Sunday, May 27, 2018

NEWS))))))

Thousands of Iranians attended a ceremony on Sunday May 27, in Tehran to bid farewell to the Iranian actor, director and producer Nasser Malek-Motiei, who passed away in Tehran on Friday. Malek-Motiei was 88 years old. The Iranian regime after taking over people's 1979 Revolution, brushed Male-Motiei like hundreds of other actors, singers, .... aside and would not allow him to work in his field. On Sunday during the funeral ceremony the anti riot forces shot tear gas on people in order to disperse them. People chanted down with dictator and where are you Qaysar, they're killing people. Qaysar is the name of one the films that Malek-Motiei plyed in. Qaysar was the symbol of honour and bravery. Malek-Motiei's son demanded answers as to why his father was prohibited to be shown on TV but now that he's dead, the state Television is showing his pictures? people applauded him.

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On Saturday May 26, students at Zahedan Azad University protested against insulting and humiliation of Baluchi citizens and Sunni Muslim rituals. People joined the protest by chanting "Do not be afraid, we're all together." And carrying banner which read “No to religious and ethnic insults.” Anti-riot security agents arrested a number of students.
Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the Iranian Resistance, saluted the noble Baluchi compatriots and students and youth and said: "Shame and hatred for the clerical regime, which is the main source of discrimination and disunity in Iran today." She called all of the youth, especially in Sistan and Baluchestan province, to help and express solidarity with the students and youth of Zahedan.

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On Sunday, May 27, the strike of heavy vehicles and truck drivers continued for the sixth day and spread to 224 cities across Iran's 31 provinces. Strikers in many cities parade with long lines of trucks by honking and keeping their headlights on. Repressive forces attacked striking drivers in many areas, such as Bandar Abbas-Sirjan route, Islamabad Gharb, Malekan, and Hamedan, with electric shockers and tear gas, wounding and injuring a number of them. Taxi drivers of the Snap Internet Company, who are protesting their low wages and the dire situation of their livelihoods, joined the protests. The truck drivers are protesting their low wages.

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Last week peaceful protests by the thousands of people of Kazerun, in Iran's Fars province, over unfair plans to fragment the city, turned into clashes after the security forces opened fire on the unarmed protesters. 4 people died. The Iranian regime has back down from its plan for now. On Friday people gathered to bit farewell to Kazerun's martyrs.
After the December 2017 and January 2018 uprisings, which suddenly flared and spread across more than 140 cities in Iran, the regime tried to cause an environment of terror by identifying and arresting protesters and killing them in prisons.

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On Thursday May 24, women plundered by the fraudulent Caspian Credit Institute in Kerman (southern Iran), on May 23, 2,000 railway stewardesses, and on May 22, the hospital staff in Karaj (west of Tehran) staged protests.





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On May 24, Mrs. Sharifeh Zarrini (Dayeh Sahrifeh), mother of death-row political prisoner Ramin Hossein Panahi, wrote a letter to Federica Mogerini, EU Foreign Policy Chief, urging her to demand revocation of her son’s death penalty in her negotiations with the Iranian regime.
In an open letter published on May 24, 2018, she has written, "I urge you who are busy negotiating with Iranian officials these days, to add one demand to your other demands and that is revocation of the death penalty for Ramin Hossein Panahi and examination of her case in a qualified European Court.
"By this letter, I want to connect you even if for a moment to the life and spirit of a mother who is no longer able to tolerate this catastrophe. These days, my heart is connected to the heart of my beloved son. I know how difficult these moments are for my youngest child, Ramin, as he is having the nightmare of being executed. I want you to get close to my feelings even if only for a moment, put yourself in my place and do something to stop this catastrophe. You are able to do this, and I sincerely urge you to do this. I want you to officially and seriously ask them to stop Ramin's execution."

