Iran Human Rights, January 31: According to sources in Iran, the Iranian woman Masoumeh, was executed yesterday morning January 29.

Iran Human Rights had earlier this week reported that Masoumeh was scheduled to be executed in Thursday January 29.

The news ahs not been conformed by the Iranian media yet.

However the journalist and human rights defender Asieh Amini has also confirmed the news in her weblog.

Iran Human Rights will come back to the case with more details.

Iran Human Rights: Two men were hanged in the prison of Isfahan (central Iran) early morning January 28, reported the state run news agency Fars news.

The men were identified as Ahmad A (age not given) and Reza A. (21), and both were convicted of murder.

Reza A (20) was convicted of a murder in September 2006. Depending on his exact date of birth, there is a possibility that Reza was a minor at the time of committing the alleged offence.

Iran Human Rights is investigating Whether Reza was under 18 years of age at the time of committing the alleged offence.

www.iranhr.net

Iran Human Rights: Four young men were hanged in the prison of Mashad (northeastern Iranian province of Khorasan) tusday morning January 27, reported the Iranian daily newspaper Quds.

The men who were not identified by name, were convicted of kidnapping an drape of a boy, according to the report.

Iran Human Rights is investigating further the details.

So far 39 people have been executed in the first 27 days of 2009.

iranhr.net

Iran Focus

Tehran, Iran, Jan. 29 - Russia has delivered two Mi-171 helicopters to Iran as part of a $45 million contract to upgrade the latter's rescue fleet.

Under the contract, Russia is to deliver five Mi-171 transport helicopters to Iran before the end of March, the government-run news agency Fars reported.

Another three helicopters will be delivered in March, state media said on Thursday.

Student Council of Defense of Human Rights in Kurdistan: Mr. Omid Valizadeh, a blogger who operated a blog about current news was arrested on Monday January 26th 2009.

Mr. Valizadeh, the write or the “Javanroud News” blog and also a political activist in the city of Javanroud was arrested on Monday night by security forces and is still in custody.

It is stated that one of the reasons for his arrest was posting critism about a government representative in the city of Javanroud.

Mr. Valizadehs’ family has no information about his current whereabouts.

Student Council of Defense of Human Rights in Kurdistan: Security forces in the city of Mahabad have arrested Mr. Ali Rourast, his son and sister in the past week. On Sunday January 25th 2009 security forces arrived at Mr. Rourasts’ store and after searching the store arrested him and took him to the detention centre for the Ministry of Intelligence in the city of Mahabad. Hours later security forces searched Mr. Rourasts’ home while he was still detained.

Two days after Mr. Rourasts’ arrest his son Mr. Fayegh Rourast and his sister Ms. Hajar Rourast were also arrested.

Mr. Fayegh Rourast is a freshman in the Orumiyeh University majoring in Law. Ms. Hajar Rourast is a teacher, a social activist and also works with an orphanage in the city of Mahabad.

It must be noted that these three individuals do not have a history of political activism. It is unclear why they were arrested and there is no information about the charges they may be facing.

BRUSSELS (AFP) — The exiled Iranian opposition on Tuesday celebrated being taken off the EU's terror list and called for the United States to do the same, arguing it is Tehran that should be sanctioned.

"The European Union has conceded to the rule of law," Maryam Rajavi, the president of the the People's Mujahedeen of Iran (PMOI), told reporters as a crowd of supporters thronged to celebrate victory outside the main EU buildings in Brussels.

"The time has come to place the illegitimate regime on the terrorist list," she added.

The European Union struck the main Iranian opposition group in exile from its list of terrorist organisations Monday but refused to rule out future action against it.

EU foreign ministers, meeting in Brussels, rubber-stamped a decision to drop the PMOI from the blacklist, bringing an end to a long legal battle, even though the move has angered Tehran.

The Luxembourg-based Court of First Instance ruled last month that the EU had wrongly frozen the funds of the opposition group and violated its rights by not justifying why it was placed on the list.

It was the third such ruling by Europe's second-highest tribunal.

It may not be the end of the story for the group, which was placed on the terror lists in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States.

France has announced that it would appeal the tribunal's ruling.

The EU's move to drop the PMOI from its terror list followed a similar legal battle and result in Britain which has done the same.

However, the group remains on the US list and is now turning its eyes to the new US administration of President Barack Obama to remove the "unjust label" of terrorist group.

"The PMOI should be removed from the United States terror list, this is the best policy even for negotiations with the mullah regime," said Rajavi, referring to Iran.

"The new US administration must not give more concessions to the mullah regime. The new government must stop them with regard to their project for nuclear weapons and the war-mongering in the Middle East and the oppression of the Iranian people."

Iran on Monday angrily condemned the EU's removal of the PMOI from its terror blacklist, accusing the bloc of "encouraging terrorism."

Brussels police estimated that some 2,000 supporters turned out for the noisy celebration in the Belgian capital, far fewer than the organisers had predicted but enough to close down part of the road outside the European Council building.

One of the organisers, Shahid Gobadi, estimated that 15,000 supporters had taken part in the celebrations throughout the day.

"I think the policy of appeasement has been crushed," he said. "The wheels of change will start now."

Rajavi was joined at her platform by European parliamentarians who have supported her group's cause over the years, with interventions from British, Belgian, French and Italian lawmakers among others.

For one of those, European Parliament vice president Alejo Vidal-Quadras, the removal of the group from the EU's black list put an end to an ignominous chapter in EU history.

"Today I feel proud to be a European, because during all this fight I was not so proud sometimes," he said.

Founded in 1965 with the aim of replacing first the shah and then the Islamic clerical regime in Iran, the PMOI -- led by Rajavi, who lives in France -- has in the past operated an armed group inside Iran.

It was the armed wing of the France-based National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) but it renounced violence in June 2001.

TEHRAN (AFP) — Iran's government spokesman on Tuesday branded the Holocaust a "big lie" created to place the Islamic republic's arch-foe Israel in the Middle East, the state IRNA news agency reported.

"The Holocaust is a concept coming from a big lie in order to settle a rootless regime in the heart of the Islamic world," Gholam Hossein Elham told a conference on Gaza in central Iran's religious city of Qom.

It was not the first time an Iranian official has questioned the massacre of Jews by Nazis in World War II.

Iran does not recognise Israel, and since his election in 2005 President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has attracted international condemnation by repeatedly predicting that the Jewish state is doomed to disappear.

In late 2005 Ahmadinejad branded the Holocaust a "myth." His comment was followed by a conference in Tehran in 2006 that brought together Holocaust deniers and revisionists.

A mass-circulation Iranian newspaper also staged a controversial cartoon competition on the subject.

In September last year a group of Iranian Islamist students unveiled a book mocking the Holocaust and filled with anti-Semitic stereotypes and revisionist arguments.

The United Nations designated January 27 as international Holocaust memorial day in 2005, marking the date Soviet troops liberated the largest Nazi death camp, Auschwitz-Birkenau, in Poland.

LONDON (AFP) – An Iranian Kurd who sought asylum in Britain was handed a 50-week suspended jail sentence Tuesday for trying to burn down the Iranian embassy in London.

Ali Rahmi, 21, pleaded guilty at Southwark crown court to one count of arson on September 29, 2008. He had drenched the armour-plated front doors of the embassy in petrol and set them alight with a cigarette lighter.

No-one was hurt in the incident, which the court heard came just days after Rahmi received news that a relative had been killed in Iran.

Rahmi himself had arrived in Britain two years earlier seeking asylum, claiming Iranian security forces had tried to kill him. His request was refused but he appealed and the case was under review at the time of the attack.

Prosecutor Peter Zinner told the court that the attack was a "venting of anger... a totally irrational outburst of violence to protest against what he perceives to be his mistreatment".

Judge James Wadsworth said it was a "clearly serious crime" but he would spare him immediate imprisonment because of his experiences.

"However, because this was such a betrayal of your position in this country, there must be a sentence of imprisonment, although the 50 weeks I am imposing will be suspended for two years," he said.

The embassy, in the affluent London district of Knightsbridge, was the scene of a siege in 1980 when it was taken over by Iranian Arab separatists.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Sixteen Saddam Hussein-era Iraqi officials, including former deputy prime minister Tareq Aziz and Saddam's cousin Ali Hassan al-Majeed -- nicknamed Chemical Ali -- faced a new trial on Monday for repressing Shi'ite Kurds.

The trial is the seventh being held against senior Saddam officials for crimes committed before the Iraqi dictator was ousted in a 2003 U.S.-led invasion.

Saddam was hanged after his conviction in the first trial, for ordering the killing of Shi'ite villagers after an assassination attempt.

The latest trial will examine the repression of a community known as Feyli Kurds, who come from the mountainous border area between Iraq and Iran, and, unlike most Iraqi Kurds, are Shi'ite Muslims rather than Sunnis.

Thousands of Feyli Kurds were driven from the country under Saddam, who declared them to be Iranian citizens and forced them across the border. Others were repressed, imprisoned and tortured in the 1970s and 1980s.

The trial is being presided over by Raouf Rashid Abdul-Rahman, the Kurdish judge who sentenced Saddam to die.

Majeed -- nicknamed Chemical Ali for using poison gas to kill 5,000 Kurds in a 1988 attack -- has already been sentenced to death twice.

The first death sentence was for his role in the mass killings of Kurds in the 1980s and the second for a bloody crackdown against Shi'ites in the 1990s. His execution has been delayed by political wrangling.

Aziz, a fluent English speaker who served as the public face of Saddam's regime in the west, is also standing trial in a separate case over the deaths of dozens of merchants executed for price fixing when Iraq was under U.N. sanctions.

(Reporting by Waleed Ibrahim; editing by Peter Graff and Charles Dick)

By CONSTANT BRAND

BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) — The European Union decided Monday to remove an Iranian opposition group from the EU's terror list and lift the restrictions on its funds, a move likely to further damage relations strained over Tehran's nuclear program.

The decision by the 27-nation bloc's foreign ministers means that as of Tuesday, the assets of the People's Mujahedeen Organization of Iran, or PMOI, will be unfrozen. It is the first time an organization has been "de-listed" by the EU.

