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Lawyer in Iran stoning case in hiding to avoid arrest, supporters say

Supporters say human rights attorney Mohammed Mostafaei has been forced into hiding

CNN, July 28, 2010 -- Human rights attorney Mohammed Mostafaei helped bring the world’s attention to his client, Sakineh Mohammedie Ashtiani, a 43-year-old mother of two who was set to be stoned to death for allegedly committing adultery in Iran.
And in the process of his very public campaign to clear his client’s name, Mostafaei may have also turned the Iranian government’s spotlight on himself.
On Saturday, while the world was rallying in support of Ashtiani, hoping to pressure the Iranian government to reverse her death sentence, human rights groups say Mostafaei was being questioned by Iranian authorities for four straight hours in Evin prison before being released.
His crime? According to Rudi Bakhtiar from the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, Mostafaei was being pressured for making the Ashtiani case too public.
'The reason why Mr. Mostafaei is under fire is no doubt because of the worldwide attention concerning the Ashtiani case,' she said. 'And this is something the Iranian government does not like at all.'
Mostafaei told CNN in July that he had been arrested once before, shortly after the post election turmoil in 2009, and that he knew the risks he was taking by speaking so publicly about the Ashtiani case. But he also said that risk wouldn’t deter him from speaking out about human rights abuses in Iran.

Now it seems his family may be paying the price. Bakhtiar and other human rights advocates said Mostafaei went into hiding on Saturday to avoid arrest.
But Bakhtiar said, the Iranian authorities still managed to get their message across.
'His wife and his brother in-law were picked up when they went to his office to get his car, ' Bakhtiar said. 'The authorities were outside Mostafaei’s office waiting to arrest him. Instead they arrested his wife and his brother-in-law. Then they called his wife’s father and told him, ’We will release them as soon as Mostafaei turns himself in.’'
Mina Ahadi, from the International Campaign Against Execution, says the Iranian government is holding Mostafaei’s relatives 'hostage,' and that the International community needs to keep speaking up and speaking out as they have for Ashtiani.
'I think it is a very dangerous situation for Mr. Mostafaei,' she said. 'If he were to present himself to the authorities, he might receive 10 to 15 years in prison, and I think we must put pressure on the Islamic regime so that his wife and brother will be released.'
Bakhtiar says that unfortunately cases like Mostafaei’s are far too common in Iran.
'Other attorneys have been arrested similarly when they have tried to advocate for certain people. This is something the government of Iran has tried over and over again -- to hush, using fear and intimidation tactics and also imprisoning anyone that they feel is threatening,' she said. 'The Islamic Republic likes to keep their stoning cases and their executions very quiet.'
But for now one case Mostafaei has advocated for so diligently remains very public.
Next week, human right’s groups say, the Iran judiciary may release their final judgment in the Ashtiani case, deciding whether to reinstate her sentence of death by stoning, execute her by another means or possibly even grant her a reprieve.

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Student Activist Commits Suicide in Eastern Iran

Student activist Azita Mizban committed suicide three days ago. She was attending Birjand University (in South Khorasan province in eastern Iran), a member of the Central Islamic Student Council of Birjand, and the executive editor of the Sokoot publication (The student council’s newspaper). According to Daneshjoo News, Azita Mizban committed suicide by consuming poison. Her friends are not aware of the motives behind her act. In recent years, a considerable number of students have committed suicide as a result of social pressures and educational conditions and limitations. An adviser to the Ministry of Advanced Education states in an interview with state media that suicide is the second leading cause of death among students. The number of female students committing suicide is higher than male students. The Secretary for the head of the Ministry of Advanced Education states that out of every 28 cases of student suicides in Iran, seven of the victims are male and 21 are female. In an interview with Iran Student News Agency (ISNA), Mehrdad Dashti, the Vice President of the counselling centre in Esfahan Technical University (ETU), states that eight students commit suicide at ETU each semester.

