Monday, September 04, 2017

NEWS))))))

On Thursday Aug. 31st Iran Democratic Association-Canada held a rally and a Press conference at the Parliament Hill in support of the Justice Movement for the victims of 1988 Massacres of 30,000 executed political prisoners in Iran. The Canadian Parliament has recognized 1988 Massacre as Crime Against Humanity. During the press conference inside the parliament, honorable Irwin Cotler, former minister of justice asked the Canadian government to include the 1988 Massacre in Canada led Human rights resolution at the United Nations this year.

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During the past weeks in Solidarity with the striking political prisoners in Gohardasht Prison, freedom-loving Iranians and supporters of the Iranian Resistance staged demonstrations and rallies in various cities of the world, including in Los Angeles, Berlin and Hamburg, London-UK, Stockholm and Gothenburg, Oslo, Copenhagen, Aarhus , The Hague, Toronto, Ottawa and Vancouver. The striking political prisoners in Gohardasht are in dire condition.
The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Iran, Asma Jahangir, on
Thursday Aug. 31st, expressed her deep concern about the situation of a number of prisoners who have been on prolonged hunger strike to protest against their transfer to a high-security section of Rajai-Shahr prison in Karaj, West of Tehran, and about their treatment while in detention. “I am deeply alarmed by reports about the deteriorating medical conditions of the prisoners on hunger strike, and that their torture and ill-treatment have continued since their transfer,” Ms. Jahangir said. “Depriving prisoners of having family contact, lawyers and adequate medical care is contrary to international law,” the rights expert said, adding: “I urge the Government of Iran to look for a prompt solution to the extreme situation created by the hunger strike through good faith dialogue about the grievances and underlying human rights violations, ensuring full respect for their dignity and autonomy,” the expert concluded.

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The bus carrying a number of Iran’s talented and elite students on their way to Shiraz overturned in Darab highway leaving 44 young women dead or wounded. The accident took place at around 4 Am on Friday, September 1. The deputy operations officer of Iran’s Emergencies Organization has confirmed the deaths of 11 and injury of 33.  Thirteen girls have been reported to be in critical conditions. Hassan Noori said four young women suffered amputated limbs or spinal cord injuries. Three of the critically wounded have been transferred to a hospital in Shiraz. On the cause of the accident, the state-run press has reported the bus driver as being drowsy. (The state-run ISNA news agency, September 1, 2017) This is not the first time that large groups of young people get killed in bus accidents. In a similar accident on March 17, 1997, the bus carrying students of Tehran’s Sharif Industrial University was driven into a gorge, killing seven students and two members of the university’s faculty of staff. Maryam Mirzakhani, a world math genius who died of cancer in US recently, survived that deadly accident.

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Violent approach of agents of Tehran’s municipality led to an old street vendor's heart attack. Tehran Municipality agents roughed up a female vendor on the street on Friday, September 1. The woman subsequently suffered a heart attack.




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According to state-run ILNA news agency Aug. 30, three of the women working in a brick kiln in East Azerbaijan Province, in northwest Iran, were seriously burned in a gas explosion on August 29. Vahid Shadinia, the public relations officer of the East Azerbaijan’s Emergency Center, said, “The explosion occurred in the room where workers lived and as a result, 30-50% of the injured workers have been burned.”
The injured workers are members of the same family aging 15, 36 and 50. It is reported that the wounded women are presently in dire conditions.
The town of Viaghan in East Azerbaijan has a population of 5,000 people, and most of the families in this town work at the brick kiln.

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Four activist women calling for repeal of the death sentence issued for Iranian prisoner of conscience Mohammad Ali Taheri were arrested on August 28, in front of Tehran’s Evin Prison in Iran. The four women; Zahra Shafii, Melika Kavandi, Zahra Ebrahimi, and Raha Davoudian were on the second day of their sit-in outside Evin. The women used to be students of Mohammad Ali Taheri. Zahra Ebrahimi and Raha Davoudian were transferred to the women’s ward of Evin. Taheri’s lawyer, Mahmoud Alizadeh Tabatabaii, announced on Sunday, August 27, that his client had received a death sentence and that they would appeal.

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A large number of women who have lost their deposits due to fraud by Arman's credit institution, launched a protest rally on August 29. They demanded reimbursement. Protests against Arman Credit Institution which is backed by Iran’s Central Bank have started since March 2017, and women have expressed their protest at multiple gatherings to the plunder of their deposits.



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“Girls under 15 and young women between 15 and 19 years of age face higher risk of death during delivery, respectively five and two times greater than those women who deliver after 20,” said Fereshteh Sarbazi, a member of the Association of Gynecologists and Obstetricians. Sarbazi reiterated, “Teenage pregnancies mostly happen in rural and poor societies who are not educated. Although mothers under 19 years of age need more medical care during pregnancy, they do not have the opportunity to see a doctor since such marriages mostly take place in low income families.
“The other dangers of early pregnancies include pregnancy poisoning, anemia, death of the mother, insufficient fetal growth, and death of the fetus.” (The state-run ILNA news agency – August 29, 2017)

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Iranian regime hanged 2 men; Fardin Hosseini 31 a Chemical engineer and Masoud Valizadeh, both from Ardebil on Wed. Aug. 30th in Ardebil Centeral prison. Fardin and Masoud along with 2 other prisoners were transfered to quarantine in Ardebil.




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Ms. Ashraf Rahimkhani, 54, former political prisoner of 80's has been sentenced to one year in prison. She is presently charged for running a library called the Mother’s Library. Ms. Zeinab Keshvari, 37, has also been sentenced to four months in prison. She was charged with cooperating with Ms. Rahimkhani in running the Mother’s Library. Ms. Keshvari suffered a miscarriage while violently attacked at night at her residence by the Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC).
Founded in 2010, the Mother’s Library was widely welcomed by women and girls in the town of Andimeshk. In recent days, a number of labor and political activists are being summoned or are awaiting revision of their sentences by the court.

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Iranian civil rights activist Ms. Elham Rasouli Baghi was sentenced to one year of imprisonment by Tehran’s Revolutionary Court.
Elham was arrested on May 12, 2016, in a gathering outside the Dena Tire Company building in Tehran in protest to the corrupt bureaucracy in Iran. She was interrogated by agents of the Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Sarallah Garrison.



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According to state-run ILNA Aug. 27, the Public Prosecutor of
Mazandaran, northern Iran, announced that the Judiciary would be harsh on those women who do not cover their hair in their cars. “If any woman is detected without the veil in a car, her car will be impounded and she will be turned to the Judiciary,” said Public Prosecutor Assadollah Jaafari, adding “Despite the fact that some people consider cars as a private area, I do not believe in this and any kind of dropping the veil inside a car will be legally dealt with,”.  “Also, dropping one’s veil on the beaches, during jet-skiing, and on powerboats, will be legally dealt with.” said Jaffari.
Jaafari also stressed on monitoring and controlling all shops and manufacturers of clothing that violate Islamic norms. He said, “Supplying unsuitable clothes is one of the important challenges that Islamic societies face.”  In the latest example of summer crackdown on women in Iran, a photo has been published on the internet, showing the Moral Security Patrols enter the Noor beach in Mazandaran, northern Iran. They prevented women and girls from enjoying their leisure times on the beach.