Human Rights News from Iran

Pictures of killed an injured in Tehran

2009-06-15T14:28:00.000-07:00

http://iranianuk.com/article.php?id=38529

Shots fired at Iran protest

2009-06-15T13:46:00.000-07:00

There have been violent clashes on the streets of the Iranian capital Tehran, after a massive opposition rally in the city. Fires are burning on the city's ...

Bypassing Iran's firewalls

2009-06-15T13:44:00.000-07:00

Mojgan was one of hundreds of thousands of people who attended the rally in Tehran on Monday afternoon to hear the opposition candidate, Mir-Hossein Mousavi ...

USA Today: One dead after shots fired at Iran protest rally

2009-06-15T13:38:00.000-07:00

Update at 2:56 p.m. ET: Mir Hossein Mousavi, the main opposition candidate in last week's presidential election, says on his website that he is not very optimistic about the outcome of his appeal to have the vote overturned, Reuters reports.
Update at 1:31 p.m. ET: State Department spokesman Ian Kelly says the U.S. is "deeply troubled" by reports of violence and arrests in Iran, the Associated Press reports.
Kelly also tells reporters that the United States is concerned about the allegations of ballot fraud in the presidential election last week.
Update at 1:30 p.m. ET: Iranian state television is also reporting that shots were fired during the protest rally, Reuters reports.
"There has been sporadic shooting out there ... I can see people running here," a reporter of Iran’s English-language Press TV said, according to Reuters.
Earleir posting: Reuters news agency is quoting a witness at a huge rally in Tehran as saying one person was killed and many wounded when "armed men" fired on a hundreds of thousands of Iranians who defied authorities to protest the disputed re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
The witness, an Iranian photographer, said people in the crowd had attacked a building housing members of a religious militia, who then opened fire, the news agency says.
The Associated Press says its photographer saw pro-government militia fire at opposition protesters, killing at least one person.
The BBC says its correspondent in the Iranian capital, Jon Leyne, is calling the rally the biggest demonstration in the Islamic republic's 30-year history and describes it as a "political earthquake."

Human Rights Watch: Four Journalists Sentenced to Prison, Floggings

2009-02-11T10:27:00.000-08:00

more...

Iran to try Bahais for spying for Israel

2009-02-11T10:25:00.001-08:00

Iran rights group slams razing of 'political' graves

2009-02-10T12:22:00.000-08:00

TEHRAN (AFP) — The rights group of Iranian Nobel laureate Shirin Ebadi on Sunday condemned the destruction of a Tehran cemetery where it said executed political prisoners lay buried.
"We have recently learned that Khavaran cemetery, where the victims of the illegal massacre of political prisoners in the 1980s and especially 1988 are buried, has been destroyed by some officials," the Human Rights Defenders' Centre said in a statement.
"It appears that they sought to remove the signs of a graveyard and turn it into a park or green space.
"The Human Rights Defenders Centre condemns this ugly and appalling act and notes that everyone including the authorities is required to maintain the dignity of the dead," said the group headed by Ebadi.
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Amnsety:Iran: Human Rights in the spotlight on the 30th Anniversary of the Islamic Revolution

2009-02-10T12:21:00.000-08:00

10 February 2009 marks the 30 year anniversary of the change in government in Iran that led to the creation of the Islamic Republic. Amnesty International is marking the date by raising its concerns over a range of human rights violations that have persisted over the past 30 years.
Previous governments appointed by the former Shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi were widely regarded as corrupt and responsible for egregious human rights violations. The Islamic Republic of Iran was created following a nationwide referendum on 1 April 1979. Another referendum, in December 1979, approved the constitution and confirmed Ayatollah Khomeini as Supreme Leader.
Despite promises made by Ayatollah Khomeini that all Iranians would be free, the past 30 years have been characterised by persistent human rights violations. The vast scope and scale of those violations of the early years of the Islamic Republic did decline somewhat with time. Limited relaxation of restrictions on freedom of expression during the period of reform under former President Khatami raised hopes of a sustained improvement in the human rights situation, although the situation remained poor. However, these hopes have been firmly crushed since the accession to power of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
more....

2009-02-10T12:16:00.000-08:00

Stop obliterating remnants of Humanitarian crime of 1988

2009-01-19T13:36:00.000-08:00

In attempt to erase the remaining signs of massacre of political prisoners i summer of 1988, Islamic Republic of Iran plans to completely demolish Khavaran cemetery (the only known of none Muslim dissidents and those executed during summer of 1988). Join us to protest against yet anouther round of savagery and cruelty, this time against families of victims.
Sign the petition Higher Commissioner of Human Rights at UN
Your Excellency Ms. Navanethem Pillay High Commissioner of Human Rights at the UN
With deep disbelief and disdain we have become aware that the authorities of the Islamic Republic of Iran have undertaken the destruction of Khavaran Cemetery, the only known site of mass and individual graves of the victims of the Great Massacre of political prisoners in the summer of 1988 and other non- Muslim dissidents executed in Iran through out the Seventies.
I beg your honor to urgently take action demanding the authorities of the Islamic Republic of Iran to immediately stop this barbaric operation.
The destruction of Khavaran is tantamount to the eradication of an important material evidence of a historic crime.
Respectfully,

InfoDesk@ohchr.org

Bureau du Haut-Commissariat aux droits de l’homme
Palais Wilson
52 rue des Pâquis
CH-1201 Genève, Suisse

AFP: Iran hangs nine murderers, drug trafficker

2008-12-24T11:03:00.000-08:00

hrhrAFP: Iran hangs nine murderers, drug trafficker

Iran: Reverse Closure of Nobel Laureate’s Rights Group | Human Rights Watch

2008-12-22T05:14:00.000-08:00

Iran: Reverse Closure of Nobel Laureate’s Rights Group Human Rights Watch

The Associated Press: Iran shuts office of Nobel winner's rights group

2008-12-22T04:05:00.000-08:00

The Associated Press: Iran shuts office of Nobel winner's rights group

2008-12-21T13:28:00.001-08:00

SITUATION OF THE DEATH PENALTY IN IRAN- Annual Report 2007 (1:st ed)

