NEWS))))))

Following remarks by Ali Khamenei, the Iranian regime’s Supreme Leader, during his meeting with the Iraqi President on February 28 calling for implementation of a bilateral agreement to expel the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI) from Iraq, and pursuant to a week-long visit to Iraq by Hashemi Rafsanjani, head of the Iranian regime’s Expediency Council and a former president, the office of Iraq’s National Security Advisor issued a categorically false and misleading statement last night claiming, “The leaders of Camp Ashraf have refused to allow a committee from the Ministry of Human Rights to conduct its duty to establish the residents’ choice to return to Iran or leave for a third country.” The statement added, “The leaders of the camp also exercised their hegemony and control and deprived the residents of the camp the freedom of returning to Iran or to choose a third country.” The statement said, “The government will not back away from its decision to close the camp.”These entirely false claims are part of a new plot against the residents of Ashraf and at the same time a cover-up for recent unlawful positions and measures by Iraq’s National Security Advisor against Ashraf residents which have aroused widespread protests by the international community. The truth is that the residents of Ashraf and its officials have extended their full cooperation to an Iraqi delegation which apparently wanted to interview the residents. Ashraf camp’s officials prepared buildings and premises for interviews at a location desired by the delegation. On February 25 and 26 the delegation privately interviewed 182 of the residents without the presence of any other members of the PMOI without any problem. US military officers were present in most of the interview sessions. The International Committee of the Red Cross, as well as UNAMI, were also aware of the interviews.But it seems that the Iraqi security official who had been angered by Ashraf residents’ insistence on their legitimate rights, decided to discontinue the interviews without any pre-notification following Khamenei’s February 28 remarks and now the office of the National Security Advisor is distorting the facts to meet with its commitments to the clerical regime in Iran. The American and Iraqi officials stationed in Ashraf and relevant international organizations are aware of continuous inquiries by Ashraf residents about the resumption of the interviews. The Iranian Resistance warns that such actions prepare the grounds for a human tragedy, and calls on all international organizations and specially the International Committee of the Red Cross and UNAMI to be present in Ashraf and to neutralize the conspiracies dictated by the Iranian regime.The Iranian Resistance also calls for the guaranteed protection of Ashraf residents by US forces according to the US Government’s international obligations, and calls for a return to the circumstances prior to January 2009Secretariat of the National.
Council of Resistance of IranMarch 14, 2009

Marivan scene of popular unrest
NCRI said in a statement that widespread protests of citizens entered its fourth consecutive day in the north western city of Marivan Thursday. The mullahs’ suppressive security forces tried to quell the popular protests over border crossing for trade purposes. Many local residents trade with merchants on the other side of the border with Iraq’s Kurdistan. Marivan’s bazaar has been closed during protests. Units of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), members of the Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) and other security forces have imposed an undeclared martial law in the city. The security forces attempt to force open the shuttered shops. However, the local shopkeepers resist the move and stay away from their businesses.According to reports at least 15 people have been arrested by the MOIS agents in the city.

Iranian shelling kills Kurdish child on Iraq border: mayor
Iranian shelling of Kurdish border villages in northern Iraq left one child dead, a local official told AFP on Wednesday.’Iranian artillery bombarded border villages on Tuesday evening killing a child and wounding his parents,’ said Azad Wassu, mayor of Zarawa, 100 miles northeast of the Kurdish city of Sulaimaniyah.’The bombardment lasted nearly two hours... and targeted the villages of Rezka, Mara and Duwu,’ he said.

A man stoned to death in northern Iran
A 30-year-old man identified as Vali Azad was stoned to death in the Lakan prison yard in the northern city of Rasht, according to National Council of Iran Resistance sources. A local judge named Kashani presiding in the 11th branch of the mullahs’ court in Northern Province of Gilan ordered the stoning. The ruling was implemented secretly in a remote area of the prison with presence of a few prison officials. The authorities refuse to turn over the body to the family of the victim.

Five prisoners hanged in Zahedan and Isfahan
Five prisoners were hanged in Isfahan and Zahedan state-run media reports said on Monday. The mullahs’ regime hanged four prisoners without indentifying them in the south eastern city of Zahedan, reported the official news agency IRNA. The other prisoner identified as Mostafa M., 34, was hanged in prison on Sunday in the central city of Isfahan.

700 women celebrated International Women’s Day in Mashhad
700 women gathered outside Melat Park in the city of Mashhad to celebrate International Women’s Day on Sunday. They chanted slogans in support of freedom of women in the country. The mullahs’ suppressive security forces were dispatched to the Azadi Square across from the Melat Park to disperse the demonstrators. At one point the security forces attacked the women participants and they fought back with bricks and stones. Fifty women were arrested by the mullahs’ police and transferred to an unknown location.

Hundreds rallied in cemetery to protest against 1988 massacre of political prisoners
Hundreds of family members of the 1988 massacred political prisoners by Khomeini’s order gathered in Khavaran Cemetery on occasion of the last Friday of the year (Persian calendar) and while chanting protesting shouting, they rallied and expressed their anger against the clerical regime.This ceremony was held while the State Security Force (SSF) agents and plain clothes agents has surrounded the cemetery.

Shoe thrown at Iranian president
UPI, Urumiye, Iran, March 6, 2009 -- Iranian bloggers report that President Mahmoud Ahamdinejad became the target of a hurled shoe this week as he traveled through the city of Urumiye.While newspapers and broadcasters ignored the story, the word in the photosphere was that the president’s security guards failed to find the shoe-thrower, The Guardian reports. Ahamdinejad was reported to be traveling in an open car to deliver a speech in the northwestern city.Among Muslims, shoe-throwing is considered a deadly insult, and the Iraqi journalist who threw both his shoes at U.S. President George W. Bush, who ducked, became a hero in much of the Middle East, including Iran. The practice was also taken up by demonstrators in Iceland and other countries.

Iranians keep rallying outside the White House to defend Ashraf residents’ rights The 41st day of demonstration of Iranians and families of Ashraf residents was held outside the White House in Washington on Thursday, March 12. In this demonstration representatives of the Iranian communities in Europe and the United States participated. The demonstrators rallied and chanted slogans condemning the clerical dictatorship’s pressures on Ashraf and Khamenei’s remarks against Ashraf residents.The solidarity messages of the Iranian Community for Democracy and Freedom in Oslo and the Iranian community in Netherland were read out.In another demonstration outside the White House on Friday, March 12, the Iranians protested against restrictions and limitations imposed on Ashraf residents following brazenly remarks of Khamenei against Ashraf and asked for guaranteed of Ashraf residents’ rights according to international laws and obligations.The solidarity messages of Ashraf residents’ families in the US and the Iranian community in northern Virginia were read out.

Eight prisoners hanged in Zahedan and Shiraz
NCRI - Four prisoners indentified as Noor-Mohammad Ismailzehi, Mujeb-al-Rahman Kurd, Babak Kurd and Mohammad Khan-Hosseini were hanged in the southeastern city of Zahedan, reported the semi-official daily Jomhouri-Islami on March 14. Four other prisoners were hanged without being identified in the southern city of Shiraz, reported the state-run daily Etemaad on Saturday. All the prisoners were men aged between 23 and 26.