Tag: Iran

Iran

Iran: repression escalates against Ahwazi Arabs

Iran's government has unleashed a wave of arrests in western Khuzestan province since the Sept. 22 deadly attack on a military parade in the city of Ahwaz, with sweeps targetting dissidents, journalists, intellectuals, human rights activists and members of the Ahwazi Arab minority generally. Some 1,000 Ahwazis have been detained in the weeks since the attack, with at least 600 still being detained. Many of the detained have been taken to unknown destinations, with their families denied any contact or even information on their whereabouts. Local rights groups report that security forces have raided activists' homes, and the detained include women and the elderly. Karim Dahimi, an Ahwazi human rights worker based in London, said that the Iranian government has been systematically detaining Ahwazi activists in clandestine torture facilities known as "black sites." Ahwazi Arabs in the international diaspora have been holding demonstrations at Iranian consulates demanding an end to the regime's anti-Arab racism and repression (Image: The Herald Report)

Iran

Iran: environmentalists languish in jail

Eight environmental activists arbitrarily detained in Iran in January and February remain in detention eight months later without clear charges, Human Rights Watch said. The organization called upon Iranian authorities to either immediately release them or charge them with recognizable crimes and produce evidence to justify their continued detention. The detained are all members of the Persian Wildlife Heritage Foundation. The public prosecutor for Tehran told reporters after the arrests that the detained are accused of using environmental projects as a cover to collect classified strategic information. It is unclear what classified information they could potentially collect, as their organization says it only works to conserve and protect Iran's flora and fauna, including the Asiatic cheetah, an endangered species in Iran. Other sources indicated they have been accused of "sowing corruption on earth," a serious charge that carries the risk of execution. (Image via HRW)

Iran

Iran: deadly attack on Revolutionary Guards

At least 24 people, including 12 Revolutionary Guards, were killed and more than 60 were wounded when gunmen attacked a military parade in the city of Ahvaz, capital of Iran's restive southwestern province of Khuzestan. Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif blamed "a foreign regime" backed by the United States for the attack. A representative for the separatist al-Ahwaz Arab Liberation Front told the London-based Iran International TV that the Ahwaz National Resistance, a coalition of separatist groups, was responsible for the attack, but insisted that civilians were not the target. (Map: ResearchGate)

Iran

Iran: general strike shuts down Kurdish region

Iran's northern Kurdish region was effectively shut down by a civic strike, with most businesses and markets closed. The strike was called to protest the executions of six Kurdish militants and air-strikes on the headquarters of Iranian-Kurdish opposition parties across the border in Iraq. The missile strikes on the headquarters of the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI) and Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (PDKI) in Erbil left at least 15 dead and several wounded. The air-strikes were claimed by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps in a statement that called the parties "terrorist" groups. The civic strike was called by the Coordination Center of Rojhelat, an umbrella group of Iranian Kurdish opposition parties. "The criminal regime of the Islamic Republic added a new black page of its history of crimes and barbarism against the Kurdish nation," read the statement by the Coordination Center. Rojhelat (East) is the Kurdish word for Iranian Kurdistan. (Photo via PDKI)

Iran

Iran: demand release of lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh

Amnesty International called for the release of Iranian human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh, detained since June, and her husband Reza Khandan, who was arrested this week. Reza Khandan was charged with spreading propaganda against the system, colluding to commit crimes against national security, and promoting the practice of appearing in public without a veil. Her actual crime was representing women facing prison time for peacefully protesting against the Islamic Republic's compulsory hijab law. Khandan had raised concerns on Facebook about rights violations in Iran, and publicly campaigned for the release of his wife. Amnesty International director for the Middle East and North Africa, Philip Luther said, "These callous actions illustrate the lengths to which Iranian authorities will go to silence human rights lawyers, even targeting their families." (Photo: Center for Human Rights in Iran)

Iran

Trump administration reimposes sanctions on Iran

US President Donald Trump issued an executive order reimposing certain sanctions against Iran. In a press statement, the White House criticized the Iran nuclear deal, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) of July 2015, signed by Iran, Germany, the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and the EU. The US withdrew from the JCPOA in May, prompting a legal challenge from Iran before the International Court of Justice. The White House stated that JCPOA "threw a lifeline of cash to a murderous dictatorship that has continued to spread bloodshed, violence, and chaos." The administration claims Iran used funds obtained from the JCPOA to fund nuclear-capable missiles, terrorism, and to support conflict abroad. (Map: Myket.ir)

