Iran: Massacre in Camp Ashraf in Iraq UNAMI and US urged to provide protection

Iranian opposition leaders savagely murdered

52 members of an Iranian dissident group People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran, PMOI, MEK have been murdered  in an early morning attack at their camp north of Baghdad on Sunday 1 September 2013. The attack was carried out by Iraqi military and special armed forces SWAT under direct command of the office of the prime minister Nori Al-Maliki who has close links to Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei.

Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the President-elect of the Iranian Resistance, described this massacre committed by Al-Maliki’s forces at the order of the religious fascism ruling Iran, a crime against humanity and a war crime.

Iran, Iraq: Ashraf Refugee camp massacre, Nori Al-Maliki responsible fo crimes against humanity

52 members of an Iranian dissident group People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran, PMOI, MEK have been killed in an early morning attack at their camp north of Baghdad on Sunday.

Iraqi security forces raided the camp Ashraf with intention to kill all 100 residents. No mercy on ther wounded refugees. They were killed in clinic while receiving treatment.

The attack, started unexpectedly at 5 a.m. local time (10 p.m. EDT Saturday) and carried on until late in the afternoon, Iraqi security forces tied the Iranian dissidents’ hands behind their backs and shot them in the head, a resident of Camp Ashraf who witnessed the attack said in a phone interview. He requested anonymity out of concern for his safety.

Iran: Camp Ashraf in Iraq, refugees attacked, handcuffed and shot in the head by Nori Al-Maliki Forces

Maryam Rajavi urged the United Nations and US government to take urgent action for protection of the residents by either transferring them all to the United States or settling the UN Blue Helmets in Camps Ashraf and Liberty in order to protect the residents.

Sunday’s  massacre in Ashraf, is a big crime against humanity and a war crime. Machine gunning unarmed and defenceless people while their hands are tied is a crime against humanity by all standards and silence vis-à-vis this crime is complicity in it.

Until Sunday 1 September afternoon at 17:00,  52 residents have been identified as killed in massacre in Ashraf. 

The Iraqi government is telling outrages lies to cover the ongoing massacre at Camp Ashraf. This is while the criminal Iraqi forces who continue to siege Camp Ashraf have not allowed any visit by United Nations Assistance Mission (UNAMI) to Iraq and the United Nations High Commissioner (UNHCR) Representatives to visit the camp for the past 10 hours as the death toll in the camp has reached to 44.

The Iranian Resistance calls on the American Embassy in Baghdad, the European diplomats, journalists and human rights organization based in Iraq to immediately visit Camp Ashraf and witness the ongoing massacre of Camp Ashraf residents.
Source: National Council of Resistance of Iran

British firm with links to William Hague sells 'protester-tracking' product to Iran

William Hague


A British technology firm with links to William Hague, the Foreign Secretary, has sold a product to Iran which could be used to track down protesters.

By Holly Watt, Claire Newell and Helia Ebrahimi

The Telegraph - 07 November, 2011 - Creativity Software sold the product to the regime despite concerns that it has been used to round up activists communicating with their mobile phones.

The main bankroller of the company is MMC Ventures, whose chief executive and chairman both funded Mr Hague’s private office until recently.

SHELTON: Ending hypocrisy of terrorist designation

Friends are branded as enemies while real enemies are appeased

As two current high-profile cases demonstrate, the U.S. government's practice of listing "foreign terrorist organizations" (FTOs) has become an increasingly dangerous and hollow political exercise rather than a sober assessment of the real threats to America.
Last month, Afghanistan's ruthless Haqqani Network reportedly staged a brazen attack against the U.S. Embassy in Kabul. The Haqqanis, who conduct grisly terrorist attacks on hotels, embassies and other targets to advance their agenda to become power brokers in a future political settlement, reportedly are responsible for hundreds of American deaths since 2001. Some American military officers apparently are furious that the Obama administration decided not to designate the Haqqani Network as a terrorist organization because it was feared that listing the group would make it harder for the Afghan government to negotiate with the Haqqanis.

No 2 Ahmadi

Protest Against This Tyrant!

September 22, 2011

New York

Iran hangs a little fish

EDITORIAL: THE WASHINGTON TIMES

A year ago, The Washington Times helped bring the world's attention to the plight of Farzad Kamangar, a Kurdish school- teacher wrongly accused of being a terrorist by the Islamic regime in Tehran. He spent almost four years of physical and mental torture in Iran's prison system. Mr. Kamangar's suffering ceased Sunday at the end of a hangman's noose. He was 34 years old.

Mr. Kamangar was killed along with four other "moharebs" or "enemies of God," whom the regime said were "convicted of carrying out terrorist acts." Three of the cases were still undergoing mandatory review when the executions were rushed through. Phone connections to Tehran's infamous Evin Prison were cut over the weekend while the executions were prepared and carried out. The regime did not notify the families or defense attorneys of the condemned in advance, as required by law - they learned of the execution from a press release. For a regime that claims to be the instrument of God, it behaved more like a criminal cabal with something to hide.

Mr. Kamangar's crime was being a Kurd. He taught at an elementary school in the northwestern Iranian city of Kamyaran, where he was a member of the Kurdistan Teachers Union and wrote for various underground human rights publications. He secretly taught his Kurdish students their banned language and told stories about their culture and history. He was arrested in July 2006 and subjected to beatings, whippings, electric shocks, malnourishment, sleep deprivation, and solitary confinement in cold, squalid cells. His cries of torment were drowned out by loud tapes playing passages from the Koran.

