|
HUMAN RIGHTS |
 |
|
Amnesty International
AI Index: MDE
13/008/2008 17 January 2008
Further Information on UA 331/07 (MDE
13/147/2007, 13 December 2007) Arbitrary arrests/fear of torture or
ill-treatment/possible prisoners of conscience
Between 20 and 30
students (male and female) associated with the student group Students
for Freedom and Equality (Daneshjouyan-e Azadi Khah va Beraber Talab),
including:
Rosa 'Essa'ie, (f), student at Tehran's
Amir Kabir University
Mehdi Geraylou (m), student at Tehran
University
Anousheh Azadfar (f), student at Tehran
University
Ilnaz Jamshidi (f), student at Free
University of Central Tehran
Rouzbeh Safshekan (m), student at Tehran
University
Nasim Soltan-Beigi (m), student at ‘Allameh
Tabatabai University
Yaser Pir Hayati (m), student at Shahed
University
Released: Milad Moini (m)
Younes Mir Hosseini (m)
New names: Anahita Hosseini (f)
Bita Naghashiyan (f)
And at least seven
others
|
Amnesty International
Amnesty International welcomes the release on bail on 24 January 2007 of
Dr Hesam Firouzi, detained since 6 January 2007, but is concerned that
he continues to face prosecution because of his work as a medical
doctor and for his human rights activities.
|
|
Amnesty International
Further
Information on UA 331/06 (MDE 13/135/2006, 12 December 2006) and
follow-up (MDE 13/137/2006, 14 December 2006) - Incommunicado
detention/Fear of torture or ill-treatment/possible prisoner of
conscience New concern: Unfair trial
Journalist and human rights defender Sherko Jihani has been
transferred to Mahabad Central Prison in northwestern Iran. He had
previously been held incommunicado at an unknown location, believed to
be a detention facility belonging to the Ministry of Intelligence.
|
|
Amnesty International
Iran: Four Iranian Arabs executed after
unfair trials
24 January 2007
Iran: Four Iranian Arabs executed after unfair trials
Amnesty International deplores the executions earlier
today of four Iranian Arab men and fears for the lives of other
prisoners who are reported to have been sentenced to death recently
following unfair trials. |
|
Amnesty International
IRAN Kianoosh Sanjari (m) aged 24, student activist
and blogger
Student activist Kianoosh Sanjari was released on 27 December on bail of 100
million touman (over US$100,000) by the Special Court for the Clergy. He is
believed to have been accused of “acting against state security†and “propaganda
against the systemâ€, although he does not yet appear to have been formally
charged. No date has been set for a trial to begin.
Fear of torture or ill-treatment/ Possible prisoner of conscience
Three more men at risk of execution
Parisa
Death penalty/stoning
Ali Matouri-Zadeh
Fear of torture and
ill-treatment/ Medical concern/ Possible prisoner of conscience/
Fear of
imminent execution
Bestsellers banned in new Iranian censorship purge
Publishing industry in crisis as books blacklisted · Minister
ends relaxed attitude to western culture
Robert Tait
in Tehran Friday November 17, 2006
The Guardian
Dozens of literary masterpieces and
international bestsellers have been banned in Iran in a dramatic rise
in censorship that has plunged the country's publishing industry into
crisis.
by Campaign Iran
(source: CASMII) November 7, 2006
Action
Iran, CASMII UK and Iran Solidarity, the three UK based single issue
campaign groups against war and sanctions on Iran, are merging into a
single organisation in the UK called Campaign Iran, which will be part
of the multinational Campaign Against Sanctions and Military
Intervention in Iran.
