Flüchtlingshilfe Iran e.V. 2010

Wir bitten um Verzeihung

lbucklitsch — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 13:42:38 +0000

Enver Şimşek

Abdurrahim Özüdoğru

Süleyman Taşköprü

Habil Kılıç

Mehmet Turgut

İsmail Yaşar

TheodorosBoulgarides

Mehmet Kubaşik

Halit Yozgat

Michèle Kiesewetter

Zehn brennende Kerzen – zehn ausgelöschte Leben. Ihrer gedenken wir heute. Zehn Kerzen – sie stehen für eine Mordserie in Deutschland von 2000 bis 2006, deren Täter bis 2011 und damit also über mehr als zehn Jahre unentdeckt blieben – mitten unter uns; beispiellos für unser Land.

Einsortiert unter:Gesetze, Medien, Meinungen, Politik, Veranstaltungen Tagged: Berlin, Deutschland, Human Rights, Medien, Menschenrechte, Politik

Rede Bundeskanzlerin Merkel: “Dafür bitte ich sie um Verzeihung”

lbucklitsch — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 13:29:40 +0000

Foto: Bundesregierung/Denzel

Merkel warnt vor “Verrohung des Geistes”

Bei der zentralen Gedenkveranstaltung hat sich Bundeskanzlerin Angela Merkel bei den Angehörigen der Opfer für die Zeit der falschen Verdächtigungen entschuldigt. Die Rede im Wortlaut:

Sehr geehrter Herr Bundesratspräsident,
sehr geehrter Herr Bundestagspräsident,
sehr geehrter Herr Präsident des Bundesverfassungsgerichts,
Exzellenzen,
sehr geehrte Damen und Herren,
ganz besonders aber: liebe Familien, die Sie einen Angehörigen verloren haben oder selbst einen Anschlag erleben mussten,

ich danke Ihnen, dass Sie heute zu dieser Gedenkveranstaltung gekommen sind.

Auf dem Podest links neben mir brennen Kerzen. Es sind Kerzen für Menschen – für Menschen, deren Leben ausgelöscht wurde, ausgelöscht durch kaltblütigen Mord.

Enver Şimşek. Er wurde 38 Jahre alt und hatte sich, seiner Frau und seinen beiden Kindern in Nürnberg den Traum vom eigenen Blumenhandel erfüllt.

Abdurrahim Özüdoğru. Er half häufiger in einer Änderungsschneiderei in Nürnberg aus. Dort trafen ihn die tödlichen Schüsse. Er wurde 49 Jahre alt und hinterlässt eine Tochter.

Süleyman Taşköprü. Er betrieb in Hamburg einen Gemüsemarkt. Als er im Alter von 31 Jahren starb, war seine Tochter gerade einmal drei Jahre alt.

Habil Kılıç. Wenige Monate vor seinem gewaltsamen Tod im Alter von 38 Jahren hatte er in München zusammen mit seiner Frau ein Lebensmittelgeschäft eröffnet. Die beiden haben eine Tochter.

Mehmet Turgut. Der 25-Jährige war gerade aus Anatolien nach Rostock gekommen. Hoffnungen und Träume begleiteten ihn. Er hatte keine Chance, sie zu verwirklichen.

İsmail Yaşar. Vor allem die Schulkinder der Nürnberger Nachbarschaft kamen häufig und gerne zum Imbiss des Familienvaters. Er wurde 50 Jahre alt und hinterlässt drei Kinder.

TheodorosBoulgarides. Der 41-jährige Vater von zwei Kindern lebte in München und glaubte als Geschäftsmann an seine Zukunft in Deutschland.

Mehmet Kubaşik. Er war mit seiner Frau nach Deutschland gekommen, hatte mit ihr in Dortmund einen Kiosk eröffnet und sich so eine Existenz aufgebaut – für seine Tochter und die beiden jüngeren Söhne. Er wurde 39 Jahre alt.

Halit Yozgat. Der 21-Jährige betrieb in seiner Heimatstadt Kassel ein Internetcafé – bis die Mörder sein junges Leben auslöschten.

Michèle Kiesewetter. Die Polizistin zog für ihre Polizeiausbildung von Thüringen nach Baden-Württemberg. Sie war gerade einmal 22 Jahre alt, als sie in Heilbronn in ihrem Dienstwagen ermordet wurde. Ihr neben ihr sitzender Kollege überlebte die Schüsse der Täter schwer verletzt.

Bevor wir die alles überragenden Fragen „Wie konnte das geschehen?“, „Warum sind wir nicht früher aufmerksam geworden?“, „Warum konnten wir das nicht verhindern?“ beantworten, bitte ich darum, dass wir schweigen. Schweigen, so wie heute um 12 Uhr Beschäftigte im ganzen Land schweigen werden. Gewerkschaften und Arbeitgeber haben das vereinbart.

(Schweigen)

Ich danke Ihnen.

Mit diesem Schweigen ehren wir die Opfer der Mordserie einer Terrorgruppe, die ihren Kern seit Ende der 90er Jahre in Thüringen hatte und die sich den Namen „Nationalsozialistischer Untergrund“ gab. Wir ehren die Opfer dieser Terrorgruppe; und wir erinnern gleichzeitig auch an die Opfer weiterer schrecklicher Taten. Denken wir an die Sprengstoff-Anschläge in Köln am 19. Januar 2001 und am 9. Juni 2004. Dabei wurden viele Menschen verletzt. Einige von ihnen sind heute unter uns. Dafür danke ich ihnen. Viele von ihnen haben äußerliche Narben davongetragen. Wie sehr die seelischen Wunden schmerzen, das können wir nur ahnen.

Manchmal rütteln uns Berichte über skrupellose rechtsextremistische Gewalttäter auf. Für einige Tage bestimmen sie die Schlagzeilen der Nachrichten. Manchmal bleibt auch der Name einer Stadt als Tatort im Gedächtnis. Doch oft genug nehmen wir solche Vorfälle eher nur als Randnotiz wahr. Wir vergessen zu schnell – viel zu schnell. Wir verdrängen, was mitten unter uns geschieht; vielleicht, weil wir zu beschäftigt sind mit anderem; vielleicht auch, weil wir uns ohnmächtig fühlen gegenüber dem, was um uns geschieht.

Oder auch aus Gleichgültigkeit? Gleichgültigkeit – sie hat eine schleichende, aber verheerende Wirkung. Sie treibt Risse mitten durch unsere Gesellschaft. Gleichgültigkeit hinterlässt auch die Opfer ohne Namen, ohne Gesicht, ohne Geschichte.

Deshalb setzen wir hier ein Zeichen. Mit einer elften Kerze auf dem Podest. Sie haben wir entzündet für alle bekannten wie unbekannten Opfer rechtsextremistischer Gewalt. Auch ihnen ist diese Gedenkveranstaltung gewidmet. Zu jedem dieser Menschen gehören eine Familie, Freunde und Bekannte. Ihr Leid, ihre Sorgen sind kaum zu ermessen.

Die Menschenverachtung der rechtsextremistischen Mörder ist letztlich unbegreiflich. Und doch müssen wir versuchen zu ergründen, wie und durch wen sie so geworden sind, wie sie geworden sind. Wir müssen alles tun, damit nicht auch andere junge Männer und Frauen zu solcher Menschenverachtung heranwachsen. Das sind wir den Opfern, das sind wir ihren Angehörigen, das sind wir uns allen schuldig.

Viele Hinterbliebene sind heute unter uns. Ich weiß, wie schwer ihnen das gefallen ist. Sie haben mir vorhin von ihrem großen Schmerz erzählt. Sie haben mir erzählt, wie allein gelassen sie sich gefühlt haben. Umso dankbarer bin ich, dass wir heute gemeinsam hier sein können. Ich danke auch den Angehörigen, die nachher ebenfalls das Wort an uns richten werden: Herrn Ismail Yozgat, Semiya Şimşek und Gamze Kubaşik.

Die meisten von ihnen blieben allein in ihrer Not. Denn die Hintergründe der Taten lagen im Dunkeln – viel zu lange. Das ist die bittere Wahrheit. Nur wenige hierzulande hielten es für möglich, dass rechtsextremistische Terroristen hinter den Morden stehen könnten, nachdem bislang für typisch gehaltene Verhaltensmuster von Terroristen, wie zum Beispiel Bekennerschreiben, nicht vorlagen. Das führte stattdessen zur Suche nach Spuren im Mafia- und Drogenmilieu oder gar im Familienkreis der Opfer. Einige Angehörige standen jahrelang selbst zu Unrecht unter Verdacht. Das ist besonders beklemmend. Dafür bitte ich sie um Verzeihung.

Nicht nur vergingen Jahre, ohne zumindest Fortschritte bei der Aufklärung der Taten zu erzielen. Nein, diese Jahre müssen für Sie, liebe Angehörige, ein nicht enden wollender Albtraum gewesen sein. In einem der Gespräche, die Altbundespräsident Wulff mit Hinterbliebenen geführt hat, fiel der Satz – ich zitiere: „Wir wollten einfach nur wie normale Menschen behandelt werden.“ Wie normale Menschen – diese drei Worte zeigen ihre ganze Verzweiflung. Wie schlimm muss es sein, über Jahre falschen Verdächtigungen ausgesetzt zu sein, statt trauern zu können?! Welche Qual ist es, wenn Nachbarn und Freunde sich abwenden, wenn sogar nächste Angehörige zweifeln?! Und wie wird man fertig mit der Skepsis, ob die Sicherheitsbehörden wirklich alles Menschenmögliche tun, um den Mord an dem Nächsten aufzuklären?!

Liebe Hinterbliebene, niemand kann Ihnen den Ehemann, den Vater, den Sohn oder die Tochter zurückbringen. Niemand kann die Jahre der Trauer und der Verlassenheit auslöschen. Niemand kann den Schmerz, den Zorn und die Zweifel ungeschehen machen. Aber wir alle können Ihnen heute zeigen: Sie stehen nicht länger allein mit Ihrer Trauer. Wir fühlen mit Ihnen. Wir trauern mit Ihnen.

Als Bundeskanzlerin der Bundesrepublik Deutschland verspreche ich Ihnen: Wir tun alles, um die Morde aufzuklären und die Helfershelfer und Hintermänner aufzudecken und alle Täter ihrer gerechten Strafe zuzuführen. Daran arbeiten alle zuständigen Behörden in Bund und Ländern mit Hochdruck. Das ist wichtig genug, es würde aber noch nicht reichen. Denn es geht auch darum, alles in den Möglichkeiten unseres Rechtsstaates Stehende zu tun, damit sich so etwas nie wiederholen kann.

Inzwischen wurde eine Bund-Länder-Kommission zur Aufarbeitung des Rechtsterrorismus eingerichtet. Zudem haben im Landtag von Thüringen und im Deutschen Bundestag Untersuchungsausschüsse ihre Arbeit aufgenommen. Erste Weichen für eine bessere Zusammenarbeit zwischen Verfassungsschutz und Polizei sowie zwischen den Landes- und Bundesbehörden sind gestellt.

Wir tun dies, weil wir nicht hinnehmen, dass Menschen Hass, Verachtung und Gewalt ausgesetzt werden. Wir tun dies, weil wir entschieden gegen jene vorgehen, die andere wegen ihrer Herkunft, Hautfarbe, Religion verfolgen. Überall dort, wo an den Grundfesten der Menschlichkeit gerüttelt wird, ist Toleranz fehl am Platz. Toleranz richtete sich selbst zugrunde, wenn sie sich nicht vor Intoleranz schützte.