Mr. Kamangar was given a five-minute trial in February 2008. His lawyer, Khalil Bahramian, told The Washington Times by phone from Iran last year that there was "absolutely no evidence against Farzad that connects him to a terrorist group or activity." Farzad, he said, "is a teacher, a poet, a journalist, a human rights activist and a special person." And no such evidence was presented to the court, or was needed for it to make its perfunctory, predetermined ruling.

 In his final letter from prison, Mr. Kamangar related the Iranian story "The Little Black Fish," written in 1967 by the dissident teacher Samad Behrangi, which tells the story of a little fish who defies the rules of his community to embark on a journey to discover the sea. Through many adventures, the little black fish finds freedom, but also an untimely death. "Is it possible to be a teacher and not show the path to the sea to the little fish of the country?" he wrote. "Is it possible to carry the heavy burden of being a teacher and be responsible for spreading the seeds of knowledge and still be silent? Is it possible to see the lumps in the throats of the students and witness their thin and malnourished faces and keep quiet? ... I cannot imagine witnessing the pain and poverty of the people of this land and fail to give our hearts to the river and the sea, to the roar and the flood."

Mr. Kamangar wrote, "The Little Fish calmly swam in the sea and thought: Facing death is not hard for me, nor do I regret it. (Full Story)"

Source:
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/may/11/iran-hangs-a-little-fish/print/

IMMINENT RISK OF EXECUTION IN IRAN PLEASE WRITE IMMEDIATELY

Document - Iran: Imminent risk of execution in Iran

UA: 102/10 Index: MDE 13/047/2010 Iran Date: 30 April 2010

URGENT ACTION

IMMINENT RISK OF EXECUTION IN IRAN

An Iranian man, Ja’far Kazemi, is at imminent risk of execution for his alleged participation in anti-government demonstrations and for his alleged contact with banned opposition group the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI). He could be executed at any time.

Ja’far Kazemi,aged 47,was arrested on 18 or 19 September 2009, after mass anti-government protests which took place on 18 September, and was taken to Evin prison in Tehran. He was accused of participating in the protests, which were attended by hundreds of thousands of people, but was not accused of committing any violent acts. He was sentenced to death for "enmity against God", and is also believed to have been convicted of “propaganda against the system”. He was tried with at least one other man, Mohammad Ali Haj Aghaei, who is believed to have faced similar charges, but Amnesty International has no information about whether he has been sentenced to death. Ja’far Kazemi is reported to have been interrogated by security forces for months, and was pressured to make a televised “confession”, which he refused to do. On 26 April 2010, he learned that his death sentence had been confirmed by an appeal court. His lawyer, who has had limited access to her client, has requested that the Head of the Judiciary’s office conducts an extraordinary review. The execution can still go ahead at any time unless this request is accepted.

Ja’far Kazemi was previously imprisoned for membership of the PMOI in the 1980s or 1990s. One of his sons is a PMOI member and lives in Camp Ashraf, which houses PMOI members in Iraq. Others under sentence of death in connection with the post-election protests are Amir Reza Arefi, Mohammad Amin Valian, Motahareh (Simin) Bahrami, her husband Mohsen Daneshpour Moghaddam, their son Ahmad Daneshpour and two friends Hadi Gha’emi and Rayhaneh Haj Ebrahim, a woman, and Abdolreza Ghanbari.

PLEASE WRITE IMMEDIATELY in Persian, Arabic, English, French or your own language (Please refer to Ja’far Kazemi as "Ja’far Kazemi, son of Bahman" in your appeals, as this will help the authorities to identify him):

    *

      Urging the Iranian authorities not to executeJa’far Kazemi and asking for clarification of Mohammad Ali Haj Aghaei’s legal status and whether he is at risk of execution;

    *

      Urging the authorities to commute all death sentences in Iran, including any imposed in connection with the post-election protests;

    *

      Reminding the Iranian authorities that the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Iran is a state party, states that the death penalty can only be carried out for “the most serious crimes”, which the Human Rights Committee has clarified must be “intentional crimes with lethal or other extremely grave consequences."


PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 11 JUNE 2010 TO:

Head of the Judiciary

Ayatollah Sadegh Larijani

Office of the Head of the Judiciary

Pasteur St., Vali Asr Ave., south of Serah-e Jomhouri, Tehran, 1316814737

Islamic Republic of Iran

Email: Via website: http://www.dadiran.ir/tabid/75/Default.aspx

First starred box: your given name; second starred box: your family name; third: your email address

Salutation: Your Excellency


Leader of the Islamic Republic

Ayatollah Sayed ‘Ali Khamenei

The Office of the Supreme Leader

Islamic Republic Street – End of Shahid Keshvar Doust Street, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran

Email: info_leader@leader.ir

via website: http://www.leader.ir/langs/en/index.php?p=letter (English)

Salutation: Your Excellency

And copies to:

Secretary General, High Council for Human Rights

Mohammad Javad Larijani

Howzeh Riassat-e Ghoveh Ghazaiyeh

Pasteur St, Vali Asr Ave., south of Serah-e Jomhuri

Tehran 1316814737

Islamic Republic of Iran

Fax: +98 21 3390 4986

Email: bia.judi@yahoo.com (In subject line: FAO Mohammad Javad Larijani

Also send copies to diplomatic representatives of Iran accredited to your country. Please check with your section office if sending appeals after the above date.

Source:
http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/MDE13/047/2010/en/9b80b1d5-0a06-4eaf-b980-d219adf26db4/mde130472010en.html

Iran wins a seat on the U. N. Commission on the Status of Women

Your U.N. at Work!

Last week Iran won a seat at the U.N.'s Commission on the Status of Women, the mission of which is to "set global standards and formulate concrete policies to promote gender equality and advancement of women worldwide." Call it another example of your U.N. at work.