Watch the video
Prof Abbas Edalat - Time To Go Demo Sept 23 2006
by Yossi Melman (source: Washington Post) November 9, 2006
Yossi
MelmanTel Aviv, Israel - I would advise the new
members of Congress to change the philosophy of the Bush
administration. Instead of finger pointing and pointless ideological
arguments about the "Axis of Evil," they should start negotiating and
engage North Korea and Iran.
|
|
Students Protest: Authorities Arrest
Arash Motamed
With the launch of yet another round of arrests of students
belonging to the leftist Azadikhah va Barabari-talab group
(pro-Freedom and Equality), the Islamic associations of 37
universities across Iran issued a joint statement in which they
listed the most recent suppressive measures on the universities and
called for an end to the pressure tactics and limitations imposed
on the student movement.
|
Former Reformist Lawmaker Speaks to Rooz
Hossein Mohammadi
Ahmad Shirzad was a representative in the sixth Majlis who was
disqualified from running for the seventh Majlis. Rooz has
conducted an exclusive interview with Shirzad about the upcoming Majlis
elections, in which Shirzad plans to participate. Below is an
excerpt of this interview.
|
Ahmad Zeidabadi
George W. Bush has announced his support for democrats and
reformists from Beirut to Damascus and from Baghdad to Tehran.
This simple and ordinary remark has apparently created trouble
for reformists in Iran, as their conservative opponents have
interpreted Bush’s remarks as proof that reformists are
beholden to the United States..
|
|
|
SELECTED NEWS |
-
Preserving the Rights of Insiders Is Not Democracy
-
We Do Not Believe That Ebrahim Committed Suicide
-
Nation Must Decide for Itself
-
The Apex of Passion is the Most Important Moment
-
Bush and Reformists
-
Moment of Truth for Reformist Candidates
-
Boycott No, Conditional Boycott Yes
-
Forthcoming Parliamentary Elections in Iran
-
At The Gates of Horror
-
One Right Does Not Undermine Another
-
"The Enemy" Is Roaming Amongst Us
-
A Letter from Prison
-
New Round of Student Arrests
-
National Security Council’s Order: Report Bush’s Trip to the Middle East
as Failure
-
Symbol of Reform Journalism Dies Young
-
Quarrels Heat Up Following Gas Cuts, Potential Unrest
-
Bandar-Turkeman Prisoners Exiled to Zahedan
-
Radical Left, Iran’s Last Legal Dissidents, Until Now
-
Iran’s Small Boats Are a Big Problem
-
U.S. says Iran still training Iraqi militias
-
Iran sanctions ripple past those in power
-
Iranian authorities allow Montreal-based filmmaker to finally leave
-
Iran slams US sanctions drive, China backs dialogue
-
Gulf States Broaden Contacts Beyond US
-
Israel's Nuclear Missile Threat against Iran
-
A winter of Iran’s discontent?
-
Top negotiator to Iran resigning from State Department
-
Oman bans poultry imports from India and Iran |
Alternative To Open Back Surgery...
World Leader of Arthroscopic Procedures for Back and Neck Conditions!
Sponsored Link - www.laserspineinstitute.com
Mon Jan 21 06:38:00 EST 2008
Ahmadinejad loses battle over gas budget legislation amid growing
discontent...
International Herald Tribune Mon Jan 21
06:38:00 EST 2008
Mrs. Rajavi: Solidarity with the Iranian people is a realization of Dr.
King's "dream"...
National Council of Resistance of Iran Mon Jan
21 06:38:00 EST 2008
ANALYSIS: New Israeli spy satellite sends Iran a message...
Haaretz Mon Jan 21 06:24:00 EST 2008
Israel launches spy satellite, can view Iran through clouds and at
night...
Macro World Investor Mon Jan 21 06:20:00 EST
2008
Iran: Tehran Under Pressure Ahead Of UN Sanctions Talks...
Radio
Free Europe Mon Jan 21 06:19:00 EST 2008
|
|
CIA secret operation in Iran |
|
"I am Only A Child"
|
|
Send this petition to:
His Excellency Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi
Mr. Golam-Ali Haddad-Adel, the leader of the Iranian Parliament
|
Subject:
Petition Demanding Immediate and Unconditional Release of
Women’s Rights Defenders Arrested in Tehran on March 4, 2007
|
Petition:
Your Excellency,
We, the undersigned, are writing to you to express our great
concern about the recent persecutions and prosecutions of the
women’s rights defenders in Iran. We are especially dismayed
at the news of the recent arrests of 38 women’s rights
defenders on March 4, 2007, in Tehran while gathering in a
peaceful protest in front of the Islamic Revolutionary Court.
