Tehran Efforts to Defend Navid Afkari’s Execution in a Ridiculous Manner

Jubin Katiraie
-
0
Tehran Efforts to Defend Navid Afkari’s Execution in a Ridiculous Manner
In response to domestic and international condemnations of Navid Afkari's execution, Iranian authorities desperately try to justify their crime
In response to domestic and international condemnations of Navid Afkari’s execution, Iranian authorities desperately try to justify their crime
By Jubin Katiraie Many facts about the execution of Iranian wrestling champion Navid Afkari indicate the authorities’ decision to execute him was due to the government’s need to frighten the people and prevent any further protests. To see a few of the contradictions in the case of Navid and his brothers, one should read the latest revelation of VOA, which according to one of Navid’s relatives, exposed that Navid and his other two brothers which are now in custody are innocent. And the government has convicted him by trumped-up charges. But this is not the case of this article. This article by collecting some of the reactions of the Iranian media outlets will show that this ridiculous reaction by the government is evidence enough and there is no need to prove that these three brothers are innocent. Just concentrate on Tehran’s contradictions and officials’ desperate effort to defend themselves. The state-run FARS news agency on 14 September: “Jafar Ghaderi, a representative of the people of Shiraz in the Islamic Parliament, in an interview with a parliamentary reporter of Fars News Agency, referring to the execution of the sentence of Navid Afkari, a young man who was retaliated to a premeditated murder: “This case went through its normal course and eventually led to the execution of the killer.” “He then added: When a person allows himself to kill another person for no reason, the victim’s family and society expect the judiciary to administer justice and not be influenced by blackmail and pressure from the domestic and foreign media. If these blackmails and pressures of the media are to be decisive, nothing will be left. “In the end, Ghaderi said: ‘The work of the judiciary in retaliation promised a logical and reasonable work and there is no objection to it.” (FARS 14 September) And Aftab news wrote: “Ruhollah Nejabat said in his speech in the open session of the parliament yesterday: If justice is not subject to historical social justice, it is blind. What does the weakening of religious sovereignty have to do with investigative justice? Everyone’s words and deeds should be in order to strengthen the Islamic system. If the Islamic system is weakened, an unforgivable sin has occurred. The kind of justice that is based on the values ​​of Islam and the opinion of the Imams and the Supreme Leader will be desirable. Whatever the other behaviors, are not investigative justice and are not desirable. Why is it that, due to the complex propaganda of the enemy, all the actions of the Islamic Republic are considered null and void?” And Sepehr daily on 14 September wrote: “In the meantime, of course, the strength of the judiciary also encouraged the oppressed and the lovers of the revolution. The toughness that showed he did not get caught up in the clichés and trends of Twitter and did justice at all costs. And justice, which, of course, must be continued, because the enemies of the system and their internal followers will never stop supporting their mercenaries and other criminals (such as the perpetrators of the November 2019 edition) who are in the custody of the judiciary, and this case requires the permanent strength of the judiciary.” (Sepehr daily, 14 September)
Iran Acts with Impunity in Executing Navid Afkari
And at least one of the government-link main media Mashregh news referring to a video, with the title, ‘A number of Navid Afkaris going at it!’ wrote: “If the murderers and rioters were not going to be executed at any media pressure, now they were all walking around the city with impunity and freedom in any case, and this scene was the least we saw. (Referring to the included video.) (Mashregh news 14 September) At a meeting of the Supreme Judicial Council, Ibrahim Raisi, the head of the judiciary, expressed his fear at the wave of disgust with the execution of Navid, calling it exaggerations. “Referring to the legal process in handling cases and complaints and legal guarantees for the administration of justice for litigants, the head of the judiciary said that committed judges handle cases based on these judicial procedures and exaggerations should not and cannot affect the judge’s opinion. “The head of the judiciary also thanked the prosecutor for distinguishing between political crimes and security crimes, and he called on the courts and tribunals to take action to enforce the law and the ordered circulars on political crime. At this hearing, the Tehran prosecutor said that five defendants had been indicted as political offenses and sent to the criminal court. (State-TV channel one, 14 September)