We're told Iran's victory was due to a dearth of competition for the spot. Heaven forfend the commission should let a vacancy go unfilled, rather than elect a regime that recently announced it would arrest suntanned women, and which has blamed provocative female dress for earthquakes.

Those are just the most recent outrages, but far from the most serious. The world—along with, apparently, the U.N.'s "principal global policy-making body" for equal gender rights—has grown used to Tehran denying women's right to choose their own husbands; the right to protection against violence; and the right to seek custody of their children in the event of divorce. Death-by-stoning for "adulterous" women is another of the Islamic Revolution's contributions to the advancement of women. Iran's penal code doesn't recognize rape as a distinct offense, and allows a man to murder his wife and her lover if he catches them in the act, according to Freedom House.

So it's no coincidence that female activists have been at the forefront of Iran's democracy movement. They have the most to gain and the least to lose from liberalization. According to Iran's Feminist School group, 68 female anti-discrimination activists were arrested in Iran between July 2008 and February 2009, well before last June's fraudulent elections swept other groups into the country's democracy movement.

Iranian women, certainly, can smell the fraud. Consider the letter opposing Iran's appointment to the Commission, signed by 214 Iranian women's-rights activists, both inside Iran and in exile, and endorsed by groups such as "Women Living Under Muslim Law." The letter warns that "the Iranian government will certainly use this opportunity to curtail progress and the advancement of women."

Ending the kind of nightmares lived by Iranian women was precisely what Eleanor Roosevelt had in mind in 1946, when she read an open letter to "the women of the world" that would help inspire the U.N.'s women's commission. Its goals were lofty and remain as important. Reality, as practiced by the UN, has been otherwise.

Source:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704608104575219663720214920.html?mod=WSJ_latestheadlines

Report Details Torture at Secret Baghdad Prison

By SAM DAGHER

BAGHDAD — The torture of Iraqi detainees at a secret prison in Baghdad was far more systematic and brutal than initially reported, Human Rights Watch reported on Tuesday.

The existence of the prison, which housed mostly Sunni Arab prisoners, has created a political furor in Iraq, prompted government denials and fanned sectarian tensions.

“Abu Ghraib was a picnic” compared with the secret prison, said Sheik Abdullah Humedi Ajeel al-Yawar, one of the most influential Sunni Arab tribal leaders in the northern province of Nineveh, where the detainees were rounded up by Iraqi soldiers based on suspicions that they had links to the insurgency and brought to Baghdad with little due process. Abu Ghraib is the prison at which American guards tortured Iraqi prisoners, severely damaging Iraqis’ trust in the United States.

Human Rights Watch gained access on Monday to about 300 male detainees transferred from the once secret prison at the Old Muthanna military airfield to the Rusafa prison in Baghdad and documented its findings, which it described as “credible and consistent,” in a draft report provided to The New York Times on Tuesday by the rights group.

The group said it had interviewed 42 detainees who displayed fresh scars and wounds. Many said they were raped, sodomized with broomsticks and pistol barrels, or forced to engage in sexual acts with one another and their jailers.

All said they were tortured by being hung upside down and then whipped and kicked before being suffocated with a plastic bag. Those who passed out were revived, they said, with electric shocks to their genitals and other parts of their bodies.

“The horror we found suggests torture was the norm in Muthanna,” said Joe Stork, deputy director of the Middle East program at Human Rights Watch. Mr. Stork called on the Iraqi government to conduct a thorough investigation and prosecute all officials “responsible for this systematic brutality.”

The prison’s discovery comes at a delicate time for Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, who is vigorously working to keep power after his coalition narrowly lost the March 7 national elections.

The revelations could further polarize Iraqis, still coming to grips with the scars of the sectarian conflict between 2005 and 2007. All those held at the secret prison before it was shut down were brought to Baghdad from Sunni Arab areas in Nineveh where Mr. Maliki, a Shiite, is largely perceived as a sectarian leader with a personal vendetta against anyone associated with the former Sunni-led government of Saddam Hussein.

Sheik Abdullah Humedi, the tribal leader from Nineveh, warned that the torture revelations had once more inflamed sectarian passions and could plunge the country into a fresh cycle of violence.

“This breeds extremism,” he said. “In our country a man who is raped will commit suicide, and how do you think he will do it?”

At least 505 cases of torture were documented in Iraqi prisons in 2009, according to a report released by the State Department in March.

In an interview broadcast on Monday night on the government-controlled Iraqiya television station, Mr. Maliki by turns denied, played down and distanced himself from the latest torture allegations. He described them as “lies” and “a smear campaign” hatched by foreign embassies and the media and then perpetuated by his political rivals.

“There are no secret prisons in Iraq at all,” he said.

Mr. Maliki described the prison at Muthanna as a transit site under the control of the Ministry of Defense, which used it for a “specific period.” He said that seven judges operated at the prison and that most of the approximately 430 detainees held there were transferred to the Rusafa prison. The rest were freed before the existence of the site was first reported last week.

Mr. Maliki maintained that a group of lawmakers from rival political factions visited the prison this year and instructed the prisoners to make false charges and to give themselves scars by “rubbing matches on some of their body parts.”

Nonetheless, Mr. Maliki said that he ordered an investigation and that several officers at the prison were being interrogated.

“America is the symbol of democracy, but then you have the abuses at Abu Ghraib,” Mr. Maliki said. “The American government took tough measures, and we are doing the same, so where is the problem and why this raucousness?”

Mr. Maliki’s comments appeared to contradict information provided by a minister in his own government, officials at the United States Embassy in Baghdad and the latest Human Rights Watch findings.