2008-12-21T11:49:00.000-08:00

Annual Report 2007 (english) DOC-FILE

Monthly Rport

2008-12-21T11:42:00.000-08:00

Human rigHts situation- Monthly Report by IHRAG (farsi) doc-file

Women Rights Activists denied right to leave Iran

2008-12-21T11:39:00.000-08:00

Request for sending an international, non-governmental Group to Investigate human right situation in Iran

2008-12-12T13:47:00.000-08:00

Read the request
English pdf
Farsi pdf

Reporters sans frontires - Iran:Tehran seeking new ways to censor the Internet and track dissidents

2005-10-19T11:55:00.000-07:00

More sites banned, overhaul of filtering system planned

Reporters Without Borders today accused the Iranian government of seeking to increase its control of the Internet in recent measures that have included contracting an Iranian company, Delta Global, to set up a new online censorship system.

While developing a woefully oppressive model of Internet management, Iran is participating actively in international talks about Internet governance that are being held as part of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), the press organisation said.

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Reporters sans frontires - Iran:Editor of Kurdish-language weekly sentenced to 18 months in prison

2005-10-19T11:54:00.000-07:00

Reporters Without Borders today condemned the 18-month prison sentence that was passed on Mohammad Sedigh Kabovand, the editor of Payam-e mardom-e Kurdestan, a weekly published in Kurdish and Farsi, for “upsetting public opinion and spreading separatist ideas.” The sentence has only now come to light although handed down on 18 August.
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World | Reuters.co.in: Iran courts wade through backlog of media cases

2005-10-17T03:49:00.000-07:00

Iran News - Iranian woman sentenced to death by stoning

2005-10-16T12:18:00.000-07:00

Iran News - Iranian woman sentenced to death by stoning

Iran rights record worsens - Persian Journal Latest Iran news & Iranian Newspaper

2005-10-16T12:17:00.000-07:00

IranPressNews (English): Iranian adultress sentenced to death by stoning

2005-10-16T07:49:00.000-07:00

List of the victims of human rights violation in Iran

2005-10-14T04:45:00.000-07:00

List of the victims of human rights violation in Iran- by Irantestimony.com

2005-10-14T04:33:00.000-07:00

List of victims (Last updated October 2005)
The list of victims is dated from 1979 and is based on comparison of various lists of massacres and executions published on Internet by different political and human rights organizations and contribution of victims families.

Our hope and desire is together with families and friends of these victims to gather as much information evidences and testimonies as possible in order to document Islamic Republic of Iran's continuous violation of human. List is ongoing and being completed and updated continousely.

"Human Righst Actvists- Irantestimony"

EU says Iran human rights record deteriorating

2005-10-13T00:44:00.000-07:00

Khaleej Times Online:Iran dissident Ganji barred from seeing visitors

2005-10-11T12:16:00.000-07:00

Khaleej Times Online: "Iran dissident Ganji barred from seeing visitors"

PM - Iran journalist disappears after second arrest

2005-10-11T12:14:00.000-07:00

PM - Iran journalist disappears after second arrest

SITUATION OF THE DEATH PENALITY IN IRAN :Annual Report 2004

2005-10-11T12:11:00.000-07:00

Evidence of the widespread, planned and systematic violation of Human Rights in Iran
SITUATION OF THE DEATH PENALITY IN IRAN
Annual Report 2004
(September 2004- October 2005)
First Edition
By:
Iranian Human Rights Activists Groups
in EU and North America

World | Reuters.co.in: Get home by dusk, Iran tells female civil servants

2005-10-11T12:06:00.000-07:00

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Female civil servants at Iran's Culture Ministry and female journalists at the state newspaper and news agency must be out of the office by dusk to be with their families, a directive said on Tuesday.

The directive was issued by Culture Minister Mohammad Hossein Saffar-Harandi, one of a batch of hardline cabinet ministers brought in by President Mahmoud Ahamdinejad who won a landslide election in June.

"Owing to the sensitive role of women in the family and in raising children, women employees are banned from staying at the office after 6 p.m.," the Tosea newspaper quoted the directive as saying.

The order to get home early also covers the official IRNA news agency and the state-run Iran daily newspaper.

The directive did not specify what punishments women would face if they disobeyed the decree.

Shirin Ebadi, Iran's 2003 Nobel Peace Prize winner, said the decree was blatantly discriminatory.

"Women should be free to adjust their working hours based on their pace of life," the human rights lawyer told Reuters.

One woman reporter believed it was part of a plan by Ahmadinejad's government to turn the clock back on the tentative progress made under moderate former President Mohammad Khatami.

Under eight years of Khatami's presidency, enforcement of social restrictions such as Islamic dress codes for women were relaxed. Women entered previously male-only domains such as taxi driving and the police.

"It is just a start. They will put more limitations on women. They do not want us to be socially active," said a female journalist, who asked not to be named. She works night shifts at the Iran newspaper. "What about me? I start working at 3 p.m. This decree means that I will be jobless soon."

SITUATION OF THE DEATH PENALITY IN IRAN :Annual Report 2004

2005-10-10T12:26:00.000-07:00

Canada to approach UN on Iran's human rights record .:. NewKerala

2005-10-08T12:54:00.000-07:00

Canada to approach UN on Iran's human rights record .:. NewKerala - India's Top Online Newspaper

IranPressNews (English): Tabrizi journalist, Massoumeh Babapour has disappeared

2005-10-08T12:39:00.000-07:00

Tabriz News - Public Service: Massoumeh Babapour, a woman journalist and reporter for local Tabriz newspapers has disappeared.

