IRAN’S HUMAN RIGHTS SITUATION IS WORSENING

The Secretary General of the United Nations has released his latest report on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic, and the Center for Human Rights in Iran published excerpts of that report on Tuesday, ahead of its presentation to the UN General Assembly in New York.

The report gives credit to Tehran for engaging with the international community and taking “positive steps” such as a revision in drug laws that reduced the frequency of the death penalty for non-violent offenses.

But the main substance of the report is a catalogue of familiar human rights abuses that have not been addressed, followed by associated recommendations for changes in the behavior of the Iranian regime.

Notwithstanding the Secretary General’s more optimistic remarks, there is no real indication that the regime will be more responsive to these recommendations that it has been on any of the prior instances in which they were brought up in the context of previous reports from the Secretary General, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in Iran, and others.

Indeed, with respect to a number of human rights issues, the regime has struck a defiant tone in dialogue with the international community. And regardless of recent changes in drug laws, the death penalty ranks high among these issues.

On Sunday, the Iran Human Rights website reported upon the latest instance of the Iranian judiciary refusing to abide by the changes in its own laws when it carried out the execution of another person who had been convicted of drug trafficking without any violent offense.

The report points out that at least three other such individuals have been put to death since the change took effect last November. It should also be noted that there could be others besides, since executions frequently go unreported by Iranian authorities and are added to the record of killings only later, after activists and fellow prisoners reveal the information to independent monitors.

Nevertheless, it does appear to be the case that the number of drug-related executions has sharply declined in the past year. Yet this is only one part of the Iranian regime’s relationship with the death penalty that has traditionally opened it up to international criticism.

The persistent execution of juvenile offenders is another and it involves disregard for international human rights conventions to which Iran is a signatory. On this point, the regime has shown no inclination toward compromise, and the latest figures suggest that the number of these killings may actually be on the rise.

According to another Iran Human Rights report, at least five Iranian prisoners were executed in 2017 for crimes that had allegedly committed when they were below the age of 18. This year, at least three such individuals were executed in the month of January alone.
And apart from implementing juvenile death sentences that have been imposed in years past, the Iranian judiciary also continues to pass more such sentences, even in the face of wide-ranging international condemnation and activism.

Most recently, an individual identified only as Mehrdad had his sentence revised up by the Criminal Court of Tehran, which imposed the death sentence in place of a sentence of imprisonment and the payment of blood money for the 2014 murder of a fellow teenager whom Mehrdad accused of sexually assaulting him.

This represents a trend in the exact opposite direction as the international community has sought to push the Islamic Republic in the past. At various times, the judiciary has delayed the execution of juvenile offenders and ordered the reexamination of the case under international pressure, but in almost every case the courts then upheld the sentence and affirmed their right to impose the ultimate sentence on anyone who is deemed sufficiently mature. Under Iranian law, such a person may be as young as nine.

The latest executions and death sentences stand out as qualifications to the “positive steps” highlighted by the United Nations. Meanwhile, the Secretary General’s report goes a long way on its own toward downplaying that praise, insofar as it acknowledges that the Islamic Republic is in the midst of a severe crackdown on dissent, accompanied by human rights violations and a sharp increase in censorship.

There is no shortage of media reports to highlight this trend, which has certainly been ongoing since the mass uprising that took place in late December and early January, and arguably ever since the election of President Hassan Rouhani and the start of nuclear negotiations between Iran and six world powers.

According to the National Council of Resistance of Iran, security forces arrested upwards of 8,000 peaceful protesters in the midst of the mass uprising, as well as shooting approximately 50 dead in the streets and allowing a dozen others to die under torturous interrogation.

Anti-government protests have continued in spite of this repression, but the repression itself has also broadened to include known activists who may not have personally participated in the initial uprising.

On Tuesday, Iran Human Rights Monitor reported that Soha Mortezaie, the Secretary of the Central Guild Council at Tehran University, had been sentenced to six years in prison plus a two year ban on political activities simply for inquiring after the status of student protesters who were arrested in the midst of the nationwide demonstrations.

The same report identified 21 such students who have already been sentenced for protesting. Their sentences range from one year to a staggering 12 years in prison, and numerous other prisoners remain either in jail or free on bail pending their own sentencing for the same activities.

While the uprising was in full swing, judiciary officials publicly warned that those who were identified as leaders of the protest movement could be subject to the death penalty.