Iran

Drought sparks farmer protests in Iran

Farmers in central Iran have over the past weeks been turning to protests to push authorities to find a solution to the severe drought that is plaguing the county and causing once-fertile fields to turn to dust. Every day, farmers in Varzaneh, Isfahan province, have been holding a protest vigil at the town entrance, parking their long-idle tractors next to the now-dry canal that once irrigated their fields. Earlier this month, protests in the town of Abadan, Khuzestan province, were violently put down by security forces, who used tear-gas and bullets, leaving 11 demonstrators dead. The drought currently affects over 95% of Iran, and is the worst in decades. But protests charge the problems have been exacerbated by long mismanagement and corruption. (Photo: Iran News Update)

Iran

Iran: pre-emptive arrests shut down Azeri protest

At least 32 Azeri activists were arrested in the lead-up to an annual July protest at Babak Fort in Iran's East Azerbaijan province against discrimination targeting the ethnic minority. The arrests took place in several citiese, including Tabriz and Ahar, usually following home raids. Dozens more were summoned and threatened with arrest if they attended the ceremony. Babak Fort, also known as the Immortal Castle or Republic Castle, is a mountaintop citadel said to have been the stronghold of Babak Khorramdin, the leader of the Khurramite rebellion who fought the Abbassid caliphate in the ninth century CE. Babak is revered as national hero by ethnic Azeris and Iranians alike. Azeris, also known as Azarbaijani Turks, have for several years gathered at the citadel each July for the annual ceremony. (Photo: AzerTurk)

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Iran: Sufi bus driver executed after ‘unfair trial’

Amnesty International issued a statement protesting the execution of Mohammad Salas, a 51-year-old man from Iran’s largest Sufi order, the Gonabadi Dervishes, saying it "was carried out despite serious unfair trial concerns." Salas was arrested outside a police station where thousands of Gonabadi followers had gathered to protest persecution of the dervish community. He was convicted of killing two police officers during the protest—on the basis of a "confession" coerced through torture and threats, and despite the fact that he had already been detained when the killings took place. Witnesses in his defense were barred from testifying. Gonabadi dervishes consider themselves to be Shi'ite Muslims, but are rejected as heretical by Iran's orthodox establishment. (Photo: Amnesty International) 

Iran

Ayatollahs blame Iran unrest on US —surprise!

In a perfectly predictable response, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei accused the US of fomenting the latest irruption in the wave of popular protests that has swept the country since the start of the year. Just as predictable was US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's transparently bogus statement of support for the Iranian protesters. Somewhat more surreal was the spectacle of Rudolph Giuliani, addressing a Paris rally staged by the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), political wing of the cultish armed opposition group Mujahedin-e-Khalq—once listed as a terrorist organization by both the US and EU. Giuliani of course had to invoke the dreaded "regime change" phrase at the NCRI rally. This kind of US "support" hurts more than it helps, allowing the ayatollahs to more easily portray protesters as pawns, dupes or agents of the West.  (Photo: Center for Human Rights in Iran)

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Iran: new sanctions on Hezbollah-linked figures

The US Department of the Treasury issued new sanctions against Iran, targeting two individuals deemed to be Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGTs). Mohammad Ibrahim Bazzi has been identified as a financier for Hezbollah, and Safi al-Din has been identified as Hezbollah's representative in Iran. The Treasury Department stated that the sanctions "show the convergence of Iran's support for terrorism with many facets of illicit criminal activity, including narcotics trafficking." The sanctions come after President Trump's decision to leave the Iranian nuclear deal and to begin reimposing sanctions against Iran. (Map: Myket.ir)

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New oil shock feared in wake of Iran debacle

After all the talk we've heard in recent years about how depressed oil prices are now permanent, in the wake of Trump's announced withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal Bank of America is predicting that the price of Brent crude could go as high as the once-dreaded $100 per barrel in 2019. The report also cited collapsing production in Venezuela due to the crisis there. Brent prices have risen above $77 per barrel since Trump's announcement. Prices have jumped more than 8% over the past month and 15% since the beginning of the year. According to the analysis, investors fear that renewed sanctions on Iran could lead to supply disruptions. Although the report failed to mention it, the Israeli air-strikes on Iranian targets in Syria have doubtless contributed to the jitters.  (Photo: Shana)