IRAN: NUCLEAR: MEK , Ahmadinejad owes a thank you to Richard Engel and Robert Windrem at MSNBC

This is a seed :
What would be the best deal Ahmadinejad and the mullahs wish to get while they are facing an existential threat?
What would be the best escape goat for the tyrants in Iran?

Try to imagine the situation: on one side we have a dithering regime that is brewing with infightings reflected almost in every news article of its state run papers; wasting away because of the effects of the sanctions coupled with rising dissatisfaction within its own factions let alone the Iranians; losing grip over its dreamed Empire based on a Religious Jurisprudence; losing its long time ally in Syria because of a resolved people in the Middle East; and worst of all having to deal with an ever growing opposition which has proved to be worst for its existence than the stuxnet virus : the MEK.

Amnesty International Urges Iran to Respect Peaceful Protests on One Year Anniversary February 14 of Demonstrations

(New York) — Amnesty International is calling on the Iranian authorities to respect freedom of assembly and allow peaceful protests on February 14 amid fears that authorities may once again use excessive force to quell protests, as in previous years.

The demonstrations – called by the Coordination Council of the Green Path of Hope – mark the one year anniversary of demonstrations called by opposition leaders Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi in support of the people of Egypt and Tunisia. The Iran demonstrations were brutally repressed and left at least two people dead.

Amnesty International also reiterated its call for the immediate release of Mousavi and Karroubi, who have been held under unofficial house arrest since February 2011. Mousavi’s wife, Zahra Rahnavard, is also held, while Karroubi is currently held on his own and has been denied any contact with his family since December 2011.

In its call for demonstrations, the Coordination Council of the Green Path of Hope referred to worsening economic conditions and governmental mismanagement of Iran’s resources.

Amnesty International said that it was deeply concerned over increasing repression in Iran in advance of the parliamentary elections scheduled for March 2 and called for the immediate and unconditional release of anyone held solely for the peaceful expression of their right to freedom of expression, association or assembly or in connection with their beliefs.

Repressive tactics targeting Iran’s ethnic and religious minorities, journalists, and individuals with alleged links to foreign media appear to be part of a strategy to restrict free public debate and to warn people not to protest ahead of the elections.

Reports have emerged that around 49 members of the Ahwazi Arab minority have been arrested since January in at least three cities in the southwestern province of Khuzestan.

A family member of Nasser Derafshan Alboshokeh, aged 19, told Amnesty International how his relative and Mohammad al-Ka’bi, aged 34, both members of the Ahwazi Arab minority, died in Ministry of Intelligence detention facilities in Ahvaz and Shush. Both men were reported to have been tortured before they died.

The family of Alboshokeh has not yet been permitted to bury him. They have reportedly been told by the local Iranian authorities to keep the memorial service private as a condition of the funeral taking place. He is said not to have had access to legal representation nor been permitted any contact with his family during his four day detention.

Amnesty International is also concerned about reports of the arrest of at least 12 members of the Baha’i religious minority in the southern city of Shiraz. During the morning of February 3, security forces in Shiraz are said to have simultaneously entered over 30 homes belonging to members of Iran’s Baha’i community and arrested at least 11 individuals. On the evening of February 6, security forces arrested another Baha’i. They may all be held in Detention Center 100 in Shiraz. There are reported to be over 80 members of the Baha’i religious minority currently imprisoned or detained on account of their faith or identity as Baha’is.

Many writers, bloggers and social commentators have also been arrested in recent weeks. On January 17, Iranian authorities arrested the sister of an employee of BBC Persian – the BBC’s Persian language news service – and held her in solitary confinement in Tehran’s Evin Prison. Though she was eventually released on bail, she was forced to “confess” on camera. On February 3, Mark Thompson, the Director General of the BBC, said that other family members of BBC Persian staff had had their passports confiscated, preventing them from leaving the country. In a report carried by the Mehr news agency on February 7, an unnamed source said that, “a number of people deceived by the lie-spreading BBC Persian network” had been arrested in Iran and accused them of having “the mission of gathering news and information, producing content in various formats, recruiting, training and preparing for the departure of Iran’s elite media workers from the country”. BBC Persian denied having any staff in Iran.

