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Sahar Kazemi, a civil rights and environmental activist and an athletics coach from Sanandaj, was arrested at home on Thursday, August 9, and transferred to an unknown location. Intelligence Department agents ransacked Sahar's home in Sanandaj, capital of the Iranian Kurdistan in western Iran. Some 75 members of a group of environmental activists have been arrested since February 2018 on the charge of espionage.
In another development, Zahra Modarres-Zadeh was arrested on Thursday, August 9, by security forces in Karaj, 20 kilometers west of Tehran. Zahra Modarres-Zadeh is a civil activist and one of the supporters of Mohammad Ali Taheri, a death-row prisoner of conscience who advocates a new school of philosophy.
Before Zahra Modarres-Zadeh, her husband, Reza Bozorgmehr, had been arrested. Security forces used his cell phone to call his wife and set an appointment with her in some place in Karaj. She was attending the funeral procession of Homa Soltani when she received her husband’s call. When she arrived at the meeting place, security forces arrested both she and her husband and took them to an unknown location. Their friends and relatives have persistently inquired about their situation and whereabouts, but there is no information available on their fate.
Zahra Modarres-Zadeh had previously been arrested on November 21, 2015, and on February 7, 2018, along with other civil activists in gatherings outside Evin Prison. She had been sentenced to 91 days of imprisonment and 74 lashes.
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According to the Iranian resistance statement Aug. 10, on Friday, August 10, during the soccer match between Tehran and Tabriz clubs at Azadi stadium, thousands of spectators expressed their anger and hatred of the oppressive regime in Iran by shouting “Death to the Dictator.” It happened despite the fact that the regime’s authorities had stationed a large number of their Basiji forces who are affiliated with the IRGC intelligence section and also the IRGC guards, intelligence and anti-riot guard agents as well as plainclothes mercenaries among the crowd in order to prevent the youths’ protest. Bringing anti-riot guard into the stadium was an unprecedented measure. Nevertheless and in spite of all these measures, the youth broke the obstacles that had already been set up in the stadium stand, and chanted “Death to the Dictator” and “Security Force, shame on you, savage, savage” all over the stadium. They resisted against the brutal attack of repressive forces and punished a number of them.
The regime’s tricks for making the two clubs’ fans fight each other and for deviating their chanting did not work and Azerbaijani Iranians and supporters of Tabriz Tractor-Sazi Club chanted: “Everywhere in Iran is my homeland; long live Azerbaijan”. Outside of the stadium, young people who were not allowed to enter the stadium clashed with the repressive forces.
The protests continued even after the match and spread to Azadi Square. Anti-riot guards and plainclothes mercenaries rushed into the crowd with their motorcycles, injured, and battered them. Brave youths confronted them courageously.
There was also another incident during a soccer match in the Naghsh-e-Jahan Stadium of Isfahan where brave youth started chanting “Death to the Dictator” and other slogans against the regime’s policies of meddling in the region. France 24 reported that the Iranians reported Saturday that the state broadcaster had muted stadium noise during the football match in Tehran, in an apparent attempt to drown out anti-government chants. Mobile phone footage shared widely on social media showed thousands of fans in Tehran’s Azadi stadium chanting “Death to the dictator” during the fixture between the capital’s Esteghlal and Tractor Sazi from the northwestern city of Tabriz.
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Khalid bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the US, has reiterated his condemnation of the Iranian regime’s “menacing role” in Yemen. His remarks on Twitter on Friday came days after Saudi Arabia resumed shipping through the Bab Al-Mandeb. Maritime activity had been temporarily halted following Houthi attacks on two of the Saudi Arabia's oil tankers.“There should be no doubt about the Iranian regime’s ‘menacing role’ in Yemen,” the prince said, referring to Iranian Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) Commander Nasser Shabani’s admission that the regime was behind recent attacks on the two oil tankers.
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Iraq has begun to apply new US economic sanctions against Iranian regime, turning back shipments of Iranian goods at a number of border crossings, according to Al Hurra TV, quoting Iranian merchants. Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, who is straddling the political fence as he seeks a second term following parliamentary elections in May, told journalists Wednesday that he was "totally opposed to the principle of sanctions, given the price [Baghdad] itself had paid for international sanctions." Nonetheless, Abadi said he would apply them, since "the world does business in dollars and it would hurt the interests of the Iraqi people" if he ignored them.