Wijdan Salim, minister of human rights, said in an interview last week that she insisted on visiting the secret prison after learning of its existence and that she found evidence of abuses that were “against human rights and the law.” Furthermore, the prison was under the control of the Baghdad Operations Command, a security task force answering directly to Mr. Maliki.

While investigative judges were stationed at the secret prison, they appeared to be complicit in the torture, according to Human Rights Watch.

A judge “heard cases in a room down the hall from one of the torture chambers,” the prisoners told Human Rights Watch.

One of the detainees, a former Iraqi Army general who uses a wheelchair and who holds British citizenship, said he was tortured by 10 people: 6 soldiers and 4 members of the investigative team.

“They applied electricity to my penis and sodomized me with a stick,” he told Human Rights Watch. “I was forced to sign a confession that they would not let me read.”

Another detainee, a 21-year-old who was arrested at his home in Mosul in December, said that during one torture session he was blindfolded, handcuffed, stripped naked and then raped by another prisoner as the wardens laughed at his screams of pain.

A third detainee, who was also arrested in December, said that he had been strung upside down and severely beaten to the point where some of his ribs were broken and that he had suffered concussions. The beatings caused him to “urinate blood for days,” he said. The same man said two wardens threatened him with rape unless he had sex with another prisoner.

“Security officials whipped detainees with heavy cables, pulled out finger and toenails, burned them with acid and cigarettes, and smashed their teeth,” Human Rights Watch said.

Source:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/28/world/middleeast/28baghdad.html

Secret prison revealed in Baghdad

Forces under the office of Prime Minister Maliki held hundreds of Sunni men at the facility. The U.S. fears that the news will stoke instability.

By Ned Parker

Los Angeles Times - Reporting from Baghdad - Hundreds of Sunni men disappeared for months into a secret Baghdad prison under the jurisdiction of Prime Minister Nouri Maliki's military office, where many were routinely tortured until the country's Human Rights Ministry gained access to the facility, Iraqi officials say.

The men were detained by the Iraqi army in October in sweeps targeting Sunni groups in Nineveh province, a stronghold of the group Al Qaeda in Iraq and other militants in the north. The provincial governor alleged at the time that ordinary citizens had been detained as well, often without a warrant.

Worried that courts would order the detainees' release, security forces obtained a court order and transferred them to Baghdad, where they were held in isolation. Human rights officials learned of the facility in March from family members searching for missing relatives.

Revelation of the secret prison could worsen tensions at a highly sensitive moment in Iraq. As U.S. troops are withdrawing, Maliki, a Shiite Muslim, and other political officials are negotiating the formation of a new government. Including minority Sunni Arabs is considered by many to be key to preventing a return of widespread sectarian violence. Already there has been an increase in attacks by Al Qaeda in Iraq, a Sunni extremist group.

The alleged brutal treatment of prisoners at the facility raised concerns that the country could drift back to its authoritarian past.

Commanders initially resisted efforts to inspect the prison but relented and allowed visits by two teams of inspectors, including Human Rights Minister Wijdan Salim. Inspectors said they found that the 431 prisoners had been subjected to appalling conditions and quoted prisoners as saying that one of them, a former colonel in President Saddam Hussein's army, had died in January as a result of torture.

"More than 100 were tortured. There were a lot of marks on their bodies," said an Iraqi official familiar with the inspections. "They beat people, they used electricity. They suffocated them with plastic bags, and different methods."

An internal U.S. Embassy report quotes Salim as saying that prisoners had told her they were handcuffed for three to four hours at a time in stress positions or sodomized.

"One prisoner told her that he had been raped on a daily basis, another showed her his undergarments, which were entirely bloodstained," the memo reads.

Some described guards extorting as much as $1,000 from prisoners who wanted to phone their families, the memo said.

Maliki vowed to shut down the prison and ordered the arrest of the officers working there after Salim presented him with a report this month. Since then, 75 detainees have been freed and an additional 275 transferred to regular jails, Iraqi officials said. Maliki said in an interview that he had been unaware of the abuses. He said the prisoners had been sent to Baghdad because of concerns about corruption in Mosul.

"The prime minister cannot be responsible for all the behavior of his soldiers and staff," said Salim, praising Maliki's willingness to root out abuses. Salim, a Chaldean Christian, ran for parliament in last month's elections on Maliki's Shiite-dominated list.

Maliki defended his use of special prisons and an elite military force that answers only to him; his supporters say he has had no choice because of Iraq's precarious security situation. Maliki told The Times that he was committed to stamping out torture -- which he blamed on his enemies.

"Our reforms continue, and we have the Human Rights Ministry to monitor this," he said. "We will hold accountable anybody who was proven involved in such acts."

But Maliki's critics say the network of special military units with their own investigative judges and interrogators are a threat to Iraq's fragile democracy. They question how Maliki could not have known what was going on at the facility, and say that regardless, he is responsible for what happened there.

"The prison is Maliki's becauseit's not under the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Justice or Ministry of Interior officially," said one Iraqi security official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the topic.

The revelations echoed those at the beginning of Iraq's sectarian war. In late 2005, the U.S. military found a secret prison in an Interior Ministry bunker where Sunnis rounded up in police sweeps were held.

The latest episode, the U.S. Embassy report warns, could exacerbate tensions between Iraq's Shiite majority and Sunnis even with the facility closed.

U.S. troops already have pulled out of Iraq's cities, and Iraqi officials say U.S. influence is diminishing as the Americans focus on ending their military presence. The number of U.S. troops in Iraq is scheduled to drop by about half, to 50,000, by the end of August.