Hasan Baqerzadeh, Ms. Babapour's husband, in a telephone conversation with the public service department of Tabriz news reports: "My wife left the house on Monday, Oct. 3rd, 2005 at 10 AM for work and has not been seen or heard from since. Her cellular phone was disconnected a few hours after leaving the house as well. She had been receiving death threats from either an individual or a group; she would receive the threat calls either on her cellular phone or at her office. We have informed the police in Tabriz and with their help, we have been doing everything we can to find her."

Tabriz News reporters as well as other members of the media from the north western Iran have also focused their efforts in following all leads in order to find their missing colleague.

New York Blade Online:Gay Iranian seeks help from U.N. after torture

2005-10-07T12:21:00.000-07:00

New York Blade Online

Canada to put forward UN resolution on Iran rights

2005-10-07T12:20:00.000-07:00

Wed Oct 5, 4:23 PM ET

OTTAWA - Canada will put forward a resolution at the United Nations for the third year in a row accusing Iran of human rights violations, Foreign Minister Pierre Pettigrew said on Wednesday.

"Iran has not lived up to its international human rights obligations and has not conformed with past U.N. resolutions on this matter. We believe this must change," Pettigrew said.

Canada presented similar resolutions to the United Nations in both 2003 and 2004. The U.N.‘s General Assembly adopted the 2004 resolution with 71 votes in favor, 54 against and 55 abstentions.

The previous resolutions accused Iran of human rights abuses, including torture, suppression of free speech and discrimination against women and minorities.

"We have to maintain the pressure. I can tell you one thing -- Iran has not enjoyed the last two resolutions we tabled," Pettigrew told reporters.

"It is very important that the international community ... keeps the pressure on Iran at this stage for them to really, really acknowledge the situation of human rights abuses in the country and really try to change the situation."

Pettigrew said Canada was still discussing with its allies the text of the resolution, which officials said was likely to be presented at the end of October.

Canada and Iran are at loggerheads over the case of Zahra Kazemi, a Canadian reporter who died of head injuries in 2003 after being arrested in Tehran. Canada has twice withdrawn its ambassador over the affair and accuses Iranian authorities of failing to investigate the death properly.

Iran‘s conservative judiciary initially said Kazemi had died of a stroke but an investigation by the government revealed she had received a heavy blow during questioning which caused a brain hemorrhage.

OMCT - - Lawyer Abdolfattah Soltani detained incommunicado since two months

2005-10-05T00:37:00.000-07:00

Press release

Iran : Lawyer Abdolfattah Soltani detained incommunicado since two months

Geneva-Paris, September 30, 2005. The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), and the League for the Defence of Human Rights in Iran (LDDHI) reiterate their deepest concern about the situation of Mr. Abdolfattah Soltani, lawyer at the Bar of Tehran and a founding member of the Defenders of Human Rights Centre (DHRC), who has been detained in solitary confinement since July 30, 2005, at the prison of Evin, Tehran.

Mr. Abdolfattah Soltani was arrested while he was taking part in a sit-in at the Bar of Tehran in order to protest against an arrest warrant issued against him by Mr. Saïd Mortazavi, Tehran Prosecutor, three days before, as well as against the search and seizure of his personal and professional belongings*.
Mr. Soltani was accused of “espionage”, without any other precisions. Since the beginning of his detention, he has been denied the right to have access to a lawyer and to receive the visit of his family.

The Observatory and the LDDHI believe that his arrest is linked to the role played by Mr. Soltani in Ms. Zahra Kazemi’s trial, an Iranian-Canadian photographer who died in July 2003 from torture and ill-treatment during her detention in Iranian custody, and brought before Tehran Court of Appeal to establish the circumstances of her death and the responsible parties. On July 25, 2005, during a hearing in camera of the Court of Appeal, Mr. Soltani, lawyer of Ms. Zahra Kazemi’s family, put into question the independence and fairness of the trial, pointing out that the main officials allegedly involved in the case had not been indicted by the court, including Mr. Saïd Mortazavi.
The Observatory and the LDDHI recall that in October 2003, the Article 90 Commission of the Majlis (Iranian Parliament) released its report of enquiry into Mrs Kazemi's death, which concluded that Prosecutor Mortazavi and other members of the judiciary were directly involved in her death, as a result of violent interrogation in Evin prison.
The Observatory and the LDDHI are deeply concerned about Mr. Soltani’s arbitrary detention, which is part of a general repressive movement against human rights lawyers by Iranian authorities. In this regard, the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Opinion and Expression, after his visit in Iran in November 2003, expressed concern regarding the fact that “lawyers do not benefit from immunity from prosecution with regard to what they say in court in defence of their clients or for statements they make on a case”.

Moreover, in July 2002, Mr. Soltani had already been convicted for having underlined in his defence pleadings the fact that his clients had been subjected to ill-treatment during their interrogation. He was sentenced to four months in jail by the Court of Tehran and released in June 2003 (See Observatory Annual Report 2003).

The Observatory and the LDDHI consider that the detention of Mr. Soltani blatantly violates the provisions of the Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on December 9, 1998, in particular article 1 which stipulates that “everyone has the right, individually or in association with others, to promote and to strive for the protection an realisation of human rights and fundamental freedoms at the national and international level”, and article 9.3(c), which provides that everyone has the right “to offer and provide professionally qualified legal assistance or other relevant advice and assistance in defending human rights and fundamental freedoms”.
Because detained in solitary confinement, the Observatory and the LDDHI fear that Mr. Soltani faces increased risks of being subject to ill-treatment and acts of torture.
The Observatory and the LDDHI therefore urge the Iranian authorities to ensure the immediate and unconditional release of Mr. Abdolfattah Soltani.

The Observatory and the LDDHI also urge them to conform with the provisions of the Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, and more generally, with the provisions of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other regional and international human rights instruments to which Iran is a party .

*See Observatory Urgent Appeals IRN 002/0705/OBS 055, dated July 28, 2005 and IRN 002/0705/OBS 055.1, dated August 4, 2005.

