London, 4 Jul – Following reports of the staggering number of executions in Iran, a British MEP had described the notion that President Rouhani is in any way a moderate as ‘the worst kind of wishful thinking’.
Julie Girling, an MEP for South West England, stated that although she and other MEPs were concerned for the plight of women in Iran, they were encouraged by the work of the Iranian Resistance.
Iran Focus
London, 4 Jul – Twenty-five Nobel laureates have declared their support for the “great campaign in pursuit of democracy and human rights in Iran,” which finds another expression in a mass rally in Paris on 9 July.
Iran Focus
London, 4 Jul – Nearly 80 Church leaders from the United Kingdom and the United States have signed a declaration in which they say, “Reports by the UN Secretary General, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran, and the U.S. State Department all indicate that the repression of Christians has not only continued but intensified during the presidency of Hassan Rouhani.”
Iran Focus
Tehran, 3 Jul – Iranian political prisoner Ali Moezzi, who is father to two members of the main Iranian opposition group People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI or MEK), has sent a message from Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison declaring his support for the annual gathering of the Iranian Resistance held in Paris on 9 July.
London, 3 Jul – “No amount of trade and economic growth can make up for the suffering and loss of life caused by Iran’s brutal regime. The West must demand change before deepening relations with Tehran” ~ Gérard Deprez.
(Gérard Deprez is a veteran member of the European Parliament, is vice-president of the Belgian Liberal Mouvement Reformateur Party and chairs the Friends of a Free Iran group in the European Parliament. Please see his article, “Human Rights Deteriorate in Iran Despite European Optimism” written on June 29th, for euractiv.com)
Iran Focus
London, 2 Jul – Struan Stevenson is a former Conservative MEP representing Scotland in the European Parliament from 1999 until his retirement in 2014. He chaired the Friends of a Free Iran Intergroup (Caucus) in the European Parliament for over 10 years. He was President of the Parliament’s Delegation for Relations with Iraq from 2009 to 2014. He is now President of the European Iraqi Freedom Association (EIFA).
Iran Focus
London, 2 Jul – In a press release Thursday, the British Parliamentary Committee for Iran Freedom endorsed the 10-point plan for Iran’s future emphasizing the establishment of a secular democratic republic, free elections, gender equality in all fields, prohibition of discrimination, abolition of the death penalty, and peace and coexistence in the region and the world.
Iran Focus
London, 1 Jul – At a conference in the House of Commons on Thursday, June 30, UK policy toward Iran was discussed by a panel consisting of experts on Iranian affairs and parliamentarians from both Houses of Parliament and each major political party, Politics Home reported on Friday.
Iran Focus
Washington, 1 Jul – In an “Opinion” piece for the Washington Times on Thursday, former US Homeland Security Secretary, Tom Ridge, wrote the following:
“About two days after an Orlando gunman carried out the worst mass shooting in U.S. history, the Iranian foreign ministry issued a statement purporting to decry the incident. Speaking via the state-run IRNA, a spokesperson said the Iranian regime ‘condemns’ the attack ‘based on its principled policy of condemning terrorism and its strong will to seriously confront this evil phenomenon.’
Iran Focus
London, 1 Jul – Raymond Tanter is a professor emeritus at the University of Michigan and a former senior staff member of the United States National Security Council. He is an adjunct scholar of The Washington Institute, researching U.S. policy options toward Iran.