The embassy report cautions that "disclosure of a secret prison in which Sunni Arabs were systematically tortured would not only become an international embarrassment, but would also likely compromise the prime minister's ability to put together a viable government coalition with him at the helm."

Maliki's main political rival, Iyad Allawi, narrowly defeated him in parliamentary elections last month. Allawi, a secular Shiite, drew on dissatisfaction in Sunni regions around central Iraq. In the interview, Maliki invited Allawi to join him in forming a new government. But news of a secret prison that falls under the jurisdiction of the prime minister's military office could make it difficult for him to gain any Sunni partners.

The controversy over the secret prison, located at the Old Muthanna airport in west Baghdad, has also pushed Maliki to begin relinquishing control of two other detention facilities at Camp Honor, a base in Baghdad's Green Zone. The base belongs to the Baghdad Brigade and the Counter-Terrorism Force, elite units that report to the prime minister and are responsible for holding high-level suspects.

Families and lawyers say they find it nearly impossible to visit the Camp Honor facilities. The Justice Ministry is now assuming supervision of the Green Zone jails, although Maliki's offices will continue to command directly the military units.

The 431 detainees brought down from Nineveh were initially held at Camp Honor. Interrogations began after they were transferred to the prison at the Old Muthanna airport.

According to the U.S. Embassy report and interviews with Iraqi officials, two separate investigative committees questioned the detainees and abused them. During the day, there were interrogators from the Iraqi judiciary. In the late afternoon they came from the Baghdad Brigade.

The embassy report says that at least four of the investigators from the Baghdad Brigade are believed to have been indicted for torture in 2006. The charges against them at the time included selling Sunni Arab detainees held at a national police facility to Shiite militias to be killed.

In December, the Human Rights Ministry asked the judiciary to investigate Baghdad Brigade interrogators over allegations of torture at Camp Honor, but hasn't received an answer, Iraqi officials said.

With the secret facility at the old airport being shut down, and both Maliki and Salim, the human rights minister, hailing what they regard as progress, some Iraqis with knowledge of the security apparatus say they are worried that nothing will really change.

One former lawmaker with great knowledge of the prime minister's security offices called for radical change in the next government. "This is the beginning. We have to hold people accountable," the former lawmaker said. "It's a coverup of torture."

Source:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/middleeast/la-fg-iraq-prison19-2010apr19,0,7841354.story

Iran's Uprising Prospects After February 11: Escalation or Decline?

The Hoffington Post - March 15- On the eve of Chaharchanbeh Souri (Festival of Fire), on the last Tuesday of the Iranian year, which is another occasion for the Iranian people to vent their anger at the regime and express the yearning for change, a review of what happened on the anniversary of the anti-Monarchic revolution on February 11 might offer some insights as to what to expect next as far as the post-June uprisings in Iran is concerned.

This is important because in the aftermath of February 11, a day widely expected to witness the continuation of massive opposition protests in Iran, some in the U.S. media lamented "the relative silence of the opposition"[1] and its "... fail[ure] to mount a presence."[2] At times, this typical perplexity, which gripped the minds of many Iran observers and reporters, even came to the conclusion that, "activists in Iran's political opposition have been left demoralized."[3]

But, such a focus on the perceived "Day of final action" and short-term material gains or losses for the opposition emanates from a lack of understanding of the considerable struggle and sacrifices required to bring another revolution in Iran. It also runs the risk of glossing over the important, perhaps vital, lessons that should be learned from the February 11 experience.

The most significant protest before February 11 erupted nearly a month and a half prior on December 27 (the religious day of Ashura), which rattled the regime's foundations. That is why the regime pushed full-throttle to curb further protests, with various officials joining a chorus of intimidating threats and "ultimatums" against protesters. Consider a small sample of publicly broadcast statements:

Commander of the State Security Forces (SSF), Ismaeel Ahmadi Moghaddam: "There will be absolutely no tolerance ... This time around the police action and the judicial response will be more severe."[4]

Mostafa Mohammad Najjar, Interior Minister: "[Protestors] are moharebs [enemies of God]. And the fate of a mohareb today is absolutely clear [death sentence]. We are issuing this ultimatum."[5]

State-run TV: "Two of the culprits of recent riots were hanged today on charges of moharebeh."[6]

Abol-Ghassem Salavati, judge of Tehran's 15th Branch of the Revolutionary Court, speaking to defendants: "You are charged with moharebeh through conscious, deliberate, and effective support, contact, and cooperation with the terrorist grouplet MEK [The Mujahedin-e Khalq]."[7]

Ministry of Intelligence: "More than 10 people, known members of the anti-revolutionary camp, have been arrested."[8]

These threats complemented the widespread arrests of activists and key protest organizers[9] in order to shut off the engine of the uprising.

In his message to the people of Iran following the February 11 anniversary, Massoud Rajavi, the leader of the exiled Iranian Resistance*[10], elaborated on the regime's suppressive campaign, which culminated in an unprecedentedly dense militarism.[11]

More than 70,000 armed forces, under the command of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the mullahs' loyal protectors, transformed Tehran into a war zone. Specifically, these included six combat brigades and several back-up battalions (numbering 15,000 in total), 200 paramilitary Bassij battalions (40,000 strong), four SSF brigades from special anti-riot units (totaling 6,000 forces), 5,000 forces from 92 police and SSF bases, and 4,000 armed intelligence agents.