For more information, please contact:
FIDH: 00 33 1 43 55 25 18
OMCT: 00 41 22 809 49 39
LDDHI : 00 33 1 40 94 14 50

Iran Focus-News - Special Wire - Men flogged in public in Iran capital

2005-10-02T11:30:00.001-07:00

Iran Focus-News - Special Wire - Men flogged in public in Iran capital

Iranian Paper calls for major judicial sentencing reforms

2005-10-02T11:30:00.000-07:00

UK Gay News - New Iran Protest Over Treatment of Gays at London Embassy

2005-10-01T11:35:00.000-07:00

Toward Freedom - Blocking the Net

2005-09-29T09:34:00.000-07:00

...
First, let’s look at some of the usual dictatorships, or as RWB has labeled them, "the habitual human rights violators." They include small fry like Cuba, Burma, the Ukraine, and Belarus, but the biggest offenders in this category are China and Iran.
...
U.S.-based companies are also supplying commercial software to help countries "filter" — that is, censor information. Last June, the OpenNet Initiative (ONI) released a report titled "Internet Filtering in Iran," which documents how the Iranian government has used the commercial filtering software SmartFilter to control every aspect of its citizens’ cyber experience, from websites and e-mail to blogs and online discussion forums. Made by the U.S. based company Secure Computing, the software is helping the Iranian government block internationally hosted sites in English, as well as other sites hosted in local languages.

In its report, ONI accused Secure Computing of complicity in helping Iran violate the UN Declaration of Human Rights. Ronald Deibert, one of the report’s authors and directors of the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto, charged that the "thriving Internet censorship market — spread like a virus from China to Iran to an increasing number of countries worldwide — calls into question not only the trumpeted slogans of high tech firms that the Internet represents ‘freedom’ and ‘connectivity’ but simplistic divisions between ‘us’ and ‘them’ as well."
....

Press Gazette - Journalism matters. Every week.: Iran

2005-09-23T01:31:00.000-07:00

Press Gazette - Journalism matters. Every week.: "Reporter Massoud Bastani has been sent back to Arak prison in Iran � just one week after his initial release. Bastani had spent two weeks in Evin prison after reporting on a demonstration in support of imprisoned fellow journalist Akbar Ganji, who was on hunger strike at the time. Bastani is the former editor of Nedai Eslahat and is a contributor to pro-reform papers including Etemad and Toseeh. www.rsf.org
UNITED STATES"

A Human Rights Act (Rooz Online)

2005-09-23T01:30:00.000-07:00

A Human Rights Act (Rooz Online)

Defining Political Crimes After 27 Years (Rooz Online)

2005-09-23T01:29:00.000-07:00

Gay News From 365Gay.com:Iranian Gay Tells Of Torture

2005-09-22T01:25:00.001-07:00

Gay News From 365Gay.com

2005-09-22T01:25:00.000-07:00

-----------------------------------------------------------
IRAN SAYS KAZEMI APPEAL VERDICT REACHED
By AFP
-----------------------------------------------------------
Iran's hardline judiciary said on Monday that it has reached a verdict
in the case of murdered Iranian-Canadian photographer Zahra Kazemi but
that the result of the appeal was still being typed out.

"The case has been closed and the verdict is being typed," justice
minister Jamal Karimi-Rad told reporters, adding that it would be made
public "at the right time".

Last July a Tehran court acquitted an intelligence agent accused of
giving the journalist a mortal blow to the head while she was in
custody two years ago.

Since then the case has been in an appeals process and Kazemi
family lawyers - led by Nobel laureate Shirin Ebadi - have set their sights
on bringing to justice a judiciary official that they say is the real
killer.

Kazemi family lawyers had also backed the agent's plea of
innocence, but during the appeal hearings they complained that their efforts to
look into other suspects had been blocked.

One of the family lawyers, Mohammad Ali Dadkhah, recently predicted
that the agent would be cleared but the case also totally closed.

Kazemi, who was 54, died in custody in Tehran in July 2003 after
being arrested for photographing a demonstration outside a Tehran prison.
Family lawyers have accused the judiciary of a cover-up, a charge
backed by Ottawa.

Iran's government has acknowledged that Kazemi was violently beaten
in prison, although the judiciary has also said that she might have
died after a fall.

Ebadi has vowed to "follow this case until my dying day" and "use
all means, domestic and international".

But Iranian authorities have been keen to see the back of an
embarrassing affair that has also badly damaged relations with Canada.

In June the judiciary again rejected Canada's demand for Kazemi's
body - which was hastily buried inside Iran after her death - to be dug
up and handed over for a new autopsy.

Iran, which does not recognize dual nationality, says that Canada
has no business looking into the affair.

The Peninsula On-line: UN envoy urges release of Ganji

2005-09-18T11:21:00.000-07:00

Iran: Further information on: Torture and ill-treatment/ Fear for safety/ Medical concern: Manuchehr Mohammadi (m) - Amnesty International

2005-09-16T08:34:00.001-07:00

Iran: Further information on: Torture and ill-treatment/ Fear for safety/ Medical concern: Manuchehr Mohammadi (m) - Amnesty International

Iran: Death Penalty: Hajar Vafi (f) - Amnesty International

2005-09-16T08:34:00.000-07:00

Iran: Death Penalty: Hajar Vafi (f) - Amnesty International

Blocking the net: Corporations help governments shut down the information superhighway

2005-09-16T08:31:00.000-07:00

Blocking the net: Corporations help governments shut down the information superhighway: " Last June, the OpenNet Initiative (ONI) released a report titled �Internet Filtering in Iran,� which documents how the Iranian government has used the commercial filtering software SmartFilter to control every aspect of its citizens� cyber experience, from websites and e-mail to blogs and online discussion forums. Made by the U.S. based company Secure Computing, the software is helping the Iranian government block internationally hosted sites in English, as well as other sites hosted in local languages."