Shahin Gobadi, a spokesman for the group said $9 million (euro7 million) had been frozen in France alone, with "tens of millions of dollars" worth of assets also locked away in other EU countries.

The group had been blacklisted as a terror organization by the EU since 2002, but waged a long legal battle in the EU's court of justice to reverse that decision. Several EU court decisions went in the group's favor, concluding the EU had failed to properly explain why it froze the assets of the Paris-based group.

"What we are doing today is abiding by the decision of the court, there is nothing we can do about the decision," said Javier Solana, the EU's foreign policy chief.

The People's Mujahedeen, also known as the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, is the military wing of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, which is based in Paris. The council said it is dedicated to a democratic, secular government in Iran.

It was founded in Iran in the 1960s and helped followers of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini overthrow U.S.-backed Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi in 1979.

But the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq fell out with Khomeini, and thousands of its followers were killed, imprisoned or forced into exile. It launched a campaign of assassinations and bombings against Iran's government as a result.

The PMOI has long tried to shed its terrorist tag, despite a series of bloody anti-Western attacks in the 1970s — and nearly 30 years of violent struggle against Iran's Islamic establishment.

The group said however, it has renounced violence in 2001 and hasn't kept any arms since 2003.

Maryam Rajavi, who heads the Paris-based National Council of Resistance, the political wing of the PMOI, said Monday's decision was "a crushing defeat to Europe's policy of appeasement" with Iran.

"The blacklisting of the Iranian Resistance contributed to the prolongation of the rule of religious fascism in Iran," she said in a statement. "The Iranian regime did not refrain from using all political and diplomatic pressures to maintain the PMOI on the list."

Rajavi said her group would now focus its attention on getting the United States to drop the PMOI from its terror list.

Mohammad Safaei, a spokesman at the Iranian Embassy in Brussels, said he could not comment on the decision because it had not yet been officially relayed to Tehran.

The court-mandated move is likely to complicate difficult ties with Tehran just as the EU is trying to negotiate over Iran's nuclear program. The EU and the United States fear Iran is building atomic weapons.

British Foreign Secretary David Miliband appealed to Iran to return to talks with European nations and the United States over its nuclear program.

"During 2009 there will and should be significant focus on this issue," Miliband said.

The group has been on the U.S. State Department's terror list since the mid-1990s.

The group had established a camp for about 3,500 members in Iraq, which its forces used to launch cross-border attacks into Iran. After U.S.-led forces overthrew Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein in 2003, American troops removed the Iranian group's weapons and confined its fighters to the camp.

Student Council of Defense of Human Rights in Kurdistan: Two Kurdish students in the city of Ravansar were arrested on January 18th 2009 and there has been no news about them since that date.

These two students are Mr. Rahim Mohammadi and Mr. Mohammad Sadeghi. Further an 18 years old youth named Behzad was also arrested. These three individuals were arrested without being charged and for unknown reasons, beaten and taken to an “unknown” location.

The families of these individuals have tried to get information about their whereabouts however they have not been successful. Also neither Mr. Mohammadi, Mr. Sadeghi or Behzad have been able to call their families.

There is no information about what kind of charges these individuals may be facing.

Student Council of Defense of Human Rights in Kurdistan: Mr. Amir Masbah Ghazi, a Kurdish student in the city of Mahabad was arrested and continues to be imprisoned for unknown reasons. Mr. Amir Masbah Ghazi is a Kurdish social and literally activist.

Mr. Ghazi is a student in the Private University of Mahabad and was arrested 36 days ago by security forces. He was taken to a detention centre of the Ministry of Intelligence in the city of Orumiyeh.

Mr. Ghazi is a member of Literacy Association in Mahabad, an organization that operates legally and focuses on Kurdish culture and literature.

Mr. Ghazi was also arrested three years ago by security forces and spent some time in custody.

Student Council of Defense of Human Rights in Kurdistan:The residents of a village near the city of Solmas have filed a formal complaint against the “Army of the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution” (Sepah-e Pasdaran) for its systematic torture and abuse of the residents of this village.

At 8:00am on Saturday January 17th 2009 Sepah-e Pasdaran officials invaded the village of “Khorkhora” attacked a residents’ home Mr. Sayed Taher Mohammadi 38 years old and after beating him severely, arrested him and took him to an unknown location. There has been no news about his whereabouts in the past week.

Further in the past week 6 other individuals have been arrested in the same way. These individuals are:

1. Davoud Pashayi (32)

2. Dariush Pashayi (29)

3. Amir Ahmadi (24)

4. Saman Laghyedi (25)

5. Jomhur Pashayi (24)

6. Mahmoud Hosseyni (47)

These 6 individuals are currently in Sepah-e Pasdaran detention centre and they have not been allowed any visitations.

The residents of “Khorkhora” have evidence to show that this is not the first time Sepah-e Pasdaran has attacked their village. Last June, Sepah once again attacked the village and arrested the sons of Mr. Ali Hamidi ( member of the village counsel). The two individuals arrested were Mr. Amir and Mr. Vali Hamidi.

After severe beatings and torture Mr. Vali Hamidi was able to escape and hide in the village. However Sepah officials attacked the homes of the villagers and started abusing and harassing them, under the guise of searching for Vali Hamidi. Eventually Mr. Ali Hamidi and his son Amir Hamidi were arrested.

Mr. Vali Hamidi is currently living underground due to his fear of what Sepah-e Pasdaran may do to him if he is found.

As a result of this incident, the residents of this village have filed a formal complaint against Sepah-e Pasdaran with the authorities. However the authorities have completely ignored their complaint and Sepah-e Pasdaran has not been held responsible for their illegal actions.

The residents of the village of “Khorakho” have asked the Student Council of Defense of Human Rights in Kurdistan to inform the general public and the international community of the situation of the residents of “Solmas” and in particular the village of “Khorakho.” They have further asked for the support of the international community and all human rights organizations.

The pictures below are of the formal complaint filed by the village counsel, as well as signs of torture on Mr. Vali Hamidi’s face.

Student Council of Defense of Human Rights in Kurdistan:Mr. Mohammad Seyadi, a student in Bu Ali Sina University in the City of Hamedan was tried last week in Branch 3 of the Revolutionary Courts in the city of Hamedan.

Mr. Seyadi was charged with advertising against the Regime, insulting Regime Officials, being involved with the creation of illegal groups.

Mr. Seyadi was arrested in June of 2008 and released on a 90 million Toman Bail. Mr. Sedaydi has been sentenced to 6 years and 6 months prison term, as well as a 250,000 Toman fine.

Student Council of Defense of Human Rights in Kurdistan: Mr. Kamal Sharifi, a political activist and a journalist was sentenced to 30 years of imprisonment on charges of membership in a Kurdish opposition organization.

Mr. Sharifi was wounded and later on arrested by security forces in the city of Saqiz in early 2008. He was recently sentenced to 30 years of imprisonment by Revolutionary Courts. Mr. Sharifi was working actively on a website that covered news about Kurds in Iran.

The Campaign to Save Mr. Kamal Sharifi’s Life has thanked all those who helped with the campaign, and has announced that they will fight to overturn this lengthy and unjust prison term.

The human rights organisation, Amnesty International called on the “Iranian authorities to immediately stop the destruction of hundreds of individual and mass, unmarked graves in Khavaran, south Tehran, to ensure that the site is preserved and to initiate a forensic investigation at the site as part of a long-overdue thorough, independent and impartial investigation into mass executions which began in 1988, often referred to in Iran as the ‘prison massacres’."

Text of public statement by Amnesty International:

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
PUBLIC STATEMENT
AI Index: MDE 13/006/2009
20 January 2009
Iran: Preserve the Khavaran grave site for investigation into mass killings
Amnesty International calls on the Iranian authorities to immediately stop the destruction of hundreds of individual and mass, unmarked graves in Khavaran, south Tehran, to ensure that the site is preserved and to initiate a forensic investigation at the site as part of a long-overdue thorough, independent and impartial investigation into mass executions which began in 1988, often referred to in Iran as the “prison massacres”. The organization fears that these actions of the Iranian authorities are aimed at destroying evidence of human rights violations and depriving the families of the victims of the 1988 killings of their right to truth, justice and reparation.

Reports indicate that between 9-16 January 2009, the numerous ad hoc grave markings made by the families of some of those executed in previous years were destroyed by bulldozer. The site was at least partially covered by soil and trees were planted.

Amnesty International additionally calls on the Iranian government to act on its standing invitation to UN mechanisms and to facilitate the visit to the country of the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions. In his visit he should be allowed to have an unhindered access to the Khavaran site with a view to indicating how best to conduct an investigation into the events of 1988, including in relation to the unmarked graves at Khavaran.
The Iranian authorities have the obligation to conduct an impartial investigation into the events and bring to justice those responsible for the “prison massacres” in fair proceedings and without recourse to the death penalty. Destruction of the site would impede any such future investigation and would violate the right of victims, including the families, to an effective remedy.

The Iranian authorities also have a responsibility to ensure that the body of anyone secretly buried who was not the victim of a crime is returned to his or her relatives. Destruction of the grave site would prevent this from happening and inflict further suffering on the families of the victims of the “prison massacres” who have been yearly commemorating the killing of their loved ones by gathering in Khavaran.

Background
Between August 1988 and February 1989, the Iranian authorities carried out a massive wave of
executions of political prisoners – the largest since those carried out in the first and second year after the Iranian revolution in 1979. In all, between 4,500 and 10,000 prisoners are believed to have been killed.

Amnesty International has repeatedly called for those responsible for the “prison massacre” to be
brought to justice in a fair trial without the death penalty.

For further information, see Iran: The 20th anniversary of 1988 "Prison Massacre", AI Index: MDE
13/118/2008, 19 August 2008, http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/MDE13/118/2008/en and
Amnesty International’s report, Iran: Violations of human rights 1987-1990 (AI Index MDE 13/21/90).

