was not granted access to a lawyer at the investigative stage and was only allowed to retain a lawyer when his case was sent to court for trial. He says that he was also tortured and otherwise ill-treated during the investigative stage. In a will letter written from prison in November 2015

Iran human rights photo exhibition underway in U.S. Senate

A three-day photo exhibition on human rights abuses in Iran is currently underway at the Rotunda in the United States Senate.

A  photo exhibition on human rights abuses in Iran is currently

The exhibition depicts various aspects of rights abuses by the mullahs' regime in Iran, including political repression, crackdown on minorities, suppression of women, and execution of juveniles and political dissidents.

The mullahs’ regime has over the past 34 years executed more than 120,000 political prisoners, the vast majority members or supporters of the main Iranian opposition group People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI, or Mujahedin-e Khalq, MEK).

The photo exhibit has been organized by the Organization of Iranian-American Communities (OIAC) which works to promote human rights and democratic freedoms for the people of Iran.

Call to save 19-year-old Ahwazi prisoner from execution in Iran

The Iranian Resistance calls for urgent action to save the life of Ali Sudani, a19-year-old member of Iran's Arab community, who is scheduled to face execution on Thursday, September 17 in public. It calls on all human rights organizations, in particular the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Iran, to take urgent action to prevent this inhuman crime.

British lawmakers recommend new policy towards Iran

Steve McCabe MP

British Parliamentarians who attended a meeting of the all-party British Parliamentary Committee for Iran Freedom on Tuesday in the House of Commons have endorsed a set of recommendations to the United Kingdom government on its policy towards Iran.

Iran - Amnesty describes execution of Behrouz Alkhani as vicious act of cruelty

Amnesty International has condemned the execution

Amnesty International has condemned the execution on Wednesday ofIranian Kurdish dissident Behrouz Alkhani in a prison in the city of Orumiuh, western Iran.

Mr. Alkhani, 30, from Iran’s Kurdish minority, was executed early this morning local time despite the fact that he was awaiting the outcome of an appeal by the regime's Supreme Court.

Iran: Criminal execution of Kurdish political prisoner Behrouz Alkhani

Iran: Gathering Held to protest the execution of Behrouz Alkhani

Iran brutallydiet political prisoner Behrouz Executed Alkhani

heIranian Resistance offers its condolences to the family and friends of Kurdishpolitical prisoner Behrouz Alkhani and to the Kurdish people for his criminal execution and calls on all compatriots, especially the youth throughout the country, to rise up against these cruel executions, especially the execution of political prisoners, and to support the families of those executed and the families of the political prisoners.

The Iranian Resistance calls on the international community, the European Union Especially, the United States, the United Nations, and human rights organisms to Condemn the execution of Mr. Alkhani. It reiterates That silent in the face of the rising number of executions in Iran along with visits by high-ranking European Officials to this country for whatever reason-have No. Meaning goal together with the ruling religious fascism and encourages it to continue and Intensify icts crimes.

Iran - Kurdish political prisoner Zeinab Jalalian is serving her eighth year behind bars

Kurdish political prisoner Zeinab Jalalian

Iran: female prisoner's conditions after eight years behind bars

Zeinab Jalalian, born in 1982 in the city of Maku, was first Sentenced to execution and then Decreased to life in jail, as media reports Indicated. She was arrested in 2007 by Kermanshah Intelligence Department agents and Sentenced to execution, then life in prison by a 'revolution' based court on charges of being in contact with Kurdish parties. Jalalian HAS consistently the past years several at leg placedunder serious pressure and has gone on hunger strike protesting her conditions.

IRAN - DIRE CONDITIONS OF WOMEN IN IRAN

IRAN: WOMAN, 55, MOTHER OF THREE CHILDREN, ON DEATH ROW

The Iranian regime has transferred a woman in her fifties to solitary confinement in women’s Qarchak prisons near Varamin for implementation of her execution. Batool Karimi, 55, mother of two boys and a girl, has been in prison for four years on drug related charges before transfer to solitary cell. She is at the risk of imminent execution.

The mullahs ruling Iran hang prisoners

in public and in hidings for minor offences and bogus drug related charges while the regime officials themselves are involved in high scale and multi-million dollars trafficking and distribution of drugs inside the country and abroad.

Women victims of repression

Iran - 27th anniversary of massacre of 30000 political prisoners in Iran

Saturday marks the 27th anniversary of the massacre of 30,000 political prisoners in Iran. In the summer of 1988, one month after Ruhollah Khomeini was forced to accept a cease-fire in his eight-year war with Iraq, the fundamentalist ruler of the mullahs’ regime ordered a mass execution of all political prisoners affiliated with the main opposition groupPeople’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran, PMOI(Mujahedin-e Khalq, MEK).

30,000 political prisoners

The brutal prison massacre, which has been described by some international human rights lawyers as the greatest crime against humanity that has gone unpunished since the Second World War, saw the execution of some 30,000 defenseless prisoners.

Near the end of the Iran-Iraq war, Khomeini who felt that defeat was imminent, decided to take his revenge on the political prisoners. He issued a fatwa (or religious decree) ordering the massacre of anyone who had not repented and was not willing to collaborate fully with the regime.

Khomeini decreed: "Whoever at any stage continues to belong to the Monafeqin (PMOI) must be executed. Annihilate the enemies of Islam immediately." He added: "Those who are in prisons throughout the country and remain steadfast in their support for the PMOI are waging war on God and are condemned to execution...It is naive to show mercy to those who wage war on God."

The Iranian regime has never acknowledged these executions, or provided any information as to how many prisoners were summarily killed. Young girls, old parents, students, workers, and many of those who had already finished their sentences prior to 1988 were among those who vanished in the span of a few months. Their bodies were dumped into mass graves, including in Khavaran Cemetery near Tehran.

Khomeini had assigned an "Amnesty Commission" for prisoners. In reality it was a "Death Commission: comprised of the three individuals: A representative of the Ministry of Intelligence, a religious judge and a prosecutor. Most trials lasted for just a few minutes and resembled more of an interrogation session. The questions were focused on whether the prisoner still had any allegiances to the PMOI (MEK), whose supporters made up more than 90 percent of the prisoners. If the prisoners were not willing to collaborate fully with the regime against the PMOI (MEK), it was viewed as a sign of sympathy to the organization and the sentence was immediate execution. The task of the Death Commission was to determine whether a prisoner was an Enemy of God or not. In the case of Mojahedin prisoners, that determination was often made after only a single question about their party affiliation. Those who said "Mojahedin" rather than the derogatory term "Monafeqin" (meaning hypocrites) were sent to the gallows.

None of the perpetrators of the 1988 massacre of political prisoners in Iran and none of the regime's senior officials including the Supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, have been brought to justice to date.