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On May 24, Zeinab Taheri a lawyer published a post on her Telegram account, announcing that she has been summoned to court on the charges of distorting public opinion and disseminating false information. Zeinab Taheri has been defending death-row victims Mohammad Salas, a Yaresan dervish, Ahmadreza Jalali, and Mohammad Ali Taheri.
She believes the reason for her summon to court is her persistence in seeking justice for her clients regarding legitimate freedoms and that the officials are taking revenge from her. 

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Women actively participated in protest gatherings of students and plundered people in Tehran and Rasht, capital of Gilan Province, in northern Iran on May 21 and 22.






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The State Security Force (SSF) arrested 10 young women and men at a party in Rasht, capital of Gilan Province in northern Iran on May 21.The victims were arrested and subsequently handed over to judicial authorities. During last year, at least 570 women were arrested in cities across Iran in such raids on private parties.




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The life of a prisoner of conscience Shahnaz Kian Asl (Kiani) in the notorious Qarchak Prison for women is in danger. She was transferred to the dispensary of Qarchak Prison of Varamin on Saturday, May 19, upon insistence of inmates, but was returned to the ward without receiving medical care. Shahnaz, a Gonabadi dervish, is one of the eleven Yaresan women imprisoned under harsh conditions since February 20. She suffers from diabetes and her symptoms have aggravated due to mal-nutrition. Ms. Kian Asl has declared that in protest to the unlawful and shameful behavior of the doctor and nurse of the dispensary, she will not refer to the prison’s clinic. Her lack of access to medical treatment and the necessary medicines, has put her life in serious danger.

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Women and men plundered by the fraudulent IRGC, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-backed Caspian Credit Institute staged a protest in Mashhad, capital of Khorassan Razavi Province in northeastern Iran.

Sunday, May 20, 2018

NEWS))))))


On Saturday, May 19, the people of Kazerun- in the province of Fars Southwest of Iran, continued their uprising against the suppressive regime's actions and killing and detaining their loved ones by chanting “My detained brother must be freed!”. They gathered and protested in Shohada Square and in front of the judiciary of the Iranian regime. Kazerun shopkeepers also closed their shops and the pressure of intelligence agents to force them to open the shops did not succeed. The regime's agents, especially the intelligence agents, were deceptively trying to end the protests, but people are demanding the delivery of the bodies of the martyrs and the release of the arrested. A number of protesters were martyred during a demonstration of the people of Kazerun on Wednesday night when the security and special forces opened fire on protesters. Ali Mohammadian Azad and Omid Yousefian are two of the martyrs of Kazerun's uprising. On Friday, the people of Kazerun turned the city into a scene of confronting the totality of the oppressive apparatus of the clerical regime. Revolutionary Guards, Basijis, plainclothes and anti-riot guards, who were sent from other cities to Kazerun, were deployed in the city's central locations and closed streets leading to Friday's prayer show.  The people broke up the Friday prayer’s show by chanting slogans. The gathering in the Al-Nabi mosque, where the governor was supposed to speak, was disrupted with the slogan "The incompetent governor must be executed!” The attacks of repressive forces on protesters on the Shohada Street led to widespread street clashes and skirmishes. By burning tires, people blocked the path of repressive forces’ vehicles and defended themselves with stone and wood and breaking the mosaics of the streets.
The protests continued Friday night until Saturday morning. In Simashahr Square, people chanted slogans against the mercenary attacks: “Do not be afraid we are all together; and we are children of war, let’s fight”. At Quds intersection, the shooting of repressive forces on the protesters led to clashes where in addition to wounding the youth, a number of plainclothes and intelligence agents of the regime were also wounded. In the clashes on Thursday, the young people also beat some of the regime's agents and forced them to flee. The injured mercenaries were transferred by a bus to Nourabad Mamassani. The people of Kazerun are protesting the division to their cities.
Yesterday Sat. May 19 the Iranian-Canadians during their weekly protest, stood in solidarity with the people of Kazerun in front of the Parliament Hill and across from Prime Minister's office. They called for the freedom of arrestees and all  political prisoners in Iran.