Trump Policy on Iran Is Working

when Donald Trump formally announced that he would be pulling out of the 2015 nuclear deal, there was a great deal of concern that this would either dramatically increase oil prices and damage the American economy or fail to stop international companies from trading with Iran and allow Iran to restart its nuclear weapons programme without oversight. As of yet, neither has happened.

Instead, Iran’s crude exports are plummeting nearly two months before the sanctions go into effect, as global oil companies – even those based in countries still committed to the deal – are cutting their ties to the country. Despite this, oil prices in the US have not risen as dramatically as was feared, essentially remaining stagnant, largely thanks to the increase in oil production by the US and other oil-producing countries.

This new aggressive policy on Iran appears to be working in Trump’s favour and the US can likely whether any retaliatory attacks from Iran, whether it be closing the Strait of Hormuz or renewed cyber attacks.

On November 4, US sanctions on Iran’s oil industry will come into place and companies that buy, ship or insure Iranian oil will be excluded from the American financial system; something certain to hit the Iranian oil industry hard as oil makes up about 70% of the country’s exports by value. And this could prove the downfall of the Regime.

Amy Myers Jaffe, a senior fellow specializing in energy at the Council on Foreign Relations, said: “For Iran, it shows the leverage that they have had through oil has not only diminished but may never return. People just don’t care if they are going to lose business in Iran. People don’t feel desperate for supply.’’

Even countries that are opposed to US sanctions on Iran are feeling the squeeze and are withdrawing from Iran or cutting the oil imports, like South Korea, France, India, and Japan. It’s noteworthy that France is actually a signatory to the nuclear deal.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that the administration wanted Iranian oil exports reduced to “zero from every country or sanctions will be imposed”.

According to conservative think tank The Foundation for Defense of Democracies, as of early September, 71 foreign companies planned to withdraw from Iran, 19 intended to stay and 142 had not commented.

David Adesnik, the foundation’s director of research, said: “Big international companies have to ask themselves what risks are they willing to take on. Even if you don’t have a business in the U.S. you can be cut off from our financial system, and that’s not something a truly global firm can afford.”

Iran regime’s FM and Ambassador to London De facto confessions

The Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran

After a dirty campaign for several weeks against the PMOI by agents and mercenaries of the clerical regime operating under the guise of reporters from Britain’s Channel 4 and Al-Jazeera English, the regime’s Foreign Minister, Javad Zarif, and the regime's Ambassador to the United Kingdom, Hamid Baeidinejad, unveiled that the threatening tactics around the residence of the People’s Mojahedin in Albania (disclosed in the statements of the NCRI Security Committee on August 16 and September 2) and the smear campaigns of Channel 4 (September 6) and Al-Jazeera English (September 16) were "ordered" by the mullahs’ regime. Their remarks are further proof that the lies propagated in these programs were a vengeful repetition of the mullahs' claims against the Iranian Resistance and meant to divert attention from the regime's cybercrimes and the closure of its fraudulent social media accounts. In 2002 and 2003, this very regime claimed through hired mercenaries and journalists that Iraq's weapons of mass destruction were hidden in the PMOI’s headquarters. The goal then was to divert attention from the Iranian Resistance’s revelations about the regime's clandestine nuclear facilities.

Now, in the cyber arena, the state-run ISNA news agency, on September 16, 2018 quoted the regime's Ambassador to London, Baeidinejad as saying: "Shortly after Dr. Zarif referred to the bitter reality of the existence of a massive network of fake tweet production and replication, the UK’s Channel 4 and Al-Jazeera broadcasted documentary programs that revealed the hidden face of this bitter reality." Claiming that the PMOI "produces millions of messages in the form of hashtags calling for the overthrow [of the regime] using the most advanced information technologies every day," he urged Twitter to "act upon the official request of Dr. Zarif to close the fraudulent accounts that sent hashtags calling for an overthrow against Iran".

An hour earlier, on the same day, in a tweet referring to the Al-Jazeera program, Zarif called for the closure of the accounts of the supporters of the Iranian Resistance. It is ridiculous for a shameless representative of a regime which deprives 80 million Iranians of social networks to foolishly give instructions for the closure of internet accounts of its opposition – an act which reveals the regime's fear of the growing popular unrest as sanctions intensify.

