******
Australian officials announced on March 9 that Iranian refugees in Australia would be returned back to Iran according to a new deal reached with the Iranian regime. According to the news media, the Australian government will instead “grant various scholarships to Iranian students”. The Iranian resistance believes those scholarships would mostly go to the revolutionary guards and regime’s paid hands. The National Council of Resistance of Iran, Foreign Affairs Committee in it's March 11 statement strongly condemned refoulement of Iranian refugees in Australia and called on Australian parliament and political parties and human rights defenders to prevent this shameful act. It also called on the Australian government not to victimize the sacred right of asylum for petty and short term economic gains.
******
The Council of Islamic Development has issued new regulations for music performances on Campuses, restricting musical exhibition in universities and Education Facilities in Iran. Based on these regulations holding “any concerts and independent concerts are not a priority for universities and are banned.”Various characteristics of permitted music on campus include:
- Strengthening national identity based on Islamic standards
- Using admissible singers and cultural figures
- Not provoking unconventional emotions
In February all music festivities were cancelled in Tehran’s Sharif Tech University.
These festivities were to be held with tradition, classic, pop and folkloric music, and only university students were allowed to attend.
******
Iran Relief Committee deputy in family affairs said, “81% of single mothers covered by the Relief
Committee seek help from this entity due to their husband’s death, 14%
because of divorce and 5% for other reasons.” While emphasizing the
number of poor women seeking service are increased each year, Zolfaqari
added, “The average age of single mothers supported by this entity has
decreased. 10% of those seeking help are divorced families.”( March 7, 2016)
******
The death sentence issued previously to a prisoner was carried out Sunday, March 6 in Gorgan Prison
located north of Iran. The victim, Hojjat Sa’adat-yar, 38, was married with one child. He was convicted of murder and no further details were provided for his case. Officials of this judicial organ have not provided any information in this regard, either.This ‘qisas’ (retribution in kind) ruling was to be carried out on February 24, yet it was postponed for unknown reasons.
******
The 2nd branch of the East Azerbaijan criminal court, headed by judge Amiri, issued a ruling sentencing Hossein Zareian from Tabriz to three years behind bars and having his eye gouged in ‘qisas’ (retribution in kind) ruling on March 6.
Despite serving three years behind bars this prisoner remains in ward 12 of Tabriz Central Prison. Considering the fact that his jail time has come to an end there is the possibility of the eye-gouging ruling being implemented in the coming days, according to his close relatives.
******
Hossein Ashtari, chief of police in Iran warned anyone breaking the law during the Fire Festivities (or Charshanbe Souri which is celebrated in Iran on the last Tuesday of the Iranian calendar year) will be placed behind bars as ordered by the judiciary.Ashtari said a number of special police bases have been launched for the Iranian New Year, adding they have arrangements prepared for the New Year holidays.
The police chief in Iran referred to this year’s Fire Festivities and said the police has prepared the necessary measures and actions will be taken according to the law against those who procure and produce damaging fireworks substances.
(March 6, 2016)
******
A group of Tehran municipality workers in Tehran rallied outside the central municipality building on Behesht Avenue in the Iranian capital. These protesters said it has been two years since their demands have been left unanswered. The protesters raised placards referring to the municipality’s threats of jailing these protesting contract workers.
******
Mohammad Souri Ezhar, the Friday prayer imam in the city of Pol-e Dokhtar said, “The coming of spring is a sign of change. During New Year’s many tourists and passengers come to Pol-e Dokhtar to see its natural and historic beauties. Enjoining Virtue and Prohibiting Vice is a duty that needs more attention these days.” “If improper veiling is seen these days, they should be warned. Anyone claiming to have made a simple mistake while sins are taking place right before their eyes while they are indifferent, they must be held accountable,” he added.
(Farsnew.com – March 5, 2016)
******
Iranian regime's Ministry of Intelligence (MOIS/VEVAK) agents prevented Evin Prison inmates from speaking with a visiting Japanese human rights delegation. The warden of Evin Prison described the prisoners as terrorists.
A Japanese human rights delegation visited Evin Prison on February 6th and according to Mojahedin's Khalgh or MEK information from inside Evin the gate of hall #12 was closed and all commuting was banned. The visiting delegation was not allowed into this hall.