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Plundered women and men gathered in protest on May 17 outside the Caspian Institute’s branch in Bassij Square of Kerman, southern Iran, against the company’s pilfering of their savings and deposits. On May 16, the wives of HEPCO workers joined their husbands on the third day of their protest and sit-in. Heavy Equipment Production Company or (HEPCO) produces road construction equipment and is located in Arak, capital of Markazi Province, southwest of Tehran Province.
On the same day, the State Security forces cracked down on the inhabitants of Abrak Azhgil village in Izeh, Khuzistan Province, opening fire on them. A 38-year-old woman was killed and two persons were wounded during the attack.
On May 15, students of Technical School of Yazd University and the students of Kermanshah’s Industrial University staged protests for the second day in a row, against the new policy of demanding tuition from students, and other problems in the university.





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Eleven detainees including a woman arrested in Arak during the Iran uprising during December 2017- January 2018 appeared in Sharia court in Iran. Neda Yousefi and ten others faced trial on the charge of “disrupting public order” at branch 102 of the Penal Court of Shazand, Arak, on Monday, May 14. More than 8,000 people were arrested during the 2017-2018 nationwide protests a number of whom were temporarily released until their trial time and others are still in jail.
In another development on the same day, at least 70 Gonabadi (Yaresan) dervishes including a number of women faced trial in the regime's revolutionary courts. Most of them were indicted of “acting against national security” charges including through “gathering and collusion against national security”, “defying law enforcement agents”, “disrupting public peace and order” and in some cases “membership in Majzoban Noor (Gonabadi dervishes group).”
It was earlier reported that eight Yaresan women inmates were taken to sharia court from the notorious Qarchak prison without any lawyer accompanying them.

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With the victory of the Iranian women's futsal team over Japan's in the final game of 2018 AFC Women's Futsal Championship, the state television's failure to broadcast the final game has turned into a political challenge for the Iranian regime. Women's sports do not enjoy any backing from the government and women face multiple obstacles to enter international tournaments. Broadcasting women’s matches are forbidden for the Iranian regime's state-run TV and even female reporters are not allowed into places where women compete.

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A woman  has been arrested and detained for the second time in an extrajudicial measure for protesting the compulsory veil.
Mrs. Shaparak Shajarizadeh was arbitrarily arrested along with her 9-year-old son in the city of Kashan, central Iranian province of Isfahan. Her son was freed several hours later but she is still in captivity. Mrs. Shajarizadeh is going to stand trial at Branch 1089 of Tehran’s Penal Court on June 10, on the charge of “violating (the compulsory) veil” and “promoting corruption.”
Iranian women immediately face violent arrest and detention if they do not comply with the compulsory veil and dress code.
The Women’s Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran strongly condemns the arrests of Iranian women and girls under the pretext of mal-veiling and for protesting the compulsory veil; it urges international organizations and authorities defending human rights and women’s rights to take urgent action for the immediate and unconditional release of these women.
In her visit to the Council of Europe in Strasbourg in January 2018, the NCRI President-elect Maryam Rajavi called on EU member states to adopt effective measures and binding decisions to compel Iran’s ruling religious fascism to end subjugation of women and abolish the compulsory veil.

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Three Iranian Baha'i women were summoned to Sharia court and transferred to the Prison of Ahwaz on Sunday, May 13. Neda Sabeti, Forough Farzaneh and Nooshin Afshar who had been earlier freed from the detention center of the Intelligence Department of Ahwaz on Saturday, May 12, were re-arrested and jailed.
In earlier developments, Ms. Enisa Motahhar, a Baha’i residing in Isfahan, was summoned to court on May 8, after her residence was ransacked by the State Security Force and her own and her family’s personal belongings were confiscated. Ms. Kiana Thanie, a student of architecture, was banned from education and dismissed on April 30, 2018, from Mirdamad Non-profit University in Gorgan (in northern Iran) for adherence to the Baha’i faith.

