AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
Public Statement
AI Index: MDE 13/024/2006 (Public)
News Service No: 060
10 March 2006

Amnesty International condemns the violent action taken by Iranian police, Revolutionary Guards and others on 8 March to forcibly disperse about 1,000 women who had gathered peacefully in Tehran to commemorate International Women’s Day. Scores of women are reported to have been beaten by the police and those assisting them.

The women had gathered in Daneshjoo (Students) park, where they began a peaceful sit-in and displayed banners with slogans such as ‘discrimination against women is an abuse of human rights’, ‘women demand their human rights’, and ‘Iranian women demand peace’. Initially, there were about 100 police present but as the protest continued busloads more police and also members of the plain clothes Basij militia, and special anti-riot forces belonging to the Revolutionary Guards, arrived at the park. They filmed and photographed the women protestors and then ordered them to disperse, on the grounds that the gathering had not been officially authorized.

However, the protestors did not do so and at 4.20pm, after one of them read out a statement calling for greater rights for women, the security forces charged them and began assaulting them. Many were beaten with batons, some by teams of security men. For example, Simin Behbehani, an elderly feminist poet with poor sight, was beaten with a baton and kicked repeatedly by security forces. Journalists present at the protest who had filmed the event were reportedly arrested, only released from custody after their film and photographs were confiscated.

Amnesty International is calling on the Iranian government to undertake an immediate investigation into this excessive use of force by police and other security forces and to ensure that those responsible for the assaults and violence against demonstrators are brought to justice promptly and fairly. The organization is also calling on the Iranian authorities to respect the right to freedom of assembly and expression, in accordance with Iran’s obligations under international law.

The organization reminds the Iranian authorities of Article 12 of the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights Defenders. This states that “Everyone has the right…to participate in peaceful activities against violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms.” The Declaration requires states to “take all necessary measures to ensure the protection…against any violence, threats, retaliation, de facto or de jure adverse discrimination, pressure or any other arbitrary action as a consequence of his or her legitimate exercise of the rights referred to in the present Declaration.”

Background information

As reflected in the recent report of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on violence against women Yakin Ertuk, women in Iran are discriminated against in law; by discriminatory provisions in the Civil and Penal Code; and by flaws in the administration of justice. Women are currently barred from running for Presidential office, they do not have equal rights to divorce, after divorce they can have custody of their children only up until the age of seven years, and blood money for a murdered woman is half that of a man. Under the previous parliament, women parliamentarians pushed for reform of discriminatory law, and introduced 33 bills, many of which were rejected by the Council of Guardians on the grounds that they were incompatible with Shari’a law, including a proposal to ratify the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).

Human rights defenders in Iran face severe limitations on their work. Iranian legislation severely restricts freedom of expression and association and human rights defenders often face reprisals for their work in the form of harassment, intimidation, attacks, detention, imprisonment and torture. Many are subject to travel bans that prevent them from leaving the country. The registration process for independent non-governmental organizations (NGOs), including human rights organizations such as the Centre for the Defence of Human Rights run by Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Shirin Ebadi, is complex and registration is frequently denied, leaving NGOs at risk of enforced closure.

For further information please see Iran: New government fails to address dire human rights situation (AI Index MDE 13/010/2006, February 2006)
www.amnestyusa.org/news/document.do?id=ENGMDE130242006

Iran Focus– Iran’s State Security Forces have arrested ten people in Tehran for distribution of fireworks days before Iranians celebrate a traditional “fire” festival which dates back to 500 B.C. Persia. The festival is barely tolerated by the authorities in the Islamic Republic, who object to it on the grounds that it is “un-Islamic”.

Greater Tehran’s police chief, confirming the arrests, announced that people caught distributing fireworks and sonic-booms would be identified and dealt with severely, the hard-line daily Kayhan reported on Saturday.

Brigadier General Morteza Talai said that quantities of fireworks were discovered and confiscated.

During the festival, known as ‘chaharshanbeh souri’ – literally, Feast of Wednesday – people jump over bonfires to “drive away evil”. Since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, however, Iran’s theocratic leaders have made strenuous efforts to stamp out the festivities, but to no avail. In recent years, there have been extensive clashes between festive crowds and the security forces deployed to prevent street celebrations. This year the event falls on March 14.

Meanwhile, Iran’s main opposition group, the Mojahedin-e Khalq (MeK), has issued an appeal to people across the country to take part in the celebrations on the night and turn it into an anti-government protest.

Last year, despite the general ban Iranians across the country came out into the streets using the celebration as a pretext to express their anger towards the ruling theocracy. In several districts of Tehran effigies of Iran’s leaders such as Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei were burnt.

