Iran hangs 18 prisoners, including at least one woman, in just two days

 Iran hanged 18 prisoners, this past weekend; with 16 executions on Sunday alone.

Eleven prisoners were hanged in Qezelhesar Prison in Karaj, north-west of Tehran, on Sunday, but only two have been identified; Saeed Saberi and Moslem Bahrami. The charges have not been specified but at least one member of this group was a woman.

Two men were hanged on Sunday, in a public square in the city’s Mehshahr District, according to the state-run Tasnim news agency. They have only been identified by their initials Q. J. and M. R.

Still on Sunday, another three men were hanged in prison in Birjand, eastern Iran. Mansour Zafarani, Yousef Barahoui, and Qassem Delshad were accused of drugs-related charges.

On Saturday, two unidentified prisoners aged 40 and 49, were hanged in Lakan Prison in Rasht, northern Iran, according to the state broadcaster, Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB).

Iran hangs 18 prisoners

Iran: Another young woman acid attacked in Tehran

A young woman was attacked with acid in the evening of April 4, 2016, in Tehran's Gol-ha Street. Neighbors who heard her screams took her to hospital to find out that her face and part of arms had been burnt in an acid attack.

Iran: Khamenei's ‘election’ fatwas reveals his fear of popular boycott

Iran: Khamenei's ‘election’ fatwas reveals his fear of popular boycott

NCRI - As the Iranian regime’s sham election is being ignored and faces popular boycott, Ali Khamenei has resorted to issuing ridiculous fawas to at least get the regime’s discouraged forces to partake in the elections.

In a series of fatwas published by the state-run Fars New Agency, Ali Khamenei declared: “Participation in the elections is a religious, Islamic and divine duty” and an “obvious obligation”. He insists in his fatwas that casting blank votes is ‘haram’ (proscribed by Islamic law). Concerning women he stipulates that “husband’s consent is not needed to participate in the elections”. This is while according to fatwas by Khomeini, the founder of the regime, and other state clerics, a woman “should not leave home without the permission of her husband even if to see her relatives, pay a visit to her sick father, or to participate in her father’s funeral”.

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: Religious minority woman summoned to court

Sara Sa'ie, 

Sara Sa'ie, a student of Mohammad Ali Taheri, the death row founder of Erfan Halghe, a mystic cultural institute, has been summoned to a Tehran Penal Court.

Sa'ie was arrested on November 21, 2015, during a rally protesting the death sentence issued against Taheri. She was released eight days later on bail. The charges raised against Sa'ie include “disrupting public order” and “taking part in illegal rallies in support of Mohammad Ali Taheri.”

Iran: Young woman expelled from college

Iran: Young woman expelled from college

Ms. Elham Pakru Miyando-ab, a Baha’i Iranian, studying at Free University in Malard, was expelled from college.

She was studying to receive her master’s degree in computer and software engineering. Being a Baha’i has been described as the reason she was summoned and expelled from college.

She has also been deprived of the permission to continue her studies in other institutes.

Expelling and depriving Baha'ii students from education in universities takes place as the “Supreme Council of Cultural Revolution” cites a bill passed on February 25, 1991, depriving Baha’is of education and working in state facilities.

Based on article 3 of this bill not only must Baha’is be prevented from registering in universities, in fact if an individual is found to be a Baha’i after registeration and “while studying” they must be deprived of continuing their studies.

Iran : Young woman commits suicide in Iran by jumping off bridge

Young woman commits suicide in Iran by jumping off bridge

A young Iranian woman committed suicide on Monday by jumping off a bridge in Tehran.

The woman was not identified by name, but the regime’s state media reported that she was 25 years old.

She took her life at 11.20 am by jumping off the 10-meter-heigh pedestrian bridge in Tehran’s Resalat Square.

In another case of suicide, two girls who had been discharged from a girls’ social welfare center in East Azerbaijan Province, north-west Iran, on Friday attempted to take their lives. One of the girls Rava was saved by medics in a hospital in the city of Tabriz while Paria died due to her injuries, the regime’s state news agency IRNA said.

In a separate development, a 45-year-old man on Sunday doused himself with petrol and set himself on fire in a public square in the city of Shush, western Iran.

Poverty, deprivation and suppression in Iran under the mullahs’ regime have driven some people, in particular women and girls, to the point of taking their own lives.

Numerous cases of self-immolation in Iran in recent months have drawn special attention, including the cases of Omid Rashedi, 36, from the south-western city of Ahwaz; Mansour Keyhani, a retired teacher from Sanghar, western Iran; Ali Akbari, 45, a laborer from Tehran; Hamid Farokhi, 43, a street vendor from Tabriz, north-west Iran; and Youness Asakareh, 31, a laborer from Khorramshahr, south-western Iran. In all these cases, the self-immolations had an element of protest against the mullahs' regime.

On average, 11 people commit suicide in Iran every day, the equivalent of three in every 100,000 people, according to the website of the Women's Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI).