TEHRAN (AFP) — Iran has given jail terms of six years and three years respectively to two doctors convicted of a US-backed plot to overthrow the Islamic republic, their lawyer told AFP on Wednesday.

"Arash Alaie was given six years in prison and Kamiar Alaie was sentenced to three years in jail," lawyer Massoud Shafiie said of the two brothers known for their pioneering work in HIV/AIDS and in prison since June.

Shafiie said he would appeal and "ask for their release as there is no evidence proving their accusations."

Iranian authorities "have taken their opinion on the soft toppling of the regime as confessions," he added.

Last week Iran announced it had dismantled a network which sought to softly overthrow the Islamic system by creating social upheaval with US financing and direction.

Four "key elements" behind the plot, including the Alaie brothers, were put on trial and jailed, officials said, without revealing the identity of the other two.

The group was part of an operation which organised visits to the United States for Iranian academics and specialists where they were told that the "US is the only saviour of Iran," a senior intelligence official said on Monday.

He said dozens of other people had been involved in the network but security let them go after it was clear that they had been "deceived".

The Iranian judiciary recently disclosed details on a series of cases involving charges against opposition groups, including those said to have links abroad.

Tehran accuses Washington and London of backing violent and non-violent actions against the state.

 
Iran has hanged 12 men in two days in different cities for offences of murder, rape, drug trafficking or armed robbery, media reported on Wednesday, AFP reported.

Three men identified only as Alireza, Hassan and Mohammad Hassan were hanged in the prison of the province of Yazd on Wednesday for drug trafficking, the ISNA news agency reported.

In a group execution in Yazd prison, six men died on Tuesday after being convicted for murder, rape, armed robbery or drug trafficking, the Fars news agency reported.

Jan Mohammad M., 41, and Reza M., 34, were put to death in a prison in the province of Isfahan on Tuesday for drug trafficking, Fars said.

Another convicted drug trafficker, identified only as Gholam, was hanged on Tuesday in a prison in the northwestern city of Karaj, the Iran newspaper reported.

Fars also reported that 11 men were lined up to be sent to the gallows on Wednesday morning in the Evin prison of Tehran, but it did not say whether the executions were carried out or suspended.

The hangings bring to at least 16 the number of executions in Iran so far this year. Iran executed at least 246 people last year, according to an Agence France-Presse count.

Amnesty International says Iran carried out more death sentences in 2007 than any other country apart from China, executing 317 people.

Capital offenses in the Islamic republic include murder, rape, armed robbery, drug trafficking and adultery.

Student Council of Defense of Human Rights in Kurdistan:Zeynab Jalaliyan, a political activist has been sentenced to death for membership in a Kurdish opposition organization.  In a continuation of death sentences for Kurdish activists Ms. Jalaliyan (27 years old), resident of the city of Maku, in the province of Azarbaijan has been sentenced to death.

According to Ms. Jalaliyans’ family, she was arrested eight months ago in the city of Kermanshah, and was transferred to the detention centre for the Ministry of Intelligence.  There has been no news about her well being in the past eight months.

Although Ms. Jalali is simply a lawyer, she was charged with being a member of a Kurdish opposition organization.  Ms. Jalali was found to be a Mohareb (enemy of god) after a few minutes long trial behind closed doors.

It should be noted that the death sentence of Ms. Jalali raises the number of Kurdish activists sentenced to death in the past two years to 13. 

These individuals are:

1.      Ramezan Ahmad

2.      Farhad Chalesh

3.      Shirkuh Marefi

4.      Rostam Arkiya

5.      Farzad Kamangar

6.      Ali Heydariyan

7.      Farhad Vakili

8.      Hiwa Boutimar

9.      Anwar Hosseing Panahi

10.  Arsalan Evliyayi

11.  Habibollah Latifi

12.  Fasih Yasamini

13.  Zeynab Jalaliyan

three hangings and suspicious death of a political prisoner in Orumieh

One of those hanged was 17 at the time of the alleged crime

NCRI - The state-run Kayhan daily wrote on January 13, that Mojtaba R. and M. H-A, 24, were hanged in public in the township of Jahrom (Fars province).

According to obtained reports from inside the regime’s prisons, the mullahs’ henchmen had also hanged Ahmad Zarei, 23, who was 17 at the time of his alleged crime, in the central prison of Sanandaj on December 25, 2008.

Moreover, Hashem Ramezani, a 45-year-old resident of northwestern city of Mahabad, was arrested early January 2009 on political charges by the regime’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) agents in Mahabad. He was transferred to the MOIS headquarters in Orumieh, and four days later, was mysteriously murdered in prison. He was married and is survived by several children.

Ebrahim Lotfollahi, Zahra Bani-Yaghoub (medical doctor), Zahra Kazemi (Iranian-Canadian journalist), Akbar Mohammadi (university student), and members of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI) Valiollah Feyz-Mahdavi and Abdolreza Rajabi (worker and father of five) have been among prisoners mysteriously killed while incarcerated in the regime’s prisons.

Meanwhile, on January 13, the mullahs’ judiciary spokesman confirmed reports first exposed by the Iranian Resistance about the secret and brutal stoning on December 26, 2008 of three people in the Behesht-Reza cemetery in the holy city of Mashhad.

Prior to this, in a deceptive move, Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi, head of the mullahs’ judiciary, had announced a ban on implementing stoning sentences. The regime’s judiciary spokesman explained about this clear inconsistency as well as the rationale for implementing the cruel punishment by stoning, and said, “In view of the judges’ independence, it is possible that as long as the ban on stoning has not become law, the recommendations of the head of the judiciary would not be acted upon.”

The Iranian Resistance calls on all international human rights organizations and authorities, especially the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, to condemn the deteriorating human rights conditions in Iran, and stresses on the need, now more than ever, to refer the human rights abuses dossier in Iran to the UN Security Council for the adoption of immediate and binding measures.

TEHRAN (AFP) — Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad left for Qatar on Friday to take part in a regional summit on the Gaza crisis that was also to be attended by a string of other Israeli foes including Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal, the official IRNA news agency reported.

Ahmadinejad was accompanied by his close aide Esfandiar Rahim Mashai and Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, IRNA said.

Qatar pressed ahead with the planned summit over the objections of regional heavyweights Egypt and Saudi Arabia as well as the Palestinian leadership of president Mahmud Abbas.

Iran is a staunch supporter of the Islamist Hamas movement, which controls the Gaza Strip, and does not recognise its archfoe Israel.

Ahmadinejad, who has previously predicted that Israel is doomed to be "wiped off the map", on Thursday accused some Arab and Islamic states of complicity in an Israeli "genocide" against Palestinians in Gaza.

GENEVA, (BWNS) - At least six Baha'is were arrested in Iran yesterday, including a woman who worked at human rights organizations connected with Nobel prize winner Shirin Ebadi.

According to reports received from Iran, the six were arrested after government security agents raided the homes of at least 11 Baha'is. During the raids, they also confiscated Baha'i books and other items, such as computers and photographs.

Among those arrested was Jinous Sobhani, who worked as an assistant for the Organization for Defending Mine Victims and also for the Defenders of Human Rights Center. Both were founded by Mrs. Ebadi.

In an interview with CNN, Mrs. Ebadi said today that Ms. Sobhani had been laid off from both organizations after government agents raided Mrs. Ebadi's offices and shut them down in December.

While some reports indicate that more than six Baha'is were arrested yesterday in Tehran, those confirmed so far include Ms. Sobhani, Mr. Shahrokh Taefi, Mr. Didar Raoufi, Mr. Payam Aghsani and Mr. Aziz Samandari. Mr. Golshan Sobhani was also arrested but was released a few hours later. It is unclear whether he is related to Ms. Sobhani.

"The arrest of these individuals reflects not only the grave situation facing Baha'is in Iran but also the overall human rights situation there," said Diane Ala'i, a representative of the Baha'i International Community to the United Nations in Geneva.

"As far as we know, all of these people were arrested primarily because they are Baha'is," said Ms. Ala'i.

But she confirmed the fact that Ms. Sobhani worked for the two organizations founded by Mrs. Ebadi.

"The connection of Ms. Sobhani to the work of Mrs. Ebadi's organizations points to the gravity of the situation in Iran, where the government seems intent on stifling any expression of the importance of human rights or religious freedom," said Ms. Ala'i.

In December, the Baha'i International Community condemned the closing of Mrs. Ebadi's Defenders of Human Rights Center in Tehran and called for its reopening.

Let my heart keep beating!

I have been in prison for many months now. Prison was supposed to crush my will, my love and my humanity. It was supposed to tame me. I have been detained in a ward with walls as tall as history, continuing to eternity itself. They were supposed to separate me from my beloved people, from the children of my land. But I travelled through the tiny window of my cell to far away places everyday and felt myself amongst them and like them. They, in turn, would see the reflection of their grievances imprisoned in me. Prison thus deepened our bonds. The darkness of prison was supposed to erase the very meaning of the sun and light from my mind, but I have witnessed the growth of pansies in the darkness and silence. Prison was supposed to force my mind to consign time and its value to oblivion. I have, however, relived the moments outside prison, and given birth to a new "me" in order to choose a new path.

I have also, like prisoners before me, wholeheartedly embraced every degradation, insult and cruelty that came my way, hoping to be the last person of a tormented generation who has had to endure the darkness of imprisonment in the fervent hope of seeing a new dawn. One day, however, I was labeled "belligerent" for having waged war against their “God.” The noose of justice was thus woven, ready to take my life. And since that day I have been unwillingly awaiting my execution.

But I have decided, with all my love for my fellow human beings, that if I am to lose my life, let all my organs go to those who may find life receiving them. And let my heart, with all the love and passion in it, be donated to a child. It makes no difference where s/he might be: to a child on the banks of the Kaaroon; slopes of Mount Sabalaan; fringes of the Eastern Desert; or a child that beholds the sun rise from the Zagros Mountains. All I want is that my rebellious, restive heart may keep beating in the chest of a child who would, more rebelliously than I, reveal her/his childhood wishes to the moon and the stars, and hold them witness so that s/he may not betray them later as an adult. All I want is that my heart may keep beating in the chest of one who loses patience over the children who go to bed hungry; one that would keep the memory of Haamed – my sixteen-year-old student – alive in my heart who wrote, "even my smallest wish won't come true in this life," and hanged himself.