On August 21, Facebook and Twitter blocked hundreds of the regime’s online propaganda accounts. On August 29, Reuters revealed that "Iran-based political influence operation" are "bigger, persistent, global" and that an “apparent Iranian influence operation targeting internet users worldwide is significantly bigger than previously identified."

Subsequently, to cover up this large scandal, Zarif announced that "the greatest presence on Twitter is by those who do not have a good relationship with us and who are more likely to be driven from the outside, especially from Saudi Arabia and the United States." The mullahs' foreign minister added: "I'm surprised that these companies have closed the accounts of some Iranian users, but these fake accounts and bots, which are completely distinctly guided, operate freely." (Khabar Online state website – August 31).

On September 6, Channel 4, which had secretly filmed the PMOI residence and sent photos and videos to the regime’s intelligence agents, broadcast the dictated program and claimed that the PMOI in Albania was engaged in online propaganda.

Ten days later, on September 16, Al-Jazeera English, with the help of known regime agents such as Trita Parsi, and his associate Azadeh Moaveni, and mercenaries who had also appeared on Channel 4, claimed that since the end of 2017, the PMOI changed the views of major media organizations through hashtags calling for regime change, adding that the PMOI, although having "powerful friends" abroad, does not have "any support" within Iran.

Earlier, the Mojahedin in letters dated August 10 and August 13 to Channel 4 and in a letter dated August 22, 2018 to Al-Jazeera English exposed the dirty scenarios that had been dictated to the mullah-friendly reporters’ network with details and documents and the names of mercenaries used in these programs. Furthermore, former Intelligence Minister Ali Fallahian admitted in a television interview on July 9, 2017: "To gather information, the Ministry of Intelligence needs a cover, whether inside or outside the country. We do not send an intelligence officer to Germany or the United States to say that I am from the Ministry of Intelligence. A business or journalism cover is needed."

Despite the dirty tricks of ministers, ambassadors, agents and mercenaries of the clerical regime, every day further dimensions of the Iranian regime's internet terrorism are exposed. Yesterday, the cyber security firm FireEye announced that a hacker group linked to government institutions in Iran had launched massive attacks against Middle Eastern oil companies and other targets as oil sanctions loom.

Is Iran’s Regime Reaching the End of the Road?

By Mohammad Sadat Khansari

On August 13th 2018, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei claimed that the regime is facing no dead-ends, and simply recommended a “revolutionary and efficient management” for “resolving the issues at hand”.

But not long after, many media outlets and authorities began admitting to the insufficiency of his management, and the lack of any solutions, which just proves the soon-coming end to the regime.

The state-run newspaper known as “Vatan-e-Emroos” commented: “No one can deny the lack of deficiency in the current governance, especially over the past several months; in which the market has been disturbed in shocking ways, causing the witnessed political stability, which is exactly what our enemy wants”.

This newspaper adds that the reason behind Khamenei’s “avoidance” of changing the government is that he believes by doing so, “the enemy will be able to take advantage of the situation and put its evil plan into effect, against our Islamic Republic”.

Is Iran’s regime at the end of its road?

13th August 2018, the supreme leader of Iran Ali Khamenei claimed that there are no dead-ends in the country and recommended a “revolutionary and efficient management” for “resolving the issues”.

The Vice Chairman of the parliament, Pezeshkian, also contributes: “Since the revolution, our management structure has never been of a logical type”; adding that: “Today’s issues of our society are the direct result of the negative behaviours of our government officials; we are all responsible in our own ways, for the current problems” (September 1st, 2018; IRNA).

In a talk with the state-run newspaper named Arman, one of Khamenei’s theorists named Amir Mohebian states: “From my point of view, presidency has turned into a game in this country. In which all players eventually lose their credibility within 4 to 8 years, then just leave”. He also referred to a more fundamental dead-lock within the regime, i.e., its social isolation and the distrust of its people in its governance: “People don’t see any similarities between their problems and those of the officials in power” (September 1st, 2018).

Following the recent protests, many outlets and officials believe that the regime has no solutions up its sleeve. Truth is, if there was no dead-ends, and if there were any solutions, the society wouldn’t have reached the explosive point that it has now; as evident by the continuing rise of many protestors across the country!

It is because of these united and resistant protestors that the regime has come closer to its subversion. Which the regime has brought upon itself, as it’s never cared about people’s needs throughout its decades of history!

This regime is clearly for oppression, and not for people; which is why every time protestors rise in the streets, they’re not only fighting oppression, but also accelerating the regime change.