Several layers of forces, backed by the Bassij, prevented protesters from reaching Azadi (Freedom) Square. According to TIME magazine, "On Revolution Street, which stretches from Azadi Square eastward, tens of thousands of police forces as well as paramilitary Bassij were standing guard."[12]

Despite these measures, however, thousands took to the streets. Once again, pictures of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and his predecessor, Khomeini, were taken down and burnt, while the chants of freedom and "death to dictator" rang louder. In Tehran's northwestern district of Sadeqiya, angry protesters were in virtual control, forcing the police and the Bassij to flee the area and setting government buses on fire.

As if that headache was not enough, the regime encountered another disgraceful defeat. Despite thousands of buses brought to Tehran,[13] the number of people taking part in the government-organized rally was far fewer than in previous years. And, contrary to every other year, there were no marches on Azadi Street. Empty parts of Azadi Square were clearly noticeable by pictures even published by state-run news agencies like Mehr.[14]

The Essential Question of Leadership
There is no question that the February 11 uprising could have reached a higher apex. The most obvious and basic constraining factor in this regard was the dense militarism led by the IRGC. Although the most essential motivating ideological force for the IRGC is the export of Islamic fundamentalism through the use of terrorism, starting two-and-a-half years ago, as crises piled up, the IRGC started to play a more predominant role in domestic crackdown. In September 2007, Mohammad Ali Jafari, then-new commander of the IRGC, declared "confronting domestic threats" to be the IRGC's new strategy "enabling it to act appropriately in the face of the enemy's political, social and security threats."[15]

Some pundits argued that in the face of the IRGC's growing role in domestic crackdown, the uprising was in decline after the protests on February 11 did not meet expectations. This conclusion ignores two important realities on the ground.

First, aside from the fact that it would be impossible to sustain such a show of force for a prolonged period of time, the indisputable fact is that the perceived aura and real hegemony of the regime's cornerstone (supreme leader) has been shattered irrevocably in the course of the post-June 2009 protests.

Second, contrary to what some Iran analysts have suggested, the forces calling for overthrow of the regime have not become aloof, pessimistic and demoralized. They seek more not less; they demonstrated this by rising up once again on February 11 while exhibiting as much courage as they possibly could under the circumstances.

Despite defying the regime's unprecedented show of force, however, demonstrators are looking for genuine leadership and organization.[16] Indeed, in a situation where society has reached an explosive state and the regime is on the brink, the primary issue revolves around what the alternative force and who the leadership are. These determine the strategic path the uprising will ultimately take. In the present circumstances, on the whole, there are only two general paths available. One is to preserve and reform the current regime from within; the other is to overthrow the regime in its totality in favor of democratic change.

If history is any guide, the Tehran regime has proven itself to be incapable of reform. Indeed, four years ago, Khamenei explicitly warned, "Any retreat ... would generate an endless chain of pressures and further retreats."[17] So, central to the debate is who can walk the path of democratic change most proficiently?

Obviously, Mir Hossein Mousavi and other leaders of the defeated faction did not rise to the occasion. As the uprising escalated, prompting greater trepidation within the ruling faction, Mousavi quickly distanced himself from the millions in the streets, saying in a statement, "With regards to the Ashura ceremonies, despite countless requests, neither Mehdi Karroubi, nor Mohammad Khatami nor I or my friends issued a statement."[18]

Moreover, Mousavi kowtowed to Khamenei's main demand by lashing out against the Mujahedin-e Khalq (PMOI/MEK),[19] and once again affirming loyalty to the regime's constitution. "I deem it necessary to affirm the identity of ourselves and the Green Movement as Islamic, nationalistic, opposed to foreign domination and loyal to the constitution,"[20] he emphasized. He even withdrew his earlier challenge to the illegitimacy of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's presidency. Instead, he demanded "direct declaration of accountability by the [current] government before the people, the Majlis and the Judiciary."[21]

On February 9, a set of 23 guidelines about the February 11 rally was published by the "collective wisdom of the Green Movement."[22] The authors pleaded against chanting "uncharacteristic" slogans such as "death to dictator," recommending instead "dignified and respectful slogans."

Such a retreat did not impress Khamenei, who was obviously not content with anything less than complete surrender. One of his allies, the Qom Friday prayer leader, said, "Some people who were deceived during these incidents stubbornly struck the same tune as the US. In addition to expressing remorse and asking for forgiveness, these people must prepare themselves for divine punishment."[23]

Mousavi's de facto capitulation raised questions as to whether he truly posses the capability to be the leader who can change and overthrow the regime or at least reform it. If he and likeminded politicians could exhibit that capacity or willpower, which is contingent upon rejecting the velayat-e faqih [absolute clerical rule], then, as Mr. Rajavi emphasized, other political forces, including the MEK, should accept their hegemony while maintaining their own independent viewpoints. However, sadly, the events of the past months, especially after Ashura, have proven the exact opposite.

In the face of Mousavi's repeated retreats, the regime has placed growing attention on the MEK as its main target and chief existential threat in the midst of popular protests. A forum affiliated with Khamenei wrote, "Today, Mr. Mousavi is facing a terrible dilemma ... Only a few rioters remain who do not even take orders from him, but rather comply with the commands sent from London, Washington, Haifa, and Camp Ashraf."[24]

Home to more than 3,400 MEK members, who are considered protected persons under the Geneva Conventions, Camp Ashraf (Iraq) acts as an inspiration to protesters in Iran, especially women and young people, who seek democratic change. For this reason, it is a major thorn in the regime's eye.