„Die Würde des Menschen ist unantastbar. Sie zu achten und zu schützen ist Verpflichtung aller staatlichen Gewalt.“ – So beginnt unser Grundgesetz. Das war die Antwort auf zwölf Jahre Nationalsozialismus in Deutschland, auf unsägliche Menschenverachtung und Barbarei, auf den Zivilisationsbruch durch die Shoah. „Die Würde des Menschen ist unantastbar.“ – Das ist das Fundament des Zusammenlebens in unserem Land, der freiheitlich-demokratischen Grundordnung der Bundesrepublik Deutschland.

Wann immer Menschen in unserem Land ausgegrenzt, bedroht, verfolgt werden, verletzt das die Fundamente dieser freiheitlich-demokratischen Grundordnung, verletzt es die Werte unseres Grundgesetzes. Deshalb waren die Morde der Thüringer Terrorzelle auch ein Anschlag auf unser Land. Sie sind eine Schande für unser Land.

Zu meiner Arbeit als Bundeskanzlerin gehört es, dass ich mir Videos von Tätern, zum Beispiel bei Geiselnahmen, gelegentlich persönlich anschaue. Ich habe mir auch das Video angeschaut, das jetzt im Zuge der Ermittlungen gegen die Thüringer Terrorzelle entdeckt wurde. Es ist mit Elementen der bekannten Zeichentrickfilmserie mit dem rosaroten Panther gestaltet worden. In diesem Video prahlen seine Macher mit den Morden und verhöhnen die Opfer. Etwas Menschenverachtenderes, Perfideres, Infameres – sofern es solche Steigerungsformen überhaupt gibt – habe ich in meiner Arbeit noch nicht gesehen.

Ich habe mich gefragt: Wie kommen Menschen dazu, so etwas zu denken und zu tun? Wer oder was prägt extremistische Täter? Wie kann es sein, dass solche Täter immer wieder Helfershelfer und Anhänger finden? Wie schützen wir Menschen vor Anfeindung und Bedrohung am besten?

Wir müssen uns eingestehen, dass wir dabei zum Teil scheitern. Wir müssen uns eingestehen, dass manchmal gerade dort, wo die Arbeitslosigkeit hoch und die Abwanderung stark ist, oft auch die vertrauten Strukturen der Jugendarbeit verloren gehen, das Freizeitangebot schwindet – und die Feinde unserer Demokratie das zu nutzen wissen. Es ist ein schlimmer Zustand erreicht, wenn Neonazis junge Menschen mit Kameradschaftsabenden einfangen können, weil niemand sonst sich um diese Jugendlichen kümmert. Es darf uns nicht ruhen lassen, wenn eine verfassungsfeindliche und rechtsextremistische Partei junge Familien mit Spielen und Festen ködern kann, weil andere das nicht bieten.

Der Staat ist hier mit seiner ganzen Kraft gefordert. Doch mit staatlichen Mitteln allein lassen sich Hass und Gewalt kaum besiegen. Die Sicherheitsbehörden benötigen Partner: Bürgerinnen und Bürger, die nicht wegsehen, sondern hinsehen – eine starke Zivilgesellschaft. Diese lässt sich nicht verordnen. Sie beruht darauf, dass sich jeder mitverantwortlich für das Ganze fühlt, dass jeder seinen persönlichen Beitrag zu einem friedlichen Zusammenleben leistet. Zivilgesellschaft wächst in den Familien. Bereits in frühen Jahren erlernen Kinder die Grundlagen eines verantwortungsbewussten Miteinanders. Sie wächst in Freundes- und Bekanntenkreisen. Sie wächst in Schulen, Vereinen und im beruflichen Umfeld.

Ich sehe auch viele ermutigende Zeichen, viele Menschen, die sich für ein friedliches Miteinander engagieren – zum Beispiel in Dresden, wo vor wenigen Tagen Tausende Bürgerinnen und Bürger des Jahrestages der Bombardierung der Stadt gedachten und sich dabei die Hände reichten. Mit dieser Geste boten sie den Neonazis Einhalt, die dieses Gedenken missbrauchen wollten. Tagtäglich setzen zahlreiche kleine und größere Initiativen in unserem Land Zeichen gegen Hass und Gewalt. Ins Leben gerufen wurden sie von couragierten, mutigen Menschen. Einige von ihnen sitzen hier unter uns. Ich danke Ihnen stellvertretend für viele andere in unserem Land. Ich danke den Stiftungen, den Medien, den Lehrern und Geistlichen, den Unternehmern, den Vertretern von Verbänden und Vereinen, die alle mit ihren Möglichkeiten für ein gedeihliches Miteinander werben und gegen Hass und Gewalt eintreten.

Der Kampf gegen Vorurteile, Verachtung und Ausgrenzung muss täglich geführt werden – in Elternhäusern, in der Nachbarschaft, in Schulen, Kultur- und Freizeiteinrichtungen, in religiösen Gemeinden, in Betrieben. Überall sollten wir ein feines Gehör und Gespür für die kleinen Bemerkungen, die hingeworfenen Sätze entwickeln. So manche Bemerkung nimmt man schnell mal auf die leichte Schulter – nach dem Motto: Der oder die meint das doch nicht so ernst.

Doch Intoleranz und Rassismus äußern sich keineswegs erst in Gewalt. Gefährlich sind nicht nur Extremisten. Gefährlich sind auch diejenigen, die Vorurteile schüren, die ein Klima der Verachtung erzeugen. Wie wichtig sind daher Sensibilität und ein waches Bewusstsein dafür, wann Ausgrenzung, wann Abwertung beginnt. Gleichgültigkeit und Unachtsamkeit stehen oft am Anfang eines Prozesses der schleichenden Verrohung des Geistes. Aus Worten können Taten werden.

Der irische Denker Edmund Burke hat einmal gesagt – ich zitiere: „Für den Triumph des Bösen reicht es, wenn die Guten nichts tun.“ Ja, Demokratie lebt vom Hinsehen, vom Mitmachen. Sie lebt davon, dass wir alle für sie einstehen, Tag für Tag und jeder an seinem Platz. Demokratie zu leben mutet uns zu, Verantwortung zu übernehmen für ein Zusammenleben in Freiheit – und damit für ein Leben in Vielfalt. Gelingt dies, kann Vielfalt ihren Reichtum zum Besten aller entfalten.

Deutschland hat diese Erfahrung in seiner Geschichte immer wieder gemacht. Denn es ist auch eine Geschichte der Auswanderung und der Zuwanderung. So wurden Brücken in alle Welt geschlagen. Seinen Wohlstand verdankt Deutschland zu einem guten Teil seiner Weltoffenheit und seiner Neugier auf andere. Wir leben hierzulande von Verschiedenheit, von den unterschiedlichsten Lebenswegen. Deutschland – das sind wir alle; wir alle, die in diesem Land leben; woher auch immer wir kommen, wie wir aussehen, woran wir glauben, ob wir stark oder schwach sind, gesund oder krank, mit oder ohne Behinderung, alt oder jung.

Wir sind ein Land, eine Gesellschaft. Auch die, die zu uns aus vielen Ländern dieser Welt kommen, sind nicht einfach die Zuwanderer. Auch sie sind vielfältig und unterschiedlich. Wir alle gemeinsam prägen das Gesicht Deutschlands, unsere Identität in der globalisierten Welt des 21. Jahrhunderts – getragen von unserem Grundgesetz und seinen Werten, unserer freiheitlich-demokratischen Grundordnung, formuliert in unserer Sprache. Gemeinsam verteidigen wir alle, die wir uns zu diesen Werten bekennen, die in unserer Verfassung zu Beginn festgeschriebene unantastbare Würde des Menschen.

Das ist die Botschaft der zwölften Kerze auf dem Podest. Sie ist das Symbol unserer gemeinsamen Hoffnung und Zuversicht für eine gute Zukunft. Lassen Sie uns alle gemeinsam, jeder an seinem Platz und nach seinen Möglichkeiten, für diese Hoffnung und diese Zuversicht leben – zum Wohle unseres Landes und seiner Menschen.

Einsortiert unter:Empfehlungen, Medien, Meinungen, Politik, Veranstaltungen Tagged: Berlin, Deutschland, Human Rights, Medien, Menschenrechte, Politik

Roundup of Today’s International News 23/02/12

lbucklitsch — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 13:20:44 +0000

IRAN

IAEA Inspectors Return from Iran Talks with No Way Forward
Officials from the International Atomic Energy Agency, sent to Iran to defuse tensions over the country’s nuclear program, were denied access to a military base and said the talks “couldn’t finalize a way forward.”

Iran talks failure sparks confrontation fears
The U.N. nuclear watchdog’s latest mission to Iran failed to budge a defiant Tehran over its disputed nuclear programme, sending oil prices to a nine-month high over fears of an increasing risk of confrontation with the West.

Khamenei: No obstacles can stop Iran’s nuclear course
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Wednesday that Iran’s nuclear course would not change regardless of international sanctions, assassinations or other pressures.

Iran views its nuclear activities as non-negotiable
Iran said on Tuesday it views its nuclear activities as a non-negotiable right, but confirmed they will be discussed in mooted talks with world powers aimed at defusing a crisis containing the seeds of a new Middle East war.

Brent oil holds near $123 as Iran offsets economy worries
Brent crude held steady on Thursday near a nine-month high of about $123 as supply worries caused by heightened tension between Iran and the West offset concern that a slowdown in the global economy could curb oil demand.

Iran blocking 30 million from email, Web ahead of election
With parliamentary elections scheduled for next week, Iran has begun blocking Internet services, Web security experts say, adding to concerns that government leaders hope to shut off Iranians from the rest of the online world.

Iran’s National Internet Gets Late Spring Launch Date
Iran’s so-called “national Internet” will be launched in either in late May or June, according to an announcement by Iranian Telecommunications Minister Reza Taghipour.

Iranian Pastor Could be Killed Soon
Those close to the case of a Christian pastor in Iran who’s facing a death sentence for refusing to recant his faith now fear he could be killed any day now.

American Sentenced to Death in Iran Visited by His Mother
The mother of an American man sentenced to death in Iran for espionage visited her gaunt and frightened son on death row in a Tehran prison this month, as his lawyers in Iran began an appeal of his conviction, an American lawyer representing the family said on Tuesday.

THE MIDDLE EAST

Syrian Allies Reject Calls for Unified Pressure to Halt Violence
China, Russia and Iran all made declarations of support for the Syrian government on Tuesday, reaffirming their alliances in the face of broad, intense international lobbying for unity against President Bashar al-Assad as his nearly yearlong crackdown on domestic opponents has sharpened against restive areas.

No Iranian ships docked in Syrian port-Pentagon
The Pentagon said on Tuesday it had no indication that Iranian ships had docked in Syria over the weekend, contrary to an account by Iran’s state-run media.

Iran’s talks with G5+1 may not be held in Turkey: FM
Iranian Foreign Minister Ali-Akbar Salehi said on Tuesday that the next round of nuclear talks between the Islamic Republic and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany (G5+1) may not be held in Turkey, the semi-official ISNA news agency reported.

Turkish Bank in Spotlight for Iran Deals as Sanctions Tighten
Amid tightening U.S. and European Union sanctions against Iran, almost all of Turkey’s banks have stopped handling trade deals with the Islamic Republic, leaving one Turkish lender to rake in all that business: state-owned Halkbank.