Iranian laborers in particular are suffering from poverty, hunger and unemployment while Iran’s great wealth is spent on domestic suppression, antinationalistic polices of export of terrorism and warmongering in the region, and weapons of mass destruction projects or is plundered by the regime’s officials.

As long as the mullahs’ regime is in power, suppression, poverty, hunger, prostitution and addiction will continue in Iran. The sole solution to end such tyranny and oppression is to topple the antihuman regime of the mullahs and establish democracy in Iran.

Iran: Rouhani government issues stoning for woman

stoning for woman

News agencies in Iran reported on 9 December, “The murder suspects of a young man have been sentenced to death, stoning and prison.

The ruling, issued with the signature of the head and advisors of branch 2 of Gilan Province’s Criminal Court, state that the first degree defendant accused (R.A.) is convicted to one count of ‘qisas’ (eye for an eye), and the second degree defendants (A.Kh.) and (S.A.) have been sentenced to 25 years prison for their role in the murder.

The first and second degree defendants in the case will also receive 100 lashes, and one of the second degree suspects has been sentenced to stoning. Furthermore, if the stoning is not carried out, based on the agreement of the court and the judiciary, the defendant should be executed.”

(Hrana – December 9, 2015)

Iran: Reyhaneh Jabbari’s mother calls for protests

Iran: Reyhaneh Jabbari’s mother calls for protests

Reyhaneh Jabbari was a 26-year-old woman who was executed for defending herself to rape by an agent of the Iranian regime’s Ministry of Intelligence. Her mother Mrs. Shole Pakravan,

has issued a post on social media calling the Iranian people to take a stand against the following:

The daily increase of executions and bloodshed;

Torture of political prisoners;

Trafficking of Iranian girls;

The increasing corruption;

The Plundering of our nation’s wealth

Mrs. Pakravan has asked the Iranian people to rise, take action, and break the silence! To   stand firm in defense of justice, and to consider justice and freedom far more important issues than even our daily meals

A woman appointed as Commonwealth secretary-general

Baroness Patricia Scotland

BaronessPatricia Scotland, the first woman to be appointed Commonwealth secretary-general, says she will "put the women's agenda very strongly on the table".

Commonwealth leaders meeting in Malta chose Scotland on Friday, November 27, 2015, after a fraught and extended meeting to choose between three candidates.

She is to take over from Kamalesh Sharma, who has served in the role for eight years.

Scotland, a lawyer who has dual British and Dominican citizenship, served as minister of state, deputy home secretary and attorney-general under the previous Labour government in the UK.

She was the first black woman to be appointed as a Queen's Counsel in the UK and at the age of 35, was also the youngest woman.

After Malta's Prime Minister Joseph Muscat announced her appointment to reporters, she said she was "incredibly proud" to be the first woman to hold the post.

Women in History

Nancy Astor

-1919- Nancy Astor was elected a Member of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. She was the first woman to sit in the House of Commons.

Nancy Witcher Langhorne Astor (19 May 1879 – 2 May 1964), rallied the supporters of the incumbent government, moderated her Prohibition views, and used women's meetings to gain the support of female voters. A by-election was held on 28 November 1919, and she took up her seat in the House on 1 December as a Unionist (also known as "Tory") Member of Parliament. Astor's friendship with George Bernard Shaw helped her through some of her problems, although his own nonconformity caused friction between them. They held opposing political views and had very different temperaments. However, his own tendency to make controversial statements or put her into awkward situations proved to be a drawback for her political career. Astor was challenged by the rise of Nazism. She criticized them for devaluing the position of women, but was strongly opposed to the idea of another World War. Lady Astor died in 1964 at her daughter Nancy Astor's home at Grimsthorpe Castle in Lincolnshire.

Iran: Kurdish woman may lose eyesight in prison

Zeinab Jalalian

ZeinabJalalian, a Kurdish woman imprisoned in Khuy Prison, suffers from serious eye problems and her conditions are reported as critical. The damages inflicted on her eyes has been a result of the torture and blows she has endured from interrogators.

This prisoner had suffered internal bleeding and intestine infection prior to this and after being transferred to Kermanshah’s Diesel Abad Prison (western Iran) in 2012. However, at that time prison officials and the public prosecutor refused to provide adequate medical care and send her to a hospital. Her internal bleeding began after suffering severe beatings in the Kermanshah intelligence department detention center. She has been deprived of medical leave for the past 8 years.

Iran: Cartoonist and her lawyer on trial for “indecency” for shaking hands

Atena Farghdani

Satirical cartoonist Atena Farghadani and her lawyer will be on trial on the charge of “illegitimate sexual relations falling short of adultery” after they shook hands in their meeting.  Atena Farghadani and her lawyer Mohammad Moghimi may face up to 99 lashes if found guilty! 

Amnesty International believes Farghdani has been detained solely for exercising her right to freedom of expression. “It is clearly both absurd and a violation of the right to privacy to consider a man and a woman shaking hands as a criminal offence,” said Raha Bahreini, Amnesty International’s researcher.

