******
According to state-run Hamshahri online July 1, on Tuesday night, June 30, an explosion burnt Tehran’s Sina Clinic located north of Shariati Avenue in downtown Tehran- Capital of Iran. Nineteen, including 16 women, died and 14 were wounded. Deputy Minister of Health, Iraj Harirchi asserted that the explosion was so horrendous that it damaged the buildings surrounding the clinic. Women trapped in fire attempted to get out by breaking the windows with their bare hands. Instead of dispatching emergency forces to save the victims caught up in fire, the regime sent security forces and intelligence agents to prevent and quell the protests by those afflicted by the explosion.The names of some of the women, members of the medical staff in the clinic, have been announced as the following:
Dr. Susan Soltani Mohammadi, anesthesiologist and member of the science faculty of the Medical Sciences University; Dr. Farideh Tourani, general surgeon; Raha Nikravesh, operation room expert, who died with her husband, Ehsan Ganjkhanloo; Leyla Avazkhani, anesthesiologist; Maryam Khorsandi, operation room expert; Shabnam Diani, operation room expert; Mohaddeseh Razi, operation room expert.
Others included Ayda Zamani, Lida Kham Daii, Mojgan Dehghan, Yasaman (no surname), and Ms. Rahmani.
Mismanagement Leads to Fire at Tehran’s Sina Clinic, 16 women die
Dr. Susan Soltani Mohammadi
fire at Tehran's Sina Clinic
Raha Nikravesh, operation room expert, who died with her husband, Ehsan Ganjkhanloo
Fire at Tehran's Sina Clinic led to the deaths of Dr. Farideh Tourani
Dr. Farideh Tourani, general surgeon
Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the NCRI President-elect, extended her deepest sympathies to the families and survivors of the victims, particularly the patients, who lost their lives in the catastrophic fire in Tehran’s Sina Clinic. She condoled all the people of Tehran over this harrowing loss of lives and wished quick recovery for all those injured and hurt in this tragic incident.
In part of her message, she and said: “Under the rule of these turbaned vultures, Iran is always mourning because the nation is hit by some form of disaster every day from the tens of thousands who lost their lives due to the coronavirus, to the young people who lost their lives fighting fires in burning forests, and to the incessant hanging, executions and torture.
“This and other similar tragic incidents are preventable. The damages and destruction caused by floods and earthquakes as well as the ongoing forest and environmental fires indicate an enormously chaotic situation within the decadent clerical regime in its entirety. The mullahs and their IRGC mercenaries have plundered the nation’s wealth to the extent that they have left no room for reliable technical and professional services and reinforcing the infrastructures.”
Mismanagement Leads to Fire at Tehran’s Sina Clinic, 16 women die
The Women’s Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran also condoled the families of the victims and the people of Tehran for this harrowing incident and added: The pain and suffering of the people of Iran will only end when the clerical regime’s religious fascism is overthrown and replaced with a democratic government which respects the people’s sovereignty.
******
This strategy is amplified when it comes to women civil activists in Iran. Suppression, arrest, bans on activities, and imprisonment of women activists are among the primary goals of the regime’s repressive institutions.
Despite the spread of the Coronavirus in recent months, and despite the Iranian regime’s claims that it would reduce the number of new prisoners, women civil activists in Iran continue to be arrested, summoned, interrogated, and sentenced to prison terms. As such we can name
Masoumeh Akbari, a civil rights activist, was sentenced to 6 years in prison on June 24. She was sentenced to prison terms for attending a March 8 rally and a sit-in in front of the Bar Association.
Mojgan Kavousi, a Kurdish civil activist, was denied the right to leave to meet with family members because she had protested Nowshahr Prison’s lack of transparency about the publication of Covid-19 news in the women’s ward. On June 23, one of Kavousi’s relatives reported that prison officials had not allowed her to make any phone calls. The Kurdish writer was transferred to Evin Prison on June 22.
Leila Hosseinzadeh, a student civil activist, was summoned to Evin Court on June 21. She was charged with “disturbing the peace in the prison by chanting slogans against the Islamic Republic” during an interrogation session.
Somayeh Ramouz, Sakineh Parvaneh, Akram Rahimpour, and Zohreh Asadpour, all women civil activists in Iran, were summoned, detained, and sentenced to new terms of imprisonment this past May.
Soha Mortezaii, a graduate of Tehran University with a master’s degree in political science and a former secretary of the Tehran University Trade Union Council was summoned on April 30 to serve her sentence.