Rallies for Iranian woman sentenced to death

Rallies were held around the world to highlight the continued imprisonment of an Iranian woman sentenced to death for adultery. Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani was originally told she would be killed by stoning but the sentence was put on hold following an international outcry. However, her death sentence remains in place. She has already received 99 lashes for what Iranian officials called an illicit relationship outside marriage. Then, following the trial of a man charged with murdering her husband, the 43-year-old mother of two was found guilty of adultery - a crime punishable by death. Earlier this month, officials in East Azerbaijan province said the execution would be 'temporarily halted' pending a decision by Iran’s judiciary chief, Sadeq Larijani. It was announced that the method of execution would not be stoning, but she remains under sentence of death with her case due to be reviewed within a fortnight. Rights groups have warned she could still be hanged. Amnesty International says at least six people have been stoned to death in Iran since 2006. Another 15 people were spared, the human rights group says. On a related note, a group of Georgian women gathered in front of the Iranian embassy in Tiflis and shouted anti regime slogans such as: “TAKE OFF YOUR RELIGIOUS HANDS FROM MY SACRED BODY”, “My body belongs to me”, “Stop killing women”, “My body is not your property”, “Down with dictatorship”, “I was stoned because I had sex with you”, “don’t build up your regime on my stoned body” The Georgian women then symbolically burned their head covers.

EU envoys endorse sanctions against Iran

According to Associated France Press the European Union reached agreement Thursday on a package of sanctions against Iranian regime which targets Tehran’s energy sector over its refusal to halt sensitive nuclear work, an EU diplomat said. Ambassadors from the 27 EU member states met in Brussels to endorse the sanctions, which include measures against the oil and gas industry and must be approved at a meeting of foreign ministers on Monday to come into force.

The regime of Iran amputated hands of 5 prisoners in Hamedan prison

The Iranian regime amputated the hands of 5 prisoners inside Hamedan Prison on July 22. The Iranian regime officials also said that the reason they didn’t do this inhumane act in public, was that “The international community would take advantage of this, and claim that Iran commits human right violation”.

Iran Develops Software to Promote Chastity and Hijab

A group of Iranian scholars has developed software to promote chastity and the Hijab, a style of of Islamic dress code. It includes a bonus gallery so women can see what full coverage really means. The software package contains a variety of materials including verses and hadith and more than hundred articles and book. The software package includes a special bonus gallery to focus the attention on women’s full coverage. This software project is part of an ongoing project that started eight years ago with the goal of promoting religious orders in Iran. Earlier on Iran boosted Islamic dress code through free pizza. This is a sign of a defeated regime. The Iranian regime has failed miserably to force Iranian women to cover up “Mullah Style”.

Iranian regime supports three insurgent groups in Iraq

Associated France Press reported on 22 July that Iran is supporting three Shiite extremist groups in Iraq that have been attempting to attack US bases, General Ray Odierno, the top US commander in Iraq, said Wednesday. For the past four years the US military has blamed Iran for supporting violent anti-US groups operating in Iraq, but has been unable to establish a clear link with the government in Tehran. 'The Iranians... continue to fund, train and provide weapons and ammunition to Shiite extremist groups,' Odierno told reporters here. The Iranians have 'gone to a more sophisticated program with a smaller set of extremists' and are now focusing on three groups, which he identified as Ketaib Hezbollah, Asaib Ahl al-Haq(League of the Righteous), and the Promise Day Brigade. 'It’s very difficult to say if the extremist groups are directly connected to the Iranian government,' he said. 'But we do know that many of them live in Iran, many of them get trained in Iran, and many of them get weapons from Iran,' he said.

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Bazaar strike continues on its 12th day
Acording to National Council of Resistance’s report in the third week of protests in Tehran Bazaar, Farvardin shopping center, the most important market for gold and jewelry in Tehran and other cities, was closed and on all out strike on Saturday morning July 17. Further, the bazaar near Sabz-e Meidan Square was also half-closed. Carpet sellers in Rahimia Bazaar, most of whom are sellers of carpets for export, were on complete strike. The shops in Akbarieh, Vazir, Park, Mojtabaii, Yameen and Azad passages were also on full strike. NCRI added: on Friday, despite weekend holiday where shops are closed, the clerical regime, fearful of solidarity of the populous with the Bazaar strike, stationed thirty-five vehicles of suppressive State Security Force and intelligence forces in Sabz-e-Maidan Square. State Security Forces also patrolled the whole Bazaar.

Appeal court orders review of Iranian group’s terrorist designation

US medias reported that a federal appeals court for the District of Columbia Saturday ordered the US State Department to review the designation of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI) as a foreign terrorist group. The decision, issued by a three-judge panel, is a foreign policy setback for the administration of President Barack Obama, who currently has a number of groups to add to the list of foreign terrorist organizations. The PMOI, also known as the MEK (Mujahedin-e Khalq) has appealed the U.S. decision for years to take it off from the blacklist of the State Department. It maintains that it was listed in 1997 by former President Bill Clinton’s administration to curry favor with the Iranian government, which considers the PMOI a threat. In its ruling, the court indicates that the State Department violated due process protections of the group because it did not give it the opportunity to challenge non-confidential information used to justify the listing. Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in January 2009 reinstated the listing, in what was one of her last decisions in office.

