Sunday, October 14, 2018

NEWS))))))



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According to PMOI/MEK Mojahedin of Iran, teachers in dozens of cities across Iran have launched their 2 day nationwide strike on Sunday, protesting poor living conditions, problems with their jobs and heavy security measures imposed in their schools. They also are calling for their jailed colleagues to be released. Teachers in the cities of Paveh, Islamabad-e Gharb, Yazd, Kermanshah, Shiraz, Marivan, Mashhad, Ilam, Gonabad, Torbat-e Heydariyeh, Tabriz, Amol, Garmeh, Lamerd, Sanandaj, Saqqez, Tehran, Sarvabad, Divandarreh, Mahabad, Khorramabad, Firouzazbad, Zarrin Shahr, Bojnourd, Javanrud, Sari, Karaj, Ivan-e Gharb, Isfahan, Rumeshkan and a number of other towns and cities are seen to be on strike. Students in various cities have announced their support for their teachers on this initiative. Since anti-government demonstrations erupted throughout Iran in December, strikes have become a popular way for citizens of different walks of life and social classes to protest against the corruption and inefficiency of the Iranian regime. This is the second time that the Iranian teachers are going on strike. Earlier this year, teachers across the country took to the streets to protest against discrimination, imprisonment of political activists and economic woes. This round of strikes by teachers is happening in parallel to a widespread strike by truck drivers across the country, which has lasted for more than three weeks and has expanded to 320 cities across the country and in 31 provinces. Last week, a separate strike by merchants and shop owners reached dozens of cities.

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-On Wednesday, October 10, the families of students at the Sama female School in Takestan held a sit-in against illegal and substandard blood taken by a couple of syringes from 40 children by an unidentified person posing as a Red Crescent (Hilal Ahmar) employee. The sit-in protest was held in the prayer hall and a number of the families also gathered in front of the Health and Medical Care Network in Takestan.

-On Tuesday and Wednesday, October 9 and 10, employees of the Edalat Stocks Cooperative continued their protest gathering since Saturday, October 6, against the cooperative’s failure to pay 43 months of their salaries.

-On Tuesday, October 9, a group of defrauded investors of the Caspian Credit Institute in Tehran held a protest gathering in front of the Public Prosecutor's Office. Women stood alongside men in this protest, demanding reimbursement of their plundered deposits.

-On Monday, October 8, a group of plundered clients of the Caspian Credit Institute in Rasht, mainly women, staged a protest gathering.

-Also on Monday, October 8, a group of students from Tehran's Khajeh Nassir Toosi University of Technology staged a protest against the new policy of obtaining fees from students for dormitory services.

According to women committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, from March to September 2018, Iranian women have actively taken part in over 430 protest gatherings in cities across Iran.

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A female judo practitioner was banned from participating in judo competitions at the 2018 Summer Youth Olympic Games in Argentina, due to the Iranian regime’s compulsory hijab rules. Maral Mardani, Iranian judo practitioner of the 78 weight team, was eliminated from the main Olympic Games in Argentina because she could not wear the original judo uniform and go without covering her hair which is part of the compulsory hijab rule of the Iran’s regime. Government officials did not allow the female judo practitioner to attend tournament with the official Judo uniform, which all the athletes in the world use, and the judo practitioner Maral Mardani was required to be present with a full covering at the judo matches. (The state-run ILNA news agency - October 9, 2018)
Earlier, rock climber Elnaz Rekabi, who won the gold medal of women’s Asian Bold Ring Cup, said in a brief interview about the restrictions imposed on her due to the compulsory hijab. "It is very hard with the veil especially when the weather is hot. I tried to find some proper outfit for this sport to observe the dress code, as well, but I had to do it on my own.” (Interview with Euronews – Aparat.com– April 25, 2016)
In an insulting comment about Iranian women athletes participating in national and international competitions, Alam Al-Hoda said in 2015, "When a woman with an inappropriate appearance goes to the platform to receive her medal, then an Indian referee will put the medal around her neck and they will hold up the flag of Iran, it is a shame for the Islamic world."
Female athletes have no government or private support. Those women who wish to participate in international tournaments, have to pay for their own travel, practice, equipment, etc. But Iranian women are so motivated that they continue to be active in sports and win medals. They show their talent and competence in various sport fields at every opportunity.

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The bus carrying female students to a compulsory camp, called Rahian-e Noor, crashed on the Tabriz road on October 10. Two students died in this accident and more were injured. The bus carrying 40 secondary school girls was heading to Tamarchin, in West Azerbaijan Province, when it started to rain. Slippery road caused the crash at the entrance to the city of Tabriz. (The state-run ISNA News Agency – October 10, 2018)
The Women committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran added that these compulsory camps, aimed at promoting fundamentalist culture and brainwashing students, are held every year at high expenses. While the government does not care for the lives of girl students, they hold these mandatory camps on an annual basis, despite severe roads condition in Iran where millions of people lose their lives every year.
Global organizations have described Iranian roads, as roads of death.
Elite student Sara Ayineh was among the 27 victims of a horrendous bus crash in Sanandaj, capital of the Iranian Kurdistan Province in western Iran on July 11, 2018, when an IRGC fuel tanker crashed into the students’ bus. Sara Ayineh studied biology at a high school for talented students and had passed the exam for the first stage of Science Olympiad for the 2017-2018 academic year.
Last December, a bus carrying female students from Susangerd traveled through war-torn areas under the pretext of a scientific travel. The bus crashed and four girl students and a female teacher were killed. According to government officials, six people died in the accident and more than 11 people were reported as injured. (The state-run Tasnim news agency – December 12, 2017)
This is not the first time that students die in an accident involving buses carrying secondary and college students.
In another incident on March 17, 1998, a bus carrying students from Sharif University of Technology fell into a steep valley killing seven students and two faculty members of the university. Maryam Mirzakhani, a mathematics genius, was one of the survivors of the incident.

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Examinations by the Coroner’s Office revealed that a seven-year-old girl, Donya Veisi, who had apparently died when the school wall crumbled on her, had been actually raped and murdered, and the wall collapse was a set up to cover up the heinous crime. This is according to a reporter who has personally talked to a physician at the Coroner's Office.
Rashid Ghorbani, general director of the Department of Education in Kurdistan Province, announced that Donya Veisi, a first grade student of the elementary school of Garmash village, had been severely injured on Monday, October 8, when an old wall in the school yard collapsed. Donya Veisi was immediately taken to the Be’ssat Hospital of Sanandaj, by her father, teacher and the school principal, but lost her life to serious injuries.
This is not the first time that such crimes victimize innocent and defenseless children. Unfortunately, despite public opinion pressure and repeated appeals by human rights and women’s rights activists to pass a law on violence against women and criminalize its perpetrators, no such bill has been adopted by the Iranian regime’s  parliament.
The bill on elimination of violence against women was first renamed as “Provision of Security for Women” bill, many of its articles were subsequently deleted, and it remains stuck in the labyrinths of law and decision making after some 10 years.