IRAN NEWS))))))

The Women's Committee of NCRI(National Council of Resistance of Iran), in a statement April 11, called on women and men of Iran to stand up against the new round of repression of women by the misogynistic regime at the behest of Ali Khamenei, regime's supreme leader. The statement reads: Ali Khamenei increasingly relies on repression and suppression due to the setbacks his regime has faced from all sides. On Wednesday, April 10, during his Eid al-Fitr sermon, he cautioned the regime’s apparatuses, agents, and functionaries against “falling short” in countering “religious norm-breaking” and explicitly commanded: “Officials, the people, and those who promote good and forbid evil must all carry out their duties in this regard.” It is evident that women are the primary targets of this new phase of repression... We also call on international bodies, especially the UN Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women, to condemn the compulsory hijab and the misogynistic actions of the mullahs’ regime in this regard. https://tinyurl.com/2zvzjwwu

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Political prisoner Sharifeh Mohammadi has been in temporary detention for nearly five months in Lakan Prison of Rasht, where she has faced various restrictions during this period. Her husband Sirous Fat’hi, said: “For nearly five months, workers of Lakan Prison have been forcing Sharifeh Mohammadi to wear a veil for her cabin visits. She has protested against this action by Lakan Prison workers. ”Political prisoner Sharifeh Mohammadi has seen her 12-year-old child only once since her arrest. She was also deprived of making phone calls for a lengthy period. She spent two months in the Prison of Sanandaj, where she was beaten and brutalized by her interrogators. https://tinyurl.com/yd3k64r8

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Student activist Fahime Soltani was arrested for the second time after being summoned by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Intelligence Department in the central city of Isfahan. She was transferred to an unknown location. Soltani was also arrested during the nationwide protests and sentenced to temporary suspension from education. https://tinyurl.com/4zcejc97

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Political prisoner Sakineh Parvaneh was transferred from Vakil Abad prison in Mashhad, northeastern Iran, to Tehran’s Evin prison on the anniversary of her arrest for unknown reasons. The Kurdish political prisoner had previously gone on hunger strike for 3 days on January 30 to protest the execution of political prisoners. In 2020, Sakineh Parvaneh was sentenced to five years of prison and a two-year ban on membership in political organizations by Branch 26 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court on the charge of “membership in anti-state groups with the aim of disrupting the security of the country.” https://tinyurl.com/2ekh89bb

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A young woman, Roya Zakeri, was taken to an isolation room at the Razi Psychiatric Hospital by security forces on April 4, after chanting slogans against Khamenei, the Iranian regime’s Supreme Leader. The report was posted on X by her lawyer Sina Yousefi. He wrote that Roya Zakeri was hospitalized in the Bu Ali ward of Razi Hospital in Tabriz, northwestern Iran, under the supervision of security agents and that her life was in danger. After the morality police attacked Roya Zakeri on the street last October, she chanted, “down with Khamenei” and was arrested by security forces and taken to the Razi Psychiatric Hospital. https://tinyurl.com/ycy2f689

 IRAN NEWS))))))

Samaneh Asghari, Women and children’s rights activist was transferred to Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison in Iran to serve her one-year prison term. Her husband announced that: “The one-year prison term for my wife was implemented from today Wednesday, April 3, after she went to the Shahr-e Rey Court and was transferred to Evin Prison". Samaneh was arrested in September 2023 by security forces in her Tehran home and released on bail from Qarchak Prison in Varamin after twenty days. Samaneh, an Industrial engineering graduate of Tehran’s Kharazmi University, was also detained during the 2022 nationwide Iran protests. https://tinyurl.com/mr4dws9a

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A 73 year old political prisoner Mrs. Raheleh Rahimpour who suffers from several physical ailments, including a brain tumor, and in need of specialized treatment, is deprived medically by the Evin prison officials for not complying with the mandatory hijab. Raheleh Rahemipour is one of the families of the prisoners executed in the 1980s in Iran. Mrs. Rahemipour has tried for years to clarify the truth about the disappearance of her dentist brother who was imprisoned in the 1980s and her nephew who was born in Evin prison. https://tinyurl.com/44njcjky

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Parvin Mirasan, a 66 year old political prisoner in Iran, is still in custody after 17 months of detention under uncertain conditions. Her arrest during the Isfahan protests led to two months of interrogations in Isfahan before she was transferred to solitary confinement in the Intelligence Ministry Ward 209 of Evin Prison on February 12, 2023. https://tinyurl.com/yn4mb2yj

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The body of a 20 year old Sara Tabrizi was found on March 24 at her residence in Tehran-Iran. Sara Tabrizi had been enduring pressure from security forces and interrogators for months, urging her to cooperate with intelligence services. Her ordeal began on November 16, 2023, when she was apprehended at an airport while departing Iran for the UK with her aunt. She was then transferred to Ward 209 of Evin Prison, under the jurisdiction of the Intelligence Ministry. After three days in solitary confinement, during which she suffered heart palpitations and high blood pressure due to the stress of isolation, she was moved to the infirmary and subsequently transferred to a cell for three. Following the conclusion of her interrogations after ten days, she was released on bail amounting to one billion tomans. https://tinyurl.com/3275czss

 IRAN NEWS))))))

11 months after her arrest and imprisonment, political prisoner Nasim Gholami Simiyari remains detained under uncertain conditions in the women’s ward of Evin Prison in Tehran- Iran. Security forces arrested her on May 18, 2023, in Tehran and took her to one of the detention centers of the Ministry of Intelligence. She was subjected to psychological and physical torture to extract confessions. Ms. Gholami has been charged with, disseminating propaganda against the state, engaging in assembly and collusion to disrupt national security, and membership in groups and gangs intended to disrupt national security. https://tinyurl.com/y3drdut4

