Sunday, April 10, 2016

NEWS)))))) 

The Iranian regime continues to repress Iranians, in particular the women by stationing moral police at street corners to harass and apprehend women loosely veiled. One of the popular hangouts for Iranian youth and women is Tehran’s Vanak Square, north of the capital. The repressive state security police stations units or what is called 'moral police' on this square conducts raids and arrests women under the alleged reason of improper dress code and veils. This new campaign was launched on Sunday, April 3.
“Repressive forces in Vanak Square raided restaurants and public facilities in this area, arresting any man or woman under the pretext of ‘public virtue’ and improper veiling. Those arrested were transferred to unknown locations with vans already parked in the area,” said one restaurant employee.
A heavy security climate was cemented in Vanak Square and its adjacent streets until noon on Monday.

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On April 3rd a court in the southern Iranian city of Ahwaz sentenced 3 local political activists to death, and life behind bars for 4 others.
The identities of the three men sentenced to death, all from one family, are Gheis and Ahmad Abidawi (who are brothers), and their cousin, Sajjad Abidawi.
Mohammad Halafi and Mehdi Siahi have both been sentenced to 35 years behind bars, and Mehdi Moarebi and Ali Abidawi are each sentenced to 25 years in jail.
Ahwaz intelligence ministry has accused these activists of murdering a Revolutionary Guards member that occurred 5 years ago, human rights organizations said. Prior to this state news agencies cited the Khuzistan public prosecutor saying these rulings will be carried out in public.


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On April 6, a sentence of 30 lashes was carried out against five activists in Iran. They were sentenced for raising a placard during a soccer match that called for the release of Abbas Lessani a political prisoner. The sentence was carried out by the regime’s officials in Ardebil Prison (North of Iran)
The victims were identified as Amir Amini, Morteza Parvin, Maysam Jolani, Saleh Peachganlou, and Mostafa Parvin.

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On Sat. April 9, 5 prisoners were hanged in Lakan Rasht North province of Iran. The victims were from Tehran, Meshkin Shahr and Lahijan. Rashid Kuhi one of the victims was a university student and was arrested in 2011 with the bogus charge of narcotics. He did not have a lawyer. Javad Mirzadeh and Hossein Farhadi were the other 2 who were executed, the names of the other two victims is not known. Since Hassan Rouhani took office in 2013 as Iranian regime's president, more than 2000 people have been executed in Iran.


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Iranian-Canadians staged another protest yesterday at Parliament
Hill in front of Prime Minister's office in Ottawa, protesting the wave of executions and violations of human rights in Iran and commemorating the fallen of April 8, massacre in Camp Ashraf in Iraq (residence of Iranian refugees) in 2011  by Iraqi forces on Khamenei's orders. During that attack 36 people were killed and 350 were wounded.

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Cristina Fernandez, who stepped down as president of Argentina in December after eight years in office, has been charged by a prosecutor with money laundering, local media reported on Saturday.
The decision follows testimony on Friday by businessman Leonardo Farina, who in a plea bargain implicated Fernandez and her late husband and former President Nestor Kirchner in a case related to money laundering and embezzling funds earmarked for public works.
Julio De Vido, a longtime Fernandez and Kirchner ally and former minister, was also charged, local newspapers Clarin and La Nacion reported, citing judicial sources.
Fernandez, 63, is due to answer questions in court on Wednesday over a separate probe into the sale of U.S. dollar futures contracts at below-market rates by the central bank during her administration.
Fernandez, a leftist leader from the Peronist party, was barred constitutionally from seeking a third consecutive term. Opposition candidate Mauricio Macri won the November election, ending more than a decade of Peronist rule.

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Associated France Press reported April 9 that 4 migrant women and a child drowned Saturday off the Greek island of Samos in the first deaths in the Aegean Sea since a controversial EU-Turkey deal took effect three weeks ago.
'Five people were saved but another five died, including four women and a child when their plastic boat capsized,' a Greek coastguard spokeswoman told AFP.
Under the terms of the EU-Turkey deal, all 'irregular migrants' arriving on the Greek islands from Turkey face being sent back.
The aim is to discourage people from making the perilous Aegean crossing in flimsy boats, by presenting them with the threat of deportation straight back to where they came from.
For every Syrian refugee sent back to Turkey, one Syrian is supposed to be resettled in Europe. But the deal has been sharply criticized by rights groups.
According to statistics released on Friday by the International Organization of Migrants (IOM), more than 152,000 people have arrived in Greece by sea from Turkey since January 1, nearly three-quarters of whom were Syrians.
Another 366 people have drowned en route.