Sunday, May 13, 2018

NEWS))))))



On Sat. the Iranian-Canadians in Ottawa gathered during their weekly protest in front of the Parliament Hill and across from Prime Minister's office in solidarity with the teachers of Iran. The chanted: Shaking hands with mullahs, Sharing crimes with mullahs. They demanded the Iranian regime's embassy AKA  "House of terror" must remain closed.



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Iran’s teachers, held protests in at least 32 cities across the country outside the Departments of Education and in Tehran, outside the Budget and Planning Organization and the regime's parliament.
They came out in Tehran, Arak, Qazvin, Zanjan, Kermanshah, Isfahan, Homayounshahr, Shiraz, Mamasani, Shahreza, Shahr-e Kord, Mashhad, Bojnourd, Birjand, Kazeroun, Saqqez, Baneh, Sanandaj, Dehgolan, Marivan, Mahabad, Qorveh, Zivieh, Divandarreh, Tabriz, Rasht, Sari, Khorramabad, Behbahan, Bandar Abbas, Boushehr, and Hamedan. The teachers protested against low wages, difficult living conditions, being denied their most basic rights including medical insurance, job security and officials’ failure to address their problems. In the capital Tehran, the State Security forces attacked the teachers’ gathering and beat up the teachers particularly the women, arresting a number of them. One of the protesters has been identified as Mrs Aliyeh Aghdam-Doost who was transferred to Evin’s court in the morning of May 11, with cuffed hands and feet. 

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A group of plundered depositors of Ayandeh Bank, held a protest in front of the bank’s branch located on Panzdah-e Khordad Street in the Iranian capital, Tehran, on Thursday morning, May 10. They chanted “Ayandeh Bank steals our money.”




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On Wednesday, May 9, the students of Orumiyeh University spread empty tablecloths on the ground in protest to a plan for charging students for courses. Orumiyeh is the capital of West Azerbaijan, in northwestern Iran.





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A group of female nurses held a protest gathering in Mashhad, the second largest city of Iran in the northeast on Tuesday May 8. They gathered in protest in Navab Safavi Street and Razavi Sharestan against lack of transparency in distribution of the shares belonging to a construction project called Iman-e Mashhad. On the same day in the Capital Tehran, mothers and families of MPS patients gathered in protest in front of the Health Ministry. MPS, or Mucopolysaccharidosis is a rare genetic disorder that affects many body systems and that leads to organ damage. It is caused by a mutation in the gene that makes an enzyme called alpha-L-iduronidase.

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The superintendent of an elementary school in Abadan, southwestern Iran, cut a girl’s hair for not properly covering it. On May 6, in an all-girls elementary school in Golestanshahr of Abadan, the superintendent used scissors and cut the hair of a student because it had stuck out of her veil. Narges who suffers from astma had an attack because of this offensive treatment and was taken to a hospital. In response to objections to such offending measure, the superintendent said, “The schoolmaster is a man and her hair sticking out could have aroused him.”
In a similar incident in December 2017, officials of a girls’ school in Islamabad village in Orumiyeh, capital of the West Azerbaijan Province, the school’s principal and master went to the court yard in the company of several State Security forces cutting the hair of those girls whose hair stuck out of their scarves.

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A state official revealed that the number of women prisoners in Iran are twice the prisons’ capacities. Attahareh Nejadi, deputy for planning and coordination in the Women and Family Affairs Directorate, presented a report on her visit to women’s prisons. Nejadi said: “Visiting the country’s prisons, I didn’t find the situation of women as appropriate. Women with undeliberate crimes are keeping their small children in prison; their children know only of life in prison. According to the existing information, the average age of these women is between 17 and 37 years old; of course, there are older women, too.”
Explaining women’s crimes, Abd-ol Samad Khorram-Shahi, a jurist and lawyer, said, “Women who face hardships in their lives and are sexually abused, resort to drugs to forget their problems and consequently become susceptible to crimes and abuse. This is why we are witnessing an increasing number of women prisoners and feminization of some crimes.”
According to Iranian regim's law, women can be arrested for husban's bad cheques. 
“When the basic necessities of life are not provided for people, misdead, prostitution and drugs show up,” Khoram-Shahi added. “All these (factors) lead to crimes. When the mother of a family is in prison, in addition to the harms inflicted on herself, her family and relatives are also affected and this foments crimes in the society.”
“The unsuitable conditions in prisons and the lack of resources, hygiene and sufficient education for women, create more difficult conditions for women, pushing them towards heavier crimes and armed robbery gangs.” (The state-run IRNA news agency- May 9, 2018)