Let my heart keep beating in someone's chest, no matter what language s/he might speak. All I want is for her/him to be the child of a worker with calloused hands whose coarseness would keep the sparks of rage against inequalities alive in my heart. Let my heart keep beating in the chest of a child who may be a rural teacher in a not-so-distant future, whom the children would greet every morning with their delightful smiles, and with whom they would share all their joys and games. Then the children might not know the meaning of such words as poverty and hunger, and the terms "prison," "torture," "oppression" and "inequality" might be devoid of all meaning in their world. Let my heart keep beating in a tiny corner of your immense world. Only be careful with it, for it is the heart of a person full of untold stories of the people of his land, whose history abounds in pain and suffering. Let my heart keep beating in the chest of a child so that one morning I can cry at the top of my lungs and in my mother tongue [Kurdish]: I want to become a breeze carrying the message of love of all humanity to all corners of this immense world.

Farzad Kamangar
Infectious Diseases Ward
Rajaa'i Shahr Prison, Karaj
28 December 2008
Originally written on 22 December 2008
Security Ward 209
Evin Prison
Iran

www.rowzane.com/0000_2008/e_m12/31-farzad5eng.htm

GAZZE ON QANDIL

QANDIL, Iraq (AFP)--Turkish and Iranian artillery have pounded Kurdish rebel positions in Iraq's northern mountains for the past two days, a spokesman for the rebel Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK. said Wednesday.

"Yesterday and today, the villages of Rizka, Maradu and Kanira - close to the Iranian border - were periodically bombarded by the Iranians," the spokesman Ahmed Denis told AFP.

"Turkish artillery shelled the Sidikan district, near where the Iraqi, Iranian and Turkish borders meet, but inside Iraq," he added.

He had no immediate word on casualties.

PKK rear-bases in border districts of northern Iraq have been the target of repeated attack by the Turkish and Iranian militaries in recent weeks.

The PKK, which is listed as a terrorist group by the European Union and the U.S., took up arms for self-rule in Turkey's Kurdish-majority southeast in 1984, triggering a conflict that has claimed some 44,000 lives.

An Iranian rebel group, the Party of Free Life of Kurdistan, or PJAK, operates out of bases in the same area and is close to the PKK.

NCRI – Two prisoners were hanged in public by the mullahs' judiciary in Chamrun Square in the southern city of Jahrom, reported the official daily Kayhan on Tuesday.

The men were identified as Mojtaba R. and M.H.A.

On January 31, 2008, the mullahs' judiciary chief, Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi, ordered death penalty should be carried out behind close doors.
 
"We have repeatedly seen that people expressed sympathy with the person who was going to be hanged in public. People even expressed their abhorrence at the execution of the sentence," said the assistant prosecutor for sentences in Tehran's criminal prosecution office, the state-run daily Javan reported on January 31, 2008.

"With far less expenditure, executions could be carried out in prison," he added.
The state-run websites also admitted to the adverse effects of public hangings and noted that the victims' gestures before being hanged deeply affected the young people and left heroes image in their minds. These websites regretted that in addition to generating hatred among people, public hangings have also damaged the status of the regime in the world. 

Islamist students in Tehran Tuesday staged a protest in front of the Swiss embassy, shouting slogans in solidarity with Palestine and burning pictures of US president-elect Barack Obama and Egyptian President Hosny Mubarak.

According to the ISNA news agency, the students hoisted the Palestinian flag in front of the Swiss embassy which acts as a intermediary of the US with Iran, as Washington and Tehran have had no diplomatic ties for three decades.

'While innocent people are killed by Israeli bombs in the Gaza Strip, Obama is looking for a puppy for his daughter,' one of the students said.

Protest demonstrations by Islamist students in Iran usually end with the burning of Israel and US flags as well as of effigies of Bush. The picture of Obama and Mubarak were burnt for the first time.

The students said they would continue their protest in front of the Egyptian interest section.

The Iranian government has also adopted a harsh stance against Israel for the attacks on the Gaza Strip and has criticised Arab governments for insufficient support for Palestinian Islamic group Hamas that rules the strip.

The Tehran government however has so far distanced itself from the most radical suggestions by the students and has for example not allowed some 70,000 Iranian volunteers to travel to Gaza to fight Israel.

Agency

Farzad Kamangar is a teacher, a human rights defender, and a member of Iran's Kurdish minority. The combination may prove fatal for the 33-year-old Iranian.

For more than 10 years, Mr. Kamangar taught in Iran's kurdistan province. He was also a member of the teachers' union there, before it was outlawed by the regime. In addition, he belonged to an organization that was active in defending human rights, including Kurdish minority rights and rights for women.

He was arrested in 2006 and sentenced to death in 2008, after being convicted of so-called "crimes against national security" and of being "moharabeh," that is, an enemy of God.

Mr. Kamangar has insisted that he is innocent of any crime, and international human rights monitors have said his trial was grossly unfair. They have also said he has been tortured in custody – beaten, flogged and electrocuted. Amnesty International reports that on November 24, 2008, guards entered his cell in Evin prison, beat him and threatened him with imminent execution.

It is hard not to see the Iranian regime's brutal treatment of Farzad Kamangar as part of a pattern of repression aimed at Iran's ethnic Kurdish minority. While all Iranian defenders of human rights or peaceful political dissidents are under threat and worse from the Iranian government, Iranian authorities are particularly punishing to those who belong to ethnic minority groups.

Human Rights Watch recently published a new report detailing the repression of Iran's Kurdish population by the Iranian government. Kurds make up approximately 7 percent of the population and live mainly in the northwest regions of the country.

The report shows how the regime, in an increasingly aggressive campaign, uses so-called security and press laws to arrest and prosecute Kurdish Iranians simply for exercising their rights of freedom of expression and association. Numerous newspapers and magazines have been closed; editors and writers have been imprisoned; non-governmental organizations have been refused permits to operate; and human rights defenders like Farzad Kamangar have been sentenced to death.

The U.S. calls on Iran to stop the repression of all Iranians, including Kurdish Iranians, who only seek the peaceful exercise of their universal human rights. In addition, the U.S. urges the Government of Iran to follow the rule of law, and free all political prisoners, like Farzad Kamangar, who are imprisoned because of their efforts to defend the rights of the Iranian people.

Student Council of Defense of Human Rights in Kurdistan:  Although Mr. Habibollah Lotfi’s death sentence has been appealed, Mr. Lotfi was suddenly taken to the solitary cells in the detention centre of the Ministry of Intelligence, without any reason or explanation.

Mr. Lotfi who is in very poor health due to brutal torture he was subjected to during interrogation was transferred from the Central Sanandaj Prison to the detention centre for the Ministry of Intelligence.  It is not clear why he was transferred and how long he will be imprisoned at that location.

Mr. Lotfi has suffered from numerous illnesses as a result of torture, including infection of his intestines.

Mr. Lotfi’s family is extremely concerned about this sudden transfer and has requested an immediate clarification behind the reason of his transfer.

Student Council of Defense of Human Rights in Kurdistan:  A Kurdish Political activist Mr. Jebrail Khosroyi has been sentenced to 20 years of imprisonment and exile to Bandar Abbas Prison.

Mr. Khosroyi’s trial was carried out on Saturday January 10^th 2008 by Branch 1 of the Revolutionary Court in Sanandaj, where he was convicted of working with a Kurdish opposition organization and was found to be a Mohareb “enemy of god”.  He was sentenced to 20 years of imprisonment and exile to Bandar Abbas Prison.

Mr. Khosroyi has appealed his sentence and is currently in the central Sanadaj Prison.  Mr. Khosroyi was arrested one year ago in the city of Sanandaj by security forces.

Student Council of Defense of Human Rights in Kurdistan:  According to news which has been confirmed by Azarmehr Association of Women of Kurdistan, Ms. Hanna Abdi a student, womens’ rights activist and a member of Azarmehr Organization was sentenced to five (5) years of imprisonment and exile to Garmi Prison in the city of Garmi.  Ms. Abdi serverd 14 months of pre-trial custody, before being sentenced, and was imprisoned in the detention centre for the Ministry of Intelligence in the city of Sanandaj as well as Sanandaj Prison.

However Branch 4 of the Court of Appeal in Sanandaj reduced her sentence to 1.5 years and her exile to Razn Prison which is near the city of Hamedan.  During her transfer however she was transferred to the Hamedan Prison.

While in prison Ms. Abdi requested a leave from prison, which is the legal right of prisoners, however on seeing her request, the judge on her case indicated that he had not been made aware of her exile to Razn/Hamedan Prison, and once again her case was sent to the court of appeal for investigation.

After follow up from Ms. Abdi’s Family the court of Appeal has stated that Ms. Abdi will be exiled to Meshkin Shahr Priosn, which is in the province of Ardebil to serve the rest of her sentenced.

Furthermore Ms. Ronak Safazadeh, another student activist has been in pre-trial custody for more than a year in Sanandaj Prison.

Although there has been great support for both Ms. Abdi and Ms. Safazadeh, from Iranian as well as the international community, the judiciary continues its abuse of these two student activists, causing great concern both for their families and human rights activists.

TEHRAN, January 13, 2009 (AFP) - Iran's judiciary on Tuesday confirmed that two men had been stoned to death for adultery in the northeastern city of Mashhad while a third struggled from the stoning hole and escaped with his life.

"As you saw in reports, there were three stonings carried out in Mashhad. They were convicted of adultery, that is an affair with a married woman," judiciary spokesman Ali Reza Jamshidi told reporters.

He said two of the men died in the executions carried out "about 20 days ago" while the third was spared after he managed to extricate himself from the stoning hole.

Under Iran's Islamic law, adultery is still theoretically punishable by stoning, which involves the public hurling stones at the convict buried up to his waist. A woman is buried up to her shoulders.