Two days after the Ashura uprising, in a government-staged rally in Tehran, Ahmad Alam-ol-hoda, Friday prayer leader of Mashhad, acknowledged, "The Monafeqin [Mujahedin] commanded the actions carried out on Ashura. The rioters chanted the same slogans that had been published on [MEK's] website since December 7 [Student Day]. So, the unrest on Ashura was directed by the [MEK]."[25] On February 2, the ruling faction even attributed the slogans chanted by Mousavi's supporters to the MEK, warning, "The placards, chants and shouts are written with the MEK's green pen."[26]

Khamenei's goal is clear: Force Mousavi into retreat in Tehran and suppress the MEK in Camp Ashraf. For the regime, the MEK poses the most serious threat capable of leading the popular protests towards democratic change, because of its presence in Ashraf along the Iranian border and vast organizational capabilities inside Iran.[27]

Following the 2003 Iraq War, the regime's allies in Baghdad exerted enormous pressure on MEK members in Ashraf at the behest of the regime. But, since the start of the uprisings, those measures have been immeasurably intensified after repeated requests by the regime and its Supreme Leader.[28]

Conclusion
So, in addition to the dense militarism and the role of the IRGC acting as the "basis," it is evident that the leadership factor was the defining "condition" which could have completely changed the outcome of the February 11 uprising.

That being said, the nine-month long uprising has ascended and, regardless of crackdown, it will not decline. Rather, it will escalate further and guide future developments along the lines of toppling the clerical regime and establishing democracy in Iran. The most essential factor in this equation is leadership and organization, which can lead to an enduring alternative for democratic change after unseating the ruling theocracy.

Endnotes:
[1] "Iran's Anniversary: Where Was the Opposition?" TIME, February 11, 2010
[2] Ibid.
[3] "Iranian opposition demoralized after failed protests at revolution's anniversary," by Thomas Erdbrink, Washington Post, February 20, 2010

[4] Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting, IRIB, December 30, 2009.
[5] Ibid, January 3, 2010.
[6] Ibid, December 29, 2009.
[7] Ibid, January 18, 2010.
[8] Ibid, December 29, 2009.
[9] For example, the names and particulars of more than 5,000 active opponents from various parts of Tehran were entered by the regime's agents into electronic databases.
*[10] Iranian Resistance generally refers to the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), a 530-member Parliament-in-exile, which also includes five different Iranian opposition organizations. It was formed in 1981 and seeks the establishment of a pluralist, secular republic. The Mujahedin-e Khalq is the largest member organization in the NCRI.
[11] Massoud Rajavi, "Lessons from February 11th," broadcast on Simay-e Azadi, Iran National Television, February12, 2010. http://mojahedin.com/pages/detailsNews.aspx?newsid=53750.
[12] "Iran's Anniversary: Where Was the Opposition?" TIME, February 11, 2010
[13] "From early morning [the regime] bussed in tens of thousands of supporters to fill Azadi Square for the official celebrations. Opposition websites said that they were lured by free food and drinks. Other sources said that government employees were compelled to attend." See "Iranian regime ships in support for anniversary celebrations," The Times, February 12, 2010.
[14] http://www.mehrnews.com/mehr_media/image/2010/02/514341_orig.jpg
[15] BBC, September 29, 2007.
[16] One routinely comes across statements like these: "We have lost our fear but we need to know where to go with our new-found courage" (See "Iranian regime ships in support for anniversary celebrations," The Times, February 12, 2010 ). Or: "Our movement needs new tactics, but I have no idea what we should do," Thomas Erdbrink, "Iranian opposition demoralized after failed protests at revolution's anniversary," Washington Post, February 20, 2010 ).
[17] Khamenei's speech, State radio, March 14, 2006.
[18] Kalame website, January 1, 2010: http://www.kaleme.org/1388/10/11/klm-7047.
[19] "As a loyalist, I say that the MEK have died in virtue of their own treachery and crimes. You should not resurrect them for the sake of scoring factional points or taking revenge."
[20] Ibid.
[21] Ibid.
[22] Irani Sezavar-e Irani ("An Iran deserving of Iranians") website, February 9, 2010, http://greenmovement.blogsky.com/1388/11/20/post-52/
[23] Talay-e Daaran (Vanguards) website, February 19, 2010, http://talaieh-daran.blogspot.com/
[24] Tribun-e Azad (Free Podium), February 9, 2010. http://www.tanews.ir/details.php?cat=latestnews&id=1547
[25] IRIB, op. cit.
[26] Raja News, February 2, 2010.
[27] "Five Iranians Facing Trial Belong To Exile Group," Reuters News Agency, January 8, 2010, IRNAhttp://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKLDE6071LE
[28] Document - Iraq: Human rights briefing, Amnesty International, March 1, 2010. http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/MDE14/004/2010/en/20f0c384-7dc6-409d-a0fb-767c349ef41c/mde140042010en.html

Source:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ali-safavi/irans-uprising-prospects_b_498789.html

Iranian women for a Democratic Change

President of National Council of Resistance of Iran Maryam Rajavi attends a meeting of MEP from different political groups on 23 February, 2010 at the European Parliament.

The Iranian opposition leader urges the EU to impose sanctions against Iran's Revolutionary Guards and place them on a European list of banned terrorist organizations.

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Excerpts of Speech by

Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, President-Elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran in the European Parliament, 23 February 2010

Courageous Iranian women are the forerunners in the uprising to topple the most barbaric dictatorship in the world today. They are mothers who gather in different parts of Tehran and urge the citizens to continue the uprising for freedom. They are young girls who have been imprisoned in recent months and are waging a resistance against the henchmen's tortures, insults and assaults. They are women who are leading the people in the course of the uprising.

It is no coincidence that Neda [Agha Soltan] became a symbol of the Iranian people’s uprising and that her image inspired respect for and solidarity with the Iranian people around the world.

