According to the Secretariat of the National Council of
Resistance of Iran Nov. 1, from Thursday morning, the fourth round of strike of heavy
truck drivers began in Iran, and covered vast sections
of the country. Drivers from different provinces including Tehran, Isfahan,
Khuzestan, West Azarbaijan, East Azarbaijan, Khorasan Razavi, South Khorasan,
North Khorasan, Sistan and Baluchestan, Fars, Kermanshah, Kerman, Hamedan,
Golestan, Zanjan, Semnan, Hormozgan and others stopped working. Drivers had
earlier gone to strike in June, August and October 2018 to protest their dire
livelihood conditions, low freight rates, expensive spare parts, tough
insurance conditions, and so on. Their third round of strike lasted 21 days.
Strikers, in addition to their previous demands, called for the release of
drivers who were arrested in the third round of the Nation wide strike. Mrs
Maryam Rajavi, the president elect of the Iranian resistance called on all
youth to give strikers financial and moral support and called on labor unions
and the International Labor Organization and other organizations defending the
rights of workers and the working people to condemn the repressive measures
taken by the Iranian regime against drivers and to support their strike to get
their rights.
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On Monday, October 29, Iranians fought the Iranian
Regime every step of the way in order to celebrate Cyrus day. Cyrus is the
ancient Persian emperor credited with forming the identity of Iran. Many
Iranians wanted to travel to Cyrus’s tomb at Pasargadae in Fars Province to pay
tribute to this great man, but the Iranian Regime tried everything to prevent
the Iranian public from going there out of fear. The Iranian regime’s security
sectors sent out threatening texts to public not to observe Cyrus day. IRGC
also announced that military drills would be near the tomb and warned hospitals
to expect increased casualties. Despite all these suppressing measures many
Iranians got to Cyrus’ tomb and others held protest gatherings in their own
cities, with Tehran being a prominent example.
King Cyrus II was an ancient Iranian leader, responsible
for creating the largest empire of civilized nations known in the world in 600
BCE and the world’s first human rights charter. His life is celebrated on
October 29, as that is believed to be the day that he conquered Babylon and
freed the Jewish people from slavery, before declaring that the temple in
Jerusalem be rebuilt, and giving the Jewish people the choice of returning to
their homeland or joining him. He is also considered a just ruler in Islamic
holy readings, but the Iranian Regime does not recognize the day, as they wish
to do away with all pre-Islamic Iranian celebrations.
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Hengameh Vahedian, a female student in Mashhad,
published an open letter protesting the lack of accountability by the regime’s
authorities and agencies regarding her father's arrest. Abbas Vahedian was
arrested by security forces on October 11, 2018, because of his activities in
the Teachers' Guild Association in Mashhad. He was transferred to an unknown
location and no information has been available on his fate, since.
In her open letter, Hengameh Vahedian writes: "I went to the information center. I went to the
Revolutionary Court, without finding a single proper answer to my questions and
concerns! However, I heard only one answer when they said no order had been
registered to have my father arrested, and it was not clear which agency had
taken action! How is it possible in a country to arrest a person and have a
legal warrant to enter his home, without a court order and an agency issuing
and carrying out the order?
"If humanity and awareness are considered a crime,
if defending one’s homeland is considered a crime, and if talking about freedom
and demanding one’s rights are considered a crime, then I am proud that my
father is a criminal!”
It has been reported that security forces raided
the residence of Abbas Vahedian on October 11, 2018, ransacking the entire
house to find his own and his children’s tablet and mobile phones. They told
his 10-year-old daughter and Hengameh Vahedian’s younger sister, Parmida, that,
“You will never see your father again. We are taking him to kill him!"
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On Sat. Oct. 27, female students of the central unit of
Tehran’s Azad University confronted the Guidance Patrol forces during a protest
rally on Saturday, October 27, held on the university’s surrounding area in
Sohanak. Female students played an active role during the protest and tried to
stop the Guidance Patrol vehicles which were driving into the crowd. Witnesses
have filmed which is posted on the internet shows a female student being pushed
by a petrol car. The State Security forces (SSF) arrested 4 students and seized
several mobile phones.
- Female students of medical sciences of Azad
Universities also gathered, pursuant to a number of other similar protests held
against the mistakes made in the 2018 admission exams.
- Female students studying genetics Genetics specialists
held a protest rally against the organization’s failure to provide medical
system numbers for the professionals on the same day outside the building of
the Medical System Organization in Tehran.
In another protest on Saturday, retired women of various
government banks converged in Tehran and held a protest rally outside the Bank
Pension Fund. One of the protesters said, "One of our most important
demands is the unconditional and permanent implementation of article 64 of
Chapter 10 of the Law on the Administration of State Services, and payment of
the salary difference since January 20, 2017."
Also on the same day a group of defrauded people cheated
by the Gold Samen Website gathered outside the Public Prosecutor's Office in
Tehran.
A group of women’s rights activists gathered for a
symbolic ceremony on Saturday, October 27, 2018, at the grave of Reyhaneh
Jabbari and commemorated her on the fourth anniversary of her execution.
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Some 40 prisoners detained in the women’s ward of Khoy
Prison, West Azerbaijan, have been displaced to the prison’s visitation hall
where they have to endure deplorable conditions without having access to basic
facilities. The inhuman measure has been taken under the pretext of doing
repairs. Political prisoner Zeinab Jalalian is imprisoned in Khoy Prison. Ms.
Jalalian has been in jail since 2007 and has to serve a life sentence.
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Two civil activist women, Hakimeh Ahmadi and Nasim
Sadeqi, were tortured by the Ministry of Intelligence agents after and during
their arrests.
Ms. Hakimeh Ahmadi, a civil activist detained by the
Ministry of Intelligence agents on October 18, was subjected to physical and
psychological torture. The agents broke her fingers and two of her rib bones.
According to her husband, Gholamreza Ghorbani, Hakimeh is hospitalized at the
Tabriz Army Hospital, and the Intelligence Ministry agents have demanded that
he pay the hospital and treatment fees.
During the arrest of this civil activist woman, the
intelligence agents beat her and even threatened her and her husband with their
weapons.
Ms. Hakimeh Ahmadi, the mother of two young children,
had previously been detained in September and was released after three days on
a 100-million-touman bail.
Nasim Sadeghi, who is currently in detention, explained
about the tortures she had been subjected to during a telephone call to her
children, saying that the security guards had beaten her repeatedly during her detention
and threatened her.
Further information on the arrest of Ms. Lamya Hemadi
indicates that the 20-year-old woman detained in an unknown location, is seven
months pregnant. Ms. Hemadi had been previously summoned by the intelligence
department for her cyberspace activities and arrested by security forces in
October 2018.
The Iranian regime has been cracking down on
the populace in and around Ahvaz, making dozens of arbitrary arrests since
September 22, 2018, when the parade of its military forces were attacked by
armed men. Around 600 people from Khuzestan province have been detained by
security forces and under interrogation. Arab human rights activists have
announced that many of the detainees are civil activists.
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At least 14 young women and girls in Iran have committed
suicide and ended their lives in October 2018. At least six teenage girls,
between the ages of 13-17, are among the victims. Poverty and depression under
the current regime is the cause of suicide which is on the rise.