The entire ward 7 was also under the MOIS/VEVAK agents’ control to prevent political prisoners from getting anywhere close to the Japanese delegation. When political prisoner Rasoul Badaghi sought to talk with the delegation he was prevented and Yousefi, the warden of Evin Prison said to the delegation, “Do not pay any attention. These individuals are spies and terrorists…”
******
As the United Nations Human Rights Council held its latest session in Geneva, some 40 Iranian political prisoners wrote to the council urging it to extend the mandate of Ahmed Shaheed, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran. The political prisoners said that the mullahs' regime had failed to deceive or bribe Mr. Shaheed whose reports they said have had tangible effects in the regime’s prisons. They added that the regime's judiciary officials have offered political prisoners clemency if they declare that Mr. Shaheed’s reports are bogus. To read the political prisoner's letter and their names please go to the news section of our website: radioirava.com.Text of the letter by the political prisoners in Iran:
Tehran – Letter by Iranian political prisoners to United Nations Human Rights Council in support of Mr. Ahmed Shaheed
To UN Human Rights Council:
Now that we are on the verge of once again selecting the Special Rapporteur on human rights, we the Iranian prisoners declare our opinion to you to help you in your selection as much as we can.
As we have been spending many years in prison, we are naturally aware of the situation of human rights in Iran more than anyone else and we follow all events and news on human rights not as human rights or politico-social activists in a human rights agency, but as people whose lives depend on it. Therefore, it may well be that what we understand and assess about human rights in Iran and the Special Rapporteur would be closer to reality. Although some of us have not directly benefited from this Rapporteur, we inform you of our opinion by referring to the following issues:
1. Compared to all Special Rapporteurs, Mr. Ahmed Shaheed has been one of the most active, and we have clearly seen the effect of his reports in prisons.
2. There have almost been no serious violations of human rights in prisons that in some way have not been reflected in his reports.
3. There has never been a Special Rapporteur so loathed by the violators [in regime’s judiciary system] such that he is usually insulted or disrespectfully referred to in most court proceedings and interrogations.
4. There have been many instances that prisoners have been summoned because of his reports and despite the insults and accusations, the issues [raised in the reports] have been considered to some extent. This would not have been possible without his reports.
5. We have seen many TV programs that are against Mr. Ahmed Shaheed where he and the Human Rights Council are tagged with voluminous accusations that prisoners know they are false. In particular, everyone knows well Mohammad Javad Larijani and his big falsifications. He is usually the interviewee in these programs against the Human Rights Council and Mr. Ahmed Shaheed.
6. From these TV programs that are against the Human Rights Council and in particular against Mr. Ahmed Shaheed we learn that he is somebody they have not been able to deceive or bribe.
7. Time and again we have been told to declare his reports as bogus and unreal in order to be pardoned or receive concessions from the judiciary.
For all these reasons, we the political prisoners with some of us spending more than 10 years in prison, trustfully support Mr. Ahmed Shaheed and call on the respectable Human Rights Council to extend his mission and reelect him as the Special Rapporteur.
Names of political prisoners:
1. Iraj Hatami
2. Afshin Baimani
3. Asghar Mahmoudian
4. Ebrahim Firouzi
5. Asghar Qatani
6. Amir Qaziani Dourbin
7. Amir Amirqoli
8. Behzad Tarahhomi
9. Pirouz Mansouri
10. Payam Bastani
11. Javad Fouladvand
12. Hamid Babaei
13. Hassan Sadeqi
14. Khaled Hardani
15. Ramadan Ahmad
16. Reza Akbari Monfared
17. Reza Kahe
18. Rasoul Hardani
19. Zaniar Moradi
20. Saeid Shah Qale’ii
21. Saeid Masouri
22. Sohail Babadi
23. Saeid Shirzad
24. Shahram Pourmansouri
25. Shahin Zoqi-tabar
26. Saleh Kohandel
27. Farid Azmoudeh
28. Farhang Pourmansouri
29. Ali Mashhadi Kazem
30. Alireza Qolipour
31. Abdulahad Jalilzadeh
32. Ali Moezzi
33. Gholamhossein Kalbei
34. Loghman Moradi
35. Latif Hassani
36. Mehdi Shandiz
37. Massoud Arab Choubdar
38. Mohammadreza A’alipayam
39. Misaq Yazdan-nejad
40. Vahid Asghari
