Sunday, February 11, 2018

NEWS))))))  

Leading human rights lawyer, the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Iran, Ms. Asma Jahangir, 66 passed away in Lahore on Sunday, February 11. Asma Jahangir, was Pakistan’s first woman to serve as the President of Supreme Court Bar Association of Pakistan. Asma Jahangir was the first UN Rapporteur who included in her report the complaints of families regarding the 1988 massacre of 30,000 political prisoners in Iran. As she was presenting her report to the Human Rights Council, she was interrupted by a furious Syrian representative who assailed her at the behest of the Iranian regime. But she remained calm and firm and continued her report to the Council and was undeterred in pursuing her mandate.

******
2 Iranian political prisoners Atena Daemi and Golrokh Iraee turned their wet hunger strike into dry on Saturday morning, February 10, as they had already vowed. They are presently held in the notorious Qarchak Prison in Varamin, outside Tehran protesting their brutal and unlawfully transfer from the Women’s Ward of Evin Prison in breach of the principle of separation of different categories of prisoners. Arash Sadeghi, Golrokh's husband and Soheil Arabi in solidarity with Atena and Golrokh are on hunger strike as well. Women's notorious Qarchak Prison is a disused chicken farm where hundreds of ordinary criminals are held in sub-standard conditions deprived of clean drinking water, minimum sanitation, etc. Amnesty International issued a statement on February 7, demanding Iranian authorities to “immediately and unconditionally release human rights activists Atena Daemi, Golrokh Ebrahimi Iraee and her husband Arash Sadeghi.”
Atena Daemi and Golrokh Iraee have refused to accept serum injections over the past few days. They have declared that if anything happens to them, the responsibility lies with the Evin’s Prosecutor Dowlatabadi and his assistant, Haj Moradi, who oversee prison conditions.

******
Men and women cheated by the Caspian Credit Institute in Khuzistan staged a gathering outside the Central Bank of Iran in Tehran on Thursday, February 8. They traveled all the way from the oil rich Province of Khuzistan (southwestern Iran) so that they could be heard more clearly by the regime’s officials.




******
As we approach the International Women’s Day, each player of the women’s national football team of Sweden wrote something on the back of their shirts. Player number 6 wrote: I play for my girls in Iran.





******
A group of Iranian radiology students of the Medical Science University of Mazandaran, staged a protest to a plan on female patients and delivery of pregnant women, on Wednesday, February 7. On Tuesday, February 6, a group of young men and women studying at high schools for talented students protested cancellation of the entrance admission test for the 7th grade. The protest took place outside the Ministry of Education in Tehran.


******
38 women and 27 men were arrested at a birthday party in Mashhad, capital of the Iranian northeastern province of Razavi Khorassan wherer Most of the participants were relatives. In January 2016, Tehran’s Prosecutor announced that violations committed by halls, fitness clubs and night parties would be dealt with.



******
Boroujerd’s Education Director said, “girls in Iranian villages, face problems in continuing their education.” Shahab Rouzbehani added, “One of the important problems female students in Boroujerd villages in Lorestan province face is continuing their education after the elementary school. The reasons include the location of schools being far away, opposition of some families to their daughters’ attendance in a mixed-gender school, the family’s failure to afford the expenses of transportation, etc.

******
On Tuesday, February 6, Iranian women actively participated in protests in Rasht and Tehran, demanding reimbursement of their deposits plundered by Caspian Credit Institute. In a symbolic act in Rasht, capital of Gilan Province in northern Iran, women put on white shrouds and gathered outside the Governorate building and subsequently marched to the Golsar Branch of Caspian Credit Institute owned by the Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
In Tehran, people plundered by the Caspian Institute also staged a picket line outside the central branch of this institute on Africa Ave.

******
On Jan. 13 Ms. Maryam Kalangari, 65, who previously sentenced to 5 months in jail, was taken from her home to the Central Prison of Arak, in the Iranian Markazi Province. She's been charged for "disseminating propaganda against the state. Ms Kalangari uses a walker for she suffers from various illnesses, including heart and lungs complications, arthritis and osteoporosis. She is not able to endure prison conditions. Her brother and two of her sons are in jail on similar charges. They are survivors of the victims of the 1988 massacre of political prisoners in Iran.

******
Zahra Rahimi, student of sociology at Tehran University, was arrested on February 5. Dozens of female university students, mostly from Tehran University, have been already detained and denied freedom. Evin Prison officials in Tehran recently claimed that only four of those arrested during the nationwide uprising in late December and early January remain in jail and there are no women among them, while according to Asghar Jahangir, head of the National Prisons Organization, “the total number of those detained during the incidents(he means uprising) in January amounts to 4972 people, 94.73 per cen of whom are men and 5.27 per cent are women. 438 of them remain in detention. Another 55 persons are detained by the Minsitry of Intelligence.”

******
Female students of Tehran University residing at Chamran Dormitory protested on January 30, 2018, to restrictions imposed on them. They have to enter and leave the dormitory in certain hours and they also have to cover their hair at all times in the all-female complex. One of the girls who had participated in this protest, explained, “Directors of the dorm had posted a banner in the dormitory stating that everyone has to observe Islamic principles and according to the bylaws they have to observe the veil in the all-female environment of the dorm. They must observe the veil in the open courtyard and in the restaurant. We were told in a meeting that we must also cover our hair in the corridors because some men might enter the building for doing some repair. Whereas men’s presence must take place with prior notice and coordination and in certain hours. Instead of limiting the time of repairs, they prefer to limit and restrict the women in their dormitory and we do not understand the reason for this.”

Some six thousand nurses are retired every year without begin replaced
This was announced by Maryam Hazrati, deputy for nursing at the Ministry of Health. She added, “At the same time, the number of hospital beds have increased without hiring new nurses. This has increased the pressure on the existing nurses. While as a rule, for every nurse leaving, one should be employed.”
Hazrati said, “We have about 140,000 nurses working in the country. There is only 0.8 nurse for every bed, while the universal standard is 1.8 nurses per bed. This is a large difference which requires doubling of the number of nurses in the country.” (The state-run IRNA news agency – February 5, 2018)
Hazrati said, “In addition to the nurses who are retired naturally, a large number of nurses retire early due to the difficulty of this job, high volume of work, compulsory shipts and night shifts. Nurses under 30 years of age request early retirement and leave the hospital nursing system. And their numbers are not few.”

******
Two Iranian young women, students of universities in Tehran and Bandar Abbas, were deprived of pursuing further education because of their faith. Zahra Qalandari Nejad, a Gonabadi dervish, was verbally informed that she was dismissed from university and not allowed to continue her education. Ms. Qalandari Nejad wrote an open letter to the President of Bandar Abbas University and demanded formal accountability of this institution on the reasons that led to her dismissal.
Sepideh Moradi is another Gonabadi dervish who was studying for Masters degree in Computer Sciences at the Teachers’ Training University in Tehran. Security organs ordered her to leave on February 2. She was even denied access to the university’s computer network for registration for the next term.