Iran to invest 5 bln USD in Egypt
Iran will invest about 5 billion U.S. dollars in commercial and industrial projects in Egypt, over 30 years after the two countries severed diplomatic relations, Egypt’ s state-run newspaper al-Ahram reported Tuesday.

EUROPE

Iran says other Europe nations may face embargo – report
Iranian Oil Minister Rostam Qasemi said European countries that have not clarified their position on oil imports from Iran may face an embargo, the official IRNA agency reported on Tuesday.

EU calls on Iran to halt imminent death penalty for blogger
Iran is facing international condemnation over its four-year detention of Canadian computer programmer resident Saeed Malekpour who, while visiting his ill father in 2008, was arrested and charged with “spreading corruption”, a common accusation in the country for anyone seen as a threat to Islamic theocracy.

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

White House: IAEA visit a ‘failure’ for Iran
The White House has said it is disappointed that UN nuclear inspectors were barred from a site in Iran, calling the visit a “failure” for Iran.

S.Korea says talks with U.S. on Iran oil “going smoothly”
South Korean Finance Minister Bahk Jae-wan said on Thursday the country’s talks with the United States on cutting crude oil imports from Iran under the U.S. sanctions policy were “going smoothly.”

US pushing India to ‘wean’ from Iran oil
The United States continues to talk with India to encourage it to reduce its dependence on Iranian crude, but would not say what progress it has made so far.

ASIA

Exclusive: Photos Show Alleged Iran Bombs Hidden in $27 Radio
An alleged Iranian hit squad used $27 portable radios to hide at least five bombs that Israeli and American authorities say they intended to use against Israeli targets in Bangkok, Thailand.

India plays down evidence of Iran link to bomb attack on Israelis
The Indian government appears to be playing down evidence of Iranian involvement in last week’s bomb attack on an Israeli diplomat here, perhaps out of concern that any such evidence might put it under more international pressure to isolate Tehran, experts say.

India BPCL plans shift from Iran to Saudi oil –sources
India’s Bharat Petroleum has turned to Saudi Arabia, the world’s top oil exporter, for higher supplies in 2012/13, fearing global sanctions may jeopardise trade with Iran, industry sources said on Wednesday.

Iran may offer India extra oil amid EU cut
Iran offered India extra crude supplies on revised terms as international sanctions tighten the Middle East producer’s circle of oil customers, according to three people with knowledge of the talks. Indian refiners have yet to decide on whether they will take up Iran’s offer of additional shipments, the people said, declining to be identified because they aren’t authorized to speak with the media.

Japan cuts in Iran crude imports could be over 20 pc
Japan may cut Iranian crude oil imports by a more-than-expected 20 percent as it seeks a waiver from U.S. sanctions, a newspaper reported on Thursday, a move which would spare its banks from a major blow but could boost its already rising fuel import bill.

Did Iran plot to kill Israelis in Azerbaijan?
Piece by piece, the tools for an alleged Iranian-directed murder team were smuggled into Azerbaijan on the Caspian Sea. A sniper rifle with silencer. Pistols. Sixteen pieces of plastic explosives and detonators.

LATIN AMERICA

Iranian, Nicaraguan Ministers Stress Expansion of Tehran-Managua Ties
Iranian Minister of Economic Affairs and Finance Seyed Shamseddin Hosseini and Nicaraguan Foreign Minister Samuel Santos Lopez underlined Tehran and Managua’s willingness to further boost bilateral ties.

ANALYSIS

Getting Iran to back down on its nuclear program
Recent history shows that the Iranian regime will change behavior only if confronted with overwhelming force and the prospect of an unwinnable war. Short of that, the Iranians seem ready to cruise along on the brink, expecting that the other side will steer away.

The test of talking to Iran
Iran has launched a frantic flurry of initiatives in the past two weeks, most of them bellicose — from suspending oil shipments to Europe to allegedly attempting to assassinate Israeli diplomats. But the Obama administration and its allies appear likely to seize on Tehran’s contrasting dispatch of a200-word letter agreeing to a renewal of talks on its nuclear program.

Réalité-EU

Einsortiert unter:Gesetze, Medien, Meinungen, Politik Tagged: Ahmadinejad, Aktionen, Atombombe, Gesetze, Human Rights, Iran, Medien, Menschenrechte, Politik

URGENT APPEAL>> Saeed Malekpour, Zaniar Moradi, Loghman Moradi, Sherko Moarefi, Yusuf Naderkhani Can Be Executed Any Time Now! – Take Action!

lbucklitsch — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 11:21:31 +0000

Saeed Malekpour, resident of Canada, a freelance web developer and programmer was arrested in October 2008 in the city of Tehran while visiting his terminally ill father in Iran. He is sentenced to death on charge of “Agitation against the regime”.

Zaniar Moradi & Loghman Moradi, political activists; they were arrested in August 2009; both of them are sentenced to death on charges of moharebeh (being enemy of God) and “corruption on earth”.

Sherko Moarefi, a political activist, was detained in October 2008; he was sentenced to death for “acting against national security” and “being enemy of God”.

Yusuf Naderkhani, an Iranian pastor sentenced to death for converting from Islam to Christianity.

These political prisoners are in grave danger of being executed any time now. We call on all of you who care for human rights and freedom of expression to act now and save their lives.

Time is running out. This is an urgent appeal. We need to act now. Their only “crime” is the exercise of their freedom of expression.

The Islamic regime of Iran is sentencing Saeed, Zaniar, Loghman, Sherko, Yusuf, and hundreds of others to death in order to terrorize all of those who demand change and freedom.

IT IS IMPORTANT THAT WE ACT NOW!

Their lives depend on your support. The international support has been successful in forcing the Islamic regime in Iran to retreat from executing prisoners;

We can do it again this time too, BUT WE NEED TO ACT QUICKLY!

All you have to do is to copy and paste the below message and send it to the human right organisations and recipients below. This would only take you one minute, but that one minute of yours can save four lives.

Campaign to Free Political Prisoners in Iran (CFPPI)
20/02/2012

Please email your letter to Catherine Ashton, EU Foreign Affairs High Representative
To: catherine.ashton@ec.europa.eu
cc: urgent-action@ohchr.org, info@leader.ir

Sample protest letter:

I express my strongest protest against the imprisonment and the death sentence of Saeed Malekpour, Zaniar Moradi, Loghman Moradi, Sherko Moarefi, Yusuf Naderkhani. I urge you to pressure the Islamic regime of Iran to overturn the execution sentences of these four political prisoners and to free them immediately.

Name. . . . . . . .

City/country . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Einsortiert unter:Aktionen, Empfehlungen, Gesetze, Medien, Meinungen, Politik Tagged: Ahmadinejad, Aktionen, Atombombe, Evin Prison, Gefängnis, Gesetze, Human Rights, Iran, Medien, Menschenrechte, Politik

Berlin: Gedenkveranstaltung für die Opfer rechtsextremistischer Gewalt mit Rede von Bundeskanzlerin Angela Merkel.

lbucklitsch — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 11:17:26 +0000

Einsortiert unter:Gesetze, Medien, Meinungen, Politik Tagged: Berlin, Deutschland, Human Rights, Medien, Menschenrechte, Politik

Typisch Deutsch e.V. – Mitmachen – Mitwirken

lbucklitsch — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 10:47:08 +0000

Mehr hier

Einsortiert unter:Aktionen, Empfehlungen, Gesetze, Medien, Meinungen, Politik Tagged: Deutschland, Gesetze, Human Rights, Medien, Menschenrechte, Politik

Iran Snap Analysis: Nuclear Postures and “War is Coming!”

lbucklitsch — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 08:05:12 +0000

The signal could not have been clearer or louder. Steve Forbes, one of America’s most prominent businessmen, has used the pages of his magazine to declare, “War with Iran is Coming!“

In the heat of battle the ayatollahs may not be able to contain themselves. Iran will also attempt to have its agents carry out terrorist acts around the world, particularly in the U.S….Israel will find itself embroiled in a horrific conflict….Much as the White House might wish otherwise, the U.S. will become involved. In fact, President Obama could well respond to the conflict the way he did when he went after Osama bin Laden: give U.S. forces the green light to do whatever is necessary on water and in the air to help the Israelis.

Having set out Armageddon, Forbes then advised, “This conflict will obviously also roil the financial markets. Best advice to investors: Don’t panic.”

Alongside Forbes’ panicky non-panic guidance, the conservative Weekly Standard — following a similar question in the not-so-conservative New York Times — pondered, “Can Israel Take Out Iran’s Nuclear Facilities?” — and a pundit named Tucker Carlson tried to out-do every other pundit: “Iran deserves to be annihilated. I think they’re lunatics. I think they’re evil.”

On Wednesday, two developments on the nuclear front guaranteed that this chatter will get louder. A two-day visit by the International Atomic Energy Agency, which had held out cautious optimism of co-operation of Tehran’s nuclear programme, collapsed into an IAEA statement that Iran had blocked access to a key military site.

Hours later, the Supreme Leader made a nationally-televised speech. The choreography — Ayatollah Khamenei, alongside the photographs of five assassinated scientists, addressing an audience of their colleagues — supported the message of defiance. The pursuit of nuclear weapons is a “sin”, the Supreme Leader reminded; however, no amount of pressure from the “West” would force Tehran to give up its nuclear research and development.

So is the War coming? Not necessarily.

Iranian media offer no clues as to why Tehran suddenly bolted the door on the IAEA — to do so would require discussion about the Parchin military facility that was the immediate centre of the dispute — but 2 and 2 make the 4 that the Supreme Leader has stamped his authority on the matter. He was the one who struck the pose, both to a domestic audience and to anyone watching outside Iran.

At the same time, Iranian outlets are not pressing the matter this morning. Press TV, for example, is focusing on Russia’s opposition to sanctions on Tehran and on the declaration of President Ahmadinejad and Russian counterpart Dmitri Medvedev against foreign intervention in Syria. Fars headlines with the Parliamentary elections.

And, in the one article directly related to nuclear matters, the Islamic Republic News Agency features the comment of Ali Asghar Soltanieh, the Iranian envoy to the IAEA, that negotiations continue.

Put it all together and it looks like Iran — and, specifically, the Supreme Leader — gave the IAEA a shove and now steps back. Your move, “West”.

The IAEA’s report on its trip to Tehran appears on Friday. Watch carefully for the reaction from Washington, Tehran, and other capitals. The important signal will not be in the rhetoric — I can already script that — but in the position on further talks about Iran’s nuclear programme.

Soltanieh’s statement, which will probably go un-noticed outside Iran, is the tip-off that the Islamic Republic will not shut the door on the possibility of those talks. In part, that will be to avoid blame for any break-down and subsequent conflict; in part, that is because some Iranians, notably President Ahmadinejad, still want the discussions.

The onus will be on the “West”. Last week, both US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the European Union’s foreign policy representative, Catherine Ashton, responded to a Tehran proposal for renewed talks with “cautious optimism”. If that opening is withdrawn, leaving no channel for discussion, then the threats and the doom-saying — it will be a “horrific conflict” but “Don’t Panic” — may take over.