Reuters AlertNet - U.N. envoy urges release of Iranian journalist

2005-09-16T08:29:00.000-07:00

news - Iran: Journalist reimprisoned after a week of freedom, held with ordinary detainees

2005-09-15T11:33:00.000-07:00

news - Iran: Journalist reimprisoned after a week of freedom, held with ordinary detainees

Iran News - Convicted murderer hanged in Iran

2005-09-15T11:31:00.000-07:00

Iran News - Convicted murderer hanged in Iran

USCIRF Says No Improvement for Religious Minorities in Iran Under Khatami

2005-09-15T11:23:00.000-07:00

USCIRF Says No Improvement for Religious Minorities in Iran Under Khatami

JTW News - Wife of Iran journalist without news for 3 weeks

2005-09-15T11:22:00.000-07:00

Iran: Imminent execution - Amnesty International

2005-09-15T02:32:00.000-07:00

Iran: Imminent execution - Amnesty International: "URGENT ACTION
Iran: Imminent execution
PUBLIC AI Index: MDE 13/054/2005
12 September 2005

UA 235/05 Imminent execution

IRAN Abu Baker Mirza'i Qaderi (m)
Othman Mirza'i Qaderi (m)
Qader Ahmadi (m)
Jahangir Badouzadeh (m)"

BBC NEWS | Middle East | Iran writer in 'jail quarantine'

2005-09-15T02:30:00.000-07:00

2005-09-14T11:39:00.000-07:00

Reporters sans frontires - Iran Journalist reimprisoned after a week of freedom, held with ordinary detainees

2005-09-14T11:29:00.000-07:00

Reporters sans fronti�res - Iran: "Journalist reimprisoned after a week of freedom, held with ordinary detainees

Reporters Without Borders today called for the immediate release of journalist Massoud Bastani, who was reimprisoned a week after his release on 6 August from Evin prison in Tehran and is being held in Arak prison, in the centre of the country, which is normally used for non-political prisoners.
Bastani had spent two weeks in Evin prison for covering a demonstration in support of imprisoned fellow journalist Akbar Ganji, who was on hunger strike at the time.
�It is shocking that a prisoner of conscience has been put with inmates held for ordinary crimes, as some of them could be dangerous or sick,� the press freedom organisation said. �It is also unacceptable that a journalist is being punished just for supporting a colleague who was on hunger strike, and we call on the judicial authorities in Arak to stop harassing him.�
The editor of Nedai Eslahat (a daily that was closed by the authorities in 2003) and a contributor to such pro-reform newspapers as Etemad, Toseeh and Joumhoryat, Bastani first run-in with the authorities was in 2003, when he was sentenced to six months in prison, 70 lashes and a five-year ban on practising journalism.
He wrote many reports about Ganji�s hunger strike this summer. In a 27 June release, Reporters Without Borders had commented that : �The authorities are not only content to let Akbar Ganji die, they are also arresting and harassing those who have the courage to defend him.�
Ganji�s wife, Massoumeh Shaffii, meanwhile told Reporters Without Borders by phone that she has just sent a letter to UN secretary-general Kofi Annan to coincide with the Iranian president�s visit to New York for the UN summit. Thanking Annan for requesting Ganji�s release, the letter informs him that"

Iran News - 205 miscreants arrested: Iran's Justice Minister

2005-09-14T09:58:00.000-07:00

Iran Focus-News - Special Wire - Iran cracks down on dissent with hangings, jail

2005-09-13T12:30:00.001-07:00

Iran Focus-News - Special Wire - Iran cracks down on dissent with hangings, jail: "Tehran, Iran, Sep. 13 � One person was hanged and 13 others were imprisoned in West Azerbaijan Province, northwest Iran, as part of new wave of crackdown on dissent which began last week, Iran�s State Security Forces (SSF) announced on Tuesday.

Major Rezai, chief spokesman of the SSF in the province, said, �We have been implementing the plan to remove trouble-makers in the province, and so far 13 such persons have been sent to prison�.

One �trouble-maker� was hanged in the town of Naqadeh, the police spokesman announced.

Rezai added that with harsher sentences from judges, the problem of trouble-makers, which had increased in recent months, would be resolved.

Tuesday morning�s edition of the hard-line daily Jomhouri Islami wrote that Iran�s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had recently ordered the head of the country�s judiciary to deal �decisively� with �elements creating disruption in society� and sentence them to �the most severe punishment that God has prescribed�.

�The Supreme Leader has issued an order to deal decisively with trouble-makers�, the daily quoted the head of Tehran�s Justice Department, Abbas-Ali Alizadeh, as saying"

Description of Selected News

2005-09-13T12:30:00.000-07:00

Description of Selected News: "Judiciary denies Ganji back in solitary"

BBC NEWS | Middle East | Iran writer in 'jail quarantine'

2005-09-13T12:28:00.000-07:00

BBC NEWS | Middle East | Iran writer in 'jail quarantine': "Iranian dissident writer Akbar Ganji has been placed in solitary confinement after being transferred back to prison from hospital, his wife has said. "

World Peace Herald:Iran human rights in crisis

2005-09-12T12:35:00.000-07:00

World Peace Herald

2005-09-12T12:34:00.000-07:00

2005-09-09T07:32:00.000-07:00

TWO KURDISH MILITANTS PUT TO DEATH

Two Iranian ethnic Kurd militants have been executed by firing squad in the northeastern city of Urumieh. Ismail Mohammad and Mohammad Pangiovini, both members of the Kurdish secessionist group Kumala, were killed on 1 Sept. but their families were only informed by authorities on Tuesday. Ismail Mohammad's daughter who attempted to visit her father in prison on Tuesday afternoon was instead given the militant's personal belongings and his final will and testament by prison authorities who informed her of the executions.
Ismail Mohammad, 41, a father of five, was arrested in 2003 and charged for subversive acts. He was subsequently sentenced to death by the state revolutionary tribunal in Urumieh.
Rah/Aki

Reporters sans frontires - Iran:Concern over fate of journalists detained in Kurdish part of Iran

2005-09-08T12:47:00.000-07:00

Reporters sans fronti�res - Iran

BRITISH AHWAZI FRIENDSHIP SOCIETY:Iran: Amnesty fears for the safety of Ahwazi detainees

2005-09-08T12:45:00.000-07:00

news : BRITISH AHWAZI FRIENDSHIP SOCIETY

2005-09-06T17:14:00.000-07:00

Lawyers have dangerous job in Iran: Nobel laureate

Iranian human rights lawyer and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi accused the hardline judiciary of placing so much pressure on her colleagues that few were prepared to defend dissidents.