Sunday, May 06, 2018

NEWS))))))


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On May 5, delegations from more than 40 US states gathered in the Iranian freedom convention in Washington D.C. which was held by the Organization of Iranian American communities in the United States. Mayor, Rudy Giuliani as keynote speaker at the Iran Freedom Convention expressed his support for the Iranian people and called for a Free Iran. He asked US media to go to Paris and participate in the Grand Gathering of the Iranian people this summer. In a message to the Iranian American Freedom Convention in Washington DC, congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, Congressman Ted Poe, Bill Richardson, former governor of New Mexico, Congressman Eliot Engel, as well as Dr. Daneshgari an Iranian American personality spoke at the event. Mrs Maryam Rajavi the president elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran- NCRI, sent a message to the gathering as well. The Iranian Americans attending the 2018 Iran Freedom Convention called on all freedom loving Iranians to attend at FreeIran2018 on June 30th, Paris and support a Free Iran. The annual grand gathering of the Iranians will take place on June 30, 2018 at the Villepinte Exposition center north of Paris – France.

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According to the People's Mojahedin of Organization of Iran PMOI May 5 statement, in several raids on May Day 2018 (the International Workers’ Day), hundreds of the youth and workers were arrested and tortured in Southwestern oil rich city of Ahvaz in Khuzestan province by security forces and intelligence agents on various fake charges. PMOI statement continues: more than 100 of the detainees, who had been transferred to Sheiban Prison in the city of Whace and tortured with whips and hoses, were taken before the Sharia judge to receive their sentences. Among them, there are a number of workers of Haft-Tapeh sugarcane plantation who were aggressively attacked by the regime’s agents while they were preparing and mounting their protest banners. An immediate fact-finding visit to Ahvaz prisons by representatives of the UN and international organizations is absolutely vital said PMOI.

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Mrs. Dayeh Sharifeh, mother of Iranian death-row political prisoner
Ramin Hossein Panahi, called for an open trial for her son and challenged the Revolutionary Guard Corps’ charges against him. Ramin Hossein Panahi is a Kurdish political prisoner sentenced to death. He was scheduled to be executed on Thursday, May 3, but was returned from solitary cell to the general ward of the Central Prison of Sanandaj and implementation of his death sentence was postponed after an extensive international campaign to stop his execution. His niece, Nishtman Hossein Panahi, committed suicide on May 1, due to pressures from the Intelligence
Department of Sanandaj and in protest to the death decree for her uncle. Nishtman was pressured to divorce her imprisoned husband and cooperate with the Intelligence Department against her family.
In a message published in social media on May 3, 2018, Mrs. Dayeh Sharifeh said:
Since the first day when Ramin was arrested, we demanded that his trial be open. Ramin is absolutely innocent. He has never been armed at any time. He had come to Sanandaj just to visit me. Now if the Justice Ministry is telling the truth, they should also disseminate what Ramin and I have said. They must prove that Ramin was armed. These false charges have been leveled by the IRGC to cover up their own crimes by sending Ramin to the gallows.

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According to state-run Aftabnews May 3rd, Several female supporters of Esteghlal soccer team, were identified and arrested on May 3rd, while attempting to enter a stadium in Khorramshahr (southwestern Iran) with men's disguise. Iranian women have been wearing men's clothing and appearance to break the discriminatory restriction officially imposed on them to enter stadiums in Iran. Some women have been successful in doing so and published their photos and films in social media. 