Previously, in January 2010, the Iranian authorities banned contact with over 60 foreign institutions, including the BBC and some other media outlets, as well as some human rights organizations. Anyone making contacts with these institutions is at risk of prosecution and imprisonment – as reiterated in the February 7 Mehr article. Such a ban appears designed to hide from the world the truth of events in Iran and to obstruct reporting from the country, including on the human rights situation.

Amnesty International calls on the Iranian authorities to release all those detained unless they are promptly charged with a recognizably criminal offence and tried in accordance with international fair trial standards. From the moment of arrest, all detainees must be permitted prompt and regular access to lawyers of their choosing, contact with their families and all necessary medical treatment, and protected from torture or other ill treatment. Independent, impartial and transparent investigation into all deaths in custody must be conducted, and anyone found responsible for abuses brought to justice, without recourse to the death penalty.

The organization is also urging the Iranian authorities to ensure that all individuals are guaranteed effective exercise of their rights to freedom of expression and assembly, both before and during the parliamentary elections. Any investigation into alleged election-related misconduct must be conducted in a full and transparent manner and must not be used as justification for preventing the exercise of the right to freedom of expression, association, and assembly in the run up to and during the elections.

Amnesty International is also concerned that the Iranian authorities may, ahead of the parliamentary elections, execute individuals convicted of political offenses who are held on death row.

An official Iranian news agency has reported that the Supreme Court has upheld the death sentences of Zaniar (or Zanyar) Moradi and Loghman (or Loqman) Moradi, members of Iran’s Kurdish minority. They had been convicted of “enmity against God” (moharebeh) and “corruption on earth” for allegedly murdering the son of a senior cleric in Marivan, Kordestan province, north-eastern Iran, in July 2009. They have also been convicted of participating in armed activities on behalf of Komala, a Kurdish armed opposition group. The two were shown “confessing” on state TV to the murder, but subsequently said their “confessions” had been made under duress after they had been tortured.

The Iranian authorities have a history of executing individuals convicted of political offenses in advance of elections, anniversaries of unrest or other times of tension.

Background

In the lead up to the February 2011 demonstrations, the authorities imposed severe restrictions on freedom of expression, including the right to receive and impart information, by blocking access to phone services, including SMS messages, foreign media and various internet and social media sites.

Over the days before the rally and on the day itself, as many as 1500 arrests were reported, along with dozens injured and two demonstrators killed and the largely peaceful demonstrations were forcibly dispersed. Another individual was killed a week later during further protests at the authorities’ repressive measures.

Amnesty International is a Nobel Peace Prize-winning grassroots activist organization with more than 2.8 million supporters, activists and volunteers in more than 150 countries campaigning for human rights worldwide. The organization investigates and exposes abuses, educates and mobilizes the public, and works to protect people wherever justice, freedom, truth and dignity are denied.

http://www.freedomessenger.com/archives/46663

Underneath a bellicose posture, a decaying and fractured regime

WASHINGTON, Feb. 10 (UPI) -By ALI SAFAVI - Iran Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei issued a stern warning last week against the international community, which imposed sanctions last month targeting the regime's vital oil exports and central bank.

Immediately afterward, the regime launched new military exercises, threatening once again to close the Strait of Hormuz, through which a significant amount of global oil shipments pass each day.

In his remarks, Khamenei vowed to continue with the regime's nuclear program even as broadened sanctions are beginning to inflict major economic pain.

"Iran will not give up," he said, adding, "We will respond to threats of war and oil sanctions."

Two days later, the deputy head of the regime's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps issued another threat to regional countries, warning, "Any spot used by the enemy for hostile operations against Iran will be subjected to retaliatory aggression by our armed forces."

Tehran's bellicose posture should be taken seriously. But, underneath its belligerence and periodic war games, the regime is hurting. Oil exports, accounting for roughly 80 percent of state revenues, are gradually drying up and the national currency has reportedly lost about 60 percent of its value against the U.S. dollar over the past six months.

