10
Prisoners were executed on Monday in Tehran and Tabriz The number of executions reached 80 in just five
weeks
On Monday May 7th, the Iranian regime, hanged 9
prisoners simultaneously in Tehran and another one in Tabriz. The execution of 9 prisoners in
Shahroud’s prison (on April 24 and April 30), a public execution in Tehran, 3
prisoners in Esfahan, 2 prisoners in Zanjan, one prisoner in Marvdasht, 8
prisoners in Shiraz from April 16 to April 22, and secret execution of 8
prisoners in Gohardasht prison on April 24 are other crimes of this regime
during recent weeks. The number of executions therefore has reached 80 only during past five
weeks.
Meanwhile the head of Ardebil province judiciary announced the
death sentence for 85 prisoners under the charge of drug smuggling according to
FARS News, April 9.
******
Last week we reflected a report regarding the
statement of the US state department’s lawyer
regarding their claim that the Iranian residents of Camp Ashraf did not allow the US to inspect their camp of weapons
and ammunition. On Friday May 18 the 1267 residents of Ashraf wrote a letter
and invited US to inspect the camp while they’re there and announce the result
publicly. The remaining residents of Ashraf wrote: “If this invitation is not accepted, it
clearly shows that the mentioned remark by the governments’ solicitor is an
unjustifiable excuse, simultaneous with the nuclear negotiations, to appease
the mullahs’ regime. The residents are prepared to provide all necessary
facilities, at their own cost, for the entire US forces throughout inspection”. In
a joint statement, Brigadier Gen. David Phillips, former commander of all
police operations in Iraq including the protection of Camp Ashraf until 2006;
Colonel Wesley Martin ,former senior antiterrorism/force protection officer for
all coalition forces in Iraq and the first colonel in command of Camp Ashraf in
2006, and Lt. Col. Leo McCloskey, former commander of Joint Interagency Task
Force at Camp Ashraf until January 2009, described the remarks by the State
Department attorney as 'absurd' and a 'denigration of the admirable work of
thousands of American service-people who protected Camp Ashraf and verified its
inhabitants were unarmed.' They said the camp was repeatedly inspected without
hindrance and no ammunition, nor any plans or intentions to acquire weapons or
use violence were detected. The National Council of Resistance of Iran has
stated that the relocation of the remainders of Camp Ashraf residents will be halted until the
inspection takes place.
6
Ahwazi Arabs face unfair trial, risk death on charges of ‘enmity against God’:
Amnesty
Al Arabiya reported on May 18 that 6 members of Iran’s Ahwazi Arab minority are
due to go on trial in Iran on May 20, amid fears that they will not receive a
fair trial and may be at risk of torture or death sentence, an international
rights groups warned on Friday. The men were detained without charge for almost
a year and all were arrested in connection with their activities on behalf of Iran’s Ahwazi Arab minority, Amnesty
International said in a released report. The six men, all from Khalafabad
in
Khuzestan province,
south-west Iran, were arrested at their houses in
February and March 2011 before marking the 6th anniversary of the popular
protests by Ahwazi Arabs in April 2005.The men are now held in Karoun prison in the city of Ahwaz, Khuzestan province, Amnesty reported. At least four of them were denied access to a lawyer for at least eight months after arrest. Earlier this year, they were all charged in separate “five-minute court sessions with the vaguely-worded offences of ‘enmity against God and corruption on earth’, ‘gathering and colluding against state security’ and ‘spreading propaganda against the system’,” according to Amnesty report. The charge of “enmity against God and corruption on earth” carries a possible death sentence. They are due to be put on trial on May 20. According to Amnesty report, the six detainees are Mohammad Ali Amouri, blogger; Rahman Asakereh, teacher; Hashem Sha’bani Amouri, teacher; Hadi Rashidi, teacher; Sayed Jaber Alboshoka and his younger brother Sayed Mokhtar Alboshoka.
Iran’s Parchin site may top UN inspectors’ meeting
agenda
According to Bloomberg’s report on May 14, - A United Nations visit to Iran’s Parchin military complex may top the agenda of a
two-day meeting between Iranian diplomats and UN nuclear inspectors. International Atomic Energy
Agency officials will meet Iranian envoys at the nation’s embassy in Vienna, according to the IAEA’s public
information office. Today’s meeting is the first between the two sides since Iran snubbed inspectors’ request to
visit Parchin during a Feb. 21 visit to Tehran. Iran and the IAEA began a high-level dialogue in an attempt to address suspicions
that the country is pursuing nuclear- weapons capabilities. In a Nov. 8, 2011,
report, the IAEA cited information provided by
a member state and satellite-imagery analysis indicating Iran may have
conducted high-explosive tests of components for an atomic weapon at Parchin,
18 miles (30 kilometers) southwest of Tehran. This week’s meeting in Vienna will be followed by a round of
talks between Iranian diplomats and their counterparts from China, France, Germany, Russia, the U.K. and the U.S. on May 23.Japan bank freezes Iran accounts after court order
Associated France Press reported that a Japanese bank has halted
transactions by the Iranian government after a US
court ordered a $2.6 billion asset freeze over the 1983 bombing of US barracks in
Beirut, a bank spokesman said on
Thursday. “We have
received the order from the US court,” to freeze $2.6 billion of assets, a
spokesman for the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ told AFP,
declining to give details on the value of Iranian holdings at the bank.
The court order reflects “the amount that the court in 2007 upheld for
compensation demands by families of victims of the 1983 attacks on US forces in
Beirut,” he said.