Arutz Sheva
Ezra HaLevi

England's Foreign Minister Jack Straw says that the world should worry about disabling Israel's nuclear capabilities as much as it is concerned with preventing Iran from going nuclear.

Straw said Thursday that Britain is seeking a "nuclear-free Middle East." He said that Iran and Israel were the only two countries left that posed "potential threats" now that Iraq and Libya's nuclear aspirations have been neutralized.

The foreign minister, who has made headlines in the past criticizing the Jewish state, conceded that removing the Iranian threat was indeed more urgent than the Israeli one. "If you want to see a nuclear-free Middle East, you've got to remove that threat from Iran, including the rhetorical threat to wipe Israel off the face of the map," Straw told British Channel 4 television. "Once you've done that, then we can get on to work in respect of Israel."

Former Chief of Staff Moshe Ya'alon faced criticism from defense officials in Israel over the weekend after he spoke at the Washington D.C. Hudson Institute, saying the military option against Iran's nuclear project was viable. He responded to the criticism on Israeli television Friday. "I spoke about the West's military option," he said. "Whether it is U.S. forces, NATO or the Israeli army that deal with the Iranian capability - there is a military capability that would set back the program for many years.”

Meanwhile, Iran threatened Saturday to use its oil as a weapon if the UN Security Council imposes sanctions over its nuclear program. "If they politicize our nuclear case, we will use any means. We are rich in energy resources. We have control over the biggest and the most sensitive energy route of the world," Iranian Interior Minister Mostafa Pourmohammadi said, according to the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency.

Iran is the second largest producer in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and has partial control over the narrow Strait of Hormuz, at the mouth of the Persian Gulf, through which crude oil is transported from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Iraq to the world market.

FOX News

WASHINGTON -- Playing down predictions that Iraq is headed toward civil war, President Bush said Saturday that he's optimistic a new government will unify the nation. He denounced any moves by Iran or Syria to interfere in Iraq's effort to build a democracy.

"I'm optimistic that the leadership recognizes that sectarian violence will undermine the capacity for them to self-govern," Bush said. "I believe we'll have a unity government in place that will help move the process forward."

The president's hopeful words came a day after Iraqi President Jalal Talabani called the new parliament into session March 19 for the first time since it was elected nearly three months ago. Talabani said he feared "catastrophe" and "civil war" if politicians could not put aside their differences.

Also on Friday, the State Department announced the discovery of the body of Tom Fox, 54, of Clear Brook, Va., one of four Christian Peacemakers activists kidnapped last year in Iraq.

"I fully recognize that the nature of the enemy is such that they want to convince the world that we cannot succeed in Iraq," Bush said Saturday about the continuing violence in Iraq. "I know we're going to succeed if we don't lose our will."

(Story continues below)

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The president also said that while Iraq's security forces need more training, they performed well after the Feb. 22 bombing of a Shiite mosque, which led to the deaths of hundreds and pushed the country to the brink of civil war.

"There are some people trying to, obviously, foment sectarian violence — some have called it civil war — but it didn't work," Bush said. "Secondly, I'm optimistic that the Iraqi security forces performed — in most cases — really well to provide security. All but two provinces after the blowing up of the mosque were settled."

Bush spoke in the Roosevelt Room at the White House after receiving a briefing about the remote-controlled, homemade bombs that Iraqi insurgents conceal in cars or set off along roads. The devices are the leading killer of U.S. troops in Iraq.

Joining the president were Vice President Dick Cheney, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and Montgomery Meigs, a retired Army general who is leading the effort to find ways to counter the devices.

The United States alleges that the Syrians are aiding the insurgency by allowing foreign fighters to cross their border into western Iraq. Washington also claims the Iranians are encouraging radicalism among Iraq's Shiites and permitting bomb-making materials to cross its border

"If the Iranians are trying to influence the outcome of the political process, or the outcome of the security situation there, we're letting them know our displeasure," Bush said. "Our call is for those in the neighborhood to allow Iraq to develop a democracy, and that includes our call to Iran as well as to Syria."

By: Human Rights Watch
Published: Mar 10, 2006 at 07:20

Iranian police and plainclothes agents yesterday charged a peaceful assembly of women's rights activists in Tehran and beat hundreds of women and men who had gathered to commemorate International Women's Day, Human Rights Watch said today.

The attack took place shortly after participants in the celebration assembled at Tehran's Daneshjoo Park at 4 p.m. on Wednesday, March 8.

"The Iranian authorities marked International Women's Day by attacking hundreds of people who had peacefully assembled to honor women's rights," said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. "Once again, Iran's government has signaled that it is ready to use violence to suppress peaceful public assembly of any sort."

Eyewitnesses told Human Rights Watch that plainclothes agents, anti-riot police and Revolutionary Guards surrounded the park where hundreds of activists gathered to mark International Women's Day.