The convict is spared if he can free himself.

Despite a 2002 directive by the judiciary chief Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahrudi imposing a moratorium on such executions, five Iranians have reportedly been stoned to death in the past four years.

Jamshidi, commenting on the courts ordering stoning sentences, said "judges are independent and they are likely not to act to the judiciary chief's advice" as long as law remains unchanged.

Quoting rights activists, the reformist Etemad Melli newspaper said on Sunday that three men had been stoned between December 21 and 26 in Behesht Reza cemetery in Mashhad.

It identified one of the men as Houshang Kh. and the survivor as an Afghan national named Mahmoud.

In August, the judiciary said it had scrapped the punishment in Iran's new Islamic penal code, whose outlines have been adopted by parliament but whose details are yet to be debated by MPs before final approval.

It said several stoning sentences have been suspended and commuted to either lashes or jail terms.

However, in July 2007 the Islamic republic drew international outrage by stoning to death JafarKiani, a man convicted of adultery, in a village in the northwest of Iran.

Eight women and two men are currently under sentence of death by stoning in Iranian prisons, Etemad Melli said quoting rights activists, while the sentence has been commuted for four other women.

During the last week of December, 3 men were stoned to death in Behesht Reza Cemetery in Mashhad for the crime of adultery. One of them, an Afghan citizen by the name of Mahmoud, managed to forcibly escape from the stoning pit and survived. Unfortunately, the other two men, one of whom is named Hushang Khodadaeh and another who remains unidentified, were killed, pounded mercilessly with stones. This is the latest such case since the stoning deaths of Jafar Kiani in June 2007, and Mahboubeh M and Abbas H in May 2006.

For the last three years ago, the Head of the Iranian Judiciary has repeatedly stated that although the punishment of stoning remained under Iranian law, the execution of such sentences were not enforced; at the same time, a moratorium on stoning has been in effect for the entire country Nevertheless, we have witnessed at least 6 cases of stoning in the last 3 years. Clearly, as long as the penalty of stoning remains under the Penal Code and sanctioned by Iranian law, such words by the Head of the Judiciary are worthless.

In July of this year, several women’s rights defenders, lawyers, and activist held a rpess conference announcing the names of nine women who were currently awaiting stoning sentences. Since then, spokesman for the Judiciary Alireza Jamshidi announced in August that the stoning sentences of four women (Layla G., Azar and Zohreh Kabiri, and Shomameh Malak Gharbani) would be commuted to whipping and imprisonment. However, Azar and Zohreh Kabiri has not been released yet and a retrial planned for January 12 which will judge whether they are guilty for adultery or not.

In addition, there are presently at least ten others locked up in several prisons around the country who are in danger of being stoned to death:

1. Kobra Najjar, imprisoned in Reja’i-shahr- Karaj
2. Iran A., imprisoned in Sepidar Prison- Ahvaz
3. Kheirieh V., imprisoned in Sepidar Prison- Ahvaz
4. Ashraf Kalhori, imprisoned in Evin Prison-Tehran
5. Abdollah Farivar, imprisoned -Sari Prison
6. Ghilan Mohammadi, imprisoned in Central Prison -Isfahan
7. Gholamali Eskendari, imprisoned in Central Prison - Isfahan
8. Afsaneh R., imprisoned in In ‘Adel Abad Prison -Shiraz
9. The woman M.J., imprisoned in Vakil Abad Prison - Mashhad
10. The woman H. Imprisoned in Vakil Abad Prison - Mashhad

Furthermore, the Majlis, or Iranian Parliament, is currently reviewing a new draft of the Islamic Penal Code. In it, the punishment for adultery is, once again, stoning. The only difference in this new act from the current law is that “based on the prosecutor’s discretion, if the implementation of penal measure such as stoning causes mafsadeh [degradation and disgrace], he can submit a revision and request an alternative measure such as lashing or execution to the Head of Judiciary.”

However, many women’s rights defenders, including the Stop Stoning Forever Campaign, are deeply troubled the revised law. Most notably, the penalty of stoning has not been omitted. In addition, implementation of such a verdict has been left to the discretion of the local prosecutor, who may decide to carry out the verdict or ask for alternative action to be taken, and who can base his judgment on his personal beliefs even if he may be considered a religious fundamentalist.

The Stop Stoning Forever Campaign was formed in August 2006 after news spread of the stoning of two people in Mashhad and the sentencing of Ashref Kalhari to stoning in Evin Prison. Its goal is to eliminating stoning unequivocally from the Iranian Penal Code. Since it began work, the Campaign, working predominately with the Network of Volunteer Lawyers, has saved eight women and one man: Hajieh Esmaeilvand, Parisa A., Najaf A., Soghra Molaei, Zahra Rezaei, Mokarrameh Ebhrahimi, Shamameh (Malek) Ghorbani, Azar Kabiri, Zohreh Kabiri, and Layla G. from death by stoning. In addition, the stoning sentence of one woman, Ashref Kalhari, has been suspended.

Even in light of these successes, the Stop Stoning Forever Campaign has grown deeply troubled by instances of stoning and the increasing number of executions that we have witnessed in Iran in the last few months due to extremist government policies and judicial trends. We urge the public to continue to register their protest with the inhumane punishment of stoning and to demand to the authorities of the Islamic Republic that they terminate this punishment once and for all.

meydaan.net
iranhr.net

Student Council of Defense of Human Rights in Kurdistan: A number of political prisoners entered their seventh (7th) day of hunger strike in Maku Prison. This hunger strike commenced on Sunday January 4th 2009.

This hunger strike is a protest against terrible prison conditions, violation of legal rights or prisoners by prison officials, discrimination against Kurdish political prisoners as well as not being allowed to seek necessary medical treatment and not being allowed temporary leaves from prison, which is a legal right of any prisoner.

Last week two Kurdish prisoners from this prison Mr. Ramezan Ahmad and Mr. Farhad Chalesh were sentenced to death on charges of being a Mohareb (Enemy of God).

Having any kind of communication with the outside world from the prison has been made extremely difficult by the prison officials in order to prevent the news of this hunger strike from spreading.

The names of some of the prisoners currently on hunger strike are:

1. Rostam Arkiya-Son of Rahim-Sentenced to death-Charged with being a Mohareb (Enemy of God)

2. Ramezan Ahmad-Sentenced to death-Mohareb

3. Farhad Chalesh-sentenced to death-Mohareb

4. Saeed Aghvez-3 prison sentences: 15 years, 10 years and 1 year

5. Asad Ahnameh

6. Ibrahim Eghbali

7. Hossein Amigh

8. Nabi Taghlidi

9. Hamid Teymouresh

10. Khalef haji

11. Hossein Cheylan-son of Haji Ali- 3 prison sentences: 10 years, 4 years and 15 years

12. Ardeshir Delayi Miken

13. Ali Rasuli

14. Saeed Raseghi

15. Ibrahim Farmand

16. Saeed Omarpour-so on Ibrahim- four years imprisonment

17. Mohammad Omarpour-Son of Ibrahim-2 prison sentences: 15 years and 4 years

18. Abdollah Omarpour-13 years and 6 years

19. Hossein Moravi Milan

20. Adel Mohammad Nejad

21. Hassan Talei-son of Haji Ali

22. Ibrahim Dadgostar Jeni Kanlu-60 years old

It is worth mentioning that this is the second large scale hunger strike by Kurdish Prisoners this year. Earlier this year close to 80 prisoners from 8 different prisons went on a 47 day long hunger strike to protest against their conditions. Some of the prisoners currently on hunger strike also participated in the previous hunger strike.

Student Council of Defense of Human Rights in Kurdistan: A Kurdish political prisoner Mr. Jahangir Badvazadeh who had been previously sentenced to death, is currently waiting for a final decision on his charges, after his death sentence was overturned in 2005.

Mr. Jahangir Badvazadeh, the son of Ahmad Ezaheli, resident of the city of Mahabad, joined the Kurdistan Democratic Party in 1978 and left the Party in 1984. Mr. Badvazadeh continued his political activities until he was arrested in 2000 and sentenced to 10 years of imprisonment.

Mr. Badvazadeh managed to escape from Mahabad Prison after 3 months and crossed the border to Iraq where he applied for a refugee status. On June 11th 2004 he returned to Iran in order to try to cross the border to Turkey, and was arrested by security forces.

During initial initial interrogations and court proceedings he was convicted of carrying a weapon, being involved in political activities and being involved in the death of a Regime Agent and was sentenced to death. In 2005 Mr. Badvazadeh went on a 28 day long hunger strike. Also at this time his death sentence was overturned due to lack of evidence, however the court has not issued a new judgement and a final sentence against Mr. Badvazadeh.

According to news received by Student Council of Defense of Human Rights in Kurdistan the family of this prisoner is under terrible financial and emotional pressure. During the time he was in prison Mr. Badvazadeh has lost two of his children who were members of a Kurdish Opposition organization.

During the past eight years Mr. Badvazadeh has spent six months in solitary confinement.

Through the Student Council of Defence of Human Rights in Kurdistan, Mr. Badvazadeh would like to inform all human rights organizations of his and his family’s current situation and to ask for their help, to put pressure on the Islamic Regime Judiciary to issue a final judgment and sentence against Mr. Badvazadeh.

NEW YORK, Jan. 9 (UPI) -- Human Rights Watch called on the Iranian government to end its campaign of harassment against the Kurdish population in the western regions of the country.

HRW in a 42-page report on Iranian activity in its Kurdish regions said Tehran exploits press laws and other provisions to detain Iranian Kurds for exercising their rights to free speech.

"Iranian authorities show little tolerance of political dissent anywhere in the country, but they are particularly hostile to dissent in minority areas where there has been any history of separatist activities," said j Stork with HRW.

There are roughly 4.5 million Kurds living in Iran. Kurdish groups in the region have pressed for greater autonomy in Iran, though they deny any militant separatist activity.

Iranian officials blocked registration applications from Kurdish non-governmental organizations on the grounds they pose a security threat. Stork said although Iran has the right to look out for its national interests, the freedom of expression is a fundamental right.