Deep fractures and unbridled infighting within the regime are becoming commonplace. And social discontent, already at critical levels, is sounding alarm bells in Tehran's ruling circles just weeks before a parliamentary election.

Khamenei is desperate to consolidate. On Friday, he urged the "losers" of the upcoming elections to "surrender" to the results and avoid protesting. He knows the regime is vulnerable.

He was clearly trying to obfuscate a chaotic situation permeating the highest levels of his crippling regime, not to mention his deep trepidation over renewed social protests in the context of the Arab Spring.

Tehran's rulers aren't taking lightly the fact that their long-time ally in Syria is on the verge of demise. A completely different regional make up, disrupting the regime's well-established routes to supply terrorist outlets, is undermining Tehran's strategic depth.

Faced with strategic and concrete losses on all fronts, Khamenei is seen as trying to blackmail the international community by upping the ante in the hopes of reopening divisions in the united international front against his unremitting dash toward the bomb.

If that is in fact the regime's ultimate calculation, it should be proven wrong. The only way to strengthen the unity of the international front is to close all loopholes in the sanctions regime that may provide even the most insignificant of lifelines to a desperate theocracy on the brink of collapse.

The international community must stand firm and relentless in its attempts to curb a major global threat emanating from Tehran. Clearly, without a fundamental transformation in the state structure of Iran, Tehran's threats will continue to grow.

The regime knows that it is domestically doomed and the only way to survive is to push ahead with the nuclear program, continue its crackdown at home, reflected in 69 hangings so far this year, 16 of them in public, and spread its terrorism. Its military budget for the Iranian calendar year beginning in March, despite all the sanctions, has been increased by at least 127 percent. That isn't the type of decision by a regime that is willing to compromise.

Khamenei is whistling past the graveyard. The world must not give in to the regime's blackmail tactics. Not another moment can be lost to dithering and procrastinating while the regime inches toward the bomb.

Sanctions must be placed into a new paradigm of change of the regime instead of the old and unfruitful paradigm of change of behavior. In that spirit, the world must stand with the Iranian people and their organized opposition movement.

Ali Safavi, the opposition National Council of Resistance of Iran, is president of Near East Policy Research, a policy analysis firm in Washington (www.neareastpolicy.com).

http://www.ncr-iran.org/en/news/ashraf/11693-underneath-a-bellicose-posture-a-decaying-and-fractured-regime

Javad Lari’s death sentence replaced with 2 years behind bars, possibility of his imminent release

Javad Lari’s lawyer Manijeh Mohmmadi said in an interview with Human Rights House of Iran that the Supreme Court recently overturned the death sentence and sent it back to the lower court, resulting in the new sentence of 2 years in prison.

Mr. Lari’s lawyer who has been representing him for over 2 years while he has been behind bars with a death sentence, said that her client could be released within the next 24 hours.

On September 16, 2009, agents from the Intelligence Ministry arrested Javad Lari at his workplace. On July 2010, Judge Salavati presiding over Branch 15 of the Revolutionary Court sentenced Mr. Lari to death.

After Branch 32 of the Supreme Court overturned the ruling, Judge Salavati presiding over Branch 15 of the Revolutionary Court re-issued Javad Lari’s death sentence and the case went back to the Supreme Court a second time for further review. The Supreme Court struck down the death penalty again and a lower court reduced the sentence to 2 years behind bars.

The charges against Javad Lari stemmed from a visit he made to Iraq in 2008 in an unsuccessful attempt to visit some of his old friends. This trip prompted the authorities to accuse him of being connected with the Mujahedin-e Khalq party (MEK), which Mr. Lari and his lawyers have vehemently denied.

Article in Persian: http://www.rahana.org/archives/47743

http://www.freedomessenger.com/archives/46516

The Revolutionary Guards demand ''confession'' in order to substantiate their cyber ''scenarios''.

Published on Feb 02 2012 // English News, Featured, Human Rights, Political Prisoners

RAHANA-Human Rights House of Iran is very concerned about the reinstatement of Saeed Malekpour’s death sentence, and the revival of the IRGC efforts to extract false confessions from political prisoners under duress.