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A couple Yassin Zolfaghafi and her unnamed wife were hanged in the Central Prison of Tabriz-Iran at dawn on March 18, on the eve of the Persian New Year. The newlywed couple were executed for allegedly possessing 3 kilograms of Crack.  They came originally from Jolfa, in East Azerbaijan Province, and had been married for only a year. This is third woman executed in 2024, and the 232nd woman executed in Iran since 2007, according to the data compiled by the NCRI Women’s Committee. https://tinyurl.com/3ts8t5sp

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Two Iranian Kurdish women Varisha Moradi and Pakhshan Azizi linger in Evin Prison without standing trial for nearly eight months. Varisha Moradi has been in jail for more than 235 days and is charged with Bagh-y for membership in a Kurdish opposition party. Bagh-y or “armed insurgency” is a very heavy charge which can carry long prison terms and even the death sentence. She was transferred from Ward 209 to the women’s ward of Evin Prison after the end of her interrogations on December 26, 2023.                                      Pakhshan Azizi who has been detained for more than 230 days, was arrested on August 4, 2023, in Shahrak-e Kharrazi, Tehran. Pakhshan is a journalist, a former political prisoner, and Social Work graduate. She endured over four months of extensive interrogation without legal counsel or communication with her family in the Intelligence Ministry’s Ward 209 at Evin Prison. https://tinyurl.com/mr3r6rue

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The Iranian political prisoners in Qezal Hesar Prison held their 9th round of hunger strike in protest to the Iranian regime’s spate of executions on Tuesday, March 26, 2024 which is known as strike Tuesdays. A number of political prisoners in the women’s ward of Evin Prison as well as prisoners in wards 4, 6, and 8 joined the hunger strike as before. Political detainees in the prisons of Khorramabad, Mashhad, Saqqez, Naghadeh, Khoy, and the Central Prison of Karaj also went on hunger strike. On Tuesday, January 30, several death-row prisoners in Qezel Hesar made an announcement: “In order to amplify our voices, we will commence a hunger strike every Tuesday. We have chosen Tuesdays because this day often marks the final moments for our fellow inmates, who are usually transferred to solitary confinement a few days prior.” https://tinyurl.com/25s9cns3

 IRAN NEWS))))))

Immigration of nurses is “no longer a problem but teetering on the brink of a crisis,” said Abol Qassem Talebi, a Supreme Council of Medical Organization member in Iran. In an interview with Radio Salamat,  on March 11, Talebi said while the world average is three nurses per hospital bed, this average in Iran is less than one-third of the world standard. Currently, there are 240,000 nurses in Iran. Talebli said that even if they recruit the same number of nurses, Iran will still lag the world standard. He said nearly 3,000 nurses emigrate from Iran every year. While confirming the number of nurses emigrating from Iran, the Nursing Organization’s general director said that 6,000 nurses are retired yearly. https://tinyurl.com/3zcy9c75

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More than 60 Iranian current and former political prisoners and women activists signed a statement in support of Maryam Akbari Monfared, stressing that this political prisoner has been imprisoned for 5107 days without the right to leave. In parts of their statement, they wrote: She is one of the longest-held female political prisoners in Iran. She is the youngest surviving member of a family that has witnessed the imprisonment, torture, and execution of her family members since childhood. One sister and three of her brothers were killed under torture or executed without being sentenced to death. She has also witnessed the imprisonment and death of her bereaved mother. Throughout these years, she has consistently faced myriad pressures and restrictions, including being denied even a single day off. Some of us, the signatories of this letter, have been by her side for years or months, and yet, we have only witnessed a fraction of the suffering and oppression endured by Maryam and her family over decades. Maryam, a mother of three children, has been deprived of living with them for many years. Nevertheless, she remains resolute, refusing to yield to the corrosive effects of imprisonment…. https://tinyurl.com/5fej262r

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Three times the remarks of political prisoner Shabnam Madadzadeh were interrupted by the Iranian regime’s representative during the UN Human Rights Council, within 90 seconds. This interruption was due to her use of the term “regime,” refraining from using the title “Islamic Republic,” and exposing regime’s “crimes against humanity.” On Monday afternoon, March 18, at the United Nations Human Rights Council session in Geneva, following the report of the International Fact-Finding Committee on the Iranian regime and the speeches of the Committee members, government representatives, and non-governmental organizations addressed the report. This report, for the first time, recognized the crimes of the Iranian regime as “crimes against humanity.” https://tinyurl.com/2sb947xs

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Security forces in Isfahan-Iran arrested the 24 year Maryam Khalili on Thursday, March 14, and took her away to an undisclosed location. Maryam who is also known as Marzieh Khalili had been repeatedly summoned by the judicial authorities and interrogated. She faces charges of disseminating propaganda against the state, insulting the leader, and insulting the sanctities. Her trial will be held in May at one of the branches of the Revolutionary Court of Isfahan. So far, there is no information available on her place of detention or the reasons for her arrest. In other news, Sanaz JahanTigh has been detained for six months since her arrest without standing trial. The authorities have turned down her family’s request for her temporary release on bail. Sanaz, 30 years old, is from Qaemshahr, in Mazandaran Province. She was arrested in Sari, the capital of Mazandaran on September 21, 2022. She was subsequently transferred to the Prison of Qaemshahr and finally released on bail on November 2. https://tinyurl.com/mt7jzr2a