The group has argued that it ceased its military campaign against the Iranian regime in 2001, voluntarily surrendered its weapons to U.S. forces in 2003, providing a wealth of information to U.S. intelligence services on the Iranian regime’s nuclear program. It has also convinced the United Kingdom and the European Union (EU) to remove it from the list of terrorist organizations. The State Department, meanwhile, said it has received the order of the court and will study it 'carefully.' However, it stressed that the court has left in force the designation of the PMOI as a foreign terrorist organization until the State Department completes its review. 'The U.S. government still sees MEK as a terrorist organization,' it said in a statement.On the same not Mrs Maryam Rajavi the president elect of the Iranian resistance said yesterday that the time has come for the US government to respect the rule of law and justice and should acknowledge the removal of the PMOI from the terror list. She stipulated that the time has come that the West to respect the will of the Iranian people to overthrow the clerical rule.

Tens members of the Iranian regime military forces were killed or injured in the blast in Zahedan Iran

According to Reuters at least 21 people, including members of the elite Revolutionary Guards, were killed and 100 wounded in suicide attack at a Shi’ite mosque in the southeast Iranian city of Zahedan on Thursday, Iranian media reported. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the two suicide bombings in front of Zahedan’s Grand Mosque, although a lawmaker said he believed the Sunni rebel group Jundollah was behind the attack. Iran’s deputy Interior Minister said ’a number of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards were killed and injured,’ the semi-official Fars news agency reported.

Zahedan is the capital of Sistan-Baluchestan one of poorest provinces in Iran. The rate of self suicide among girls and young women is the highest in the country. Recently the Iranian regime executed a man called Riggi who was know to be the head of “Jundollah” that attacks on the Iranian regime’s military forces in Sistan-Baluchestn.

Complementary Report | Rape and murder in Tabriz under the pretext of fighting improper hijab
source:freedomessenger.com
According to HRANA, three members of the Basij militia misused their ID cards in the city of Tabriz to abduct, beat, assault, rape, and kill a young woman with a gun. They dumped her body in the outskirts of the city. The news has stirred a lot of emotional reactions from the public. Based on information obtained by HRANA reporters, after Elnaz Babazadeh went missing, her family reported the disappearance to all official Iranian government agencies. After a week-long search, her body was delivered to the family by the coroner’s office while the coroner, after examining the body, confirmed assault, battery, rape,and murder by shooting. The police announced that the body was discovered near Emamieh Cemetery in Tabriz.
After the family filed a complaint against the murder of their daughter [demanding to press charges], the police arrested three citizens from Tabriz who are active members of the Basij [militia]. The main suspect and defendant confessed to all the above-mentioned charges in the police station. The defendant stated he entered the vehicle of the young woman in Tabriz’s Valiasr neighbourhood under the pretext of “*ordering to what is known to be virtuous”, and to give a notice to the young woman for “bad hijab”, in the context of the hijab and chastity program undertaken by the police and the Basij forces. The defendant then used his firearm to threaten the woman. The police forced her to drive to the outskirts of the city. That is where they raped her. Then, she died from three gun shots to the chest.
It is reported that the main suspect of the case is currently held by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) due to the sensitivity of the issues involved.
*It is an Islamic obligation that requires everyone to invite people to do the right thing. It is used by the Taliban, the government of Saudi Arabia, and the Iranian Islamic regime to justify interference with various aspects of the lives of citizens; for example, the way they dress, their involvement in intimate relationships, and private gatherings they hold.

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Tehran- Bazaar merchant entered their sixth day of strike

The clerical regime launched a violent raid on striking merchants in the Tehran Bazaar on Wednesday and as a result, Haji Kashani 68, a veteran Bazaar merchant was killed. On Wednesday, the second day of the strike in the Tehran Bazaar, the clerical regime tried to put an end to the strike and force merchants to open up their shops by using some of its agents and profiteering merchants. But the merchants on strike resisted and chanted ’down with Khamenei,’ and ’down with Ahmadinejad.’ On the third day of strike by Bazaar merchants, Tehran’s Bazaar has been shut down since that morning on its entirety including shops selling gold, Small Chaharsou, carpet shops, Kiloyiha Bazaar, fabric sellers, curtain shops, shoe shops, tailor workshops, garment sellers, southern section of Tehran Bazaar including Abbas-Abad, Hamam Chal pivot, southern pivot of Charsou, Kuwaiti Bazaar, fruit and vegetable sellers, Naser-Khosro, Peleh Nowrouzkhan and Pamenar.