Iran: August Marked by Hundreds of Protests

Pooya Stone
-
0
Iran: August Marked by Hundreds of Protests
A group of people hold a gathering and raise a banner reading "End the poverty, corruption, discrimination, and injustice."
A group of people hold a gathering and raise a banner reading “End the poverty, corruption, discrimination, and injustice.”
By Pooya Stone During the month of August, there were at least 331 protests held in 82 cities across the country, averaging around eight per day. The majority of the protests were people expressing their anger at the economic difficulties they have been left with. Many of the protests were planned and lasted several days. Oil and gas workers, as well as petrochemical workers, have been holding protests because of their overdue salaries and benefits, the lack of job security they have because of temporary contracts, and the difficult and dangerous working conditions that they are subjected to. Employers have tried to stop the strike by making false promises but the workers have vowed to remain on strike until their demands have been responded to in full. Industrial workers in dozens of cities also held protests. Many were calling for the payment of their overdue salaries including workers at the Haft Tappeh Sugarcane Company in the city of Shush in south-western Iran who continued to strike for the whole month. Retired workers also took to the streets to draw attention to the very low pensions that they receive which are often paid late. Their situation has degraded over the past few years because of increasing prices, inflation and a dire economy that is making their lives very difficult. Pensioners gathered in 14 cities, including the capital Tehran as well as Ilam, Mashhad, Isfahan, Tabriz, and Ahvaz.
Retirees of Social Security Organization continue their rallies protesting officials' inattention to their dire living conditions
Retirees of Social Security Organization continue their rallies protesting officials’ inattention to their dire living conditions
Teachers in several cities also protested for a number of reasons including low wages, their employment status and the government’s neglect to ensure that they are given formal working contracts from the Ministry of Education. University students have been very active during the month of August. Traditionally students have played major roles in protests – not just in Iran but around the entire world. They are the new generation that will be most affected by certain situations and they have a huge motivation to bring great change. During August, students in Isfahan protested about the bad treatment they have been subjected to by officials of the university. In Rasht, medical students also gathered because of their pre-internship exams. Other sectors were also protesting last month, including farmers, defrauded creditors, families of people killed when the Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) shot down the Ukrainian flight at the beginning of the year, medical workers, families of political prisoners, and many more.
Deliberate Lies Raise Iranians’ Wrath Against Rulers
Nurses, doctors and many other medical workers such as midwives, caregivers, and so on, were protesting in a number of cities. Many of them were demanding the payment of their overdue wages. Nurses were also protesting against the very low wages that they receive and are calling for more respect for their profession. Emergency doctors were also calling for their wages to be reviewed. The frequency of protests in Iran is increasing compared to a few years ago and the people’s anger is palpable. During the previous month, there were 237 recorded protests, so from one month to the next, there has been a huge rise in the number of people speaking out against the ruling system.

Iran Destroys Mass Graves of Political Prisoners to Hide Evidence

Jubin Katiraie
-
0
Iran Destroys Mass Graves of Political Prisoners to Hide Evidence
As the world focuses on human rights violations in Iran, the government tries to hide the relevant evidence to the massacre of tens of thousands of political prisoners in the summer of 1988
As the world focuses on human rights violations in Iran, the government tries to hide the relevant evidence to the massacre of tens of thousands of political prisoners in the summer of 1988
By Jubin Katiraie The Iranian government has recently destroyed a mass grave in Ahvaz, where many victims of the 1988 massacre were buried, and plan to build a road over the area in a clear attempt to destroy evidence of this crime against humanity. Mojahedin-e Khalq (MEK/PMOI) supporters in Ahvaz and Khuzestan province have presented a documentary report about the destruction, with a local truck driver confirming after three days of investigations that MEK members killed in the 1988 massacre are buried at the site.
Urgent Action Needed to Save the Lives of Political Prisoners
Meanwhile, officials are using the guise of infrastructure improvements to cover up their desecration of these graves and hide their involvement in the massacre. There are dozens of mass graves containing the remains of political prisoners in Iran; most of these dating from the period 1981-1988. All of the graves are located in remote areas, with no names registered or gravestones marking the site. Over the past 40 years, the mullahs have repeatedly tried to (and in some cases managed to) destroy these mass graves that link them to the genocide of their people as these should, if the world worked the way it was supposed to, be used as evidence in their trial at The Hague. The idea is to make people forget what happened in Iran’s prisons in the 1980s, particularly in 1988 when 30,000 political prisoners were killed in one summer. Most of the time, this destruction of evidence is covered up with building work with the hopes that the international community won’t look too closely at roads being constructed in remote areas. Not that they’d have to look that far to see the problem. Two of the sites had cement poured over them in large square shapes, which should have raised suspicions, and other mass graves were covered in rubbish to further insult the victims and discourage the families from visiting.
Iran constructs a boulevard on the grave of political prisoners who were massacred in 1988
Iran constructs a boulevard on the grave of political prisoners who were massacred in 1988
In May 2017, the government previously tried to build a boulevard over other mass graves in Ahvaz, something that was halted following an outcry by the families and an investigation by the Iranian Opposition. Just one month later, authorities promised not to interfere with the graves when building the road, but by June 2018, the government was at it again and razed one mass grave in less than 24 hours, destroying the grave markers left by relatives with large machinery. Ahvaz is a particularly important site for mass graves because it’s where the first group of executed political prisoners was buried in 1981, followed by many more groups over the years; something made painfully obvious by satellite images.
Iran Issues More Execution Sentences