"What is going on in the Kurdish areas of Iran is the routine suppression of legitimate peaceful opposition," he said.

READ ALL ON HRW

WASHINGTON, Jan 9 (Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Barack Obama said on Friday he views Iran as a "genuine threat" but still favors initiating a dialogue with the Islamic republic.

Asked about Iran at a news conference, Obama said he would not go into detail on his policy toward Tehran because of the principle that there is only one president at a time.

But he said, "I have said in the past during the course of the campaign that Iran is a genuine threat to U.S. national security."

"But I have also said that we should be willing to initiate diplomacy as a mechanism to achieve our national security goals, and my national security team, I think, is reflective of that pratical, pragmatic approach to foreign policy," said Obama, who takes over from President George W. Bush on Jan. 20.

(Reporting by Caren Bohan and Andy Sullivan)

Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty

by Hamid Irani

When Iranian foreign policy is mentioned, one image that immediately comes to mind is of the brash rantings of radical fundamentalist President Mahmud Ahmadinejad. But one of Tehran's major foreign-policy priorities that is rarely mentioned publicly is to perpetuate the blacklisting by the West of the principal Iranian opposition force.

European Union officials make no secret of the fact that it was at the request of the Iranian government that they branded the People's Mujahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI, aka Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization) a terrorist organization in 2002. "The Wall Street Journal" reported in October 2008 that Tehran has made securing the blacklisting of the PMOI as a terrorist organization a diplomatic priority.

In a report released in March 2008, the Foreign Affairs Committee of the British Parliament said that member of Parliament (MPs) who visited Iran in November 2007 were struck by the number of times that Iranian officials raised the issue of the PMOI. Those MPs formed the impression that the PMOI had almost become an "obsession." "It was on their program, they wanted us to talk about it, and they raised it in lots of contexts," the report said.

The question thus arises: what is it about the PMOI that Ahmadinejad's regime fears?

The PMOI is unquestionably the best-organized opposition movement to the ayatollahs' regime. Some 4,000 PMOI members, men and women of all ages, are currently based in Camp Ashraf in Iraq. Over the past three decades, Tehran has executed 120,000 of the group's members. A fatwa issued by then-Supreme Leader Ruhollah Khomeini in the summer of 1988 and later made public by his chief deputy led to the execution of over 30,000 political prisoners because of their membership of the PMOI.

Yet despite those reprisals, the group remains the greatest threat to the religious theocracy. In 2002, it was the first to expose Iran's clandestine nuclear weapons program and its uranium-enrichment and heavy-water reactor sites, leading to Tehran's international isolation and three rounds of UN Security Council sanctions.

Domestically, the group is working on university campuses to mobilize antigovernment protests. Iranian state media announced in November the arrest of 20 people in northern Tehran for systematically sending out SMS text messages on mobile phones in support of the group.

The PMOI has also exposed Iranian meddling abroad, thereby undermining Tehran's goal of expanding its influence over its neighbors. Most importantly, however, it is the principal member of the coalition capable of replacing the theocratic dictatorship with a democratic, pluralist republic and a secular government.

A 'Third Option' On Iran

The National Council of Resistance of Iran, the Paris-based parliament-in-exile of which the PMOI is a leading member, rejects both foreign military intervention and continuation of the West's appeasement policy toward the mullahs. Instead, it advocates a "third option," in the form of democratic change brought about by the Iranian people and the organized resistance. Over 70,000 Iranians gathered in Paris in June 2008 to express their support for this "third option."

Maryam Rajavi, president-elect of the Resistance coalition, has urged European governments and successive U.S. administrations to impose comprehensive sanctions on the regime and at the same time to abandon the one misguided element in the West's policy that has emboldened Tehran to step up repression and terrorism.

For years now, in various European parliaments, Rajavi has urged the European Union and United States to lift the ban on the PMOI. The group found itself on the EU's terrorist list in 2002, one year after the United Kingdom proscribed the group. European and U.S. officials have conceded that the ban was meant to curry favor with the mullahs who rule the world's fourth-largest oil-producing state.

In 2006, however, the European Court of First Instance (CFI) suddenly annulled on procedural grounds the inclusion of the PMOI on the EU blacklist. A year later, the British High Court looked in detail at all the open and closed evidence and ruled that it was "flawed" and "perverse" to label the PMOI as terrorist. That ruling was upheld in May 2008 by the Court of Appeal, headed by the lord chief justice, and the group was de-proscribed in Britain by both Houses of Parliament after a unanimous vote.

Though legally required to lift the ban after the court rulings, the EU Council of Ministers maintained it at France's request. President Nicolas Sarkozy's government even pressured the EU's 27 member states to defy a second European Court ruling in October 2008 annulling the group's terror label.

Then in December, the European Court of First Instance annulled for a third time the EU ban on the PMOI, handing down the fastest-ever verdict in its history, in less than 24 hours.

The CFI judges were quite simply convinced that the EU is acting illegally in banning the group. The court even rejected a request by the EU Council of Ministers and France to maintain the ban until after an eventual appeal. The EU will have to decide by the end of this month whether it will maintain the ban on the group in defiance of seven British and European high-court rulings. And it will be up to the administration of incoming U.S. President Barack Obama to reverse the ban in the United States in light of in-depth court investigations concluding that the group is not involved in terrorism.

If justice and the rule of law mean anything in today's world, the ban on the PMOI will soon be lifted, allowing this powerful opposition force to direct all its resources towards replacing the present regime with a democratic, secular government. It will also send a strong signal to the Iranian people that the international community is no longer prepared to offer support to a regime that oppresses them, and thereby fuel the momentum for change. It is in this context the regime so fears the de-listing of the PMOI.

Hamid Irani is a London-based researcher and expert on Iranian affairs. The views expressed in this commentary are the author's own, and do not necessarily reflect those of RFE/RL

Mount Qindil, 9 Jan. (AKI) - The separatist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) has rejected Turkish estimates of the number of militants it claims to have killed by the military during 2008.

"The statistics published by the Turkish government regarding the number of deaths and injured among the rank and file of the PKK during 2008 are totally unreal, " a source for the PKK's military wing told Adnkronos International (AKI).

The source claimed that the figures were "greatly exaggerated" to dampen the anger of Turkish public opinion and to cover up the "serious losses" suffered by the Turkish army in its conflict with the PKK.

The comments followed the release of statistics by the Turkish army showing that 670 PKK fighters were killed in 2008, while hundreds of others were detained and imprisoned by Turkish security forces.

The military source said the only correct thing contained in the Turkish government's estimates was the admission by the Turkish army that it launched 373 attacks against PKK bases.

"As for the rest, the numbers they compiled are false and greatly exaggerated," he said.

"Turkish forces sustained more than a thousand deaths and hundreds of injuries in 2008, but the army leadership does not at all acknowledge these serious losses," he said.

The PKK is committed to the creation of an independent Kurdish state in a geographical region comprising parts of Turkey, Iraq, Syria and Iran.

Blacklisted as a terrorist organisation by the European Union and the United States, the PKK began its campaign for self-rule in Turkey's southeast in 1984, triggering a conflict that has claimed an estimated 44,000 lives.

Turkish warplanes and Iranian artillery are reported to have bombarded Kurdish rebel hideouts in northern Iraq on Monday.

In six days: seven prisoners have been executed; three have committed suicide

NCRI - On Sunday, January 4, 2009, in a barbaric move, the mullahs’ regime hanged four people in Bandar Abbas (south) prison, and in accordance with the sentencing of a criminal Sharia judge, the regime also amputated a prisoner’s hand and leg using a guillotine.

The French news agency, AFP, also reported on the hanging of two prisoners on Saturday, January 3, in Zahedan (southeastern Iran). On Tuesday, December 30, a prisoner in Arak (central Iran) was led to the gallows (state-run Fars news agency, December 30, 2009).

Meanwhile, obtained reports from Dastgerd prison in Isfahan, which is one of the most notorious torture chambers of the mullahs’ regime, indicate that in the past week alone, three prisoners have suspiciously lost their lives due to pressures and brutal torture against prisoners.

One of the victims, identified as Janali Moradi Gharib Vand, son of Hossein-gholi, was a 24 year old man, who had been incarcerated since 5 years ago in Ward 3 of Isfahan’s Dastgerd prison. Another victim, identified as Ali Torki, son of Shokrollah, was a 35 year old who had been imprisoned since four years ago in the so-called “Behavioral Counseling” Ward of the prison. Obtained reports also point to the suspicious death of Hossein Shirazi, 46, after tolerating 14 years of incarceration in the same prison.

The Iranian Resistance calls on all international human rights organizations and authorities, especially the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, to condemn the deteriorating human rights situation in Iran. The Iranian Resistance stresses on referring the dossier of Iran’s human rights abuses and regrettable prisons conditions to the UN Security Council for the adoption of binding measures. This has become more urgent than ever before.

Student Council of Defense of Human Rights in Kurdistan: The Islamic Revolutioanry Courts have sentenced two individuals to death for beign members of Party for a Free Life in Kurdistan (Pejak).  These two individuals Mr. Ramezan Ahmad and Mr. Farhad Chalesh were arrested three (3) months ago by “Sepahe Pasdaran” officials and taken to an unknown location.

Mr. Ahmad is a resident of “Ghamishloo” in Kurdish part of Syria and Mr. Chalesh is a resident of “Sharnakh” in Kurdish part of Turkey.  They are both currently imprisoned in Orumiye Prison.

Currently there are 12 Kurdish activists on Death row in Iran.

Student Council of Defense of Human Rights in Kurdistan: Although it has been months since the Kurdish Students in Teabriz University have submitted a formal request to be able to have elections for the executive members of the “Zagros” student organization, the University Officials have refused to give the student permission to hold elections.

Zagros, which is one of the most active student organizations in the Tabriz University, started its activities three years ago, however this group has always been faced with difficulties and problems created by the University Officials.

