Iran Focus
London, 3 Sep – Those being targeted include lawyers and activists associated with the campaign against forced wearing of the hijab Today Amnesty International reported in a press release
‘The human rights situation in Iran has reached crisis point’ – Philip Luther
The Iranian authorities have arrested three human rights lawyers and a women’s rights activist over the past four days, part of an escalating crackdown to crush civil society in the country.
Iran Focus
London, 1 Sep – December 2017 through January 2018 saw a mass uprising in Iran that began in the holy city of Mashhad and quickly spread across some 140 cities in the country. Some 30 people were killed in the protests, but officials have still not conducted impartial investigations into their deaths, nor has law enforcement’s excessive use of force to repress protests been addressed.
Demonstrations and protests continue in the country, and since August 2, 2018, authorities have detained more than 50 people during protests in Tehran.
In a statement Human Rights Watch issued on August 31st, the group said that Iranian authorities should drop all charges brought against protesters for peaceful assembly and release those detained on that basis.
Iran Focus
London, 30 August – According to an internal memo seen by Reuters, all non-essential travel by France’s diplomats and foreign ministry officials to Iran should be postponed indefinitely. The memo cited a plot to bomb a rally held earlier this summer by an exiled Iranian opposition group near Paris, as a sign of Tehran’s more aggressive stance towards France. The instructions were also relayed to officials in government departments outside the foreign ministry to be passed on to staff who intended to travel to Iran.
Iran Focus
London, 30 August – According to her lawyer and Iranian media, 21-year-old Parisa Rafei, a student of fine arts at the University of Tehran, has been sentenced to seven years in prison for taking part in university protests.
On Monday, it was reported by the reformist newspaper Shargh, that she was convicted of “assembly with the intention of acting against national security, propaganda against the system and disrupting public order.”
In a post on Twitter, her lawyer, Saeed Khalili, described the sentencing as “unfair and unreasonable”. He was also quoted by Shargh as saying, “In my view, none of these charges are logical or a legally sufficient reason to indicate that she has committed a crime.”
Iran Focus
London, 30 August – The Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister criticised Iran and insisted that the rogue state deserves more economic sanctions on Wednesday, following the mullah’s announcement of plans to close a key shipping channel in the Persian Gulf.
After a meeting with his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, Adel al-Jubeir lashed out against Iran, called the country’s nuclear programme “weak”, and advocated for more US sanctions targeting Iran.
Jubeir said: “Regarding the Iranian nuclear programme and the historic deal around the programme, we have said from the very beginning that the programme is weak and does not envision active measures that would prevent Iran from continuing its nuclear programme as soon as possible.”
Iran Focus
London, 29 August – Nikki Haley, the US Ambassador to the UN, said on Tuesday at an event organised by the Foundation for Defense of Democracies in Washington, DC, that she “never thought the Iran deal could be fixed”.
She said that the months that the Donald Trump administration spent consulting with other countries on the Obama-era deal could have made it a better deal, but they “couldn’t change it to be a good deal”.
Iran Focus
London, 29 August – Iran’s exports of crude oil and condensate are set to drop below 70 million barrels in August, for the first time since April 2017, months ahead of the incoming US economic sanctions that specifically target Iran’s oil industry.
According to data from Thomson Reuters Eikon, Iran’s total volume of exported crude and condensate (an ultra-light oil from natural gas fields) is about 64 million barrels in August or 2.06 million barrels per day (bpd). This shows a significant drop compared with their peak in April of 92.8 million barrels or 3.09 million bpd, which came just a month before Donald Trump pulled the US out of the nuclear deal and announced the reintroduction of sanctions against the country.
Iran Focus
London, 29 August – Iran has filed a suit against the US before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) at the Hague to stop US sanctions from coming into place, but the US views the suit as “meritless” and will fight against it.
Iran’s claim is based on the 1955 “Treaty of Amity” between the US and Iran, which is a strange treaty to bring up as it has already been before the ICJ several times.
In 2003, when the US and Iran were attacking each other’s oil platforms and shipping industry, the ICJ ruled that the treaty was in force, despite being signed by previous governments, but that the US and Iranian claims based on that treaty were not valid. While during the 1979-80 hostage crisis, the ICJ found in the US’s favour and ordered the return of the American hostages, but ignored the ruling.
Iran Focus
London, 29 August – There is much talk about removing Iran from Syria and, in recent months, many actors in the Syrian civil war have done their best to force Iran to leave.
Israel has repeatedly shelled Iran-backed forces that are too close to its border, while Russia has called on Iranian forces to move from that border and stated that it doesn’t support Iran’s presence in Syria, despite the fact that they are both fighting to keep the Bashar Assad in power. Meanwhile, the US and Saudi Arabia have repeatedly tried to tempt Assad to kick Iran out.
Iran Focus
London, 28 August – The reimposition of nuclear-related sanctions against Iran is a legal and justified national security measure that cannot be challenged by Tehran at the United Nations’ highest court, according to the U.S. State Department Legal Adviser, Jennifer Newstead.
On August 28th, Newstead called on judges at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to reject Iran’s request to order the suspension of the sanctions reimposed by the Trump administration after the withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear accord between Tehran and six world powers that curbed Tehran’s nuclear ambitions in exchange for lifting crippling sanctions.