At least 39 School Students Contracted Coronavirus, One Died in Iran

Jubin Katiraie
-
0
At least 39 School Students Contracted Coronavirus, One Died in Iran
The reopening of schools in Iran has resulted in the infection of 39 students with the coronavirus and one death so far
The reopening of schools in Iran has resulted in the infection of 39 students with the coronavirus and one death so far
By Jubin Katiraie On September 12, Iranian media outlets reported 39 school students had been infected with the novel coronavirus in a town in Lorestan province. Also, on September 13, Asr-e Iran daily acknowledged that the death of an eight-year-old student of the Covid-19 had caused concern among parents in Gotvand county in Khuzestan province. Afshin Torkarani, acting governor of Selseleh town in the Delfan region, announced that these students were educating in different grades. “From September 5 to yesterday [September 11], 39 students in different educating-grades contracted the novel coronavirus,” Lorestan’s official telegram channel quoted him as saying. According to reports, only during September 10 and 11, at least 18 students were infected with the virus in this area. Given this event, Torkarani announced that all schools in Alashtar and Firuzabad counties would shut down until October 10. Locals say the rest of the patients were among students of primary schools. However, the acting governor realized that the infected students are between 7-17 years old. He affirmed that all of them were those who attended in-person schools. Furthermore, in recent weeks, Lorestan province experience critical conditions. Seyyed Mousa Khademi, the provincial governor, recently said, “Regrettably, Lorestan province is among provinces that had a leap in the number of new hospitalized patients.” He also laid the blame on the people and added that the people probably neglected in obeyance of guidelines, and today, we witness these cases. According to Iranian opposition Mojahedin-e Khalq (MEK), as of September 12, over 4050 people have lost their lives to the Covid-19 in Lorestan. Notably, the Iranian government refuses to acknowledge the number of coronavirus victims divided by province. In recent months, the Iranian government’s odd function show there is no will among authorities to contain the contagion. In this respect, on July 22, Amangholich Shadmehr, member of the Parliament (Majlis) from Gonbad Kavus in Golestan province, slammed the government’s incompetence decisions. “Officials are blaming everything on the people. They should be reporting on what they have done and are doing?… The people do not even have the power to purchase face masks. [Officials] should get a hold of themselves! It is as if they have sworn to kill all the people,” he said in a Majlis public session. Earlier, Deputy Health Minister Iraj Harirchi had admitted that the lifting of restrictions and reopening of crowded centers and sites sank the country to more health catastrophe. “Lifting restrictions resulted in 200 deaths in the span of the last 24 hours. If comprehensive measures are not taken, rest assured our circumstances will deteriorate further,” he said on July 8. Furthermore, many health officials had lately issued warnings about the reopening of schools and education centers. “With the reopening of schools and other education centers, and an increase in traffic in the city of Tehran, there is a possibility of a rapid spread of coronavirus among families,” Entekhab daily quoted Alireza Zali, the head of Tehran Covid-19 Task Force, on September 1. Also, a member of the National Coronavirus Task Force, Minoo Mohraz, described schools as “the most dangerous place to transfer” the novel coronavirus. “Even if individuals wearing masks are together in closed environments for a long time, there is a possibility of the illness being transferred to others,” she explained in an interview with Asr-e Iran daily on September 2. However, President Hassan Rouhani and his education minister Mohsen Haj Mirzaei were insisting on the reopening of in-person schools, which would be ended at the expense of millions’ lives and health of students, teachers, and parents. This hasty and irresponsible decision caused severe objections among media outlets and health officials. For instance, in an interview with Resalat daily on September 7, a medication strategist Siamak Afazeli described schools’ reopening as a “genocide.” Also, Anush Barzigar, head of the Gilan Province Medical Apparatus, highlighted the administration’s responsibility for children’s health. “In our viewpoint, those who reopened schools will be responsible for the death of even one student or teacher, and this is an unforgivable mistake,” he said. A member of Tehran City Council, Shahrbanu Amani, also criticized the reopening of schools. “With 14.7 million students across the country and 2 million going to classes in Tehran, there’s concern that even if one percent of this population contracts coronavirus, we will be faced with a human catastrophe,” she told Arman-e Meli daily on September 13. Amani also blamed Rouhani for not attending the inauguration ceremonies of schools and universities while he was promoting the reopening of schools and silencing any opposition voices by attributing speakers to foreign “enemies.” “The president didn’t have any plans to attend any of the schools physically and he declared yesterday that he would be attending the inauguration ceremony of universities virtually, and this shows how bad the situation is in Tehran,” she added.
Why Iran Reopens Schools Despite the Coronavirus Risk?
In reality, this is merely the beginning of the story. The hazardous impact of crowded mourning ceremonies, holding college entrance exams without providing essential hygienic protocols, and reopening schools will emerge in upcoming months. Remarkably, the country will be plunged into more disaster due to the contagion of seasonal flu in fall and winter. “Rushing into reopening schools and sending kids into classrooms as we saw, not having a supervising system and failing to provide necessary training to the teachers will increase the dilemmas ten-fold. The problem is that in late September, in addition to Covid-19, we will also be witnessing flu and cold epidemics,” said Massoud Mardani, a member of the National Covid-19 Task Force, on September 10.