"This was a completely peaceful gathering with no political overtones or slogans," one participant told Human Rights Watch. "We just held up signs in solidarity with the international women's rights movement."

Within minutes, after agents photographed and videotaped the gathering, the police told the crowd to disperse. In response, the participants staged a sit-in and started to sing the anthem of the women's rights movement, one participant told Human Rights Watch.

The security forces then dumped cans of garbage on the heads of women who were seated before charging into the group and beating them with batons to compel them to leave the park.

"As we started to run away and seek shelter, they followed us and continued to beat us. I was beaten several times on my arm, below the waist, and on my wrist," an activist said.

The commander of security forces at the scene, Ghodratollah Mahmoudi, told the Iranian Labor News Agency that "this gathering was held without an official permit. The response by the security forces prevented the gathering to take on a political dimension."

Among those present at the gathering was Simin Behbahani, a renowned Iranian poet. According to an eyewitness, "Behbahani was beaten with a baton, and when people protested that she is in her 70s and she can barely see, the security officer kicked her several times and continued to hit her with his baton."

The security forces also took several foreign journalists into custody and confiscated their photographic equipment and video footage before releasing them.

On the previous day, March 7, the Iranian interior ministry summoned several women's rights activists and warned them to cancel the gathering. The activists responded that the event is an annual celebration by many women's rights groups and that they were not organizing the event.

The attack on women's rights activists highlights the Iranian government's consistent policy of suppressing freedom of association and assembly, Human Rights Watch said.

Since Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad took office in August, security forces have repeatedly resorted to violence to suppress peaceful gatherings. In January, security forces in Tehran attacked and arrested hundreds of striking bus drivers who were protesting working conditions.

In February, security forces in the city of Qom used excessive force and tear gas to detain hundreds of Sufi followers who had gathered in front of their house of worship to prevent its destruction by the authorities.

The newly formed UK Kurdish Studies and Students Organisation invites you to share in celebrating its foundation with a:

NEWROZ CELEBRATION
(Kurdish new year)

Thursday 23rd March, 2006
6pm onwards
At: Institute Of Education Student Union Bar
Thornhaugh Street
London, WC1 0XG
(Nearest tube: Russell Square)
I.O.E Union bar is Opposite SOAS university main door

We are proud of our accomplishments so far and delighted with the positive response from across the UK.
Please join us for this special event as we introduce our organisation to the London student community.

Live music

Kurdish food

Learn about this traditional Mesopotamian festival and share the joy of the Kurdish new year

FREE ENTRY – ALL WELCOME

UKKSSO was established late last year in response to a growing desire among young Kurdish people for a forum where culture, heritage, education and research could be explored. By organising political and cultural activities with an educational focus, it aims to cooperate with other organisations, and those in and outside the Kurdish community to encourage dialogue. It works with university communities throughout the UK, focussing on social, political, and cultural issues facing Kurdish populations can be addressed through research, education, social interaction and awareness raising.

For more information on this event or other UKKSSO activities please contact:
Tel: 07958647705 Fax: 0208 7487917
Email : sk43@kent.ac.uk
www.ksso.org.uk

Released by U.S. State Department, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor

On March 8, 2006, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice delivered opening remarks on the release of the State Department's 2005 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices. Under Secretary Paula Dobriansky and Assistant Secretary for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor Barry F. Lowenkron also gave remarks at the special press briefing and answered questions.

The report entitled "Country Reports on Human Rights Practices" is submitted to the Congress by the Department of State in compliance with sections 116(d) and 502B(b) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (FAA), as amended, and section 504 of the Trade Act of 1974, as amended. The law provides that the Secretary of State shall transmit to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate, by February 25 "a full and complete report regarding the status of internationally recognized human rights, within the meaning of subsection (A) in countries that receive assistance under this part, and B in all other foreign countries which are members of the United Nations and which are not otherwise the subject of a human rights report under this Act." We have also included reports on several countries that do not fall into the categories established by these statutes and that thus are not covered by the congressional requirement.

In April two Kurdish journalists, Ejlal Qavami and Said Saedi, had a hearing in the revolutionary court on charges including undermining national security by calling for an election boycott, insulting the leadership, and portraying the system as ineffective. Between July 28 and August 2, authorities detained both again, along with two Kurdish human rights activists, Roya Tolui and Madeh Ahmadi. In October the public prosecutor in Sanandaj accused Qavami, Saedi, and Tolui of acting against national security and referred their cases to the revolutionary court. At year's end Ahmadi, Tolui, and Qavami were released on bail; Saedi's situation was unknown.
Read on http://payvand.com/news/06/mar/1077.html
OR www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/index.htm