During the past week, 3 imprisoned web developers Saeed Malekpour, Vahid Asghari, and Hossein Ronaghi Maleki were removed from their cells and interrogated by agents from the Cyber Intelligence Unit of the Revolutionary Guards. These agents who are affiliated with the unit battling organized crime, put great pressure on the prisoners and demanded that they make false televised confessions.

The country’s judiciary, intelligence units, and Revolutionary Guards have a need for “televised confessions” to substantiate their allegations of supposed security crimes.

Human Rights House of Iran points out that these unjust sentences are so obviously illegal that the interrogating and intelligence agents now ask the prisoners to make false confessions for broadcast in return for guarantees such as being granted furlough, having sentences reduced and being transferred to a public ward. This also indicates the degree in which the judiciary and the judges who issue these types of verdicts are under the influence of the intelligence agencies.

The family of blogger Hossein Ronaghi Maleki said to Human Rights House of Iran, “On Tuesday of last week, the interrogators transferred Hossein to solitary confinement and put immense pressure on him, demanding that he agree to making a televised confession.” The agents alluded to the possibility of furlough if Hossein were to cooperate, a right which he has not been granted since he was imprisoned.

Hossein Ronaghi Maleki was arrested on December 3, 2009 and sentenced to 15 years behind bars. Last Saturday interrogating agents told Hossein the reason for this heavy sentence was that he had never been willing to cooperate with them.

On Saturday, imprisoned death row blogger Vahid Asghari was also transferred to solitary confinement and under severe duress was coerced into making another false confession. This imprisoned blogger has been suffering from acute psychological distress due to the relentless torture he was subjected to when he was detained.

On May 8, 2008 Asghari was detained at Imam Khomeini Airport as he was attempting to travel back to India for his thesis presentation and graduation. He was transferred to prison and has been behind bars since then.

Last week Judge Salavati presiding over Branch 15 of the Revolutionary Court issued the death sentence for blogger and student Vahid Asghari who had before his detainment been perusing his undergraduate degree in India.

After the sentencing was handed down, agents from the Cyber Intelligence unit of the Revolutionary Court intimidated Vahid into taking part in the recent televised confession in exchange for a promise of a reduced sentencing and a transfer to the public ward of Evin prison.

Saeed Malekpour has now spent almost 11 months total between solitary cells (6mos) and small cramped cells holding a few prisoners in Ward 2A of Evin prison which is under the control of the Revolutionary Guards and not in the jurisdiction of prison authorities.

Saeed Malekpour, 35 years old, is an Engineering graduate from Sharif University and a web developer who has been held behind bars since his arrest in October 2008.

In November 2010, judge Moghiseh presiding over Branch 28 of the revolutionary court sentenced Saeed to death stemming from the charge of “corruption on earth.” This sentencing was initially struck down but was recently reinstated by the Supreme Court.

In June 2011, after Saeed’s lawyer Mahmoud Alizadeh presented the facts disputing the charges along with his criticism of the unjust sentencing of his client, the Supreme Court acknowledged that there were discrepancies in the case and asked for a further inquiry and review of the indictment. However recently in an illegal proceeding, Branch 28 of the Revolutionary Court with no warning and without adhering to the Supreme Court’s recommendations reinstated the death sentence.

Article in Persian: http://www.rahana.org/archives/47562

http://www.freedomessenger.com/archives/46231

Iraqi forces steal fuel and storage tanks of Ashraf's fuel reservoir

Camp Ashraf – Breach of pledges, No. 19

NCRI - By the order of the Iraqi Prime Ministry Committee tasked to suppress Ashraf residents, since January 27, 2012, Iraqi forces have started digging the earth in the fuel depot in the occupied area north of Ashraf stealing the fuel together with the fuel tanks.

There are sixty-one fuel tanks in the fuel depot area that belong to the residents. Following the 8 April 2011 attack, Iraqi forces prevented residents from using the fuel in these fuel tanks. This is while the Iraqi government has prevented entry of gasoline to Ashraf since February 2011 and entry of diesel fuel since May 2011.

At the same time, Iraqi forces continue to loot residents' property in the Moin Building Complex. This complex that housed 400 residents was occupied by the Iraqi forces in the 8 April 2011 attack.