Corruption in Iran Exposed Again 

Pooya Stone
-
0
Corruption in Iran Exposed Again 
Iranian authorities are severely concerned that the unbridled corruption ignites a new round of anti-establishment protests
Iranian authorities are severely concerned that the unbridled corruption ignites a new round of anti-establishment protests
By Pooya Stone Institutionalized systematic corruption in the Iranian government has increased the economic pressure on people to an unthinkable amount and officials fear that economic grievances could lead to protests like those seen in November 2019.  On Wednesday, the Iranian Parliament showed how the ever-present threat of protests caused by hatred of the ayatollahs has increased infighting among Iranian politicians, which even caused them to admit that the government’s mismanagement and corruption created the economic crisis in Iran that they have long tried to blame on sanctions.  Torbat-e Jam MP Jalil Rahimi Jahanabadi said: “We could clearly see that the country’s problem is having shadow decision-makers. Ministries are not controlled by ministers but rather by mafias in their entourage. Within the last 100 days that we assumed office (as lawmakers), the price of rice has increased four times, the price of cars has increased threefold. The national currency values have decreased by 300 per cent. Meanwhile, the villagers’ insurance renewal fee has jumped from 600,000 rials to 7,000,000 rials, what have you done?” 
Iran’s IKCO Raises Price of Eight Automobiles
The Seday-e Eslahat newspaper wrote the following the day that the currency value is declining and that those in power should be made to explain what they have done to damage the country’s economy.  Through this, we can clearly see that the Iranian people’s unprecedented poverty is down to the absolute power of mafia gangs who control the sale of everything from food to fuel and thus demand an extraordinary markup, which is then used to fund the government’s domestic oppression and warmongering.  Case-in-point, the testing of new ballistic missiles during a global pandemic or the acknowledgement by former MP Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh that the government has spent $20-30 billion propping up Syrian dictator Bashar Assad.  The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) had published seven articles recently about the government’s systematic corruption, where they determine that the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) is holding “Iran’s economic channels hostage” and even on the occasions that corrupt officials were replaced – as was the case for the judiciary’s Akbar Tabari-Pour – it does not end the corruption. Rather like the hydra, cutting off one head causes two more to grow.  The NCRI wrote: “The regime’s institutionalized corruption and plundering of the national wealth for funding terrorism have triggered two major Iran protests in 2018 and 2019 which rattled the regime’s foundations. The possibility of another uprising starting because of the economic and social pressure on people has terrified the entire regime.” 

Amnesty Calls on Tehran to Stop Torturing Families of Executed Political Prisoners

Jubin Katiraie
-
0
Amnesty Calls on Tehran to Stop Torturing Families of Executed Political Prisoners
The Iranian government deliberately covers-up whereabout had buried three Kurdish political prisoners
The Iranian government deliberately covers-up whereabout had buried three Kurdish political prisoners
By Jubin Katiraie Three Kurdish political prisoners, Ramin Hossein Panahi, and Zaniar and Loghman Moradi, were executed by the Iranian regime. Their executions have resulted in calls by the international community for the regime to put an immediate halt to executions in the country.   The families of these three Kurdish men have been trying to find out where the bodies of their loved ones have been laid to rest, adding to their already agonizing situation.   Ramin Hossein Panahi, 24 years old, Loghman Moradi, 32 years old, and Zaniar Moradi, 30, were executed in  Gohardasht Prison in Karaj. As with many political prisoners, their trials were a shambles and a mockery of the legal system. Not only were they tortured into making confessions, but they were also denied access to lawyers and to their families. 
Despite Modest Reduction in 2017 Executions, Iran’s Abuse of Death Penalty Continues
Earlier this week, international organization Amnesty International has called on the Iranian regime to stop torturing the families and to answer their questions.  
Amnesty International condemns deliberately hiding of graves of three Kurdish political prisoners executed in 2018
Amnesty International condemns deliberately hiding of graves of three Kurdish political prisoners executed in 2018
In a statement, Amnesty International described the regime’s treatment of the families of the three executed mean as “severe psychological suffering”. The organization also stated that the Iranian regime’s deliberate concealing of their burial places “is a violation of the prohibition of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment and punishment found under Article 7 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights”.   Amnesty International explained that the regime’s secrecy on this issue is a violation of the rights of the families. Not only are the families not told where their loved ones are buried, but they are also, as a consequence, being prevented from holding a mourning ceremony and from placing a tombstone in their memory. They are denied a burial place and cannot visit a grave site to pay their respects, lay flowers, place photographs, and so on. This, said Amnesty International, is a violation of “cultural rights of family members to attend funerals”.  The statement read: “This violates Article 15 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, to which Iran is adhered.”  The families of these men are distraught. The mother of young Ramin Hossein Panahi said: “There is no grave to cry over. I have been restless for the past few days. I have cried on the grave of my other child, Ashraf Hossein Panahi. My Ramin was innocent. Why don’t you let me at this old age, me and his father, to visit our child’s grave?”  The treatment of political prisoners in Iran is very concerning. Their dreadful mistreatment by the regime is partly an attempt by authorities to dissuade further dissent in society.   However, the regime’s attempts to bully the people into silence are not working. If anything, it is making the people of Iran even more determined to speak out against the regime.   Earlier this week, two prisoners were executed in secret. The only details known about these executions are that they were in the cities of Karaj and Borujerd.    It is the responsibility of the international community to finally speak up and hold the regime accountable. 
Urgent Action Needed to Save the Lives of Political Prisoners