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Women teachers actively took part in an act of protest organized at the grave of Iran's freedom-loving poet, Mirzadeh Eshghi. Mirzadeh Eshghi was assassinated by the order of the Chief of Police when Reza Khan was Prime Minister. Reza Khan later toppled the Qajar Dynasty, founding the Pahlavi Dynasty which ruled Iran with dictatorship for 75 years.



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Students of Tehran's Allameh Tabatabaii University, including a large number of young women, staged a protest on Sunday, April 29, at the university's campus. They protested the university's new policy of requiring tuition, fabricating of false cases against students, and issuing heavy sentences for them. 
Allameh’s young women held placards which read, “Students are not criminals,” “university is not a garrison,” “Sina Rabii, a student with heavy sentences.”
They also spoke out against the policy of Rouhani’s government to obtain tuitions from college students. They held placards which read, “No to college tuitions”, “Allameh U is an economic firm”, etc. Last year, young women and female students participated in 111 acts of protest in various univerisities across Iran.

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According to state-run Young Journalists Club April 27, a plan is to be implemented against shop owners who offer unconventional clothing for women, said the commander of the State Security Force (SSF) in Isfahan, central Iran.
The SSF Commander of Isfahan said that the plan was called, “Tat’hir,” which means purifying or cleansing. He said, “Hijab (veil) and chastity are the (Iranian) Revolution’s strongest barrier against infiltration of the enemies. To this end, a special plan called “Tat’hir” is going to be on the agenda under the command of Isfahan Province’s SSF. The objective of this plan is to deal with suppliers who offer unconventional clothing for women and cause improper clothing and violation of chastity in society.”
Earlier on March 24, Nasser Makarem Shirazi, one of the regime’s religious scholars had proclaimed that “Hijab” had been transformed from a secondary commandment of Islam into one of its symbols.

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A group of families of the men and women arrested in recent protests in Ahwaz, SW Iran, gathered outside the city’s court on Sunday, April 29, 2018.
More than 400 protesters including a number of women are presently held in detention.
Participants in this protest gathering, most of whom were women, demanded determination of the status of their children.
Judiciary and security officials had previously promised that all the arrested protesters were going to be released. However, only five have been temporarily freed from jail, so far, until their sentences are issued. The bailbonds set for the detainees are very high and the families do not afford to provide the necessary property documents to deposit as bail.
Ahwaz is the capital of the oil-rich Khuzistan Province, in southwestern Iran.
Also in Tabriz, NW Iran, a group of women who have worked on temporary contracts for the city’s municipality staged a picket line outside the building. They have not received any benefits for years and demand to be officially employed by the municipality.

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A 15-year-old student, Ma'edeh Shabani-Nejad, is still being held in Sepidar Prison of Ahwaz since her arrest in January. Ma'edeh Shabani-Nejad (Amouri) is a freshman at Reyhaneh High school in Abadan and is a brilliant student. She writes nationalistic and epical poetry in Arabic and publishes them on social media.
The first time, Ms. Shabani was arrested was on October 17, 2017. The second time, she was arrested in her uncle's house in Ahwaz on January 25, 2018, by the IRGC's Department of Intelligence and transferred to the IRGC detention center.
Some of her family members and relatives have been also arrested for helping this 15-year-old girl. Among them was Ms. Mahnaz Amouri Faissali, 43, her aunt, Mahmoud Amouri, 32, her uncle, Khaled Amouri, 28 and Foad Amouri, 30.

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For the second time in a month, another woman was attacked by acid in Tabriz, capital of Iran's northwestern province of East Azerbaijan. Maryam has been burned in the face and hands. The assailant was her husband who threw one liter of acid on her.
In 1995, a wave of state-backed acid attacks on women was carried out in Tehran and Isfahan against women who were accused of not properly covering themselves, as part of an anti-vice campaign. The assailants were never arrested or punished. This led to common use of acid in cases of personal revenge. The bill proposing criminalization of violence against women has been waiting in the Iranian regime's parliament for ten years now without being examined and adopted.