Source: EA World

Einsortiert unter:Gesetze, Medien, Meinungen, Politik Tagged: Ahmadinejad, Aktionen, Atombombe, Gesetze, Human Rights, Iran, Medien, Menschenrechte, Politik

Iran: journalists jailed

lbucklitsch — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 07:59:11 +0000

Adnan Hassanpour, Aso

Imprisoned: January 25, 2007

Security agents seized Hassanpour, former editor of the now-defunct Kurdish-Persian weekly Aso, in his hometown of Marivan, Kurdistan province, according to news reports.

In July 2007, a Revolutionary Court convicted Hassanpour on antistate charges and sentenced him to death. After a series of appeals and reversals, he was sentenced in May 2010 to 15 years in prison, defense lawyer Saleh Nikbakht told the Reporters and Human Rights Activists News Agency.

The government’s case against Hassanpour amounted to a series of assertions by security agents, defense attorney Sirvan Hosmandi told CPJ in 2008. Hassanpour’s sister, Lily, told CPJ that she believed his critical writings were behind the charges.

Mohammad Seddigh Kaboudvand, Payam-e-Mardom

Imprisoned: July 1, 2007

Plainclothes security officials arrested journalist and human rights activist Kaboudvand at his Tehran office, according to Amnesty International and CPJ sources. He was being held at Evin Prison in Tehran.

Authorities accused Kaboudvand, head of the Human Rights Organization of Kurdistan and managing editor of the weekly Payam-e-Mardom, of acting against national security and engaging in propaganda against the state, according to his organization’s website. A Revolutionary Court in Tehran sentenced him to 11 years in prison.

Kaboudvand, 48, was reported in ill health in 2011, but authorities refused requests for medical furlough, his wife, Farinaz Baghban Hassani, told the reformist news websiteJonbesh-e-Rah-e-Sabz.

Based on their visits and consultation with a prison physician, family members believe Kaboudvand may have suffered a stroke while in custody, according to news accounts. Human Rights House of Iran reported in July 2010 that Kaboudvand suffered severe dizziness, disruption of his speech and vision, and disorders in his limb movements. At times, the journalist has been denied family visits and telephone calls with relatives, his wife told Jonbesh-e-Rah-e-Sabz.

The opposition website Daneshjoo News reported that Kaboudvand sent an October 6, 2011, letter to the U.N. special rapporteur for human rights in Iran, describing violations of human rights in prison.

Mojtaba Lotfi, freelance

Imprisoned: October 8, 2008

A clergyman and blogger, Lotfi was arrested by security forces on a warrant issued by the religious Clergy Court in Qom. Authorities accused him of publishing the views of Ayatollah Hossein-Ali Montazeri, the now-deceased cleric who had criticized President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s positions.

Authorities did not specify articles or publications in which the views were supposedly cited. In November 2009, Lotfi was convicted of several charges, including spreading antistate information, and sentenced to four years in prison followed by a period of exile, according to online reports.

In July 2010, the Human Rights House of Iran reported that Lotfi had been transferred to the remote village of Ashtian for 10 years of enforced internal exile. Lotfi, an Iran-Iraq War veteran who was exposed to chemical agents, suffers from a respiratory illness which has worsened during his confinement, the reformist news website Norooz Newsreported.

Hossein Derakhshan, freelance

Imprisoned: November 2008

On December 30, 2008, a judiciary spokesman confirmed at a press conference in Tehran that Derakhshan, a well-known Iranian-Canadian blogger, had been detained since November 2008 in connection with comments he allegedly made about a key cleric, according to local and international news reports. The exact date of Derakhshan’s arrest is unknown, but word of his detention was first reported on November 17, 2008, byJahan News, a website close to the Iranian intelligence service. The site claimed Derakhshan had confessed to “spying for Israel” during the preliminary interrogation.

Known as the “Blogfather” for his pioneering online work, Derakhshan started blogging after the September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States. A former writer for reformist newspapers, he also contributed opinion pieces to The Guardian of London andThe New York Times. The journalist, who lived in Canada during most of the decade prior to his detention, returned to Tehran a few weeks before his detention, The Washington Post reported. In November 2009, the BBC Persian service reported that Derakhshan’s family had sought information about his whereabouts and the charges he faced, and expressed concern about having very limited contact with him.

In September 2010, the government announced that Derakhshan had been sentenced to 19 and a half years in prison, along with a five-year ban on “membership in political parties and activities in the media,” according to the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran and other sources. Derakhshan has spent much of his imprisonment in solitary confinement at Evin Prison, according to multiple sources. The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, citing a source close to the journalist’s family, said Derakhshan had been beaten and coerced into making false confessions about having ties to U.S. and Israeli intelligence services.

Ahmad Zaid-Abadi, freelance

Imprisoned: June 2009

Zaid-Abadi, who wrote a weekly column for Rooz Online, a Farsi- and English-language reformist news website, was arrested in Tehran, according to news reports. Zaid-Abadi had also been a supporter of the defeated 2009 presidential candidate Mehdi Karroubi and had served as director of the politically active Organization of University Alumni of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

On November 23, 2009, Zaid-Abadi was sentenced to six years in prison, five years of internal exile in Khorasan province, and a “lifetime deprivation of any political activity” including “interviews, speeches, and analysis of events, whether in written or oral form,” according to the Persian service of the German public broadcaster Deutsche Welle. An appeals court upheld the sentence on January 2, according to Advar News.

In February 2010, Zaid-Abadi and fellow journalist Massoud Bastani were transferred to Rajaee Shahr Prison, a facility known for housing people convicted of drug-related crimes. Zaid-Abadi’s wife, Mahdieh Mohammadi, said prison conditions were crowded and unsanitary, the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran reported. She said she feared malnutrition and the spread of disease. In August 2011, Zaid-Abadi was granted a 48-hour furlough after posting bail of $500,000, the U.S. government-funded Radio Farda reported.

Kayvan Samimi, Nameh

Imprisoned: June 14, 2009

Samimi, manager of the now-defunct monthly Nameh, was serving a six-year prison sentence along with a 15-year ban on “political, social, and cultural activities,” the Aftab News website reported.

Initially held at Evin Prison, Samimi was subjected to mistreatment. In February 2010, he was transferred to solitary confinement after objecting to poor prison conditions, according to Free Iranian Journalists, a website devoted to documenting cases of jailed reporters and editors. He and 14 other prisoners later went on a 16-day hunger strike to protest abuse at the prison. In November 2010, Samimi was transferred to Rajaee Shah Prison in Karaj, which houses violent criminals, according to news reports. In May 2011, he and several other political prisoners waged a hunger strike to protest mistreatment there, reformist news websites reported.

In August 2011, the reformist news website Jonbesh-e-Rah-e-Sabz reported that Samimi was in poor health and suffered from liver problems. Prison authorities refused medical leave for treatment outside the prison, the news site reported.

Bahman Ahmadi Amouee, freelance

Imprisoned: June 19, 2009

Amouee, a contributor to reformist newspapers such as Mihan, Hamshahri, Jame’e,Khordad, Norooz, and Sharq, and the author of an eponymous blog, was arrested with his wife, Zhila Bani-Yaghoub, according to news reports. Bani-Yaghoub, editor-in-chief of theIranian ‎Women’s Club, a news website focusing on women’s rights, was released on bail in August 2009, according to the ‎BBC Persian service.

In January 2010, Amouee was sentenced to 34 lashes, along with seven years and four months in prison. In March of the same year, an appeals court reduced the sentence to five years in prison, according to Rooz Online.

Amouee was being held in Evin Prison, according to news reports, with part of his term served in solitary confinement. In July 2010, Amouee and 14 other prisoners staged a 16-day hunger strike to protest mistreatment at Evin Prison. Prison officials punished them by denying family visits for a month, Jonbesh-e-Rah-e-Sabz reported.

Issa Saharkhiz, freelance

Imprisoned: July 3, 2009

Saharkhiz, a columnist for the reformist news websites Rooz Online and Norooz and a founding member of the Association of Iranian ‎Journalists, was arrested while traveling in northern Iran, the association said in a ‎statement. ‎His lawyer said his client was charged with “participation in riots,” “encouraging others to participate in riots,” and “insulting the supreme leader,” according to Rooz Online.

Saharkhiz was sentenced to three years in prison, a five-year ban on political and journalistic activities, and a one-year ban on foreign travel, the reformist news websiteJonbesh-e-Rah-e-Sabz reported in September 2010. In an interview with Radio Zamaneh, Mehdi Saharkhiz said his father would not appeal the court’s decision. “He said that all sentencing is made under [Ayatollah Ali] Khamenei’s direct supervision and the judiciary has nothing to do with it. Therefore, neither the lower court nor the appeals court is official in any way, and they are only for show.”

Saharkhiz has had a long career in journalism. He worked for 15 years for IRNA, Iran’s official news agency, and ran its New York office for part of that time. He returned to Iran in 1997 to work in Mohammad Khatami’s Ministry of Islamic Guidance, in charge of domestic publications. Journalist Ahmad Bourghani and Saharkhiz came to be known as the architects of a period of relative freedom for the press in Iran. But as the regime took a more conservative bent, Saharkhiz was forced to leave the ministry and was eventually banned from government service. He founded a reformist newspaper, Akhbar-e-Eghtesad, and monthly magazine, Aftab, both of which were eventually banned. He wrote articles directly critical of Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader.

During his imprisonment, which began at Evin Prison, Saharkhiz was subjected to constant pressure, including being kept in a prison yard overnight in freezing temperatures without shoes or socks, according to Rooz Online.

Saharkhiz’s son, Mehdi, told the BBC Persian service that the journalist had waged a hunger strike in October 2011. Mehdi Saharkhiz expressed concern about his father’s well-being, telling the BBC that the journalist suffered from blood pressure, spine, and neck problems.

Massoud Bastani, Farhikhtegan and Jomhoriyat

Imprisoned: July 5, 2009

Bastani, a journalist for the reformist newspaper Farhikhtegan and Jomhoriyat, a news website affiliated with the defeated 2009 presidential candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi, was arrested when he ‎went to a Tehran court seeking information about his wife, journalist Mahsa Amrabadi, according to local news reports. Amrabadi, arrested ‎with two other journalists in June 2009, was released the next month.

Bastani was among more than 100 opposition figures and journalists who faced a mass, televised judicial proceeding in August 2009 on vague antistate accusations, according to news reports. On October 20, 2009, the news site Norooz reported that a court had sentenced Bastani to six years in prison for “propagating against the regime and congregating and mutinying to create anarchy.”

Bastani was being held at Rajaee Shahr Prison, a facility reserved for hardened criminals, along with fellow journalist Ahmad Zaid-Abadi, according to the reformist daily Etemad. In July 2010, Bastani’s family told reporters that he had suffered an infection in his jaw that had gone untreated in prison, the Human Rights House of Iran reported.

Authorities restricted Bastani’s family visits to once every two weeks. His wife, Mahsa Amrabadi, was found guilty in October 2010 on antistate charges related to “interviews and journalistic reports,” Human Rights House reported. She was sentenced to one year in prison, although she was not immediately taken into custody, the reformist news website Jonbesh-e-Rah-e-Sabz reported.

Saeed Matin-Pour, freelance

Imprisoned: July 12, 2009

Matin-Pour, a journalist who wrote for his own blog and for the newspapers Yar Pag andMouj Bidari in western Azerbaijan province, was first arrested in May 2007. Released on bail, he was rearrested in July 2009 amid the government’s massive crackdown on dissidents and the press.