Furthermore, we are distressed by the use of unnecessary
violence by the National Security Police officers against
these women which has led to some cases of physical injury.
|
|
|
|
|
Photos: Arash Ashoorinia, Kosoof.com,
report:
meydaan.com
Thirty three women's rights defenders
were arrested today in Tehran during a peaceful gathering in front of
the Islamic Revolutionary Court in Tehran. The gathering was to
protest the recent state pressures on women's rights defenders.
|
|
|
 |
Talk is rising of a ‘clash of civilizations’. But the
problem isn’t culture, it’s politics – from 9/11 to Guantanamo, Iraq to
Iran. This clash is not inevitable, and we don't want it.
So where to start? The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is the key symbol of
the rift between Islam & the West. It's time to step up and take the
initiative.
Add your voice below and when leaders meet in late March, our message
will be delivered in a way they can’t ignore... |
|
| Noam Chomsky interviewed by |
| Michael Shank |
|
|
Noam
Chomsky is a noted linguist, author, and foreign policy expert. On
February 9, Michael Shank interviewed him on the latest developments
in U.S. policy toward Iran, Iraq, North Korea, and Venezuela. Along
the way, Chomsky also commented on climate change, the World Social
Forum, and why international relations are run like the mafia.
|
|
John Palattella |
"How many times will it be over, father?" a Palestinian boy
asks in Mahmoud Darwish's recent collection of poems, Why Did You Leave
the Horse Alone? The boy poses the question after learning about the end
of the Arab-Israeli war in 1949, but one wonders whether Darwish was asking
himself the same question when he finished the book in the early 1990s, a
period that was an especially turbulent one in the life of the writer long
considered to be the Palestinian national poet.
Dear advocates for peace,
With hardly a trace of irony, this Friday,
Feb. 9, the History Channel will be broadcasting a propaganda show, "
Iran : The Next Iraq?"
It calls Iran "as perhaps the most clear and
present danger to American security" and promising to "examine evidence
that shows Iran is secretly
pursuing a nuclear weapon and just may
intend to use on the United States or its allies."
The war has already begun and it has nothing to do
with nuclear weapons and threats against Israel and everything to do with
who rules America
According to US economist Jeffrey Sachs, “Bush recently invited
journalists to imagine the world in 50 years…he wanted to know whether
Islamic radicals would control the world’s oil.” Sachs pointed out that
stoking fears over who will control the world’s petroleum reserves is not
new to the Bush administration. In the lead up to the Anglo-American war
on Iraq, US vice president Dick Cheney made the ridiculous claim that
Saddam Hussein was assembling a massive arsenal of WMD “to take control of
a great portion of the world’s energy supplies.” “Perhaps though, Saddam
was too eager to sell oil concessions to French, Russian and Italian
companies rather than British and US companies,” Sachs observed.
(“Fighting the wrong war,” The Guardian, September 25, 2006) Strip away
the fear-mongering, and what Bush and Cheney are really saying is that a
resource as lucrative as petroleum won’t be allowed to remain in the hands
of its true owners. It will be stripped from them, by force if necessary.
|
(AP) Republican and
Democratic senators warned Tuesday against a drift toward war with an
emboldened Iran and suggested the Bush administration was missing a chance
to engage its longtime adversary in potentially helpful talks over
next-door Iraq.
|
|
U.S. contingency planning for military action against
Iran's nuclear program goes beyond limited strikes and would effectively
unleash a war against the country, a former U.S. intelligence analyst said
on Friday.
