NCRI’s(National Council of Resistance of Iran) president-elect Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, as the key speaker of this event laid out the sacrifices made by the members of the Iranian Resistance during the decades that have passed since that fateful day, including the summer 1988 massacre of political prisoners in the dungeons of the regime and the mullahs’ numerous terrorist attacks and plots against resistance members across the globe. “Iran’s 40-year history clearly shows the necessity and rightfulness of June 20, 1981. For this reason, the passage of all these years has failed to push it into oblivion,” Mrs. Rajavi said. “[Iranian regime Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and President Hassan Rouhani are trying to obstruct the path leading to the threat of uprisings and overthrow by implementing a strategy of inflicting death and mass human casualties. But this barrier lacks in strength and will not last long, because the mullahs are stuck in a vortex leading to their overthrow,” the NCRI President-elect continued.
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Eight-tenths of a nurse for each hospital bed
“Of Iran’s 250,000 nurses, including employees, students, and retirees, 110,000 are active for 140,000 hospital beds and only work in hospitals. This means that we have only eight-tenths of the nursing staff for every hospital bed in any given 24 hours. “Of the 110,000, about 65,000 to 68,000 nurses have served patients infected with COVID-19 during the past four months. This figure rises daily as the virus continues to spread in other provinces. “Of the 65,000 to 68,000 nurses, 50% – or at least 32,000 nurses – were continuously in direct contact with Coronavirus patients, day and night, for 2 weeks to 2 months. These nurses have been denied access to their families, including their spouses, children, and parents. “Due to their close interactions with Coronavirus patients, as many as 7,400 nurses have been infected with COVID-19 as of June 16. Of the 18 nurses who lost their lives, 7 were from northern Gilan province. The rest were from Tehran and other parts of the country. Many medical universities have failed to separate nurses’ hourly wages from overtime pay, leading to a lack of accounting transparency and the loss of many nurses’ salaries. “Due to the lack of manpower and the economic situation, they [the University of Medical Sciences] refuse to honor nurses’ legal requests for early retirement.” “One of the worst things to happen to nurses, particularly in the northern provinces of Gilan and Mazandaran, is that despite the University of Medical Sciences’ promise to hire and employ nurses for a year, nurses have remained without pay for 2.5 months.” “In Gilan province, for example, the University of Medical Sciences has provided nurses with an 89-hour compulsory hourly contract. The university has made all payment of compensation and benefits subject to nurses signing this contract.
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Fatemeh Barahi, 19, was beheaded by her husband in the southwestern Iranian city of Abadan on Sunday night, June 14. The husband told officers that he had left Fatima’s head in the Bahar area near the Bahman Shir River after separating it from her body. Fatemeh Barahi was forced to marry her cousin last year(The state-run ROKNA News Agency – June 16, 2020). According to state-run media, at least four honor killings took place in May and June in the northern province of Gilan, the southern province of Sistan and Baluchestan, the southeastern province of Kerman, and the southern province of Khuzestan in Iran. These honor killings and the shocking tragedies are due to the misogynistic laws of the mullahs’ regime. Laws that do not criminalize violence against women, including domestic violence, serve to perpetuate it. In addition, the constitution protects honor killings. Article 301 of the Iranian Penal Code states that retribution for the murderer; i.e., execution, is applicable only if the murderer is not the victim’s father or paternal grandfather (The Islamic Penal Code, adopted in April 2013). Article 630 of the Iranian regime's Penal Code stipulates: "Whenever a man finds his wife committing adultery, and is sure of his wife’s consent in doing so, he can instantly kill both of them."