A Revolutionary Court in Tehran convicted Matin-Pour of having “relations with foreigners” and “propagating against the regime,” according to local news reports. He was sentenced to an eight-year prison term.

Matin-Pour’s wife, Atieh Taheri, told the Human Rights Activists News Agency that the journalist’s health had deteriorated in Evin Prison and that officials had denied him proper medical care, according to news reports. Matin-Pour spent much of his imprisonment in solitary confinement amid abusive treatment, leading to heart and respiratory problems, reformist news websites reported.

Mohammad Davari, Saham News

Imprisoned: September 5, 2009

Davari, editor-in-chief of Saham News, a website affiliated with the defeated 2009 presidential candidate Mehdi ‎Karroubi, was charged with several antistate counts, including “propagating against the regime,” and “disrupting national security.” The charges stemmed from Davari’s reporting on widespread complaints of abuse and rape of inmates at Kahrizak Detention Center. The detention center was closed in July 2009 after Saham News and others documented the pervasive abuse.

In May 2010, Davari was sentenced to five years in prison, according to the website of Reporters and Human Rights Activists of Iran. His family said he was being held at Tehran’s ‎Evin Prison.

Davari was tortured and coerced into making false statements against Karroubi, along with false statements recanting his Kahrizak Detention Center reports, according to an April 6 report by Reporters and Human Rights Activists. When Davari complained about poor prison conditions, officials placed him in solitary confinement and denied him family visits, according to news reports.

In mid-2011, Davari was sentenced to an additional year in prison, allegedly for his participation in teacher protests in 2006, reformist news websites reported in July. In recognition of his exemplary journalism, CPJ honored Davari with its International Press Freedom Award in November 2010.

Mehdi Mahmoudian, freelance

Imprisoned: September 16, 2009

Mahmoudian, a political journalist and blogger, was serving a five-year prison term on charges of “mutiny against the regime” for his role in documenting complaints of rape and abuse of detainees at the Kahrizak Detention Center, reformist news websites reported.

The detention center was closed in July 2009 after Mahmoudian and others documented the pervasive abuse. Mahmoudian also worked with journalist Emadeddin Baghi at the Center for the Defense of Prisoners’ Rights.

Held at Rajaee Shahr Prison, Mahmoudian was in poor health and suffering from kidney ailments, according to the German public news organization Deutsche Welle. Mahmoudian’s mother, Fatemeh Alvandi, told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran in April 2011 that her son developed epilepsy while in prison and was in dire physical and psychological condition. Mahmoudian was hospitalized in October 2011 but returned to prison the next month, according to reformist news websites.

Seyed Hossein Ronaghi Maleki (Babak Khorramdin), freelance

Imprisoned: December 13, 2009

Ronaghi Maleki, writing under the name Babak Khorramdin, discussed politics in a series of critical blogs that were eventually blocked by the government. He was also a founder of the anti-censorship group Iran Proxy, which was launched in 2003.

In October 2010, a Revolutionary Court sentenced Ronaghi Maleki to 15 years in prison on antistate conspiracy charges, the reformist news website Jonbesh-e-Rah-e-Sabzreported. The first year of his term was served largely in solitary confinement, defense lawyer Mohammad Ali Dadkhah told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran.

Ronaghi Maleki’s family said the journalist was in poor health and had severe kidney problems that were going untreated, according to the campaign. In May 2011, Ronaghi Maleki was transferred to a hospital in hand and ankle cuffs, where he underwent kidney surgery, the campaign reported. He was hospitalized in custody again in October 2011, when he underwent additional kidney surgery, the Human Rights House of Iran reported.

Ali Malihi, freelance

Imprisoned: February 9, 2010

Malihi, a contributor to the reformist publications Etemad, Irandokht, Shahrvand-e-Emruz, and Mehrnameh, was charged with several antistate counts, including “mutiny against the regime” and “insulting the president.” Malihi was sentenced to a four-year prison term, which an appeals court upheld in September 2010, according to the Committee of Human Rights Reporters. Malihi was also a leader of the politically active Iranian Students Association.

The reformist news site Jonbesh-e-Rah-e-Sabz and others published a February 2010 petition signed by 250 civil society activists demanding Malihi’s release and stating that he was a nonpartisan journalist. In a March 2010 letter to Tehran’s prosecutor, Malihi’s father said the journalist had endured severe beatings while being held at Evin Prison, according to the reformist site Advar News.

Hengameh Shahidi, Etemad-e-Melli

Imprisoned: February 25, 2010

In November 2009, a Revolutionary Court sentenced Shahidi to six years and three months in prison on several antistate charges, including “propagating against the regime,” according to the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran. The verdict was upheld in February 2010, and Shahidi was taken into custody the next day, according to the Committee of Human Rights Reporters.

Shahidi wrote extensively about Iranian and international politics, human rights, and women’s rights. A reformist who also worked for Mehdi Karroubi’s 2009 presidential campaign, she had written many articles condemning the practice of stoning.

A fellow prisoner severely beat Shahidi in May 2010 as prison authorities stood by, prompting relatives to have deep concerns about her well-being, the reformist websiteKalame reported. Shahidi was granted a short medical leave in June 2011, after which she was returned to prison, according to the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran.

Abolfazl Abedini Nasr, Bahar Ahvaz

Imprisoned: March 3, 2010

Abedini, who wrote about labor issues for the provincial weekly, was arrested in Ahvaz and transferred to Evin Prison in Tehran, according to the website of Reporters and Human Rights Activists.

An Ahvaz court sentenced Abedini to 11 years in prison on antistate charges that included having “contact with enemy states,” the reformist news website Jonbesh-e-Rah-e-Sabz reported in April 2011. Abedini was not represented by a lawyer at trial. When Abedini appealed, a Khuzestan provincial appellate court would not allow a defense lawyer to present arguments, the reformist website Kalame reported. The appeals court upheld the verdict.

In September 2010, Human Rights House in Iran reported that Abedini had been beaten at Ahvaz Prison. He was transferred to Tehran’s Evin Prison later that same month, the group reported. On May 4, 2011, a Revolutionary Court judge sentenced Abedini to an additional year in prison on the charge of “propagating against the regime,” Human Rights House reported. The basis for the additional charge was not disclosed.

Siamak Ghaderi, freelance

Imprisoned: July 27, 2010

Ghaderi was arrested in connection with entries he posted on his blog, IRNA-ye maa, or Our IRNA, a reference to the Islamic Republic’s official news agency. In the entries, he wrote about street protests and other developments after the contested 2009 presidential election, according to the reformist news website Jonbesh-e-Rah-e-Sabz.

In January 2011, Ghaderi was sentenced to four years in prison and 60 lashes on charges of “propagating against the regime,” “creating public anxiety,” and “spreading falsehoods,” according to the BBC’s Persian service.

Ghaderi was an editor and reporter for IRNA for 18 years until he was dismissed for writing about the 2009 election on his blog, Jonbesh-e-Rah-e-Sabz said. Pro-government news websites, among them Rasekhoon and Haghighat News, called him a “seditionist” who was arrested for “immoral” acts. Ghaderi’s blog was repeatedly blocked by authorities before he was detained, Jonbesh-e-Rah-e-Sabz reported.

Among the entries that authorities found objectionable was a piece in which Ghaderi interviewed several Iranian homosexuals. The article was an apparent reaction to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s public assertion that “there are no homosexuals in Iran.” The lashes in his sentence were for “cooperating with homosexuals,” the BBC reported. The reformist news website Kaleme reported in July 2011 that Ghaderi was being held at Evin Prison.

Mohammad Reza Pourshajari (Siamak Mehr), freelance

Imprisoned: September 12, 2010

Pourshajari, a journalistic blogger who wrote under the penname Siamak Mehr, was arrested at his home in Karaj, outside Tehran, according to news and human rights websites. In his blog Gozaresh be Khaak-e-Iran (Reports to the Soil of Iran), Pourshajari was critical of Iran’s theological state.

In an open letter dated December 2010, published by the Human Rights and Democracy Activists of Iran, Pourshajari described his arrest and subsequent detention. He said intelligence agents confiscated a computer hard drive, satellite receiver, and numerous documents. Pourshajari was taken to Rajaee Shahr Prison, where interrogators tortured him and subjected him to a mock execution, he wrote. Pourshajari said he was not allowed visitors, phone calls, or access to a lawyer.

In December 2010, Pourshajari was sentenced to three years in prison on charges of “propagating against the regime” and “insulting the supreme leader,” Human Rights Activists for Democracy in Iran reported. In October 2011, Pourshajari was transferred to Ghezel Hessar Prison, where hardened criminals are confined, the group said.

Pourshajari was due to be tried in December 2011 on an additional count of “insulting sanctities,” a charge that could bring the death penalty, according to news accounts. The basis for the new charge was not disclosed.

Arash Honarvar Shojaei, freelance

Imprisoned: October 28, 2010

Nearly a year after Shojaei was first jailed, a special clerical court sentenced the blogger and cleric to four years in prison and 50 lashes on October 2, 2011, on multiple charges of “acting against national security,” “espionage,” and “cooperation with foreign embassies,” the reformist news outlet Radio Zamaneh reported.

Shojaei was author of the book, Madar-e-Shari’at, about the dissident cleric, Ayatollah Mohammad Kazem Shariatmadari, according to Radio Zamaneh. Shariatmadari had opposed the principle of velayat-e faqih, which seeks to convey unlimited power to the supreme leader.

Shojaei was being held at Evin Prison, where he endured torture and several months of solitary confinement, according to Human Rights House of Iran and Radio Zamaneh. He was suffering from the effects of epilepsy, Radio Zamaneh said.

Fereydoun Seydi Rad, freelance

Imprisoned March 2, 2011

Seydi Rad, a journalistic blogger, was arrested in Arak in March, although his detention was not disclosed for several months, according to news accounts. His sister, Faranak Seydi, told the reformist news website Jonbesh-e-Rah-e-Sabz that family members had maintained silence because they feared further reprisals. The Committee of Human Rights Reporters said Seydi Rad spent 43 days in solitary confinement under interrogation.

In August, a Revolutionary Court in Tehran sentenced Seydi Rad to one year in prison for “propagating against the regime” in his blog, Arak Green Revolution. Seydi Rad wrote about the pro-democracy movement, student protests, and labor strikes in the city of Arak.

The court also sentenced him to two years in prison for taking part in a 2010 protest and attending the 2009 funeral of Ayatollah Hossein-Ali Montazeri, the cleric who had criticized President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s positions.

Faranak Seydi told Jonbesh-e-Rah-e- Sabz that his family had only been able to visit him in person twice, and their other weekly visits had been through a booth.

Mehrdad Sarjoui, Iran News

Imprisoned: July 2011

Sarjoui, who covered international news for the English-language daily Iran News and other publications, was arrested at his home and transferred to the Intelligence Ministry’s Ward 209 at Evin Prison, the BBC Persian service reported. The reformist news website Kaleme reported that he was being held in Evin Prison.

No formal charges had been disclosed by late year. Sarjoui had previously worked in the international relations department of the government’s Strategic Research Center, according to the U.S. government-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Staff members for the research agency have access to politically sensitive material, which has placed them under intense scrutiny by government security agents.

Ali Dini Torkamani, freelance

Imprisoned: July 27, 2011

Torkamani, an economist and author of several books, was arrested after writing articles critical of government policies for a number of publications, particularly the energy trade journal Danesh-e-Naft, according to news accounts. He also gave interviews to the U.S. government-funded Radio Farda and other media outlets in which he criticized government plans to eliminate consumer subsidies.