On January 28, in two rounds, the Iraqi forces stole residents' property, including washing machine, water heater, ironware, etc using their military vehicles.

Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
January 30, 2012

http://www.ncr-iran.org/en/news/ashraf/11657-iraqi-forces-steal-fuel-and-storage-tanks-of-ashrafs-fuel-reservoir

Iranian regime sentences American to death for spying

TEHRAN (AFP) — A former US Marine, who also holds Iranian citizenship, has been sentenced to death by an Iranian judge for spying for the CIA, the Fars news agency reported on Monday.

Amir Mirzai Hekmati, 28, was “sentenced to death for cooperating with a hostile nation, membership of the CIA and trying to implicate Iran in terrorism,” the verdict said, according to Fars.

Hekmati, who was born in the United States to an Iranian immigrant family, was shown on Iranian state television in mid-December saying in fluent Farsi and English that he was a Central Intelligence Agency operative sent to infiltrate the Iranian intelligence ministry.

He had been arrested months earlier.

Iranian officials said his cover was blown by agents for Iran who spotted him at the US-run Bagram military air base in neighbouring Afghanistan.

But Hekmati’s family in the United States told US media he had travelled to Iran to visit his Iranian grandmothers and he was not a spy.

In his sole trial hearing, on December 27, prosecutors relied on Hekmati’s “confession” to say he tried to penetrate the intelligence ministry by posing as a disaffected former US soldier with classified information to give.

The United States has demanded Hekmati’s release.

The State Department said Iran has not permitted diplomats from the Swiss embassy — which handles US interests in the absence of US-Iran ties — to see Hekmati before or during his trial.

http://www.freedomessenger.com/archives/45320

Five women suspiciously die in Varamin Prison

According to reports, in the past two nights, five women suspiciously died in the Qarchak Prison in Varamin. This prison is used to detain female prisoners in Tehran.

During the nights of January 5 and 6, five prisoners suspiciously died in cellblock 4 and 5 in Qarchak Prison. These women’s physical condition deteriorated during the night and despite their cellmates’ efforts in transferring them to the prison infirmary, the infirmary refused to accept and treat them which resulted in their deaths.

The prison infirmary refuses to treat female prisoners who commit suicide, due to pressure from the intolerable prison conditions, which usually leads to their deaths.

The women who passed away in the past two nights are:

1- Fatemeh Mohammadnia, 28, detained in Hall 4

2- Shadi Nikkho, 22, Hall 5

3- Fataneh Abdali, 40, Hall 5

4- Sahar Soleimani, 21, Hall 5

5- Maryam Qods, 30, Hall 5 (Human Rights and Democracy Activists in Iran – Jan. 7, 2012)

http://www.freedomessenger.com/archives/45372

Baha’i student expelled from the University of Zahedan

Shokoufeh Moeddi, a Baha’i and a first semester student of information technology at Payam Nur University in Zahedan, was expelled from the university because of her belief in the Baha’i Faith.

According to the ” Human Rights House of Iran” website, Shokoufeh Moeddi receives a letter from the university on December 31 to the effect that she has been expelled from the university. She goes to the university the next day and asks for the reason for her expulsion.

University officials send her to go to the office of “Protection”. Shokoufeh Moeddi goes to the office of “Protection” and asks them about the reason for her expulsion. At first, the office of “Protection” tells her that she has to go to the Payam Nur University in Tehran to find out about the reason. But after her insistence, they tell her verbally that the reason for her expulsion is her belief in the Baha’I Faith and that the order came from Tehran.

Shokoufeh Moeddi has asked the university for a tuition refund and the university officials requested for her bank account number to deposit the refund. But she has not yet been refunded.

http://www.freedomessenger.com/archives/45382

EU leaders call for more sanctions on Iran

By Sebastian Moffett

BRUSSELS Dec 9 (Reuters) – European Union leaders called on Friday for more sanctions against Iran by the end of January, in an effort to increase pressure on Tehran over its nuclear programme.

