Spring of freedom

By Mansoureh Galestan The United Nations special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran has had his mandate extended for another year, after a 22-7 vote in the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) on Friday. Javaid Rehman, 32, a Pakistani-born British legal scholar and professor of Islamic law, was appointed to the position in July 2018 submitted his latest report on Iran to the UNHCR on February 27, when he voiced particular concern over the death penalty in Iran. Rehman asked the Iranian authorities to provide him and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights with a list of all child offenders on death row. He also gave special attention to the crackdown on labour rights in Iran. Esmaeil Baghaei Hamaneh, Tehran’s representative to the European headquarters of the UN, called the resolution an unfair, dishonest, and unjustified plan devised by “certain governments” and argued that it would reinforce stereotypes about the Iranian Regime. He said: “It is saddening th...

Ambassador Kenneth Blackwell (Second Left) speaking at NCRI’s news brief on the situation of human rights in Iran-Washington Press Ken Blackwell, the former US ambassador to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, wrote an op-ed for conservative news site Townhall. The human rights expert weighed in on the Iranian regime’s appointment of Ebrahim Raisi as the head of the Iranian judiciary.  He called Raisi , “one of the most brutal figures of modern history of Iranian jurisprudence.” https://twitter.com/townhallcom/status/1104970245515759616 Raisi was involved in the systematic execution of more than 30,000 members of the Iranian opposition in 1988. His ascent to the head of the judiciary illustrates the regime’s intent to further attack, maim, and kill members of the Iranian resistance and  the People’s Mujahedin Organisation of Iran (MEK) .  The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) , the umbrella coalition which includes the MEK, denounced th...

An investigation into a dossier of crimes committed by the Iranian dictators has been called for, as a result of a statement issued by Amnesty International and published by the United Nations General Assembly. According to the statement, “Between late July and September 1988, the Iranian authorities forcibly disappeared and extrajudicially  executed thousands of prisoners  for their political opinions and dumped their bodies in unmarked individual and mass graves… Since then, the authorities have tormented the relatives by refusing to tell them when, how and why their loved ones were killed and by keeping their remains hidden. To reinforce secrecy, they have also destroyed mass grave sites and forbidden commemorations.” It is believed that over 30,000 political prisoners were killed — most of them members and supporters of the Iranian opposition People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran ( PMOI/MEK ). Now, Amnesty International is asking all countries to extend the miss...

New York — UN General Assembly adopted a resolution, by a recorded vote of 84 in favor to 30 against, with 67 abstentions, condemning Iran’s human rights violations. It expressed grave concern over the high number of executions, especially juveniles, arbitrary and systematic arrests, and atrocious prison conditions. The UN resolution stressed the “alarmingly high frequency” of the use of the death penalty including against minors, “the widespread and systematic use of arbitrary detention,” poor prison conditions, “deliberately denying prisoners access to adequate medical treatment,” and “cases of suspicious deaths in custody.” The resolution “strongly urges” Iran to eliminate discrimination against women in law and practice and expresses “serious concern about ongoing severe limitations and restrictions on the right to freedom of thought, conscience, religion or belief.” It singles out violations including harassment, intimidation and persecution against religious minorities. Mary...

Maryam Rajavi:  Referring  the regime's crimes, especially the 1988 massacre, to the UN Security Council, is the Iranian people’s right and a prerequisite for peac Immunity of criminals who are holding some of the highest government positions, the regime has been assured that its crimes in other parts of the world will also go unanswered. Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, welcomed the adoption of the 65 th  UN resolution condemning the systematic and grave violations of human rights in Iran. She said the adoption of this resolution “once again confirmed that the regime blatantly tramples upon the Iranian people’s most fundamental rights in all political, social and economic spheres.” “The Iranian regime is in no way congruous with the 21 st  century and must be isolated by the world community,” Mrs. Rajavi noted. The UN resolution stresses the “alarmingly high frequency” of the use of the death penalty...

In una lettera a The Guardian del 9 Novembre Struan Stevenson, coordinatore di Campaign for Iran Change, ha descritto l’articolo di Reza Marat su questo giornale “privo di imparzialità giornalistica e a sostegno di un regime colmo di repressione verso il popolo iraniano e di terrorismo nella regione e nel mondo”. Citandone alcuni brani, Stevenson aveva scritto una lettera all’editore del Guardian dicendo:  “Le accuse contenute nell’articolo proposto da Arron Reza Merat derivano direttamente dal Ministero dell’Intelligence iraniano (MOIS) e dai suoi isterici tentativi di demonizzare il PMOI”. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- guardian.letters@theguardian.com 9 Novembre 2018 I tentativi di The Guardian di dipingere i Mojahedin del Popolo Iraniano/Mojahedin-e Khalq (PMOI/MEK) come una sorta di setta terroristica di destra sostenuta da Donald Trump (The Long Read – Venerdì 9 Novembre 2018), sono talmente erronei che fanno tornare alla mente l...

The letter was submitted by Abdullah Al-Muallami, the kingdom’s permanent representative at the UN  Saudi Arabia submitted a letter to the UN Security Council regarding the Iranian ballistic missiles which the Houthis fired towards the kingdom and demanded holding Iran accountable for supplying the Houthis with ballistic missiles. Saudi Arabia also called on the UN Security Council to bear its responsibilities to maintain international security and stability. The letter which was submitted by Abdullah Al-Muallami, the kingdom’s permanent representative at the UN, to the UN security general and to the president of the UN Security Council, comes a day before Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman meets with UN Security General Antonio Guterres.

US Ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley US Ambassador to the  United Nations  , Nikki Haley said in a tweet published on the USUN twitter account that the Iranian regime spends at least $200 million on Hezbollah each year, while their citizens chant, “Neither Gaza, nor Lebanon, my life only for Iran.”

Houthi Shiite fighters guard a street leading to the residence of former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, in Sanaa, Yemen New York, The Sunday Morning Herald, Dec. 10, 2017  -  United Nations  officials have found that missiles fired at Saudi Arabia by Yemen's Houthi rebels appear to have a 'common origin,' but they are still investigating U.S. and Saudi claims that Iran supplied them, according to a confidential report. The officials travelled to Saudi Arabia to examine the debris of missiles fired on July 22 and November 4, wrote UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in the fourth biannual report on the implementation of UN sanctions and restrictions on Iran. They found 'that the missiles had similar structural and manufacturing features which suggest a common origin,' said Guterres in the Friday report to the UN Security Council, seen by Reuters on Saturday. The report comes amid calls by the United States for Iran to be held accountable for v...

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres addressing UN delegates at the General Assembly December 12, 2016 at the United Nations in New York. Forbes, September 4, 2017  - Two of the major crises the international community is currently engaged with  are terrorism and nuclear proliferation. Iran, in particular, is negatively involved in both fields,  being known as the central banker of international terrorism, and suspicious for its own controversial nuclear program at home parallel to its nuclear/missile collaboration with North Korea. As these subjects are of significant importance and deserve even more attributed attention, what must not go neglected is the fact that Iran is taking advantage of such circumstances to continue an equally important campaign of belligerence against its own people. The scope of human rights violations carried out by Tehran is continuously on the rise, with the ruling regime interpreting the mentioned international crises as win...