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Iran test-fired a short-range anti-ship missile in the Strait of Hormuz during naval drills last week that Washington believes were aimed at sending a message as the United States reimposes sanctions on Tehran, a US official said on Friday. “It’s pretty clear to us that they were trying to use that exercise to send a message to us that as we approach this period of the sanctions here, that they had some capabilities,” Votel told reporters at the Pentagon. Votel said the U.S. military was keenly aware of Iran’s military activities. “We are aware of what’s going on, and we remain ready to protect ourselves as we pursue our objectives of freedom of navigation and the freedom of commerce in international waters,” Votel said.
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Sufi women continue to be deprived of their basic human rights at Qarchak Prison in Varamin, north central Iran. Sepideh Moradi was sentenced in absentia to five years in jail. She had refused to appear in court in protest to unfair trials and denial of legal counsel to Sufi women during court proceedings.
At the same time, Ms. Shokoufeh Yadollahi was sent to hospital for the fourth time due to her critical health conditions. Ms. Yadollahi was denied medical treatment for over five months, despite serious injuries she suffered at the time of arrest.
Ms. Yadollahi is the mother of Kasra, Pooya and Amir Noori who have been sentenced to 12, 2 and 6 years’ imprisonment, respectively, as well as to flogging, internal exile and other social privations. Ms. Yadollahi is one of the Sufi women who have been detained in Qarchak Prison since February 20, 2018, deprived of access to lawyer and other basic rights.
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The complaint by Shinabad girls to receive compensation from the Education Ministry has been delayed by the Coroner’s Office of West Azerbaijan Province in Iran as it has failed to provide its assessment on the extent of damages inflicted on the girls in the fire that broke out in their school six years ago.
In an interview with the state-run IRNA news agency on Tuesday, August 7, Hossein Ahmadi Niaz, the lawyer representing the Shinabad girls, explained, “After three months, the Coroner’s Office of Orumiyeh has not yet issued its assessment regarding (the extent of damages inflicted on) these girls.” The complaint by Shinabad girls was filed to receive compensation from the Education Ministry to pay for their treatment. Lawyer Ahmadi Niaz said the complaint by Shinabad girls was first filed with the Prosecutor’s Office of Piranshahr and they referred the file to the city’s Coroner’s Office to assess the damage. He said, “My clients were examined three months ago. We have been waiting for the result since then. These girls have undergone more than 300 surgeries, each of which has caused grave side effects and problems. This is why they are entitled to compensation (by the Education Ministry).”
Ahmadi Niaz also reiterated that his clients have suffered various psychological damages as a result of which four of them attempted suicide. He demanded that the money be paid to his clients, enabling them to continue their treatment. (The state-run IRNA news agency – August 7, 2018)
On December 5, 2012, an elementary school for girls in Shinabad Village of Piranshahr, West Azerbaijan Province, caught fire because of using a non-standard worn-out heater in the classroom. Two students died due to deep injuries and 12 out of 28 others suffered severe burns. The girls have been promised to be sent abroad for treatment but officials have failed to deliver on this promise. On August 2, 2018, Mohammad Bat’haii, the Minister of Education, told state-run ILNA news agency that the girls do not need to be sent abroad and “it is possible to treat them in Iran,” something that has met numerous obstacles, so far.
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Women were actively involved in a big rally held outside the Central Bank in downtown Tehran-Iran on Tuesday, August 7, where people defrauded by Caspian and other fraudulent financial institutes had gathered to protest. Holding various placards, they chanted along with other participants, “Our money was a deposit, treachery is what you did to it.”
Other acts of protest were held by landowners on Sunday and Monday, August 5 and 6, in Kowsar township, in Hashtgerd, one of the cities of Alborz Province, located west of Tehran Province.
Participants protested against confiscation of 1,200 pieces of lands which are legally owned by 2,000 families. They gathered outside the Crusade Building in Alborz Province. Women were actively involved in this protest, too.
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Mrs. Farangis Mazloumi, mother of political prisoner Soheil Arabi, travelled several times between the court and Greater Tehran Penitentiary on Tuesday, August 7, 2018, hoping to visit her incarcerated son.