Shahla Delbina and her husband Sharif Saedpanah, a labor activist and member of the board of directors of the Free Trade Union of Iran, were summoned and interrogated on April 30.
Ashraf (Roghayeh) Nafri, a mathematics student at Khajeh Nasir Tusi University and a Twitter activist, was arrested in Shahriar on April 26 and transferred to Qarchak Prison in Varamin.
Nahid Khodajoo, a labor activist and member of the board of directors of the Free Trade Union of Iran, was summoned to the Evin Court on April 15 to serve her sentence.
Narges Mansouri, a civil rights activist, was threatened via telephone and summoned on April 13. Security agents told her that she had to surrender to Evin Court by the morning of Tuesday, April 14.
and Nasrin Hassani, a journalist and women’s rights activist, was summoned to the Bojnourd city court on April 13. She was charged with “propaganda against the state.”
******
Baha’i citizens
According to statistics obtained from credible sources, a total of 121 violations of fundamental rights have been committed against Baha’i citizens. These include at least 5 prison sentences, 9 arrests, 34 trials, 26 court summons, 10 house searches, 8 property and asset seizures, and 6 cases of return to prison for non-renewal of leave.
Shahzad Hosseini, a Baha’i citizen, along with his son, Shayan Hosseini, were released on bail on Saturday, May 30, 2020, after a lengthy interrogation in Isfahan. They were allowed to leave with a provisional bail of 200 million tomans until the end of the trial.
On the same day, Parvaneh Hosseini, a Baha’i citizen living in Isfahan, was arrested and taken to an unknown location following an attack by Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) intelligence agents.
Mitra Bandi Amirabadi and Hiva Yazdan Mehdiabadi, Baha’i citizens living in Yazd, were arrested on Saturday, May 30, 2020, after their homes were searched and their personal belongings seized.
Vida Haghighi Najafabadi, a Baha’i citizen living in Najafabad, Isfahan, was transferred to Isfahan Central Prison on June 1, 2020, to serve 1 year in prison.
Mahboubeh Misaghian, a Baha’i citizen living in Yazd, was subjected to a home search on June 1, 2020, by security forces. Officers seized her personal belongings and took her to an unknown location.
Didar Ahmadi, Boshra Mostafavi, and Nahid Naeimi, of Rafsanjan, were arrested on June 7, 2020, after agents searched their homes and confiscated personal belongings.
Branch One of the Shiraz Revolutionary Court summoned the following Baha’i citizens on June 9, 2020, to attend a hearing: Mahyar Sefidi Miandoab, Nasim Kashaninejad, Noushin Zanhari, Vargha Kaviani, Yekta Fahndaj Saadi, Lala Salehi, Mojgan Gholam Poursaadi, Marjan Gholampour, Maryam Eslami Mehdi Abadi, Parisa Rouhi Zadegan, Bahareh Norouzi, Samareh Ashnaie, Shadi Sadehgh Aghdam, Shamim Akhlaghi, Sahba Farahbakhsh, and Ahdieh Enayati.
Fariba Ashtari, a Baha’i citizen living in Yazd, was sentenced on June 20, 2020, to 6 years in prison. She was accused of “membership in anti-regime groups” and “propaganda against the state.”
Another notable example of violations of the rights of religious minorities is the situation of women in prisons, especially given the dramatic rate of spread of Covid-19.
In this regard, four Baha’i citizens reported that they, along with other prisoners in Birjand, may have contracted the virus.
Saghar Mohammadi, Sheida Abedi, Simin Mohammadi, and Maryam Mokhtari were placed in the quarantine ward of the women’s prison for more than 3 weeks, and were denied the right to return to the public prison ward. These detainees have been denied family visits for several weeks as the meeting room can be accessed only through the public ward.
Christian citizens
Citizens of the Christian faith have also been subjected to regime repression, despite the fact that Articles 13 and 26 the Islamic Republic’s Constitution recognizes Christianity. These citizens have been targeted in at least 15 instances in recent months. These instances include 5 court summons, 5 arrests, and 5 cases of imprisonment.
On Sunday, June 21, 2020, the Revolutionary Court of Bushehr sentenced seven Christian converts, including three women – Maryam Fallahi, Marjan Fallahi, and Fatemeh Talebi – to imprisonment, fines, deportation, and deprivation of employment and social rights.