"I've seen some of the planning ... You're not talking
about a surgical strike," said Wayne White, who was a top Middle East
analyst for the State Department's bureau of intelligence and research until
March 2005. |
George W Bush wants to pour more petrol on the fires burning in Iraq. But
the new US Congress has the mandate to douse the flames. If they hear from
all of us, they might find the guts to do it! Add your voice NOW to
block Bush's military escalation and demand a real plan to end the war. |
Ten Reasons to Impeach George Bush and Dick Cheney I ask Congress to impeach President
Bush and Vice President Cheney for the following reasons:
1. Violating the United Nations Charter by
launching an illegal "War of Aggression" against Iraq without cause, using
fraud to sell the war to Congress and the public, misusing government funds
to begin bombing without Congressional authorization, and subjecting our
military personnel to unnecessary harm, debilitating injuries, and deaths.
|
Bush's
Iraq Plan - Goading Iran into War
Analysis by Trita Parsi*
WASHINGTON, Jan 12 (IPS) - President George W.
Bush's address on Iraq Wednesday night was less about Iraq than about its
eastern neighbour, Iran. There was little new about the U.S.'s strategy in
Iraq, but on Iran, the president spelled out a plan that appears to be aimed
at goading Iran into war with the U.S. |
Hostile Intent
Just what is the Bush administration up to regarding
Iran? By
Laura Rozen
President Bush's Wednesday address to the nation on
his new Iraq strategy delved heavily into an alleged uptick in Iranian
support for terrorism and attacks on coalition forces in Iraq, and his plans
for confronting it. The speech was followed the next day by the dramatic
U.S. raid on an Iranian office in the Iraqi city of Irbil. Speculation is
now intensifying: Has Bush signed a finding authorizing covert action on
Iran? If so, what specifically does it say? Alternatively, has he authorized
a more aggressive Iran strategy through a presidential directive that
doesn't explicitly require informing Congress -- or the public -- of action?
|
|
After the surge ... what next?
President Bush, under fire
for sending 20,000 extra troops into Iraq, is now ready to target Iran for
the chaos in Baghdad and beyond
Peter Beaumont in
London, Paul Harris in New York, and Robert Tait in Tehran
Sunday January 14, 2007
The Observer
|
Impressive Performance of Women in City Council Elections
Shahram Rafizadeh
Aside from Masoumeh Ebtekar, Parvin
Ahmadinejad and Masoumeh Abad, who won seats in Tehran’s city council, 43
other women found their way into the city councils of Iran’s provincial
capitals by impressive numbers of votes. |
Ahmadinejad: A Dilemma For The Conservatives
Ahmad ZeidabadiI
still do not believe that Ahmadinejad’s rise to presidency was pre-planned
and ordered from above.
His presidency was more due to chance and luck. |
US, Britain move ships to Gulf in signal to Iran
AFP via Yahoo! News
Thu, 21 Dec 2006
8:29 AM PST
The United States and Britain will reportedly start moving additional ships
into the Gulf region in a signal to Iran as the United Nations weighs
sanctions action. |
Rice: U.S. backs Iran sanctions draft
AP via Yahoo! News
Thu, 21 Dec 2006
11:26 AM PST
The United States supports a draft U.N. sanctions resolution against Iran
even though it omits a mandatory travel ban against several Iranians
involved in the country's nuclear and missile programs, Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice said Thursday. |
|
Bush: No Direct Talks with Iran |
| By Scott Stearns,
VOA, White House
U.S. President George Bush says there will be no direct talks
with Iran until it stops enriching uranium. VOA White House
Correspondent Scott Stearns reports, a bipartisan panel studying
U.S. policy in Iraq has urged the president to include Tehran in
discussions about finding a new way forward in Iraq. |
|
| UN Security Council
Sets Vote On Iran Sanctions |
| By Peter Heinlein,
VOA, United Nations
The U.N. Security Council is set to adopt a resolution penalizing
Iran for its suspect nuclear program. But as VOA's correspondent at
the U.N. Peter Heinlein reports, the penalties have been weakened to
meet Russia's objections. |
|
|
Ahmadinejad's Message to "Noble Americans"
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the president of Iran,
suspected hostage-taker in the 1979
444-day seige of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, and crackpot
Holocaust-denier, is feeling the holiday spirit. On Nov. 29,
Ahmadinejad
posted an open letter (see below)
on the Web site of Iran's mission to the United Nations that
invited "Noble Americans" to share "responsibility to promote and protect
freedom and human dignity." He wants us out of Iraq. |
Malachi Ritscher's apparent suicide
by Peter Margasak on November 7th - 4:06 p.m.