Numerous Kurdish students in Tabriz University have written a letter to University Officials, stating their concern about the treatment of this organization by University officials. In their letter they have stated that whereas even non-active student organizations are given support and freedom for their activities in the University, Zagros is not given the same support and permission to be active.

The Kurdish students who have signed this letter have pointed to the fact that other ethnic minority student organizations such as “Azarbaijan” which is an Azari cultural groups is able to freely operate within the University, without any problems and in fact with the support of University Officials, where as the Kurdish student organization Zagros is not given the same freedom and support.

In this letter the students have further pointed to the activities of an Azari student organization “Heydar Baba” which is active in Kurdistan University, and even has permission to teach the “Azari” language; however Tabriz University officials have rejected the request of the “Zagros” Organization, to teach the Kurdish language.

It must be noted that in the past few years pressure on Kurdish student activists has increased and as a result many student organizations and student newspapers and journals have been shut down in Orumiyeh University, Kermanshah University, Tehran University, Alame Tabatabi University, Kurdistan Universtiy, Eylam Universtiy and Hamedan University to name a few.

NCRI – Four prisoners were hanged by the mullahs' judiciary without identifying them in the southern port city of Bandar Abbas on Sunday, according to the Resistance sources in Iran.

In the past week alone nine prisoners were hanged by the mullahs' inhuman regime in various locations around the country.

On December 19, the UN General Assembly condemned the widespread human rights violations in Iran.

It was the 55th such resolutions passed by the UN bodies on human rights violations in Iran.

The resolution refers to the UN Secretary General's report on “widespread human rights violations and deep shortcomings and obstacles in the way of safeguarding human rights”. It expresses “deep concern over serious human rights violations” in Iran, such as "torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment such as flogging and amputations” … “continuing large numbers of executions including public executions and execution of minors” … “the existence of prisoners awaiting to be stoned to death” … “arrests of and violent crackdowns on women” … “making threats to terrorize women working for human rights and continuation of discrimination against women and girls in law and practice” … “increasing discrimination and other human rights violations against religious, ethnic, linguistic or other minorities” … “ongoing and serious restrictions of freedom of opinion and expression, peaceful assembly and association, and the increasing harassment, intimidation and persecution of political opponents and human rights defenders from all sectors of society."

BAGHDAD (AP)– Gunmen have killed a member of Iraqi President Jalal Talabani's political party in a drive-by shooting in the northern city of Kirkuk, Iraqi police officials said Tuesday.

Subhi Hassan, who handles political relations for the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, and a bodyguard were killed Monday after unidentified gunmen chased down their car after it passed through a checkpoint, said Police Brigadier Ahmed Hawandi.

A third person in the car was wounded, Hawandi said, adding Iraqi police were investigating the shooting.

The shooting is the latest in a spate of killings that appear to be politically motivated and come in advance of the Jan. 31 Iraq-wide provincial elections.

Although violence is down 80 percent nationwide since early this year, U.S. officials say the security situation remains tenuous, and some areas of the country are still dangerous.

U.S. and Iraqi officials hope the elections will redress problems created by the last regional balloting in January 2005, when Sunnis largely stayed away from the polls.

As a result, Kurds and Shiites won a disproportionate share of the power, and Iraqi and U.S. military officials have expressed concern of a possible increase in violence prior to the election and after the balloting.

Last month, two political candidates in southern Basra were killed by unidentified gunmen and another was wounded in separate incidents. Earlier in December, Iraqi police said attackers stormed a home in Kirkuk and decapitated the leader of the women's league of the Kurdish Communist Party after breaking into her home.

The city of Kirkuk lies 180 miles north of Baghdad.

Also Tuesday, the U.S. military said troops killed a civilian in a vehicle after the driver failed to heed warnings to stop in Baqouba, 35 miles northeast of Baghdad.

In the statement, the military said a convoy was passing through a traffic intersection when the vehicle approached and failed to heed several warnings given by soldiers.

"Given the potential danger the vehicle presented to the convoy and the driver's repeated failure to respond to warnings, U.S. forces took action to disable the vehicle," the statement said.

An Iraqi police officer identified the dead man as 25-year-old Mohammed Qassim, but said he was the driver not the passenger.

The officer, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media, said the driver appeared to be speeding and did not respond when the American soldiers issued warnings to stop.

President Jalal Talabani has become the top of ten most prominent political figures in Iraq for 2008, a survey by the Baghdad Magazine said.

In a survey by the Baghdad Bulletin, to show ten of the most prominent Iraqi political figures in 2008, it became apparent that Jalal Talabani, president of Iraq is the first figure, and Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, President of the Supreme Islamic Council Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, Islamic Shiite cleric Ali al-Sistani, The President of Kurdistan Region Massoud Barzani, and Vice-President Tariq al-Hashemi, Vice-Chairman of the Kurdistan Region Kosrat Rassul Ali, Kurdistan Regional Government Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani, Vice President Adel Mahdi, and the head of Sadr Moqtada al-Sadr are listed in descending order.

The list included the names of 24 candidates in political, administrative figures and religious leaders as the most influential characters on the Iraqi arena in 2008, the names are arranged in alphabetical order, Ibrahim al-Jaafari, Ahmed Chalabi, Iyad Allawi, Barham Salih, Jalal Talabani, Harith al-Duri, Hussain al-Shahristani, Khalaf Alyan, Ali al-Sistani, Saleh al-Mutlak, Salah al-Din Muhammad Bhaedin, Tariq al-Hashemi, Adel Abdul Mahdi, Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, Adnan Pachachi, Adnan al-Dulaimi, Ammar al-Hakim, Kosrat Rasul Ali, Mithal al-Alusi, Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, Massoud Barzani, Muqtada al-Sadr, Nuri al-Maliki, Nechirvan Barzani.

The questionnaire was depended on five key indicators for the selection of ten figures which are playing the role of political leadership, leading contribution in making decision, impact on the others, having potential power to influence others and the rate of the positive contribution in Iraqi situation.

The final results found that the most prominent figures are:

Jalal Talabani, 14.1%, Nuri al-Maliki 13.2%, Abdul Aziz al-Hakim 11.1%, Ali al-Sistani 10.5%, Massoud Barzani 10.2%, Tareq al-Hashemi 9.8%, Kosrat Rasul 9.5%, Nechirvan Barzani, 9.0%, Adel Abdul Mahdi 8.5%, Muqtada al-Sadr 4.1%.

KURDSAT

NCRI - On Saturday, the mullahs’ regime arrested four students from Shiraz University. They were identified as Abdol-jalil Rezaii, Kazem Rezaii, Mohsen Zarrin Kamar, and Loghman Ghadiri Goltappeh. Officials from the mullahs’ Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) avoid responding to inquiries from families of these students, and at the time of issuing this statement, the fate of the detainees remains unclear. 

Meanwhile, four students from the Babol Noshirvani University of Technology have been summoned to the university’s disciplinary committee. They were identified as Ali Taghipour, Moin Eslamjam, Mohsen Barzegar, and Hamid Jahan. It should be reminded that MOIS agents at the university, who operate under the guise of “Student Security and Cultural Office,” contacted the students’ families a day before the “Student Day” gathering and had issued threats demanding the families to prevent their children from participating in political activities or deal with their expulsion from university.

The increase in suppression of students occurs after the widespread anti-regime protests in various Iranian universities last December, marking the occasion of “Student Day” on December 6, 2008. In the course of these protests, students transformed universities into scenes of protest against the suppressive policies of the ruling religious fascism in Iran. Some of the protesting universities included, Tehran University and the University of Science and Technology in Tehran, as well as universities in Shiraz, Sistan va Baluchestan, Hamedan, Isfahan, Tabriz, Babol, Babolsar, Orumieh, Qazvin, Arak, Birjand, Sanandaj, Ilam, and Bandar Abbas. The brave protesting students gave sensational speeches and chanted slogans such as, “Seyyed Ali [Khamenei] Pinochet, Iran can’t become Chile,” “Death to dictator,” and “We are fighters, men and women,   Fight us and we will fight.” With these slogans, students aimed their rage and anger at the entire mullahs’ regime.

The Iranian Resistance warns about the widespread arrests and threats of torture and execution of university activists in universities across the country, and calls on all human rights organizations and international bodies, as well as student unions to support student protests in Iran and adopt effective measures aimed at ending the widespread suppression of Iranian students.

Student Council of Defense of Human Rights in Kurdistan:  Mr. Veriya Morovati a student in Payame Nour University who was arrested by security forces in the city of Sanadaj was transferred to the central prison in the City of Sanandaj today.

After two months of imprisonment in the detention centre for the Ministry of Intelligence in the city of Sanandaj, Mr. Morovati was finally transferred to prison where he was able to make a phone call to his family for the first time since his arrest.

Mr. Morovati’s file is in Branch 4 of the Revolutionary Court in the city of Sanadaj and he currently does not have a defence lawyer.

Student Council of Defense of Human Rights in Kurdistan: A Kurdish activist Mr. Shah Kuh Moarefi who is 30 years old and the resident of the city of Bahen was arrested on October 1st 2008, on charges of being a member of an active Kurdish Opposition Party. From that date until present he has been in the detention centre of the Ministry of Intelligence, and how not been allowed any visitations.

Mr. Moarefi claimed refugee status in Iraq seven years ago and became a member of an active Kurdish opposition party.

According to Mr. Moarefi’s lawyer Mr. Loghman Rayzan during the time which Mr. Moarefi has been a member of this group he has not carried out any activities against the Islamic Regime. Mr. Rayzan has further stated that Mr. Moarefi came back to Iran voluntarily and turned himself in to the security forces, therefore he shouldn’t get the same treatment as a CAPTURED opposition member.

Mr. Rayzan has stated that there is not enough evidence for Mr. Moarefi’s conviction, and is extremely concerned about the conviction of Mr. Moarefi without the necessary evidence and has filed an appeal against his conviction.

QANDIL, Iraq (AFP) – Turkish warplanes and Iranian artillery bombarded Kurdish rebel hideouts in northern Iraq on Monday, a Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) spokesman said.