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Iranian regime's State Security Force (SSF) announced it will prosecute female pillion riders. SSF also imposed further restrictions on drivers who drop their veils behind the wheel. Tehran’s Chief of Police, Hossein Rahimi, said on June 14, 2020: "The State Security Force (police) in Tehran has received a new mandate to deal with motorcyclists who break the rules. The SSF will deal with offenders during the week, and especially on Thursdays." Iran weekends are Thursdays and Friday. Stressing that “the Police will not compromise with any immoral behavior,” Rahimi added that “motorcyclists who break the norms will be seriously dealt with.” (The state-run Aftabnews.ir– June 14, 2020). Earlier, on June 10, the regime took another step to increase pressure on Iranian women. Women who drop their veils behind the wheels also received new threats by Ali Zolghadr, the head of Tehran’s Security Police. Zolghadr announced, “Drivers who receive text messages saying, ‘Car owner! Someone dropped her veil in your car,’ must immediately report to one of the centers of the Security Police. It makes no difference in which city you are when you receive the text, and if the breach took place in another city. The owner and the person who drives the car must refer to a Security Police Center and if the removal of the veil was verified, they must sign written pledges.” (The state-run Mashreqnews.ir – June 10, 2020) Zolghadr said the new plan is called, “Systematic Impounding of Cars” and added, “Those who commit the crime of removing their veils or if they have objections (to the text message) must report to a police center within 10 days. The system is designed in a way that if a person does not report to the police to sign a pledge, their car would be impounded in the system… People who have a record of more than four or five arrests in the system will be turned in to the Judiciary immediately.” (The state-run Kayhan daily – June 10, 2020)
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Political prisoner Zahra Safaei was arrested along with her daughter, Parastoo Moeini, on February 24 and transferred to the Ministry of Intelligence Detention Center (Ward 209 of Evin Prison). Then they were transferred to Qarchak Prison of Varamin in mid-April. Zahra Safaei was among the 20 arrested Iranians listed in the statement of the Iranian Resistance on May 5 of this year in which the NCRI- National Council of Resistance of Iran called for urgent action to save their lives. Zahra Safaei endured time behind bars as a political prisoner from 1981 to 1989. She was arrested again in 2006, and subsequently banished to the Prison of Qazvin in 2009. Her father, a prominent figure in the Tehran business community, was executed in 1982 on charges of supporting the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK).
The Iranian regime systematically sends female political prisoners to the notorious Qarchak Prison to increase the pressure on them and break their resistance, or to brutalize and kill them by dangerous prisoners incited and hired by prison authorities. Political prisoners are not safe in Qarchak because the principle of separation of prisoners according to the categories of their crimes is not observed in this all-women prison. Qarchak Prison is also plagued with the Covid-19 disease as prisoners with symptoms are not isolated and quarantined. There have been reports of the infections of some 100 inmates in this prison. Political prisoner Zeinab Jalalian who had been recently transferred to Qarchak on May 2, 2020, has contracted the disease and tested positive. Many other political prisoners including Golrokh Ebrahimi Iraee, Forough Taghipour (who has also contracted the disease), and those arrested in the protests in November 2019 are detained in Qarchak under deplorable conditions. This seems to be a deliberate attempt on the part of the regime which has been taking advantage of the deadly virus to get rid of its resistant and firm political opponents. The NCRI Women’s Committee renews the call by the Iranian resistance on the UN Secretary-General, the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the UN Human Rights Council, and other international human rights organizations to take urgent action to secure the release of political prisoners in Iran and to dispatch a delegation to inspect the clerical regime’s prisons and visit the prisoners.
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Ahmad Pourian, the brother of Mohammad and Mehdi Pourian, 18 and 20, respectively, spoke about the SSF raid, saying that his brothers had been asleep when SSF forces raided their home. The troops woke up the two brothers, beat and killed them. “After Mohammad and Mehdi were beaten – before our mother’s eyes – Iranshahr SSF forces ordered them to flee. Mehdi started to run, but he was shot in the back and killed. Mohammad refused to run. He was shot dead inside his home in front of his mother,” Ahmad added. According to Ahmad Pourian, his mother was also beaten during the raid. Having witnessed the killing of two of her sons, she suffered a heart attack. Meanwhile, Ahmad’s father suffered a nervous breakdown. Soheila Shirvani posted her audio message online on Thursday, June 12, announcing that she was seeking justice for her sons. The bereaved mother of two slain young men said in her message, “I am pursuing in court the matter of the killing of two of my children. The court told us that the murder of my children was ordered by Golmohammadi, and the [SSF] forces did so on his orders.” Mohsen Golmohammadi is the Public and Revolutionary Prosecutor of Iranshahr. Ms. Shirvani objected to the court’s failure to assign the case, and the circumstances under which the court failed to act. “Because of the Coronavirus, no one leaves the house to even buy bread. But I’m not afraid of the virus. I’ve lost two children. I am always in this court or that SSF station. Every morning after I wake up, I go to this or that office. Why did you make my life miserable? Why did you break my heart? Why did you destroy me? You killed my soul. I am a mother,” she said in another part of her message. “God, these are the oppressors who rule over us. You are the great God, so take revenge on them… Make my voice heard everywhere…”
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Please refer to www.women.ncr-iran.org for more info.