Iran Acts with Impunity in Executing Navid Afkari

Pooya Stone
-
0
Iran Acts with Impunity in Executing Navid Afkari
Despite the international community's appeals and calls for revoking the death sentences of Navid Afkari, Iranian authorities executed this wrestling champion on September 12
Despite the international community’s appeals and calls for revoking the death sentences of Navid Afkari, Iranian authorities executed this wrestling champion on September
By Pooya Stone At dawn on Saturday, September 12, 2020, Iranian authorities executed Navid Afkari, a 27-year-old wrestling champion, an innocent individual, and a protester. In September 2018, security forces detained Navid for participating in the August 2018 protests. He was severely tortured by interrogators to confess to what he had never committed. Iranian authorities executed Navid Afkari despite an international campaign to spare his life. In the past week, many athletes inside Iran and abroad constantly demanded the Iranian government to suspend the unfair sentence against him. On September 1, in an initiative by a group of Iranian athletes and sports champions, members of the Iranian opposition National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), alongside 48 Iranian sports champions, wrote to the UN Secretary-General, the International Olympic Committee President, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, and President of the Human Rights Council, calling for their urgent intervention to halt Afkari’s execution. Mr. Moslem Eskandar Filabi, a national hero in Iran and winner of 17 national and international wrestling competitions, and Chairman of the NCRI Athletics Committee, Dr. Mohammad Ghorbani, a gold medalist in the 1971 World Wrestling Championships in 1971, and Messrs. Bahram Mavaddat, Asghar Adibi, Hassan Nayeb Agha, and Abbas Novin Rouzegar, members of Iran’s national football team and NCRI members, were among the signatories. Additionally, two wrestling champions Mohammad Reza Geraei and Mohammad Ali Geraei announced their support for Navid Afkari and posted image of this death-row political prisoner on their Instagram pages.
Iranian athletes demanded authorities to abolish the death penalty against Navid Afkari
Iranian athletes demanded authorities to abolish the death penalty against Navid Afkari
Furthermore, many international figures and athletes, including the U.S. President Donald Trump, Senator Marco Rubio, the State Department Spokesperson Morgan Ortagus, Amnesty International, President of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Dana White, Executive Director of World Players Association Brendan Schwab, U.S. national champion wrestler and founder of non-profit Wrestler Like a Girl Sally Roberts, and many others. However, the Iranian government rejected the international appeals and even refused a retrial in the Navid Afkari case. Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the president-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), severely condemned this crime. “The religious fascism ruling Iran will not survive a day without executions, torture and domestic suppression. By spilling the blood of young people like Navid Afkari the mullahs seek to maintain their hold on power in the face of  Iran Protests,” She tweeted. Mrs. Rajavi also called on the United Nations Security Council, the UN Human Rights Council, and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet to take practical, effective measures against the regime in Iran over the execution of Navid Afkari and 120,000 political prisoners.  

