Spring of freedom

The following is an excerpt of the article published by  freemovement  on European Court of Human Rights’ rejection of Iran regime’s assurances about use of torture: The European Court of Human Rights has held that the extradition to Iran of a man accused of theft would breach Article 3 of the human rights convention despite the Iranian regime’s authorities providing an assurance that he would not be tortured. In GS v Bulgaria ( application no. 36538/17 ) the Strasbourg court provides guidance on the kind of assurances required from the state requesting extradition. It has confirmed that it will not tolerate extradition unless the assurance is specific and trustworthy. GS was wanted for theft. If convicted of that offence he was at risk of receiving corporal punishment, specifically seventy-four lashes. The Strasbourg court did not hesitate to label such treatment torture and in accordance with its past case law found that the possibility of acquittal or the impositio...

It is well known that throughout its four decades in power, the Iranian Regime has used torture against its own people, specifically dissidents, but a new report shines a light on just how widespread their torture is and specifically focuses on its use against the Iranian Resistance group, the People’s Mujahedin Organisation of Iran ( PMOI/MEK ). The Regime has always denied using torture, but the report specifically highlighted how flogging – a sentence so entrenched in the Iranian judicial system that it is handed down for nearly 150 “crimes” in Iran, including political activism by groups like the MEK – is considered a form of torture under international law. Iran Human Rights Monitor explained that in the first half of 2018, 47 people were sentenced to flogging and six people were flogged. The report also highlighted how physical and psychological torture is routinely used in interrogations to force “confessions” from prisoners; something that began in the 1980s. The Iran...

Civil rights activist and journalist Sepideh Qolian. File photo A female civil rights activist who was arrested in November and spent close to one month in detention has talked about “brutal torture” of her and a labor activist arrested with her. Sepideh Qolian was at the Haft-Tapeh Sugar Mill in November, where workers were on strike and protesting for their unpaid wages, when security officers attacked and detained her with several labor activists. At the moment of the arrest they started beating her and a labor leader, Esmail Bakhshi who tried to intervene was severely assaulted. Qolian says that Bakhshi lost consciousness and they were taken to prison where systematic torture began. On January 7, Bakhshi wrote about their torture on his Instagram page, which led to a public debate in Iran about torture. Top officials began talking about it and parliament members as well as the usually hardline Judiciary promised to investigate. Sepideqoliyan @sepideqoliy...

Iranian labor activist Esmail Bakhshi is under pressure by Iran’s security system to take back his statement on being tortured “to the brink of death” while in prison. Various sources, including the lawyer of the Haft Tappeh Sugarcane workers’ representative, have confirmed that Bakhshi and his family are under pressure. “After the  torture  was brought up, pressure against Esmail Bakhshi intensified and there is evidence that suggests that my client is under pressure and that there is a psychological environment against him to deny the torture,” his lawyer Farzaneh Zilani said today in an interview with an Iranian website. A Telegram channel that belongs to the workers of the Haft Tappeh Sugarcane factory in southern Iran also confirmed the pressure on the Iranian labor activist to deny the torture. “After Esmail Bakhshi published a letter detailing the torture he was subjected to in which he cited that Ms. Qelian was also beaten, from a few days ago, Esmail Bakhsh...

Young Human Rights Defenders must be freed AI, February 2, 2018  - Responding to reports that at least six young human rights defenders, including Shima Babaei and her husband Dariush Zand, Saeed Eghbali, Leila Farjami, Mahmoud Masoumi and Behnam Mousivand have been detained in coordinated arrests across Iran on 1 February, Magdalena Mughrabi, Deputy Middle East and North Africa Director at Amnesty International said: “These human rights defenders must be released immediately and unconditionally – they have committed no crime and have been arrested purely because of their human rights work. We are extremely concerned that these individuals are now at risk of torture or other ill-treatment,' Magdalena Mughrabi, Deputy Middle East and North Africa Director declared.  “The coordinated nature of these arrests confirms our grave concerns about the grim reality for those defending human rights in Iran today, where peaceful activism is repressed and criminalized by ...

National Council of Resistance of Iran Two other people arrested in the popular uprisings in Iran were killed by the torture of the henchmen of the Velayat-e faqih regime in Arak and Sanandaj. Seyed Shahab Abtahi, a 20-year-old young man who was arrested in Arak two weeks ago, died under the torture of the henchmen. The tormentors left the martyr’s body 10 days after his arrest in front of his father’s house, while signs of the baton blows on his body were visible. Before him, another man arrested in the popular uprising in Iran, Vahid Heidari, a 22-year-old deprived street vendor, was martyred by baton blows. The police of Markazi Province alleged in a stupid lie that he had been arrested on charges of carrying drugs and committed suicide at the detention centre of police station 12 of Arak. The detainees of the uprising in Arak were first transferred to the central prison of Arak and then to the Basij garrison in the so-called resistance square. A number of detainees ha...

Mrs. Maryam Rajavis speech in parliament at a meeting of Europe, at the invitation of the Committee of Friends of Free Iran December 6, 2017 The full text of Ms. Rajavi's speech at the European Parliament is below:  It is a great privilege to be here, once again, among the representatives of the people of Europe, men and women who are pioneers in the modern world in defending democracy and human rights. As I am standing here, today, the situation in Iran is reaching an explosive state. Last month a devastating earthquake in western Iran took a heavy toll. Nevertheless, it highlighted a number of major realities: * The extensive corruption pervading the regime, * the catastrophic state of the country’s infrastructures, * the government’s disability to solve the most basic problems of our people, * and the general solidarity with earthquake victims vis-à-vis the regime. Fearing eruption of the local people’s outrage, the regime dispatched its...