Torkamani and some other analysts had argued that the plan, supported by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, was insufficiently researched. He had also participated in an academic debate that challenged the plan. Authorities had not disclosed formal charges or Torkamani’s whereabouts by late year.

Kouhyar Goudarzi, Committee of Human Rights Reporters

Imprisoned: July 31, 2011

Goudarzi, a veteran journalist for the Committee of Human Rights Reporters who had completed a one-year prison term in December 2010, was seized by suspected government agents in July 2011 and taken to an undisclosed location, the reformist news website Kaleme reported. By October, Kaleme reported, Goudarzi was being held by the Intelligence Ministry.

Numerous journalists working for the Committee of Human Rights Reporters have been detained for varying periods of time since 2009 in connection with their reporting on human rights abuses. The human rights committee said judicial authorities have sought to link the organization to external political parties.

Authorities also targeted Goudarzi’s family and friends. His mother, Parvin Mokhtare, was being held in a prison in Kerman in late year on charges of “insulting the supreme leader” and “giving interviews to foreign media” concerning government harassment of the journalist, Jonbesh-e-Rah-e-Sabz reported. Two of Goudarzi’s friends were briefly detained and later took their own lives, according to news accounts.

The Committee of Human Rights Reporters said Goudarzi was being held in Evin Prison, where he has been denied contact with family members.

Saeed Jalalifar, Committee of Human Rights Reporters

Imprisoned: July 31, 2011

Jalalifar, who had reported on child labor and political prisoner issues for the committee, was first arrested in December 2009. He was free on bail for more than a year before being summoned back to Evin Prison in July 2011, the BBC Persian service reported.

The opposition website Pars Daily News reported that Jalalifar was then sentenced to three years in prison on charges of “assembly and collusion against the regime.”

Numerous journalists working for the Committee of Human Rights Reporters have been detained for varying periods of time since 2009 in connection with their work in exposing human rights violations and government malfeasance.

Morteza Moradpour, Yazligh

Imprisoned: August 26, 2011

Moradpour, who wrote for Yazligh, a children’s magazine, was serving a three-year prison term on charges of “propagating against the Islamic Republic of Iran,” “mutiny,” and “illegal congregation,” according to the Committee of Human Rights Reporters.

Moradpour was first arrested in 2009 along with several family members during a protest over Azeri-language rights in Tabriz in northwestern Azerbaijan province, according to the committee. Two issues of Yazligh were used as evidence in the trial against him, the news website Bizim Tabriz reported. Moradpour’s attorney said the charges were politically motivated, the news website Tabriz Sesi reported. The Committee of Human Rights Reporters said pressure on members of Azeri civil society had increased as the government attempted to marginalize the ethnic minority.

The journalist was jailed at the Tabriz Information Office Detention Center before being transferred to Tabriz Central Prison, where he spent nearly two months in solitary confinement.

On November 10, 2009, Moradpour was sentenced to three years in prison, Azeri news websites reported. He was released on the equivalent of US$50,000 bail in late 2010, according to Baybak, a local Azeri news website. (The practice of releasing convicted inmates on bail or furlough is common in Iranian jurisprudence.)

Moradpour was rearrested based on the original conviction on August 26, 2011, after taking part in protests related to the environmental degradation of Lake Orumiyeh in northwestern Iran, reformist news websites reported.

Hadi Ahmadi, Iranian Students News Agency

Imprisoned: September 2011

Security forces in Karaj arrested Ahmadi in mid-September, according to Aftab News Agency and the pro-opposition Radio Koocheh. An economics reporter, Ahmadi had worked for the semi-official Iranian Students News Agency, or ISNA, since 2006.

Ahmadi contacted his family by telephone after his arrest, but said he did not know the basis for his arrest, the Human Rights House of Iran reported. No formal charges were immediately disclosed.

The state-supported ISNA is run largely by Iranian university students. Originally established to publish news from Iranian universities, it now covers a variety of national and international topics. Four other ISNA journalists were jailed in October 2011.

Omid Behroozi, Majzooban-e-Noor
Reza Entessari, Majzooban-e-Noor
Amir Eslami, Majzooban-e-Noor
Afshin Karampour, Majzooban-e-Noor
Hamid Moradi, Majzooban-e-Noor
Farshid Yadollahi, Majzooban-e-Noor

Imprisoned: September 5, 2011

Authorities arrested at least 30 members of the religious minority Gonabadi Dervishes following a confrontation with plainclothes agents in the town of Kavar in Fars province, a spokesman for the group told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran. Among the detainees were a number of journalists for Majzooban-e-Noor, a website that reported news about the group, the International Campaign and the reformist news website Rooz Online reported.

Six of the website staffers were among those who remained in prison when CPJ conducted its annual census on December 1, 2011. In a September 12 article, Majzooban-e-Noor said agents had targeted the journalists in an effort to silence news coverage about the group.

The detainees were initially placed in solitary confinement and were not allowed to telephone their families for three weeks. In subsequent calls to relatives, the detainees said they were being held at Intelligence Ministry Ward 209 at Evin Prison, the reformist website Kaleme reported.

Amir Ali Allamehzadeh, Iranian Labor News Agency

Imprisoned: September 18, 2011

Plainclothes police arrested Allamehzadeh, an international affairs reporter for Iranian Labor News Agency, or ILNA, at his father’s home in Tehran, the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran and Jonbesh-e-Rah-e-Sabz reported.

No formal charges were immediately disclosed, although the warrant was authorized by an investigative judge presiding in the Government Employees and Media Court, indicating that the charges would be work-related. Security agents searched the family’s home in October, seizing several undisclosed items.

Allamehzadeh was being held in late year in a security ward at Evin Prison overseen by Revolution Guards, according to human rights websites. In a visit with his father, a distraught Allamehzadeh said he could not talk about conditions in prison, Jonbesh-e-Rah-e-Sabz reported.

Mojtaba Mir Tahmaseb, freelance

Imprisoned: September 18, 2011

Tahmaseb was among five filmmakers arrested just as the BBC Persian service aired a critical documentary on Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, according to news accounts. Although the others were released, the Intelligence Ministry issued a statement accusing Tahmaseb of serious crimes, including “fulfilling the needs of the intelligence service of Britain,” “providing propaganda for psychological war for Iran’s enemies,” and “money laundering.” The filmmaker was being held at Evin Prison in late year, Radio France Internationale reported.

It was not clear why the government initially targeted the group of filmmakers. The BBC reported that the five filmmakers were not involved in the production of the Khamenei documentary.

Tahmaseb had directed the 2011 documentary, “This Is Not a Film,” which depicted the detention of another director, Ja’far Panahi. Prior to his arrest, on September 5, Tahmaseb was taken off a flight to Europe, and his passport was confiscated, the BBC Persian service reported. His wife traveled in his place to present “This Is Not a Film” at a variety of film festivals.

Saeed Nazari, Iranian Students News Agency
Ali Nezamolmolki, Iranian Students News Agency

Imprisoned: October 1, 2011

Farzad Sadri, Iranian Students News Agency

Imprisoned: October 5, 2011

Authorities arrested the three journalists in the southern city of Shiraz and placed them in an intelligence agency detention center, the Human Rights Activists News Agency and the reformist news website Kaleme reported. No formal charges were immediately disclosed.

Agents also seized a number of undisclosed items from the home of Sadri, a regional editor for the news agency, Kaleme reported. The state-supported Iranian Students News Agency, or ISNA, is run largely by Iranian university students. Originally established to publish news from Iranian universities, it now covers a variety of national and international topics. Another ISNA journalist, Hadi Ahmadi, was jailed in September 2011.

ISNA did not issue a public response to the arrests.

Raed al-Majed, freelance
Adel al-Yahya, Al-Adalah

Imprisoned: November 11, 2011

Al-Yahya, a presenter for the private Kuwaiti television station Al-Adalah, and al-Majed, a freelance cameraman, were detained in the southern city of Abadan on charges of espionage and entering the country illegally, according to news reports.

Kuwaiti newspapers said the journalists intended to produce a report about Kuwaitis who married Iranian citizens. The Kuwaiti Bar Association said the two journalists had received permits from Iranian authorities prior to traveling to the country, according to Iranian news reports.

Hassan Fathi, Ettelaat

Imprisoned: November 13, 2011

Security forces arrested Fathi, editor of the Iranian daily Ettelaat, at his home in Tehran, the BBC Persian service reported. His wife told the BBC that security forces confiscated Fathi’s laptop and satellite receiver.

The semi-official Fars news agency said Fathi was arrested after reporting for the BBC Persian service on an explosion at an ammunition depot that killed 17 Revolutionary Guards. Fars alleged that Fathi was a contributor to the banned BBC Persian service and accused him of “spreading lies and disrupting public minds.” Iran bans cooperation with foreign news agencies.

In a statement, the BBC Persian service said Fathi was interviewed as an independent analyst and did not work for the organization. The broadcaster said it had no office or journalists working in Iran. Fathi’s whereabouts and legal status were not immediately disclosed.

Rojin Mohammadi, freelance

Imprisoned: November 14, 2011

Mohammadi, an Iranian medical student and political blogger based in Manila, was arrested when she arrived at Tehran’s international airport on a flight from Istanbul, according to news accounts. She was free on bail for several days before being summoned back to Evin Prison in late November, according to the Committee of Human Rights Reporters.

Security agents confiscated her laptop computer and other belongings. The committee, citing unnamed sources, said Mohammadi was placed in solitary confinement at Evin Prison. A judge based at the prison charged her with “assembly and collusion with the intent to disrupt state security,” “propagating against the regime,” and “human rights activities.”

Davood Khodakarami, Bayram Monthly

Imprisoned: November 18, 2011

Khodakarami, a journalist for the Azeri-language Bayram Monthly, was detained in the northwestern province of Zanjan, according to news reports. He had gone to a Zanjan bus terminal to ship copies of his publication to the city of Tabriz. Khodakarami was being held at Zanjan’s intelligence office; no charges were immediately disclosed.

Bayram Monthly is the only publication in the city of Zanjan that covers cultural and social issues. According to opposition website Iran Global, security forces had gone to Khodakarami’s home several times since August, threatening his family and searching the premises and confiscating his computer and personal items.

Source: CPJ.org

Einsortiert unter:Gesetze, Medien, Meinungen, Politik Tagged: Ahmadinejad, Aktionen, Atombombe, Evin Prison, Gefängnis, Gesetze, Human Rights, Iran, Medien, Menschenrechte, Politik

Journalist for Iranian media imprisoned in Azerbaijan

lbucklitsch — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 07:55:26 +0000

Anar Bayramli, Baku-based correspondent for Iranian broadcaster Sahar TV and news agency Fars, has been imprisoned for two months pending trial over drug charges. The Committee to Protect Journalists has determined the charges are fabricated and calls on authorities in Azerbaijan to release him immediately.

On Friday, Baku police visited Bayramli’s home, summoned him for interrogation, and detained him after declaring they found 0.387 grams of heroin in his jacket, Reutersreported. The journalist denied the accusations and said police planted the drugs. The next day, the Binagadinsky District Court ordered Bayramli’s pretrial imprisonment for two months on charges of drug possession and resisting police officers; the ruling was announced without his lawyer present. If convicted, Bayramli faces up to three years in jail.