Female students summoned to disciplinary committee

Over 60 female students at the Free University of Qom have been summoned to the disciplinary committee since March. Many of them are political activists. The clerical regime has segregated students at the entrance of the university based on gender, insulting female students under bogus pretexts. According to obtained reports by the Iranian resistance, more than 1,000 female students have already been verbally abused by the regime’s agents.

Canada Urges Iran to Halt Imminent Executions

The Honourable Lawrence Cannon, Canada’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, issued the following statement urging the Iranian regime to halt the planned execution of Mohammad Reza Haddadi and the possible execution of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani by stoning: “Canada is deeply concerned by reports that the Iranian regime has scheduled the execution of Mohammad Reza Haddadi for Wednesday, July 7, 2010, in Adelabad prison in the province of Fars. We strongly urge Iran to respect its international obligations and not to proceed with this execution. “Canada is also gravely concerned by reports that Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, a mother of two children, was convicted of adultery in a judicial process that lacked transparency and was sentenced to death by stoning. She could face execution at any time. Canada calls upon Iran to end this inhumane practice. “These pending executions are part of an overall deteriorating human rights situation in Iran. Canada remains gravely concerned by the human rights situation in Iran and calls on the Iranian regime to live up to its commitments and obligations under domestic and international law.”

Activists say spy chief is right, China is spying

By BRIAN LILLEY, Parliamentary Bureau- Politicians of Chinese descent in British Columbia have demanded an apology from Canadian Security Intelligence Service boss Richard Fadden, but Chinese-Canadian activists were on Parliament Hill Monday to say his claims are true. Supporters and practitioners of the Chinese religious movement Falun Gong say China is actively spying on Canadians. “The Falun Gong practitioners have been the target of the Chinese regime’s interference in Canada for over 10 years,” said Lucy Zhou. Zhou pointed to an affidavit signed by a former Chinese diplomat that laid out in detail how diplomatic staff are expected to disrupt Falun Gong activities and influence foreign media and political officials. John Thompson, who heads up the Mackenzie Institute, a security minded think-tank, says China isn't alone in trying to gain influence. Thompson, who is often called on by media outlets to offer up analysis, says he was offered $۸۰,۰۰۰ by a man tied to Iran’s mission in Canada.
“They wanted me to publish a piece on the Mujahedin-e khalq," he said. "Iran is trying to get other countries to label it as a terrorist cult.” Thompson says he turned down the offer. Thompson says other countries involved in this type of activity include Russia, Saudi Arabia and even allies like France. “The French play realpolitik and have always been very aggressive at industrial espionage,” said Thompson.

The young Mohammad Reza Hadadi to be hanged in Iran
The life of a 22 year old prisoner, who has been incarcerated since he was 15, is in danger. The Iranian regime has told his family, that Mohammad-Reza Hadadi will be hanged on Wednesday, July 7.
Hangings, especially as it concerns young prisoners, on the brink of the July 8 protests demonstrate the faltering clerical regime’s fear over rising popular protests, especially by courageous students. The regime seeks to use the hangings to intensify the atmosphere of terror and suppression in society.
Hadadi was 15 at the time of his arrest. He was tricked into take the blame for a crime he did not do because he was told he will not be hanged as he was a child. His Father in a telephone interview has asked the world to stop his son's execution.

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Iranian Regime closes down dormitory fearing student protests

According to reports the Iranian regime in Iran has closed down the dormitory of the University of Tehran since Thursday in fear of student protests on the anniversary of the July 8, 1999 uprising. The move occurs even as some of the colleges have not completed their final exams. The Science Ministry of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s cabinet has issued a directive to major universities in Tehran ordering them to close down campuses from July 5 til 15. Based on the report by the National Council of Resistance of Iran the decision was taken at the regime’s provincial office in Tehran at a meeting attended by the science and interior ministers of the Ahmadinejad government, as well as commanders of the State Security Forces (SSF), the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the paramilitary Bassij and security and intelligence organs. Students at the Science and Technology University in Tehran have resisted against the closure of their Majidieh dormitory, which has remained opened.