"Turkish planes and Iranian artillery bombarded Aquwan and the Iranians bombarded Maradu. The bombardment lasted for about one hour starting from 7pm (1600 GMT)," the spokesman, Ahmed Denis, told AFP.

The spokesman had no immediate word on any casualties.

The fresh bombardment of the remote mountains where the borders of Iraq, Iran and Turkey meet follows talks in Ankara on December 24 between Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Iraqi counterpart Nuri al-Maliki.

In those talks, the two governments agreed to step up cooperation against PKK rebels operating rear-bases in northern Iraq.

Denis criticised the Iraqi position, accusing it of compromising its sovereignty.

"How could they allow a neighbouring country to bombard their own land and people?" he asked.

Hours after Maliki's visit to Ankara, three Turkish soldiers were killed and nine wounded when PKK rebels armed with automatic weapons attacked an army vehicle in the border town of Cizre.

Turkish warplanes then bombed rebel hideouts in Khwakurk and Khnera on December 28.

On the eve of Maliki's visit, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, who is himself a Kurd, pledged that both the central government in Baghdad and the autonomous Kurdish administration in northern Iraq were determined to stop the PKK using rear-bases in the region.

Blacklisted as a terror group by the European Union and the United States, the PKK took up arms for self-rule in Turkey's Kurdish-majority southeast in 1984, triggering a conflict that has claimed some 44,000 lives.

Iran too has accused the Iraqi Kurds of harbouring rear-bases for rebels operating inside its territory.

Iranian officials charge that many of the fighters of the the Party of Free Life of Kurdistan (PJAK) are in fact Turkish Kurds, not members of its own Kurdish minority.

Student Council of Defense of Human Rights in Kurdistan: Anwar Saed Muchishi has been sentenced to a one year suspended sentence, five (5) years and loss of his job.

Section one of the Revolutionary Court in the City Sanandaj conducted a trial against Mr. Answear Saed Muchishi, who is a student activist, journalist and a member of the weekly journal “Kereftu” which has been suspended. Mr. Muchishi was charged with acting against national security.

The trial which was conducted without the presence of Mr. Muchishi’s defence lawyer. He was sentenced to a one year suspended sentence, 5 year probation and loss of his employment. The judge did not give Mr. Muchishi the opportunity to defend himself during his trial.

Also during this court proceeding another social activist Mr. Yaghub Saed Muchishi was also sentenced to a 4 month suspended sentence and 2 year probation.

Mr. Anwar Saed Muchishi was arrested by Ministry of Intelligence officials in his home on September 4th 2008 along with Mr. Yaghub Saed Muchishi. After two months of solitary confinement he was released on a $30 million toman bail.

parezeran.wordpress.com

Student Council of Defense of Human Rights in Kurdistan: Mr. Farid Safari a social activist was arrested about 13 days ago and currently there is no news about his whereabouts.

Mr. Safari is a member of an outlawed social group called “Shaho” which is a culturally active organization. Mr. Safari was arrested in his home by security forces and taken to an unknown location, after his home was searched by the security forces. His family and friends have been unable to obtain any news about his whereabouts.

His family has reported that Mr. Safari is extremely ill and was under medical surveillance in his home, for 20 days before his arrest.

Student Council of Defense of Human Rights in Kurdistan: A political activist Mr. Jalal Marasane was recently sentenced to 17 years of imprisonment by the Revolutionary Court in the City of Mahabad.

Mr. Marasane who is a resident in the city of Sardasht was convicted of working with a Kurdish Opposition group. He was sentenced to 17 years of imprisonment on December 22nd 2008.

Mr. Marasane’s family has reported that he was subjected to severe torture while in pre-trial custody and are extremely concerned about his well being.

Student Council of Defense of Human Rights in Kurdistan: The Factory of “Mojtame Khesht va Sanat” in Khoramdasht located in the City of Dehgelan has fired 20 workers. The President of this factory is Mr. Morteza Mohaghagi and the owner of the factory is Mr. Morteza Mojad, the factory produces tomato paste.

In the past month the factory has fired 20 workers who had between five (5) months to three years of experience. The factory did not pay the workers their wages or any type of compensation.

TEHRAN, Jan 4 (Reuters) - Gaza will become Israel's graveyard, the speaker of Iran's parliament was quoted as saying on Sunday after the Jewish state launched a ground offensive deep into the coastal Palestinian territory.

Israeli tanks and infantry battled Hamas fighters in the Gaza Strip on Sunday, hours after launching a ground offensive after eight days of deadly air strikes failed to halt the Islamist group's rocket attacks on Israel.

"The Zionists faced the powerful resistance of the zealous Palestinians ... the Zionists should know that Gaza will become their graveyard," Mehr News Agency quoted speaker Ali Larijani as telling parliament.

MPs shouted "down with Israel, down with the Zionists," Mehr reported. Larijani's comments were the first reaction by a senior Iranian figure to Israel's offensive into Gaza.

Iran does not recognise Israel, which has accused Tehran of supplying Hamas with weapons. Iran denies the allegation, saying it provides only moral support to the group.

Israel's attacks on Gaza have sparked repeated protests in Tehran and elsewhere in Iran, mainly by students. Iranian officials have condemned what they say is international inaction and bias towards Israel. (Reporting by Hashem Kalantari; Writing by Fredrik Dahl; editing by Tim Pearce)

NCRI – Two prisoners were hanged by the mullahs' judiciary without identifying them in the southeastern city of Zahedan on Saturday, the state broadcaster reported.

On December 19, the UN General Assembly condemned the widespread human rights violations in Iran.

It was the 55th such resolutions passed by the UN bodies on human rights violations in Iran.
The resolution refers to the UN Secretary General's report on “widespread human rights violations and deep shortcomings and obstacles in the way of safeguarding human rights”. It expresses “deep concern over serious human rights violations” in Iran, such as "torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment such as flogging and amputations” … “continuing large numbers of executions including public executions and execution of minors” … “the existence of prisoners awaiting to be stoned to death” … “arrests of and violent crackdowns on women” … “making threats to terrorize women working for human rights and continuation of discrimination against women and girls in law and practice” … “increasing discrimination and other human rights violations against religious, ethnic, linguistic or other minorities” … “ongoing and serious restrictions of freedom of opinion and expression, peaceful assembly and association, and the increasing harassment, intimidation and persecution of political opponents and human rights defenders from all sectors of society."

NCRI – Four students were summoned to the notorious Ministry of Intelligence Security (MOIS) for questioning regarding their activities in December 9, Student Day, in the southern city of Shiraz on Thursday.

Shiraz University has been the scene of anti-government student protests in past two years. Many student activists have been summoned by the so-called "disciplinary committee" and the MOIS.

Since December 9, student activists have been summoned to "disciplinary committee". Shortly following the events in Student Day, first 11 students and then on December 27, another 19 were called by the Committee which acted on behalf of the MOIS on campus. 

The students were summoned because they had participated in December 9 and 10 'Student Day' ceremonies in Shiraz University, reported the state-run daily Etemaad on December 27.
Students summoned to the "disciplinary committee" in the past always received suspensions notices, the paper added.

Among those called in by the committee this time, there were those who had been suspended for a number of semesters in the past and now are facing total expulsion from the school, Etemaad emphasized.

Since the early days of mullahs' rule, the Iranian universities have been the scene of much anti-government protests. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's ascendency to power in 2005 was an inclination point in student protest when Tehran's Polytechnic (Amirkabir) University students burned his pictures before his eyes on December 20 of that year.
  
On December 14, following the two days of much heated student protests marking the Student Day in Shiraz University, Etemaad reported that Paramilitary Bassij Students have threaten to "take the matters in their own hands if the government goes soft on students."

Mullahs' security forces also had threatened the student activists with their lives right after the protests ended on December 10.

Kurdistan region president on Saturday evening discussed with members of national dialogue council and Sunni front accord latest political developments of the country and means to solve the problems exist in the national assembly, according to a statement posted on KRG website.

A delegation from national dialogue and Sunni front visited president Barazani on Saturday to discuss the country’s political process and problems exist in the national assembly, in reference to the removal of parliament president for his insulting the MPs during one of the sessions.

“President Barzani has told the delegation that doors of Kurdistan region are open for dialogue and negotiations, to solve the problems of the council, and Kurdish alliance list will take part in such talks” said the statement.

The obligatory resignation of parliament speaker Mahmud Mashhadni followed by huge political tet- a-tet among the political parties, which raised fear of sparking tensions.

Mashhadani was a leading member of Sunni front accord, which dominates 44 seats in the national assembly.
But recently national dialogue announced separation from the front, for reasons it called the domination of Islamic party over the decisive decisions.

Also another statement posted on KRG website said that president Barzani met with head of Kurdish alliance list in the Iraqi national assembly, who was visiting him in Erbil.

“President Barzani and Dr. Fuad Maasum discussed Iraqi developments and enacting the missions of Kurdish list in Baghdad, especially at this critical period of time” the statement said.

NCRI – A prisoner identified as Hoshang Kh. was hanged in the northeastern province of Khorasan, the state-run daily Khorasan reported on Wednesday.

The mullahs' judiciary hanged another man without identifying him in the central city of Arak, reported the semi-official news agency Fars on Wednesday.

On December 19, the UN General Assembly condemned the widespread human rights violations in Iran.
It was the 55th such resolutions passed by the UN bodies on human rights violations in Iran.

The resolution refers to the UN Secretary General's report on “widespread human rights violations and deep shortcomings and obstacles in the way of safeguarding human rights”. It expresses “deep concern over serious human rights violations” in Iran, such as "torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment such as flogging and amputations” … “continuing large numbers of executions including public executions and execution of minors” … “the existence of prisoners awaiting to be stoned to death” … “arrests of and violent crackdowns on women” … “making threats to terrorize women working for human rights and continuation of discrimination against women and girls in law and practice” … “increasing discrimination and other human rights violations against religious, ethnic, linguistic or other minorities” … “ongoing and serious restrictions of freedom of opinion and expression, peaceful assembly and association, and the increasing harassment, intimidation and persecution of political opponents and human rights defenders from all sectors of society."