Agence France-Presse

2005-09-05T21:30:00.000-07:00

Request of Iranian IHRAG to demand an investigation to clarify the facts about the murder of Mr. Kaveh Zareii

Dear Mrs Veronika Palme

IHRAG (Iranian Human Rights Activist Groups in EU and North America) is a non-profit network formed in the fall of 2001 by independent Iranian human rights associations based in Europe and North America. IHRAG activities are based on The Universal Declaration of Human Rights as well as other UN’s human rights conventions.

According to news reports, August 22, 2005, Mr. Kaveh Zareii, a member of the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan, was murdered by three unknown people, in the city of Lindsbery.

According to past experiences of terrorist activities by the government of Islamic Republic of Iran, sending well trained terrorist groups to eliminate opposition figures in Sweden, like the ones against Effat Ghazi on 6/9/1990, Aboo Bakr (Kamran) on 17/1/1974, and Karim Mohammad Zadeh, we would like to ask you to conduct an official investigation to clarify the facts about the murder of Mr. Kaveh Zareii, and release the findings of the investigation to the public.

Based on the widespread, planned and systematic violations of human rights of Iranian people by the Islamic Republic of Iran, and the assassination of more than 60 opposition activists in Europe and America , safety of Iranian political opposition figures residing in Sweden is a major concern for us, and we would like to request the Swedish government to employ special measures in protecting them.

We appreciate your prompt attention. .

Sincerely,
Iranian Human Rights Activist Groups in EU and North America (IHRAG)

2005-09-04T09:51:00.000-07:00

Iran dissident journalist Ganji back in jail

Dissident Iranian journalist Akbar Ganji has recovered sufficiently from his two-month-long hunger strike to return to prison, Iran's Justice Minister Jamal Karimirad said on Sunday.
Ganji, jailed in 2000 after writing a series of articles linking senior officials to the murder of political dissidents, was hospitalized in July when his health deteriorated due to a hunger strike aimed at pressuring authorities to release him.
The outspoken reporter, whose plight brought comments of outrage and concern from the United States and European Union, eventually called off his hunger strike after more than 60 days last month.
"Akbar Ganji was released from hospital yesterday and returned to the prison," Karimirad told the official IRNA news agency.
Ganji's wife has said he only ended his fast after receiving assurances from judiciary officials that he would be allowed to go home.
Iran says it considers EU and U.S. calls for Ganji's release as meddling in its internal affairs.
Ganji's lawyer Shirin Ebadi, winner of the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize, told Reuters her client should have been freed from prison long ago on parole since he has completed almost all of his six-year term.

Reuters

2005-09-01T03:53:00.000-07:00

Iran: Is There An Anti-Homosexual Campaigan?

2005-08-29T00:30:00.000-07:00

Release of cyberjourkalist Mojtaba Lotfi and blogger Mohamad Reza Nasab Abdolahi-RSF

Iran judiciary set to close Kazemi case: family lawyer

2005-08-25T06:26:00.000-07:00

Iran's hardline judiciary will soon close the case of murdered Iraninan -Canadian photographer Zahra Kazemi and has blocked family lawayers from pressing for a fresh probe, one of the lawayers said.
Last July a Tehran court acquitted an intelligence agent accused of giving the journalist a mortal blow to the bead while she was in custody two years ago, and family lawyers have set their sights on bringing to justice a judiciary official they say is the real killer.
"We predict that the defrendant will be cleared, "Mohammad Ale Dadkhah said of the intelligence agent.
Kazemi family lawyers had also backed the agent's plea of innocence, but Dadkhah said that demands from the family that the courts look into other suspects had been blocded.
"They will not accept any appeal on the case because they have said our time is over though according to the law there is no deadline, "he told AFP, amid reports that the judiciary will soon issue the verdict of an appeal hearing held last month.
Kazemi who was 54, died in custody in Tehran in July 2003 after being arrested for fhotographing a demonstration outside a Tehran prison. Family lawyers have accused the judiciary of a vover-up, a charge backed by Ottawa.
Iran's government has acknowledged that kazemi was violently beaten in prison, although the judiciary has also said she may have died after a fall.
Among the lawyers for the kazemi family is Nobel Prize winner Shirin Ebadi, who has already denounced the court's alleged refusal to comply with calls for the investigation to be widened.
Ebadi has vowed to "follow this case until my dying day" and "use all means, domestic and international".
But Iranian authorities have been keen to see the back of an embarrassing affair which has also badly damaged relations with Canada.
In June the Iranian judiciary again rejected Canada's demand for kazemi's body--which was hastily buried inside Iran after her death-- to be dug up and handed over for a new autopsy.
The latest request from Ottawa was made amid allegations from an exiled Iranian doctor, denied by Tehran, that the photographer had beeb raped and tortured.
Iran, which does not recognize dual nationality, asserts that Canada has no business looking into the affair.

http://news.yahoo.com

2005-08-25T00:07:00.000-07:00

Amnesty International
Iran:Two teenagers face execution in definace of international law