Local rights activists told CPJ they believe police are retaliating against Bayramli for his journalism. In his broadcasts, Bayramli often reported on Azerbaijan’s worsening human rights record and criticized Azerbaijani foreign policy, including alleged cooperation with Israel. Prior to his arrest, police told Bayramli several times to visit their headquarters for what they termed “a conversation,” during which they urged him to stop working for Iranian media, Emin Huseynov, director of the Baku-based Institute for Reporters’ Freedom and Safety, told CPJ.

In an interview interpreted by Huseynov, the journalist’s lawyer said Bayramli took off his jacket at the district police headquarters and left it in the lobby before entering the office of the local police chief. As the journalist was about to leave the building after the meeting, police agents suddenly asked him to reveal the contents of his jacket and found heroin.

“The charges against Anar Bayramli are false and he should be released immediately,” said CPJ Deputy Director Robert Mahoney.

Also Friday, police in the town of Sumgayit, north of Baku, detained Ramil Dadashev, a driver for Sahar TV, the independent news website Gazeta reported. It is unclear why Dadashev was detained, whether authorities continue to hold him, and whether he has been charged.

Harassment in Azerbaijan against local staffers for Iranian media companies comes amidst heightening diplomatic tensions between the two countries, including mutual accusations of stirring internal unrest, regional and international press reported.

Prior to the Bayramli’s arrest, the speaker of Azerbaijan’s parliament accused Sahar TV of “preparing anti-Azerbaijan provocations,” Reuters reported.

Source: CPJ.org

Einsortiert unter:Gesetze, Medien, Meinungen, Politik Tagged: Ahmadinejad, Gefängnis, Gesetze, Human Rights, Iran, Medien, Menschenrechte, Politik

Mehdi Khazali to Prison Authorities:”In the Event of my Death, I Ask That My Autopsy Be Performed by an International Entity”

lbucklitsch — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 07:17:52 +0000

February 22nd, 2012 [Kaleme] In a letter addressed to prison authorities at Evin prison, Dr. Mehdi Khazali has announced that in the event that he dies while in prison and as a result of his hunger strike any autopsy or forensic examination take place only at the hand of medical examiners associated with International Organizations.

In this letter, Dr. Khazli reportedly points to the martyrdom of Hoda Saber while at Evin and the autopsy that took place at the time. Hoda Saber, journalist and political activist arrested after the 2009 presidential elections died at Evin prison after he launched a hunger strike protesting the martyrdom of Haleh Sahabi. The day before he died, security agents finally transferred Saber to Modares Hospital after he suffered a stroke. Saber died because he did not receive adequate and timely medical attention.

At the time, 64 political prisoners at Evin wrote a letter bearing witness to the fact that martyr Hoda Saber was transferred to Evin’s infirmary on the 8th day of his hunger strike, by individuals who were either security agents or agents of the Ministry of Intelligence. Furthermore, the aforementioned prisoners testified that while at the infirmary, Saber was beaten severely.

The doctors at Modares hospital believe that Hoda Saber died as a result of his hunger strike and negligence by prison officials at Evin who refused to transfer him to a hospital in a timely manner. It goes without saying that the judicial authorities including the Attorney General have never launched an inquiry into Hoda Saber’s death.

Source: Kaleme http://www.kaleme.com/1390/12/03/klm-92020/

نامه مهدی خزعلی به مسئولان زندان: در صورت جان باختن من، تنها پزشکان سازمان ملل بدنم را کالبد شکافی کنند

اشتراک

چهارشنبه, ۳ اسفند, ۱۳۹۰

چکیده :مهدی خزعلی با نگارش نامه ای به مسئولان زندان اوین اعلام کرده است، درصورت جان باختنش در ادامه اعتصاب غذا، کالبد شکافی و معاینات پزشکی قانونی زندان را قبول ندارد و جسدش تنها باید توسط پزشکان اعزامی از سوی مجامع بین المللی، کالبد شکافی گردد. …

مهدی خزعلی گفته است در صورت جان باختن من مقامات پزشکی سازمان ملل مرا کالبد شکافی کنند.

به گزارش خبرنگار کلمه، مهدی خزعلی با نگارش نامه ای به مسئولان زندان اوین اعلام کرده است، درصورت جان باختنش در ادامه اعتصاب غذا، کالبد شکافی و معاینات پزشکی قانونی زندان را قبول ندارد و جسدش تنها باید توسط پزشکان اعزامی از سوی مجامع بین المللی، کالبد شکافی گردد.

وی در این نامه به جریان شهادت هدی صابر و کالبد شکافی وی نیز اشاره کرد.

رضا هدی صابر روزنامه نگار و فعال سیاسی که از زندانیان پس از انتخابات بود خردادماه سال جاری و در پی اعتصاب غذا در اعتراض به شهادت هاله سحابی و حمله قلبی درگذشت.

ماموران یک روز پیش از شهادت وی را به دلیل عارضه قلبی ناشی از اعتصاب غذا از زندان اوین به بیمارستان مدرس منتقل می کنند، اما سنگینی آسیب‌ قلبی چنان بوده که وی تحمل این آسیب را نداشته و جان باخت.

۶۴ زندانی سیاسی بند ۳۵۰ زندان اوین همان زمان با ارسال شهادت نامه ای، شهادت دادند که شهید هدی صابر در هشتمین روز اعتصاب غذای خود در بهداری زندان اوین از سوی مامورانی که حدس می زنند ماموران امنیتی و اطلاعاتی بوده اند، به شدت مورد ضرب و شتم قرار گرفته است. آنها شرایط بد جسمانی وی را از نزدیک شاهد بوده اند.

پزشکان بیمارستان مدرس معتقدند علت مرگ وی علاوه بر اعتصاب غذا سهل انگاری مقامات زندان در انتقال به موقع به بیمارستان بوده است. اما مقامات قضایی کشور از جمله دادستان کل کشور هموار هیچ گاه به این موضوع نپرداختند

Quelle: banooyesabz

Einsortiert unter:Gesetze, Medien, Meinungen, Politik Tagged: Ahmadinejad, Aktionen, Atombombe, Evin Prison, Gefängnis, Gesetze, Human Rights, Iran, Medien, Menschenrechte, Politik

UN Telecommunications Body Requires Iran to Stop Satellite Jamming

lbucklitsch — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 22:51:52 +0000

http://www.iranhumanrights.org/2012/02/wrc-12/

UN Telecommunications Body Requires Iran to Stop Satellite Jamming

Rights Groups Prompt Tougher International Laws Regarding Jamming

(22 February 2012) The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran today welcomed a new International Telecommunication Union (ITU) regulation requiring governments take “necessary action” to stop jamming of satellite broadcasts from within their jurisdiction.

The ITU and its member states should immediately start monitoring Iran’s compliance with the new regulation and take any additional steps needed to ensure Iranian authorities stop interfering with satellite broadcasts, the Campaign added.

“This is the first meaningful action taken by the ITU and the UN to make legal provisions to counter censorship of satellite programs within various countries,” said Aliakbar Mousavi, former Iranian MP who served as deputy head of the Parliamentary Telecommunications Committee.

At the ITU’s 2012 World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-12) last week, 153 of the 165 member states in attendance voted to amend their telecommunication regulations. The new amendment regarding jamming reads, “If an administration has information of an infringement [of the governing telecommunications regulations] committed by a station under its jurisdiction the administration shall ascertain the facts and take the necessary actions.”

WRC regulations constitute a legally binding international treaty on radio-frequency and satellite broadcasts. The amendment, approved on 17 February 2012 in Geneva, makes particular reference to infringements of Article 45 of the ITU’s Constitution, which prohibits “harmful interference” with broadcasts.

“The Iranian regime will have no more excuses to breach these regulations. I hope similar steps will be taken by the ITU regarding Internet censorship in countries like Iran as well,” said Mousavi, a longtime advocate of freedom of information and expression.

The WRC-12’s decision came after the Campaign, other human rights organizations, and broadcasters called on governments, corporations, and international telecommunication bodies to take action to stop satellite jamming. Just last month, the Campaign urged the WRC-12 to take decisive steps to end the Iranian government’s illegal and widespread jamming of satellite signals.

Satellite jamming and Internet censorship in Iran has increased dramatically since 2009. Targeted satellite stations such as BBC Persian, VOA, and other Persian-language news outlets operating outside Iran have become an important source of information for millions of Iranians inside the country, where independent media outlets are severely censored and repeatedly shutdown.

The ITU, the telecommunications arm of the United Nations, has received numerous complaints about the jamming of Persian and Arabic broadcasts in Iran and Syria on satellites carried by Eutelsat and Arabsat.

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi and the Campaign’s spokesperson Hadi Ghaemi expressed concern that Eutelsat, whose satellites host Iran’s state media network the IRIB, and other telecommunications companies have done little or nothing to hold Iran accountable for its censorship. Eutelsat’s failure comes despite the fact that much of the Islamic Republic’s jamming is aimed at other Eutelsat clients, BBC Persian and Voice of America (VOA), and the IRIB has itself been implicated in gross human rights violations for producing televised forced confessions of prisoners of conscience.

“The ITU has now made Iran’s legal obligations perfectly clear. But the international community, including telecommunications corporations like Eutelsat, needs to sustain its efforts to make sure Iran stops jamming satellite broadcasts,” said Ghaemi.

Einsortiert unter:Gesetze, Medien, Meinungen, Politik Tagged: Ahmadinejad, Aktionen, Atombombe, Gefängnis, Gesetze, Human Rights, Iran, Medien, Menschenrechte, Politik

Nasrin Sotoudeh’s 12 Year Old Daughter Denied Visitation with Her Mother

lbucklitsch — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 22:50:27 +0000

From the Facebook of Reza Khandan husband of Incarcerated Human Rights Lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh:

What would you do if after much preparation, you took your two young children to visit their mother behind bars (a mother who has been incarcerated without a reason for 18 months and has not been granted a moment of furlough from prison) only to find that your 12 year old daughter who attended dressed i…n her school uniform, a dress code that is without a doubt acceptable in Iran, is denied visitation along with her brother because the prison guard claims that her dress code is not in accordance with Islamic code? What would you do when your young daughter and her 4 year old brother both so young and sensitive are forced to spend thirty minutes in the extreme cold outside of Evin prison? What would you do…..?