On Saturday the Sun-Times ran a
small item about a man who had set himself on fire during rush
hour Friday morning near the Ohio Street exit on the Kennedy. His
identity has still not been officially determined, but members of the
local jazz and improvised music community say they are certain it was
Malachi Ritscher, a longtime supporter of the scene. Bruno Johnson,
who owns the free-jazz label Okka
Disk, received a package yesterday from Ritscher that included a
will, keys to his home, and instructions about what should be done
with his belongings. Johnson, a former Chicagoan who now lives in
Milwaukee, began making calls. Police are still awaiting the results
of dental tests, but Johnson says an officer told one of Ritscher's
sisters that all evidence pointed to the body being his; his car was
found nearby and he hadn't shown up for work since Thursday.
|
 Video
David Sanger explains the
possibility that Donald Rumsfeld's resignation will
result in a new war strategy.
Today, CCR filed a criminal
complaint in Germany under their universal jurisdiction law
charging Rumsfeld, Gonzales and other high-ranking officials in
the Bush administration with war crimes. We’ve taken this step
on behalf of 11 Iraqis , and one detainee at Guantánamo Bay
subjected to torture and abuse there under Rumsfeld’s specific
authorization.
|
|
Demonstrations in front of British Embassy in Tehran: Mehdi Ghasemi,
winner of Kaveh Golestan Photojournalism award
 |
|
By
Syma Sayyah, Tehran
The winners of the
Third Kaveh
Golestan Photojournalism Award were announced on Friday October
27 in Tehran. This year, Mehdi Ghasemi won the award in the Best
Picture Story category with his photos from demonstrations in
front of the British Embassy in Tehran.
|
|
|
|
NEWS YOU WON'T FIND ON CNN
The Case for Engagement
By Scott Ritter
11/04/06 - "The
Nation" -- -[from the November 20, 2006 issue] -- -The
distance between the northern suburbs of the Iranian capital of Tehran and
the nuclear enrichment facility of Natanz is roughly 180 miles. What
transpires on the ground between these two geographical points has seized
the attention of the international community, and in particular the
government of the United States, as the world wrestles with how best to
respond to the issues surrounding Iran's decision to pursue indigenous
enrichment of uranium in defiance of the United Nations Security Council's
resolution demanding that all such activity cease. |
Former UN
Weapons Inspector Scott Ritter: “The path that the United States is
currently embarked on regarding Iran is a path that will inevitably lead
to war. Such a course of action will make even the historical mistake we
made in Iraq pale by comparison.” [includes rush transcript]
Ceasefire Campaign:
Tell President Bush: Talk to Iran
Send a message to President Bush, calling on the US to
open direct talks with Iran on its nuclear program. Feel free to edit the
text below with your own personal message.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
As unbelievable as it may seem, our sources in Washington warn that the
Bush Administration is making further preparations for a military strike
against Iran, and their "prepare to deploy" orders for the USS Eisenhower
are part of those plans.
Submitted by mayfirst on Thu, 2006-04-20 14:53.
Video: Olbermann traces Bush Admin's
pre-9/11 actions
David Edwards
Published: Thursday September 28, 2006
Print This Email
This
 MSNBC's
Keith Olbermann has taken a critical look at actions the Bush
Administration took before 9/11 against Osama Bin Laden and the al
Qaeda terrorist network.
In a recent interview on Fox News, Bill Clinton
challenged the media to ask the Bush Administration to explain what
actions were taken to protect America against terrorist threats
between the 8 months from the time Bush took office until the attacks
on September 11, 2001.