Iran Issues More Execution Sentences

Jubin Katiraie
-
0
Iran Issues More Execution Sentences
As the world urges Iranian authorities to stop ruthless sentences, the judiciary issues and upholds more death penalties
As the world urges Iranian authorities to stop ruthless sentences, the judiciary issues and upholds more death penalties
By Jubin Katiraie On September 10, following the inhuman death sentences against peaceful protesters detained in August 2018 and November 2019, Branch 38 of the Iranian supreme court upheld the death penalty against seven Sunni political prisoners for the third time. These prisoners of conscience were captured in 2009 based on a fake scenario provided by the Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS). Farhad Salimi, Qassem Absteh, Davood Abdollahi, Ayub Karimi, Anwar Khezri, Khosrow Besharat, and Kamran Sheikha, incarcerated in Urmia, Evin, and Gohardasht prisons. Already, Branches 41 and 42 upheld the death sentences against these captives on bogus and repeated charges such as “acting against national security,” “propaganda against the state,” “corruption on earth,” and “waging war against God ‘moharebeh.’” Given their families’ appeal for retrial, Branch 38 of the supreme court “reviewed” the case and showed that different judiciary system sections are all cut from the same cloth. Emphasizing death penalties in parallel with the worldwide campaign for stopping executions in Iran indicates that the government relies on suppressive measures rather than enjoying a public base. “These execution sentences are meant to intimidate the public and prevent popular uprisings”, the Iranian coalition opposition National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) stated on the same day. In recent weeks, Iranian authorities issued several severe sentences against jailed people, particularly protesters. In July, the supreme court upheld the death penalty against detained youths for participating in the November 2019 nationwide protests. Excessive punishment against peaceful protesters prompted Iranian citizens and netizens to oppose the judiciary’s ruthless sentences openly. In a joint campaign on social media and into the streets, millions of Iranians and their friends across the globe trended نکنید_اعدام# and #StopExecutionInIran, compelling the judiciary to suspend their punishment. On August 5, the judiciary secretly hanged Mostafa Salehi, who was detained for participating in the December 2017-January 2018 uprising. The issue corresponded with a wave of condemnation inside Iran and abroad. More particularly, the government faced public anger when the people realized that Salehi had admitted to allegations under torture, and the court had sentenced him based on enforced confessions. “Amnesty International condemns the execution of protester Mostafa Salehi, which was carried out in Esfahan prison on 5 August despite serious unfair trial concerns incl torture and other ill-treatment & the denial of access to a lawyer during the investigation phase of his case. “Mostafa Salehi was convicted of murder for the killing of a Revolutionary Guards member during nationwide protests in Dec 2017-Jan 2018. He maintained his innocence and independent media reports suggest that the prosecution authorities failed to provide evidence of his guilt,” the Iran desk of Amnesty International tweeted on August 6. Later, in mid-August, Iranian authorities transferred four protesters detained in December 2017-January 2018 protests to solitary confinement to hang them. Once again, the people of Iran managed to save the lives of the protesters. Of course, they are still on death-row and their lives are at risk. However, the people’s will spared the lives of these young protesters at least until this moment. In late August, the supreme court upheld the death sentence against the 27-year-old champion wrestler Navid Afkari, which led to global outrage against the Iranian government’s merciless penalties. Many athletes inside Iran and abroad condemned the brutal sentence and rights groups called the United Nations to intervene and pressure Iran to abolish the death penalty. Thanks to a worldwide humanitarian campaign, Iranian authorities have thus far refrained from executing this wrestling star. On the other hand, prosecutors exercise harrowing torture against detainees, including Navid Afkari and his brothers and other protesters, to accept false accusations during televised confessions. On September 5, Aida Younesi, sister of award-winning Iranian student Ali Younesi, revealed that the interrogators had suggested Ali and Amirhossein Moradi, another award-winning student, to accept alleged crimes and then judicial officials will reduce their death penalty to life imprisonment. Notably, these elite students have yet to be tried as of this report. Earlier, on September 2, Amnesty International organization shed light on horrible torture and ill-treatment exercised by Iranian authorities against detainees, particularly protesters. In this respect, many political prisoners pass dire conditions in jails and dungeons contaminated with the coronavirus. Despite the Iranian judiciary propaganda about offering furlough to prisoners due to the coronavirus pandemic, the rest of the political prisoners did not receive such furloughs. Instead, in tandem with the second and third wave of the health crisis, intelligence officers raided and detained more citizens on “security charges.” They are mostly relatives of members of the Mojahedin-e Khalq (MEK), like Forugh Taghipour, Fatemeh Mosanna, Parastu Moeini, Zahra Safaei, and fourteen others. These female political prisoners are held at Qarchak Prison in Varamin county suburb of Tehran. According to reliable sources, the head of the prison Mehdi Mohammadi has hired and provoked several prisoners for dangerous crimes to murder these prisoners by creating fake clashes. “Some ordinary women prisoners have said that the head of the prison hired us to beat and fight these prisoners,” Iran Human Rights Monitor reported. Majid Assadi, Jafar Azimzadeh, Nasrin Sotoudeh, and Behnam Mousivand are among the political prisoners who have experienced brutal behavior on behalf of the prison officials. Regarding reports revealing flagrant violations of human rights principles, it is imperative that international bodies, particularly the UN, take urgent action and persist on sending a fact-finding delegation to Iran and inspecting Iran’s dungeons, the opposition has said. Iranian authorities detained over 12,000 protesters in November 2019, many of whom are exposed to torture and heavy sentences. Rights organizations must compel authorities to respect the conventions they had signed before and immediately release all political prisoners, activists say.