The leaders did not make an explicit call for an embargo on Iranian crude oil, which EU diplomats have been discussing this month as a way to respond to mounting concerns that the OPEC producer has worked to design a nuclear weapon.

Instead, they called on their foreign ministers to broaden existing sanctions, which include asset freezes and travel bans on those involved in the nuclear work. EU leaders also called on them to study “additional measures against Iran as a matter of priority and to adopt these measures no later than by its next session”, which is scheduled for Jan. 30.

The International Atomic Energy Agency last month released new evidence confirming international concerns that Iran iseeking the atom bomb. Tehran says its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes only.

Last week, EU foreign ministers agreed to develop new sanctions on Iran’s energy, transport and banking sectors. Diplomats said a ban on imports of Iranian oil into Europe was under discussion.

The sanctions have had an impact on Iran’s economy, experts say, but they have not achieved their aim of stopping work that the West suspects is aimed at developing nuclear weapons.

Iran’s international isolation deepened after protesters stormed two British diplomatic compounds on Nov. 30, smashing windows, torching a car and burning the British flag in protest against new sanctions imposed by London.

Iran is OPEC’s number two oil producer and exports 2.6 million barrels a day, depending heavily on oil revenues.

France, backed by Germany and Britain, has led the push to ban its crude, but some states, notably Greece, have expressed reservations, because of their reliance on Iranian oil.

At a meeting of NATO foreign ministers on Thursday, French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said EU governments were trying to resolve this dilemma. “We are working on these subjects to see how we can ensure that certain European countries are not penalized by an embargo on petroleum exports,” he said. (Reporting By Sebastian Moffett; editing by Mark John)

Two Political Prisoners in Evin Transferred to Hospital

HRANA News Agency – Political prisoners Kobra Amirkhizi and Hussein Ronaghi Maleki were transferred to hospital for urgent medical care.

According to a report by Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), Hussein Ronaghi Maleki has suffered internal bleeding of kidneys and taken to Hasheminejad Hospital in Tehran.Although this political prisoner has several times been transferred to a hospital outside the prison for infection of and bleeding from kidneys, the authorities refuse to grant him furlough for medical care.

Moreover, Kobra Amirkhizi has undergone an eye operation in Labafinejad Hospital. She was then returned to Evin prison following this surgery. Because of the insanitary condition in prison, this political prisoner is in danger of acquiring an eye infection. However, prison officials refuse to acknowledge such a possibility.

UN rights expert starts probing Iran rights abuses

GENEVA (AFP) — A UN expert tasked with investigating alleged human rights abuses in Iran will talk to Iranian activists in France, Germany and Belgium this week after a request to visit the country itself was refused.

United Nations Special Rapporteur Ahmed Shaheed will meet Iranians living in the three countries during a fact-finding mission from November 30 to December 8.

"A visit to the Islamic Republic of Iran would have allowed me to gain better understanding of the situation," Shaheed said in a statement.

"However I will now study a wide range of human rights issues by meeting activists within the Iranian diaspora, alleged victims of human rights violations, intergovernmental and civil society organisations," he said.

The former Maldives foreign minister, appointed Special Rapporteur in June, will report back to the Human Rights Council in March next year.

http://www.iranfocus.com/en/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=24079:un-rights-expert-starts-probing-iran-rights-abuses&catid=5:human-rights&Itemid=27

#press@AFP @AP @Reuters URGENT : New Massacre underway for Camp Ashraf- my city

According to Fars News Agency (State controlled news agency) , Diyala province governor , RAAD Javad Altamimi in an interview with Almotamer newspaper has revealed that new organisational structure has been formed incorporated with Iraqi intelligence and military and police , which are preparing for a new attack on Camp Ashraf under direct control of the Prime minister Al Maliki himself.

He has said in his interview that "despite all restrictions for the Monafeghin(term used by Iranian regime to demonize its opposition MEK/PMOI)  they are still thriving in Iraq.

I appeal to all Humanitariann activists, organisations and institutes to ask Navi Pillay to for once and for all safeguard the prisnciple of  raison d'etre of the UN and prevent the looming massacre!
Ask the US to intervene and prevent the massacre.

SabasMessage : We shall stand till the end