Dervishes
Gonabadi Dervishes have also been targeted by state agents in at least five cases in the past month. The regime’s suppressive measures include two court summons to serve prison sentences, two cases of imprisonment, and one case of imprisonment in exile.
With regard to violations of the rights of religious minorities in Iran, the U.S. Department of State’s annual report on religious freedom in the world was published on Wednesday, June 10. Some 33 pages of the report focused on violations of the rights of religious minorities in Iran.
According to the report, in 2019, the Iranian regime continued to harass, interrogate, and detain Baha’is, Christians – especially those who have converted to Christianity – Sunni followers, and other religious minorities.
The report noted a shocking example: “In January authorities gave Elham Ahmadi, an imprisoned member of the Sufi Gonabadi Order in Iran, an additional sentence of 148 lashes for speaking out about the denial of medical treatment and poor living conditions in the prison…”
It is worth noting that in Elham Ahmadi’s case, the sentence of 74 lashes was enforced before Ahmadi was released from prison on August 13, 2019.
The examples cited here represent a small sampling of the regime’s systematic, daily violations of the rights of religious minorities in Iran.
By clamping down on human rights defenders, the ruling dictatorship has prevented the possibility to inform the world about these human rights violations.
******
The event is a venue for tens of thousands of Iranians and supporters of the movement from around the globe as well as hundreds of renowned politicians, dignitaries, human rights activists, and parliamentarians from the five continents to declare their support for the people of Iran in their quest for freedom.
Last year the Free Iran annual gathering was held in Ashraf-3 in Albania, now home to members of the main Iranian opposition movement, the People’s Mojahedin Organization (PMOI/MEK).
The 5-day event hosted hundreds of dignitaries from 47 nations. They included prominent women including Michèle Alliot-Marie, former French Minister of Defense, Interior and Foreign Affairs; Rama Yade, former French Human Rights Minister; Judge Susana Medina, Minister of the High Court of Justice of Entre Rios, Argentina; Maria Candida Almeida, Deputy Attorney General of Portugal; Bandana Rana, Vice-Chair of the UN CEDAW Committee; Rashida Manjoo, UN Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women (2009-2015); Yakin Ertürk, UN Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women (2003-2009); Dr. Ranjana Kumari, Director of Center for Social Research, New Delhi –India; Ingrid Betancourt, former senator and presidential hopeful for Columbia; Baroness Sandip Verma, member of the UK House of Lords; Michèle de Vaucouleurs, French MP and President of Parliamentary Committee for a Democratic Iran; and Elona Gjebrea, former under-secretary of Interior of Albania.
The keynote speaker was the charismatic President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, Maryam Rajavi, whose Ten-point Plan for a Free Iran is the focal point of support by international dignitaries and Iranians worldwide.
The Ten-point Plan calls for human rights, a democratic republic, separation of religion and state, gender equality, pluralism, free and fair elections, the rule of law, justice, abolishment of the death penalty, a market economy, and a nonnuclear Iran in peaceful co-existence with its neighbors.
People’s sovereignty in a pluralist republic based on universal suffrage; freedom of speech, freedom of political parties and assemblies, freedom of the press and the internet; individual and social freedoms and rights in accordance with the Universal Declaration of Humans Rights; independent judiciary and legal system in accordance with international standards based on presumption of innocence; protection and restoration of the environment, are among the objectives of the NCRI for a free Iran.
The Ten-point Plan also puts special emphasis on women’s rights and reiterates complete gender equality in political, social, cultural, and economic rights, and equal participation of women in political leadership; abolishment of any form of discrimination; the right to choose one’s clothing, and to marriage, divorce, education and employment; and prohibition of all forms of exploitation against women under any pretext in tomorrow’s free Iran.
This year, due to the Coronavirus pandemic and restrictions on travel worldwide, the Free Iran annual gathering is going to be held online on July 17. According to women's committee of the Iranian resistance, Hundreds of politicians, dignitaries, human and women’s rights advocates, as well as members of the Iranian communities in Europe, the U.S., Canada, Australia, etc. will join together in the virtual conference to announce their support for a free Iran. Entitled, “Iran Rising Up for Freedom, Resistance Units Key to Victory,” the message of the Free Iran Global Summit is that regime change in Iran is imminent, and the people of Iran led by the National Council of Resistance of Iran will soon be free. this website women's committees added: Everyone is invited to join us in this virtual global summit which is broadcast live on women.ncr-iran.org and its social media networks live on Friday July 17, 2020, at 3 p.m. CEST(Central European Summer Time).