L'Iranien Akbar Ganji cesse sa grève de la faim

2005-08-23T13:44:00.000-07:00

IFEX ::Akbar Ganji ends hunger strike

2005-08-22T14:59:00.000-07:00

Kofi Annan bittet um Freilassung eines Reporters im Iran

2005-08-22T14:57:00.000-07:00

Kofi Annan bittet um Freilassung eines Reporters im Iran
Der Generalsekretär der Vereinten Nationen, Kofi Annan, hat den Iran aufgefordert, den Reporter Akbar Ganji freizulassen. Ganji sitzt seit 2000 im Gefängnis - er hatte in seinen Berichten Offizielle mit Dissidentenmorden in Verbindung gebracht.
Sein Gesundheitszustand ist nicht genau bekannt, er hatte im Juni einen Hungerstreik begonnen und seitdem 30 kg Gewicht verloren. Ganji ist, so BBC-Reporter Pam O'Toole, ein Kristallisationspunkt für alle Pro-Reformer und Menschenrechtsaktivisten.
Iranische Offizielle behaupten, er habe seinen Hungerstreik beendet, seine Frau konnte diese Meldungen jedoch nicht bestätigen, sie hat ihn seit 19 Tagen nicht gesehen.
(image placeholder) Quelle: news.bbc.co.uk

BBC NEWS | Middle East | Iranian dissident 'ends protest'

2005-08-22T08:05:00.000-07:00

OMCT: End child death penalty in Iran

2005-08-21T02:05:00.000-07:00

(image placeholder)

WORLD ORGANISATION AGAINST TORTURE (OMCT)
Press release
End child death penalty in Iran

The International Secretariat of OMCT wishes to express its concern regarding the situation of human rights in Iran and would like to draw the attention of the new President Mr. Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad to Iran’s use of the death penalty, including public executions of juveniles.

Indeed, the overall human rights situation in Iran remains worrying, as recent weeks have seen renewed violations of human rights in the country. In particular, despite the prohibition of article 37 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child to which Iran is state party, a number of juveniles have recently received death sentences.

In this regard, OMCT would like to recall that on July 19, 2005, two boys, aged 16 and 18, were arrested and subjected to corporal punishment (they were lashed 228 times) before being publicly hung by Iranian authorities in the northeastern city of Mashad. According to the information received from reliable sources, the sole reason for the hangings is their confessions, obtained through torture, that they were involved in homosexual sex. After being convicted of raping a 13-year-old boy at knifepoint, they were executed after the Supreme Court upheld the verdict of child rape. Although homosexuality is a crime in Iran, the death penalty is normally reserved for murder, rape, armed robbery, adultery, drug trafficking and apostasy. In August 2004, a 16 year old girl, Atefeh Rajabi, was executed in the Caspian port of Neka for having had sex before marriage.

OMCT stresses that it is strongly opposed to the death penalty and emphasises that it considers the capital punishment an extreme form of cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment, as proclaimed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international human rights instruments. Moreover, even if various bills have been considered for several years, in Iran the death penalty still exists in law and in practice for offences committed by persons under eighteen years of age. This is despite the fact that Iran ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child that prohibits capital punishment in its Article 37 (a).

Despite an announcement by the Head of the Judiciary, Ayatollah Shahroudi, on April 28, 2004, in which he stated: “Any torture to extract a confession is banned and the confessions extracted through torture are not legitimate and legal”, no subsequent improvements have been observed. Restrictions on freedom of expression appear to have tightened and the widespread practices of arbitrary detention following arrest, of detention in unofficial prisons and of torture while in detention continue to be features of the Iranian penal system.

OMCT therefore urges the Iranian authorities to:

- abolish the death penalty for child offenders both in law and in practice;

- pass legislation explicitly banning corporal punishment and also ensure that it is no longer used as a penal sanction;

- prohibit the use of torture and carry out independent and impartial investigations of all torture allegations, in order to identify the perpetrators, bring them to justice and pronounce sentences proportional to the gravity of their crime;

- guarantee the respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms throughout the country in accordance with national laws and international human rights standards.

Geneva, 11th August 2005

Hospital official: Iranian journalist Ganji transferred from ICU section

2005-08-20T12:41:00.000-07:00

New York Blade Online:HRC criticized over Iran death penalty

2005-08-19T13:02:00.000-07:00

New York Blade Online

Houston Voice Online:Iranian executions spark new protests

2005-08-19T13:00:00.000-07:00

Houston Voice Online

World News Article | Reuters.co.uk:Annan demands release of jailed Iranian journalist

2005-08-19T12:56:00.000-07:00

World News Article | Reuters.co.uk

Human Rights Activists And Ganji's Experience, by Shrin Ebadi (Rooz Online)

2005-08-19T04:41:00.000-07:00

Human Rights Activists And Ganji's Experience (Rooz Online)

2005-08-18T06:13:00.000-07:00

2005-08-17T06:22:00.000-07:00

2005-08-16T09:14:00.000-07:00

Datum: 5. August 2005

Mit folgendem Brief wandte sich Claudia Roth, Bundesvorsitzende von
BÜNDNIS 90/DIE GRÜNEN heute an den iranischen Präsidenten Mahmoud Ahmadineschad:

Sehr geehrter Herr Präsident,

in großer Sorge um das Leben von Herrn Akbar Ganji wende ich mich heute
an Sie als Präsident aller Iraner. Dies voraussetzend bitte ich Sie,
Ihrer Verantwortung auch für das Leben von Herrn Ganji gerecht zu werden.

Wir wissen, dass Sie und die iranische Staatsführung zahlreiche Briefe
und Appelle in diesen Tagen aus dem In- wie Ausland erhalten, in denen
die Freilassung von Herrn Ganji gefordert wird. Das Verhalten der
zuständigen Justizbehörden ist ein Trauerspiel und zutiefst
menschenverachtend. Bislang bleiben die Justizbehörden und damit alle
iranischen Verantwortlichen eine überzeugende Erklärung schuldig, warum
Herr Ganji einen langsamen Tod sterben muss. Auch die Festnahme von
Herrn Soltani, Ganjis Anwalt, bereitet uns große Sorgen. Als einen
ersten Schritt erwarten wir von Ihnen und den Justizbehörden Irans,
Ganjis Grundrechte nicht weiter einzuschränken. Dazu gehört die
Gewährleistung von vertraulichen Gesprächen mit seinen Anwälten und den
Familienangehörigen und das Recht auf eine umfassende medizinische
Versorgung.

