Iran Focus
London, 23 Jun – A member of the Syrian Resistance has pleaded with Western governments to stop accepting the lesser of two evils in Middle Eastern governments.
Haitham al-Maleh, Chairman of the legal committee of the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces, wrote a piece for The Hill on Wednesday, 22 June.
Iran Focus
London, 22 Jun – The Iranian Resistance has condemned the Iranian Foreign Minister’s visit to Paris and The Hague.
They say that Mohammad Javad Zarif is an instrument of the repressive regime, which routinely crushes human rights, democracy and peace in the country and the Middle East.
Iran Focus
Paris, 23 Jun – The Iranian resistance and their supporters held a rally in Paris yesterday to protest a visit by the Iranian Foreign Minister, Javad Zarif.
Members of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) addressed the rally to bring attention to the widespread executions in Iran and interference of Tehran in the Syrian civil war.
Iran Focus
Tehran, 21 Jun – Iranian police shut down opposition newspaper, the Ghanoon, after it criticized the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC).
This news was announced on Monday via a statement on the newspaper’s website which said it had been shut down following complaints by the IRGC’s Department of Intelligence.
Iran Focus
Tehran, 21 Jun – Sholeh Pakravan, the mother of Reyhaneh Jabbari, has written a letter of support to Mr. Azimzadeh, the political prisoner who has been on hunger strike for the past 51 days.
Ms. Pakravan has been outspoken about the human rights abuses in Iran since her daughter was executed in 2014 for killing an Intelligence Ministry Agent in self-defence after he attempted to rape her.
Iran Focus
London, 19 Jun – Addressing members of Iran’s parliament last week, Ali Rabiee, Minister of Labour in Hassan Rouhani’s government warned about the government’s inability to solve the problems of unemployment and large deficit in retirement funds.
Iran Focus
Tehran, 18 Jun – The inmates in Iran’s Gohardasht Prison, north-west of Tehran in a collective action on Tuesday refused to go to the prison’s clinic despite their physical problems and the need to see a doctor. Their boycott of the infirmary was in protest to the insult by the prison officials who conditioned their going to clinic on wearing slippers.
Washington, 18 Jun – Two US House of Representative Republicans are expressing concern over Boeing’s tentative agreement to sell about 100 commercial planes to Iran, warning that the deal could have serious national security implications.
House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) and Rep. Peter Roskam (R-Ill.), who holds a seat on the Ways and Means Committee, said that US businesses should not take part in “weaponizing” Iran’s regime, according to a report on Friday in The Hill.
London, 18 Jun – British Parliamentarian Mark Williams has written his take on the human rights situation in Iran during the time of President Hassan Rouhani. His commentary was published on Friday on The Hill’s Congress Blog:
There is never much time that goes by between vivid reminders of the human rights record of the Islamic Republic of Iran, or the radical, theocratic ideology that justifies those abuses. Under the system of clerical leadership, virtually anything can be criminalised if it is deemed to be out of step with the regime’s perspective on what it means to be authentically Muslim or Iranian.
By Hamid Yazdan Panah
The dissident movement within Iran is alive and well, though little attention is being paid to it in the international community. Iranian dissidents, both inside the country and abroad have continued their struggle to bring attention to human rights and the lack of civil and political liberties within the country. These campaigns include organized hunger strikes by political prisoners within Iran, with growing concerns for the health and well-being of those who on hunger strike. The Iranian diaspora has also refused to remain silent, with the National Council of Resistance of Iran set to hold a major rally in support of democratic change in Iran on July 9th in Paris.