“These charges are politically motivated and they are a blatant attempt by the Iranian authorities to harass Atena and hinder her lawyer’s work representing her. Instead of subjecting this young prisoner of conscience to further harassment and intimidation, the Iranian authorities must immediately and unconditionally drop these charges and free her.”

 Amnesty International has learnt that Atena Farghadani is going to tomorrow’s hearing without having secured a lawyer of her own choice and fears that she won’t receive a fair trial.

Atena Farghadani and Mohammad Moghimi were charged with “illegitimate sexual relations short of adultery” after they shook hands in prison after her trial on 13 June. Mr. Moghimi was arrested, and released three days later after he had paid a bail amounting to around $60,000.

In June, Atena Farghdani was sentenced to 12 years and nine months in prison for multiple offences including insulting MPs and its Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei after publishing a series of satirical cartoons depicting legislators as monkeys, cows and other animals.

Her conviction also stemmed from her speaking out publicly on the rights of the families of victims of the massive crackdown following 2009 presidential elections in Iran.

(Amnesty International- October 2, 2015)

Iran: Pregnant woman set herself on fire in front of husband and son

Friday, September 11, a 29-year-old woman, Havva, in Naishaboor, douzed herself with kerosene and set herself ablaze in front of her husband and son.

Her 30-year-old husband and little son who had attempted to help Havva's life, were seriously burnt. All three were transferred to the Imam Reza Hospital in Mashhad, capital of central Khorassan Province. Havva is reportedly in critical conditions.

Iran: Criminal attacking woman with acid, is released on bail

SimaAfshar, 25, became victim of an acid attack in the Central Park of Dehdasht, in Kohgiluyeh (western Iran) on September 21, 2015.

Due to severity of injuries, she was taken to the special burns hospital in Ahwaz, but shortage of facilities and lack of proper care compelled Sima's brother to take her to Tehran for better treatment and surgery.

The woman who had splashed acid on Sima was released on bail, shortly afterwards, a measure that has outraged Sima's family. Her sister said in protest, "If law does not deal with this incident, such behavior will become institutionalized and the message to people is this: nothing can be done to counter acid attacks."

It should be noted that none of the criminals who previously carried out acid attacks on women have been arrested and punished so far. This time, the attacker is released, despite being identified and arrested. Apparently, the law enforcement authorities in Iran have not received instructions to punish these dangerous criminals who carry out one of the worst forms of violence against women.

Iran: Poor woman died after being arrested by security forces

Fatemeh Nasseri, a beggar, died in detention after being arrested in Birjand, during the state security force mobilization to collect beggars across the city in southern Khorassan Province (northeastern Iran).

Her brother revealed that the middle-aged woman suffered from Asthma and used to use Salbotamol spray, but she finished her spray in prison and officials did not pay any attention to her deteriorating condition when she was very sick. Even the prison's doctor went to her one hour after she had already died.

 State-run news agencies, September 10, 2015

Iran - misogyny is one of the principal and unchangeable aspects of the religious fascism ruling Iran

Iran - The religious dictatorship ruling Iran is a fundamentalist regime with inherent medieval characteristics, but one that has emerged in the 21st century. That is why in order to preserve its rule, before all else, it needs to continue suppression at home and export terrorism and fundamentalism beyond its frontiers.

The sharpest edge of the regime’s suppression is its misogynist character. The perspectives and rhetoric of the regime’s leaders, its laws, state institutions, and its treatment of the Iranian people are all bursting with misogyny. Misogyny represents the core of fundamentalism and reactionary ideology. Since its inception, the regime’s gangs launched attacks against women, chanting 'either wear a veil or get a slap in the face.' By instituting compulsory veiling, by humiliating and insulting women, by launching an extensive campaign to purge women from government positions, by prohibiting women from becoming judges, and by passing discriminatory laws, they have tried to push the Iranian women back as far as they possibly can. By suppressing and terrorizing women, they seek to bring the entire society under their control and force it into submission.

1  million rial fine for woman with improper veiling

 Iran parliament bill: 1 million rial fine for women with improper veiling

Spokesman of the Joint Culture and Judiciary Commission in Iran's so-called parliament said a bill has been ratified by this body specifying a 1 million rial fine (around $30) for vehicles carrying women with improper veiling.

"According to Article 1 of the Virtue and Hijab Plan, drivers or passengers with improper veiling will be considered criminals and traffic police can take action against them," said Nasrollah Pejman-far. According to this article traffic police can also take action against drivers that have passengers not abiding by hijab regulations and also fine them 1 million rials.

Iran - executes woman in prison west of Tehran

 A prisoner by the name of Fateme Haddadi, 39, a mother of a girl and imprisoned for the last 8 years, was hanged on Monday, August 10th in Gohardasht Prison of Karaj, west of Tehran. Under the pretext of being taken to the clinic, she had been transferred Sunday evening from hall 6 of Gharchak Prison in Varamin, southeast of Tehran, to solitary confinement in Gohardasht Prison of Karaj. The body of this executed woman is currently held in a morgue in Karaj.

Mass executions, taking place nearly on a daily basis in Iran’s prisons, are crimes against humanity.

Woman executed in iran 

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