Tehran is Defiant in the Face of Pressure over Wrestler’s Death Sentence

Pooya Stone
-
0
Tehran is Defiant in the Face of Pressure over Wrestler’s Death Sentence
Iranian authorities insist on the execution of champion wrestler Navid Afkari while the world severely objects
Iranian authorities insist on the execution of champion wrestler Navid Afkari while the world severely objects
By Pooya Stone On Thursday, Thomas Bach, the president of the International Olympic Committee, expressed “extreme concern” over the case of Navid Afkari. Iran’s Supreme Court upheld two death sentences for this champion wrestler last week, ostensibly on charges that he had killed a security guard. But Afkari alleges that he and two brothers were tortured in detention and pressured to issue false confessions. His lawyer and other advocates maintain that the actual basis for his death sentences was his participation in anti-government protests in August 2018, during a period that the Iranian Resistance leader Maryam Rajavi referred to as a “year full of uprisings.”  Bach’s comments on this case came two days after the World Player’s Association issued a statement calling Afkari’s pending execution a “horrific act” that would contradict “the humanitarian values that underpin sport.”  The statement also expressed confidence in Afkari’s innocence and noted that it appeared as if he had been “unjustly targeted by the Iranian authorities who want to make an example out of a popular, high-profile athlete and intimidate others who might dare exercise their human right to participate in a peaceful protest.”  A similar sentiment was expressed the previous week by 48 Iranian professional athletes who signed a statement in support of their colleague and his brothers, Vahid and Habib, who have been sentenced to 54 and 27 years in prison, respectively. Their open letter was addressed to the United Nations Secretary-General, two UN human rights authorities, the president of United World Wrestling, and Thomas Bach, the OIC president. It explained that the execution of “athletes, champions, and Olympians” is not a new phenomenon in the Islamic Republic, as the clerical regime “cannot tolerate popular figures” who publicly express dissent.  The Iranian athletes’ statement called for the imposition of “severe sanctions” on that regime in the event that it refuses to vacate Afkari’s death sentence. The WPA statement then addressed its recommendations specifically to Bach and other leading sports authorities, insisting that Iran should be expelled from world sporting competitions if the execution moves forward. The Iranian judiciary has not yet announced a date for that execution, but there is no clear pattern of behavior when it comes to executions, and Afkari’s unusually high profile could lead to repeated delays or prompt the regime to order him hanged with little advance notice.  It is not clear whether or not Bach’s remarks were offered directly in response to the WPA, which represents approximately 85,000 athletes from various sports throughout the world. But those remarks stopped short of commitment to Iran’s expulsion, or to any other specific course of action. Still, his expression of concern echoes those which have been offered by other influential voices, including US President Donald Trump, who tweeted a simple request that Iran’s leaders “spare this young man’s life” last week.  Trump’s message also acknowledged that Afkari’s “sole act was an anti-government demonstration,” but presented no specific threat in connection with the case. Nonetheless, this may have been enough to elicit a response from the Islamic Republic, which broadcast a more than a 10-minute segment on Afkari the next day. The package included footage of his confession without acknowledging the allegations that it was obtained via torture. The Associated Press noted that it resembled the “at least 355 coerced confessions aired by Iranian state television over the last decade.”  On one hand, the broadcast seems to suggest that Tehran is feeling an unusual amount of pressure over Afkari’s case, and feels the need to immediately counter international advocacy through state media. This may be grounds of optimism among those urging that he be given a commutation or a new trial. But on the other hand, the regime’s defiant response to international pressure may point to the possibility of additional retaliation being visited not just on Afkari but also on other political prisoners, including Western nationals.  Although there is no clear evidence of a direct connection between the two cases, it is certainly worth noting that the Iranian judiciary took new action in the case of an equally high-profile prisoner on Tuesday, summoning the Iranian-British dual national Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe before the country’s Revolutionary Court to inform her that she was to face new charges in a trial on Sunday.  Zaghari-Ratcliffe has served more than four years of a five-year sentence and was technically eligible for release in March, though this was not considered by the judiciary. Sunday’s trial on the charge of spreading propaganda against the system stems from a case that was initially opened in October 2017, then closed without resolution. Tehran has a long history of using such revived cases, or altogether new cases, to arbitrarily extend the sentences for political prisoners whom authorities do not wish to release. Being aware of his fact, Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s husband Richard Ratcliffe warned about the potential for this outcome well in advance.  Now that those warnings have proven prescient, Ratcliffe is pointed to the new case as further proof that his wife’s detention is a hostage situation. Her case has repeatedly been linked to an outstanding debt involving arms sales that were arranged with the previous Iranian government then left incomplete after the Islamic revolution. The United Kingdom has resisted paying that debt, leading to praise from some who view this as a form of ransom and criticism from others who see it as evidence that Downing Street is not doing everything in its power to repatriate hostages.  With or without the debt settlement, Tehran may demand other concessions from the UK or its allies, including a reduction in pressure over separate cases that are considered purely domestic matters for the Islamic Republic to resolve as it sees fit. As long as such issues remain at an impasse, it will be reasonable to assume that tensions between Iran and the West will continue increasing. And manifestations of that trend may already be emerging both in political and military spheres.  On Tuesday, it was announced that Margot Arthur, a career civil servant chosen to serve as a commercial adviser to the British embassy in Iran, had been denounced by Iranian authorities as a spy. The associated rhetoric was highly reminiscent of Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s 2015 arrest, in that she was identified, without evidence, as “one of the main elements” in a vaguely-defined “infiltration plot.”  Then, on Thursday, Iran’s Navy began a new round of provocative military exercises near the Strait of Hormuz, accompanied by intimations that American aircraft had intruded into the area of operations, but had withdrawn in response to Iranian threats. The operation comes only two months after the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ naval forces demonstrated their supposed readiness for war with the US by swarming upon a mock-up of an American aircraft carrier.