'Nasrallah' the Hot Date in
Cairo's Ramadan Markets
Cairo fruit-sellers have a tradition of giving nicknames to their
selections of dates before Ramadan and this year the Hizbullah leader
topped the unofficial popularity ratings, with the 'Nasrallah' the
most expensive in town.
The charismatic Shiite cleric, who earned great support from Arabs
during his group's month-long war with
Israel, surpassed
the presidents of
Iran and
Venezuela --
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Hugo Chavez -- two other prominent Israeli
foes.
Ramin Jahanbegloo, Hossein Derakhshan and openDemocracy
Danny
Postel
22 - 9 - 2006
openDemocracy's
publication of Hossein Derakhshan's article about the release from
detention of the Iranian philosopher Ramin Jahanbegloo raises serious
questions about its editorial standards, says Danny Postel.
Commission Finds
President George W. Bush and His Administration Guilty of War Crimes
and Crimes Against Humanity
Submitted by administrator on Wed,
2006-09-13 01:27.
The Commission of Inquiry on Crimes Against Humanity Committed by
the Bush Administration released its final verdict on Wednesday,
September 13, 2006.
11:00 AM, Press Conference, Camp Democracy
(Constitution & 14)
12:00 Noon, Delivery of Verdict to the White House
Find the full text of the verdict in PDF form
here.
Submitted by administrator on Wed, 2006-08-02
17:26.
"Speaking the
Unspeakable:
Is the Bush Regime Guilty of War Crimes?"
On the evening of May 3, 2006, an
extraordinary panel
convened on the Berkeley Campus of the University of California. The
Bush
Crimes Commission now is proud to make this stunning event available
on DVD.
Submitted by administrator on Fri, 2006-04-21
16:45.
(Larry
Everest, Ray McGovern, and Cindy Sheehan at Berkeley, March 23)
A
nationwide campus tour – “Speaking the Unspeakable: Is the Bush
Administration Guilty of War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity?” --
will bring a panel of prominent whistleblowers, eye-witnesses, victims
and experts to give testimony that make visible the reality that this
administration has committed war crimes and crimes against humanity -
acts that, by their scale or nature, shock the conscience of
humankind.
These panels are timely and urgent: they can help cut through the
fog of official obfuscation and disinformation to paint a clear
picture of the full scope and nature of these acts and clearly
establish the culpability of the Bush administration in these horrors.
Our aim is to provoke discussion on, and bring to the fore the
inherent moral imperative, and attendant political responsibility, of
people of conscience in these times.
Listening to the preliminary verdicts of the commission being
announced at the National Press Club in Washington DC in
early-February, Ray McGovern exclaimed: “This is what our German
forbearers in the 1930s did NOT do. They sat around, blamed their
rulers, said 'maybe everything's going to be alright.'... That is
something we cannot do. Because I don't want my grandchildren asking
me years from now, 'why didn't you do something to stop all this?'”
|
|
|
Prof. R. K. Ramazani
|
| Jan 17, 2008
|
|
The recent naval encounter between the US and Iran
extended their cold war for the first time to the
strategic Strait of Hormuz. Such incidents could
escalate into armed conflict, with catastrophic
consequences for the world economy, especially the
price of oil. To prevent such escalation, Washington
and Tehran should establish a “hot line” and an
Incident-at-Sea agreement as Washington and Moscow
did during the Cold War.
Iranian Americans and the
Senate: A Chamber in the Balance
Washington DC -
America's political
future will depend heavily on the Senate elections
in 2008 because a surprisingly large number of the
upper chamber's 35 races are considered competitive.
Each election cycle, a third of US Senators face
re-election, and just like the House races
described earlier, rarely are incumbent Senators
defeated. This year, for the first time in a few
decades, as many as
a dozen seats may
change hands and in a few of these states,
Iranian Americans can play a major if not decisive
role.
|
|
 |
|
Petition
Demanding Immediate and Unconditional Release of Women’s Rights
Defenders Arrested in Tehran on March 4, 2007