Reza Khandan
February 22nd, 2012

اگر 2 تا بچه را پس از كلي وقت و انرژي ببريد دادسرا تا دقايقي با مادرشان (كه 18 ماه است بدون دليل محكمه پسند در بازداشت است بدون يك ساعت مرخصي) از نزديك ملاقات كنند، اما دختر بچه را كه 12 سال دارد و با لباس مدرسه كه بي ترديد حجاب قابل قبولي در ايران هست به همراه برادر 4 ساله‌اش از نگهباني به خاطر بد بودن حجاب، بيرون كنند و آنها بيشتر از نيم ساعت در سرماي طاقت‌فرساي كوهپايه‌ي اوين سرگردان بمانند، در مقابل ناراحتي و گريه‌ي اين بچه در اين سن و سال حساس و فشاري كه بر شما و كودكان‌تان وارد مي‌شود چكار مي‌كنيد

Quelle: banooyesabz

Einsortiert unter:Gesetze, Literatur, Medien, Meinungen, Politik Tagged: Ahmadinejad, Aktionen, Atombombe, Gefängnis, Gesetze, Human Rights, Iran, Medien, Menschenrechte, Politik

Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei receives “nuclear authorities and scientists.”

lbucklitsch — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 22:47:38 +0000

Anklicken um
Einsortiert unter:Foto, Gesetze, Medien, Meinungen, Politik Tagged: Ahmadinejad, Aktionen, Atombombe, Gesetze, Human Rights, Iran, Medien, Menschenrechte, Politik

Iran News Round Up (Feb. 22)

lbucklitsch — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 22:44:26 +0000

Iranian leaders urge people to participate in upcoming parliamentary polls; Iranian MP cautions Baku about Israel’s ‘divisive plots’; Iran’s Army, IRGC review latest air defense tactics in drills; Russia, India to continue exports to Iran

Politics

News stories about the parliamentary elections:
- Shafaf News publishes anti-parliament statements by Ahmadinejad and his supporters and asks: “Who does not like a powerful parliament?”
- Mehr News details statistics for candidates, eligible voters, and polling stations.
- Ayatollah Naser Makarem Shirazi says it is a “sin” not to participate in the parliamentary elections unless there is a genuine reason based on the Islamic law.
- Gholam-Reza Mesbahi-Moqaddam, Parliament’s Economic Reform Committee chairman, accuses the government of trying to persuade the people to participate in the parliamentary elections by increasing the amount of the cash handout.
- Alef News criticizes government policies:
  - “It is well known that as the election is approaching, the political elites try to do things to make the people happy. But this time we see the reverse: The closer we get to the election, the factors making the people unhappy increase many fold.”
  - “The rising prices and deterioration of the labor market are harming the urban population. These irresponsible conditions will only increase dissatisfaction.”
  - “Paying attention to the people in the rural area, which is one of the shining points of the government’s management, should not mean suppression of the people in big cities…”
Farda News accuses the government of keeping 25 trains of the Tehran Metro in the customs and deliberately not delivering it to the Tehran Municipality.

Diplomacy

[E] A senior Iranian legislator said that the accusations raised by Azeri officials against Iran is a scenario designed by the Zionist regime of Israel to sow discord between Iran and its neighboring states, and called on Baku officials to keep vigilant about Tel Aviv’s plots.

Military and Security

Yahya Rahim Safavi, a former Revolutionary Guards commander now a military adviser to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei: “I beg everyone who is hearing my voice to participate in the parliamentary elections…”
According to Mehr News, five “armed terrorists” were killed in Sistan va Baluchestan province.
Farzad Esmaeili discusses the Sarallah war game of the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Defense Force in Bushehr.
Farda News releases information about the Najm radar system.
[E] Iran’s air defense units assessed the performance and capabilities of different types of mobile and fixed radar systems on the third day of Sarallah military drills in Southern Iran.
[E] Iranian Army and Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) reviewed their latestair defense tactics during the current phase of the drills underway in the Southern province of Bushehr, Commander of Khatom ol-Anbia Air Defense Base Brigadier General Farzad Esmayeeli announced on Wednesday.
[E] Commander of the Iranian Border Guard Units General Hossein Zolfaqari underlined his forces’ capability to maintain security all over the country, and underlined that security has been fully established at Iran’s Eastern borders.

Economy

Iran Statistics reports two-digit unemployment rates in 20 out of 31 provinces in Iran.

Trade

According to Russian and Indian sources, both countries will continue their exports to Iran until the United Nations issues a new guideline concerning exports to the Islamic Republic.

Media

News stories concerning filtering of Gmail and Yahoo Mail in Iran:
- Esmail Ahmadi-Moqaddam, Law Enforcement commander: “We believe thatconnectivity with abroad should only be on the basis of necessity.”
- Khabar Online criticizes the filtering and demands an explanation from the authorities.
- Alef News editorializes: “Connecting and disconnecting the Internet every minute and hour is getting on people’s nerves. There is not even a firm decision so that the people can plan accordingly… It seems as if the government is not the only responsible authority for the destruction of the Internet…, but no clear explanation has been provided in this regard from anyone. One may be able to persuade the public that the Internet is nothing but an instrument of the espionage without any scientific, professional, research or business utility, but when no explanation is given to the public, the only thing which remains is spread of dissatisfaction, which serves the enemy.”

Einsortiert unter:Gesetze, Literatur, Medien, Meinungen, Politik Tagged: Ahmadinejad, Aktionen, Atombombe, Flüchtlinge, Gefängnis, Gesetze, Human Rights, Iran, Medien, Menschenrechte, Politik

U4I: Iran prepares for staged elections with crackdown on dissent

lbucklitsch — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 22:40:06 +0000

Opposition boycotts poll and calls for free and fair elections

فارسی

United for Iran is deeply concerned about the escalating crackdown by the Iranian government on expression and assembly ahead of the March 2 parliamentary elections.

Since the start of 2012, more than 100 Iranian citizens have been detained for non-violent political activism surrounding the elections and two have reportedly died in custody. Opposition parties, high profile political prisoners, and Nobel Laureate Shirin Ebadi have said the elections fail to meet international standards and have called for a boycott.

Local human rights activists have reported that 65 citizens of Iran’s Arab minority in the southwestern part of the country have been arrested in recent weeks. Mohammad Kaabi and Nasser Alboshokeh Derafshan were reported to have died as result of torture after being arrested in Iran’s Khuzestan province.

Internet access in Iran has been severely interrupted by Iranian authorities ahead of the elections and a planned protest on February 14. The websites and search engines Yahoo, Google, Gmail, and social networking sites were reportedly inaccessible to millions of Iranian users in the past two weeks. In further efforts to crush dissent, the newspaper Roozegar, one of the few remaining reformist outlets, was shuttered on February 5. BBC Persian has also reported that Iranian authorities have recently targeted family members of its staff in Iran in an effort to intimidate BBC employees abroad.

Iran’s opposition Green Movement called for protests on February 14 to mark one year since the house arrest of Green Movement opposition figures, Mir Hossein Mousavi, Mehdi Karroubi, and Zahra Rahnavard. However, Iranians were discouraged from gathering due to a heavy security presence and threatening messages from security forces.

On December 26, 2011, 39 high profile political prisoners released a statement from prison calling for a boycott of the March elections due to political repression and the ongoing house arrest of the opposition figures. Nobel Laureate Shirin Ebadi has led a growing international chorus for their release. United for Iran has also called on Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, to release the Green Movement leaders.

Iran’s reformist parties have refused to register candidates in protest of the opposition figures’ continued detention. The Coordination Council of the Green Path of Hope, an organizing committee for the Green Movement, has called the elections “illegal and unfair” and has called for free and fair elections. In a letter to the Secretary General of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, a group of former Iranian lawmakers wrote that the Iranian government has violated the Union’s charter by imprisoning several former MPs and by planning “completely flawed and engineered elections.”

Iran’s political system is a hierocracy led by the Supreme Leader, who is an appointed Islamic jurisconsult with no term limit. Popular elections are held to determine the presidency, the assembly of experts, and the parliament. The Guardian Council, an unelected 12-person body of jurists controlled by the Supreme Leader, vets the candidates based on their loyalty to the regime and often times partisan considerations. The assembly of experts is responsible for appointing and dismissing the Supreme Leader, yet the Supreme Leader through the Guardian Council’s approbationary supervision indirectly influences its membership.

Click here to see Iran’s power structure.

Over the last decade, the Supreme Leader and the Guardian Council have exploited democratic deficits within Iran’s constitution to further consolidate autocratic control in the hands of the Supreme Leader. In 1991, the Guardian Council re-interpreted its supervisory role over the elections to be approbationary and began to vet candidates for all of Iran’s elections. The Iranian Parliament formalized the new procedure in 1995, despite strong objections by politicians and legal experts. The amendment, which has been termed unconstitutional, was approved by the Guardian Council, essentially subverting its role from ensuring free and fair elections to one that enables the obstruction of free and fair elections.

While the Iranian government claims to hold democratic elections, the country ranks at the bottom of the world’s leading independent democracy assessments. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit’s Democracy Index for 2011, Iran was designated as an “authoritarian” state and ranked 159 out of 167 following an analysis of 60 democracy indicators – lower than China, Sudan, and Syria. The country received the lowest possible score in the category of “electoral process and pluralism” – a zero. In its 2012 study of political freedom and civil liberties, Freedom House ranked Iran at the bottom of its “not free” category and noted a downward trend due to the “imposition of severe restrictions on nongovernmental organizations and the prosecution of an increasing number of civic leaders.” The Bertelsmann Stiftung’s 2010 Transformation Index places Iran in the bottom 15 percent (111 out of 127) of the category measuring democracy and political economy.

Intra-conservative infighting has resulted in electoral committees of both the Guardian Council, aligned with the Supreme Leader, and the Interior Ministry, under the administration of the President, to ban their opponents from running in the upcoming elections. There has also been a significant drop in candidates registered due to the reformists’ decision to boycott the elections. The Guardian Council, which has final say as to who is eligible to run, announced the final list of vetted candidates on February 21. Supporters of the Supreme Leader have used the vetting process to disqualify those candidates that are known supporters of President Ahmadinejad.

According to the International Federation for Electoral Systems (IFES), the percentage of candidates disqualified by the Guardian Council increased from 16 percent in 1988, to 35 percent in 1992, and to 39 percent in 1995. The Guardian Council has disqualified more than 90 percent of presidential candidates over the past nine elections. IFES notes that the absence of an independent electoral commission in the country allows Iran’s competing political organs to disqualify candidates based on partisan considerations.

In a December 2011 resolution on the situation of human rights in Iran, the UN General Assembly expressed deep concern regarding the continued house arrest of Iran’s opposition figures and has called on the Iranian government “to ensure that the 2012 parliamentary elections were free, fair, transparent, and inclusive” and “to allow independent observation.”

The 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights holds that the will of the people shall be the basis of government authority and enshrines people with the right to freely choose their representatives through periodic and genuine elections. The 1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights outlines the legal basis for the principles of democracy including freedom of expression and assembly (Article 19 and 21); the right and opportunity to take part in the conduct of public affairs, directly or through freely chosen representatives (Article 25); and the right to vote and to be elected through genuine periodic elections (Article 25). Iran’s political system and electoral procedures fail to uphold any of these rights for its citizens.

Since 1988, the UN General Assembly has adopted a biennial resolution on the strengthening of elections for the promotion of democracy. The resolution notes “member states, in the exercise of their sovereignty, may request that international organizations provide advisory services or assistance for strengthening and developing their electoral institutions and processes.”

United for Iran urges the Iranian government to invite independent electoral assistance and monitoring and to establish an independent electoral commission. United for Iran reiterates its call on Supreme Leader Khamenei to allow for freedom of expression and unhindered access to information, to free opposition leaders and all prisoners of conscience and guarantee due process for detained individuals. Authorities should investigate the deaths of Kaabi and Alboshokeh Derafshan and launch a credible accountability process for other alleged human rights violations.

Furthermore, United for Iran calls on Supreme Leader Khamenei to institute democratic reforms, including electoral reforms, to ensure elections reflect the will of the Iranian people, meet international standards and Iran’s obligations under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

Firuzeh Mahmoudi

Executive Director

Einsortiert unter:Gesetze, Medien, Meinungen, Politik Tagged: Ahmadinejad, Aktionen, Atombombe, Evin Prison, Flüchtlinge, Gefängnis, Gesetze, Human Rights, Iran, Medien, Menschenrechte, Politik

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