Iran’s President Claims ‘Our Economy Shrunk a Little’

Pooya Stone
-
0
Iran’s President Claims ‘Our Economy Shrunk a Little’
Iran's shrinking economy
Iran’s shrinking economy
By Pooya Stone Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani, on 2 September, put a part of his government’s economic record in public and while addressing the issue of the coronavirus and other current issues of the country, he claimed that in the first quarter of this year, the economy has shrunk only 1.7 percent. He also made a highly dubious comparison, saying that ‘many countries have experienced negative economic growth of 9% or 10% and 12% to 13% during these four or five months during the corona period.’

When the facts push back Rouhani

Addressing the whitewashing by the President in the field of macroeconomics of the country does not require much careful study and analysis of charts and evaluation of research circles. It is just enough to listen to the workers of the country who are now for more than a month on the streets and are crying: “Our purchasing power has decreased by 70 percent compared to previous years. The salary of about 65% of retired workers is less than 3 million Tomans, while the poverty line has been announced by the officials as 6 million Tomans. We conclude that 70 percent of retirees are below the poverty line.” (ILNA, 3 September) “According to the annual statistics of the International Monetary Fund, the Islamic Republic of Iran in 2019 experienced the highest decline in GDP (minus 8.2%) among the countries of the world. Only 15 countries in the world had a decrease in GDP in 2019, and Iran is one of the few countries in the world that has followed this downward trend for three consecutive years.” (Mostaghel, 2 September) While the state media are crying about a “liquidity explosion”, the president is claiming that, “Thank God, the growth of our monetary base has been less than 3% in these five months, which shows that the path of our economy is on the right path that we are following.” It would seem strange, then, that just a few days before him, the Chairman of the Central Bank Naser Hemmati said about the same issue: “I am happy to tell people that liquidity is controlled and the monetary base in the first five months of this year has grown by only 4% compared to the end of last year, and liquidity has increased by 12% during this period”. But his President downplayed the statistics and said just, ‘three percent’. It seems that for this government, one percent up or down in the statistics of the monetary base does not make any difference. According to the official announcement in the last days of 2019, the liquidity figure was more than 265.7 trillion Tomans. Hemmati claims that this figure has grown by 12 percent in the first five months of this year and has reached 297.6 trillion Tomans. Hemmati was pleased that this liquidity growth rate was slower than in previous years, but official statistics (central bank) show that the liquidity growth rate in the first five months of all the years of the last decade was lower than 12 percent, and therefore this year’s liquidity growth rate is considered as a record.

What do official and international statistics say?

In this regard, the Statistics Center of Iran says in a report that the country’s economy in the spring of this year has shrunk by 3.5 percent compared to last year. The report shows that Rouhani has looked at a part of the report where GDP has fallen by 1.7 percent, excluding the oil sector. Interestingly, the same report also mentions the negative growth rate of economic groups. The services group, which accounts for nearly half of GDP, had a negative growth of 3.5 percent. In addition, the industrial and mining sector grew negatively by more than 4 percent, and the agricultural sector, with all the fake advertising, achieved a negative growth of 0.1 percent. The most obvious is the oil and gas sector, which recorded a negative growth of 14.3 percent. Of course, no one knows the true amount of oil and gas production or the government’s export figures, and these numbers and figures have an official aspect and are far from reality. International organizations estimate that in recent months, Iran’s oil exports have been in the range of 300,000 barrels. With the help of techniques to circumvent sanctions and use of other countries’ flags and other tricks. It is because of this dire economic situation that the International Monetary Fund says Iran’s economy is 6 percent smaller than last year. This organization had assessed Iran’s GDP in 2018 and 2019 as negative 7.6 and 5.4 percent. The World Bank also forecasts a slowdown in Iran’s economic growth in 2020 to negative 5.3 percent. The negative growth of Iran’s economy during the last three years reached 9.8 percent and the per capita decrease in Iran’s GDP during this period amounted to about 215,000 tomans. More interestingly, in early September, when Rouhani announced that the economic damage from the coronavirus was 3 percent, the Minister of Economy of his government had indicated 15 percent damage to the economy a few months earlier, which again showed that Rouhani was either unaware of these official statistics or not at all does not care about the statistics. Meanwhile, the state-run daily Jahan Sanat wrote: “In recent weeks, with the continuation of high inflation, which began in 2018, the issue of Venezuelazation of Iran’s economy has once again become a hot topic in the media and even scientific circles of the country. Although this risk is probable, it is not very likely and a much more important and likely danger threatens Iran’s economy. “And that is the transformation of Iran’s economy into an example of a failed economy. If Venezuela has become an unsuccessful economic model due to the formation of hyperinflation, Iran’s economy can also become another example of a failed economy. (Jahan Sanat, 3 September)   Read More:

Facts About the Economic Crisis in Iran

1...327328329...3,783Page 328 of 3,783