Teachers committee invites Iranians to mark anniversary of student uprising

The Committee of Free Teachers of Iran has called on the Iranian people from all walks of life to commemorate the student uprising of July 8, 1999 and protest the continued arrest of teachers. Part of the statement to the Iranian people reads, “Your sons and daughters are the teachers of this society and will leave a tradition of perseverance and resistance in practice for their students just as was done by the freedom-loving teacher, Farzad Kamangar. These teachers will not trade their life for sacrificing freedom.” The statement calls on all human rights organizations to intervene immediately and prevent the arbitrary arrest of teachers and the continued detention of all political prisoners by the regime.

Australia expels Iranian regime’s cleric on security grounds

The Australian government described the presence of an Iranian regime cleric as a security threat for that country and had him expelled, reported CNN. According to CNN, mullah Mansour Laqaii, whose expulsion order was announced to him by Australian authorities some time ago, was officially expelled from this country. According to the same report, the Australian intelligence service announced mullah Mansour Laqaii is a security threat.

Death by stoning imminent for Iranian woman, attorney says

Sakineh Mohammadie Ashtiani, a mother of two, is waiting to die in Iran by a method of execution described by her lawyer as 'barbaric' -- stoning. She will be buried up to her chest, deeper than a man would be, and the stones that will be hurled at her will be large enough to cause pain but not so large as to kill her immediately, according to an Amnesty International report that cited the Iranian penal code. The 42-year-old woman from the northern city of Tabriz was convicted of adultery in 2006, and her execution is imminent, said human rights lawyer Mohammad Mostafaei. Ashtiani was forced to confess after being subjected to 99 lashes, Mostafaei told CNN on Thursday in a telephone interview from Tehran. She later retracted that confession and has denied wrongdoing. Her conviction was based not on evidence but on the determination of three out of five judges, Mostafaei said. She has asked forgiveness from the court but the judges refused to grant clemency. Iran’s supreme court upheld the conviction in 2007. Mostafaei believes a language barrier prevented his client from fully comprehending court proceedings. Ashtiani is of Azerbaijani descent and speaks Turkish, not Farsi. The circumstances of Ashtiani’s case make it not an exception but the rule in Iran, according to Amnesty International, which tracks death penalty cases around the world. 'The majority of those sentenced to death by stoning are women, who suffer disproportionately from such punishment,' the human rights group said in a 2008 report. On Wednesday, Amnesty made a new call to the Iranian government to immediately halt all executions and commute all death sentences. The group has recorded 126 executions in Iran from the start of this year to June 6. 'The organization is also urging the authorities to review and repeal death penalty laws, to disclose full details of all death sentences and executions and to join the growing international trend towards abolition,' the statement said. In Washington, the State Department criticized the scheduled stoning, saying it raised serious concerns about human rights violations by the Iranian government. 'We have grave concerns that the punishment does not fit the alleged crime, ' Assistant Secretary of State P.J. Crowley said Thursday. 'For a modern society such as Iran, we think this raises significant human rights concerns.' Calling Iran’s judicial system 'disproportionate' in its treatment of women, Crowley said, 'From the United States’ standpoint, we don’t think putting women to death for adultery is an appropriate punishment.' Human rights activists have been pushing the Islamic government to abolish stoning, arguing that women are not treated equally before the law in Iran and are especially vulnerable in the judicial system. A woman’s testimony is worth half that of a man. Article 74 of the Iranian penal code requires at least four witnesses -- four men or three men and two women -- for an adulterer to receive a stoning sentence, said Mina Ahadi, coordinator for the International Committee Against Stoning. But there were no witnesses in Ashtiani’s case. Often, said Ahadi, husbands turn wives in to get out of a marriage. Mostafaei said he could not understand how such a savage method of death could exist in the year 2010 or how an innocent woman could be taken from her son and daughter, who have written to the court pleading for their mother’s life. The public won’t be allowed to witness the stoning, Mostafaei said, for fear of condemnation of such a brutal method. He is hoping there won’t be an execution. Mostafaei, who himself did jail time in the aftermath of the disputed presidential elections in June 2009, said he realizes the risk of speaking out for Ashtiani, for fighting for human rights. But he doesn’t let that deter him. He last saw Ashtiani five months ago behind bars in Tabriz. Since then, he said, he has been searching for a way to save her from the stones.