Sicherlich haben Sie in den ersten Tagen Ihres Amtes eine Fülle an
wichtigen Aufgaben und Verpflichtungen. Das alles ist dennoch kein
Grund, Entscheidungen zu verzögern, die Menschenleben retten können.
Bei dieser Gelegenheit bitte ich Sie, auch den zahlreichen Wünschen von
Mitarbeitern des diplomatischen Corps in Teheran und vielen
Persönlichkeiten aus dem Ausland möglichst bald stattzugeben, die Herrn
Ganji im Krankenhaus besuchen möchten.

Mit freundlichen Grüßen
Claudia Roth

-----------------------------------------
Quelle: www.news-on-web.de

Iran News - Wife pleads to see Iran dissident, Akbar Ganji

2005-08-14T13:24:00.000-07:00

Iran News - Wife pleads to see Iran dissident, Akbar Ganji

New York Daily News - Ideas & Opinions - Ramin Ahmadi: Ganji's plight lifts us

2005-08-14T13:23:00.000-07:00

New York Daily News - Ideas & Opinions - Ramin Ahmadi: Ganji's plight lifts us

Oppositioneller auf Intensivstation verlegt Ganji ist seit mehr als 60 Tagen im Hungerstreik

2005-08-14T12:11:00.000-07:00

11. August 2005
Oppositioneller auf Intensivstation verlegt
Ganji ist seit mehr als 60 Tagen im Hungerstreik

Der iranische Oppositionelle und Journalist Akbar Ganji .
Teheran - Nach mehr als 60 Tagen im Hungerstreik ist der inhaftierte iranische Oppositionelle Akbar Ganji auf die Intensivstation des Teheraner Milad-Spitals verlegt worden. Das verlautete am Donnerstag aus Krankenhauskreisen. Ganjis Frau sagte der Nachrichtenagentur ISNA, sie sei sehr besorgt, habe aber keine verlässlichen Informationen über den Gesundheitszustand ihres Mannes, da sie ihn seit zehn Tagen nicht habe besuchen dürfen.
Der 48-jährige Journalist verbüßt im Iran eine sechsjährige Haftstrafe. Ihm war unter anderem Verunglimpfung der Islamischen Republik bei einer Konferenz von iranischen Oppositionellen im Jahr 2000 in Berlin vorgeworfen worden. Die USA und mehrere EU-Staaten haben die sofortige Freilassung Ganjis - noch vor Verbüßung seiner Haftstrafe im kommenden Jahr - gefordert. (APA/dpa)
Quelle:der Standart.at

Le Monde.fr : L'opposant iranien Akbar Ganji en gr�ve de la faim depuis 61 jours

2005-08-14T12:08:00.000-07:00

Le Monde.fr : L'opposant iranien Akbar Ganji en gr�ve de la faim depuis 61 jours

Iranian Students News Agency chief in court once again

2005-08-13T13:15:00.000-07:00

Iranian Students News Agency chief in court once again

Jailed Women's Rights Activist Needs Your Help

2005-08-11T13:46:00.000-07:00

Jailed Women's Rights Activist Needs Your Help

Dr. Roya Toloui, a champion of the rights of Iran's Kurdish minority and of women was detained from her home in Sanandaj on August 2. She is reported to be facing charges of "disturbing the peace" and "acting against national security." Human Rights First is calling for her immediate and unconditional release from detention.

Toloui's detention is consistent with a pattern of harassment and persecution that she and other human rights activists in Iran's Kurdish region have suffered in recent months in reprisal for their legitimate, peaceful activities in support of basic rights and freedoms.

There has been mounting unrest in Iran's Kurdish region since the presidential elections in late June, which saw the election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a candidate closely identified with Iran's ruling clerical establishment. President Ahmadinejad is viewed as hostile to Kurdish aspirations for greater equality and respect for their distinct cultural and religious traditions.

Roya Toloui is an outspoken critic of the policies of the Islamic Republic and its negative impact on the rights of women and religious and ethnic minorities. She and other human rights activists in Kordestan and West Azerbaijan provinces have been vocal in protesting a wave of repression unleashed on the region in recent weeks that has resulted in more than twenty deaths and hundreds of arrests of protesters. Regional magazines that reported on the unrest have been closed by the authorities, but information about continuing disturbances in the region continues to reach the outside world.

At this time of tension in Iran the role of independent human rights monitors is vital. Don't let the Iranian government commit human rights violations behind a cloak of secrecy. Please join Human Rights First in calling for the immediate release of Dr. Toloui and her colleagues.

Click here to Take Action: http://action.humanrightsfirst.org/campaign/Toloui_2

Learn more about the case of Dr. Roya Toloui: http://action.humanrightsfirst.org/campaign/Toloui_2/explanation

2005-08-11T13:44:00.000-07:00

Iranian repression: A reporter's cry for freedom

2005-08-11T11:07:00.000-07:00

Iranian repression: A reporter's cry for freedom - Editorials & Commentary - International Herald Tribune

If Cindy and Akbar Could Meet - Yahoo! News

2005-08-11T11:06:00.000-07:00

If Cindy and Akbar Could Meet - Yahoo! News

International News Article | Reuters.com:Protest over Iran journalist on hunger strike

2005-08-11T11:05:00.000-07:00

International News Article | Reuters.com

Iran: Security Forces Kill Kurdish Protestors (Human Rights Watch, 11-8-2005)

2005-08-10T13:16:00.000-07:00

Iran: Security Forces Kill Kurdish Protestors (Human Rights Watch, 11-8-2005)

The Iranian government needs to conduct a full and impartial investigation into the violent response to the recent protests in Kurdistan. Officials who are responsible for any excessive use of lethal force must be prosecuted.

Hadi Ghaemi, Iran researcher for Human Rights Watch

PageOneQ | Iran Protests Hit US; San Francisco Action Planned

2005-08-10T13:15:00.000-07:00

PageOneQ | Iran Protests Hit US; San Francisco Action Planned