Spring of freedom

Archive photo: Struan Stevenson, former MEP, and coordinator of the Campaign for Iran Change (CiC), speaking at the Geneva Conference on the situation of human rights in Iran The former member of the European Parliament Struan Stevenson published an  op-ed for UPI  on Thursday, April 25. He used the opportunity to urge the US government to maintain its application of financial pressure on the Iranian regime and end its reign of violence and tyranny. Stevenson called President Trump’s decision to end waivers for Turkey, Iraq, India, Japan, and China that permitted them to continue purchasing Iranian oil “the final nail” in “the mullahs’ coffin.” For Stevenson, this was a necessary move to slash Iranian oil exports closer to “zero” goal. STRUAN @STRUANSTEVENSON My article in @ UPI Decision to cancel the temporary waivers that had enabled some countries to continue purchasing # Iran 's oil has hammered the final nail into the mullahs' coffin # MEK @ Se...

German Commissioner for human rights The German government’s human rights commissioner on Wednesday condemned Iran’s reported execution of a man who was 15 years old when he committed his crime, calling it a completely unacceptable violation of international law.  Baerbel Kofler criticized Tehran’s reported execution of Ali Kazemi, 22, on Monday, and said the man’s attorney had not even been informed of the pending execution.  Kazemi had been accused of fatally wounding another youth in a brawl involving several other people.  Kofler urged Tehran to halt the planned execution of another man, Hamid Ahmadi, 27, who was 17 at the time of his alleged crime, saying there were “significant doubts” about whether the rule of law was sufficiently applied in his trial.  Ahmadi was convicted and sentenced to death in 2009, with the sentence reaffirmed in a second trial in 2016.  He was also accused of killing another youth with a knife during a group fight. Hi...