The struggle of Iranian women against religious dictatorship has matured in an organized resistance movement, such that the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI), which is the principal movement in our resistance, is led entirely by women. Moreover, women comprise half the membership in the Resistance's parliament.

The first concerns with women’s participation in leadership positions which supplies the dynamism and vitality for this resistance's perseverance and progress.

Second is the impact of women's active presence in rejecting any capitulation to the dictatorship.

Third is the influence that women's presence has on creating a new humane culture and set of relations as well as on growing solidarity.

The fourth reality concerns the decisive role of women in bringing down the ruling regime

And finally, the role of women as a guarantor for lasting democracy and development in tomorrow's Iran.

Allow me to repeat what I said years ago in a major gathering of Iranians in London when addressing the mullahs ruling Iran: "You have done your utmost to humiliate, suppress, torture and slaughter Iranian women. But rest assured that your system of oppression will be eradicated everywhere by the same enlightened, liberated and emancipated women."

As the uprising continues, it is necessary for me to point out the attitude of the Iranian Resistance toward the defeated faction of the regime, which was declared from the outset of the protests. We have consistently condemned all assaults against them by the ruling faction. Moreover, the Resistance's leader, Massoud Rajavi, has stressed, "We welcome any attempts by the defeated faction to distance itself from velayat-e faqih [absolute clerical rule]. This is not merely a desire but a patriotic duty to prove our sincerity and commitment to the overthrow of the regime."

As far as women's issues are concerned, they have distanced themselves greatly from the demands of Iranian women.

Iranian women, of course, seek the overthrow of the religious dictatorship. But, I can raise a very simple yardstick: abolishing of forced veiling, which was ratified by the National Council of Resistance of Iran in 1987.

Inspired by the genuine Islam, we emphasize freedom, including women's freedom in choosing their clothing and attire and we reject any compulsion or obligation in this respect. This is what the Quran means by stating "there is no compulsion in religion."

Let any woman to be free in choosing what to wear or not to wear.

Sentencing women to imprisonment or 74 lashes because of the type of their clothing is a barbaric law.

We seek:

• The establishment of a republic based on the separation of church and state
• Pluralism and respect for human rights
• Abolishment of the death penalty in Iran after the fall of the clerical regime
• A non-nuclear Iran

Gender equality occupies a significant place in our viewpoints and programs for tomorrow's Iran. Details of these viewpoints are at your disposal. In tomorrow's Iran, all individual freedoms for women must be recognized, including freedom in choosing one's clothing, freedom of belief and religion, and freedom to marry and divorce, as well as freedom of choosing an occupation and travel. We believe in complete equality in social, political, cultural and economic rights between women and men. We particularly emphasize that women must have equal participation in the country's political leadership.

The clerical dictatorship has stepped up its policies of suppression and terrorism in all arenas in an attempt to forestall its overthrow.

Inside Iran, it has resorted to widespread arrests and increasing pressure and torture on political prisoners. Simultaneously, it has dispatched teams of agents from the Intelligence Ministry and the terrorist Qods Force agents to the gate of Camp Ashraf, embarking on an abhorrent psychological warfare to set the stage for carrying out another round of massacre against the residents of Ashraf.

In Iraq, it has attempted to highjack the upcoming parliamentary elections in March. It has also accelerated its nuclear weapons program and extended the range of its missiles to Europe.

The truth is that today, the sweeping aside of the main obstacle to democracy and freedom in Iran and the elimination of the grave danger to global peace and security have both merged into a single issue.

In the face of this danger, we all know that the European Troika talks in recent years, the policy of offering packages of incentives by the P5+1, and the US attempts at rapprochement over the past year, have all failed to produce any results other than emboldening the regime. They also failed to prevent the mullahs from getting closer to the nuclear bomb.

Fortunately, there are now growing calls being heard for imposing sanctions on the regime and blocking of the Revolutionary Guards.

But, these calls will only be taken seriously if the European Union and the US undertake specific and serious measures. These measures do not even rely on Security Council approval. They can be launched from right here in Europe.

Therefore, on behalf of all the arisen people of Iran, especially Iranian women, I call on the the European Union to:

1. Undertake effective and practical measures to confront the wave of suppression, arrests, show trials, sentencing of opponents on the charge of Moharebeh [“waging war against God”] and executions of political prisoners.

To this end, I propose that you form a special committee to address the flagrant and systematic violations of human rights in Iran, including the conditions of prisons, political prisoners, the families of prisoners and political activists and the families of the residents of Ashraf.

2. Conduct a comprehensive investigation into the circumstances of female political prisoners in Iran, especially the systematic and premeditated crime of rape against the prisoners.

3. Shut down its extensive and active back-up institutions operating right here in Europe in order to counterbalance the suppression of the Iranian people by the Revolutionary Guards, The Guards has numerous front companies in Europe, which are active in France, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Italy and are involved in procurement of equipment and material for the suppression of the Iranian people as well as for the development of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles. We expect the Council of Ministers to shut down all these companies.

4. Prevent the growth of the influence of the Revolutionary Guards in Iraq is an imperative in every respect. It is common knowledge that after occupying Iraq, the United States committed an even greater blunder by giving a share of Iraq's leadership to the mullahs' proxies and a part of the Qods Force.

Today, the most senior US commander in the region admits that the committee which eliminated the leaders of Iraq's nationalist parties from the list of election candidates is affiliated with the Qods Force. Nevertheless, the US continues to engage the very same Qods Force elements in Iraq.

5. Shut down the intelligence network of the mullahs' regime operating in various EU countries. They are actively engaged in espionage against the opposition and limiting of the Iranian society's breathing room. Western services are profoundly aware of the details of their activities. The religious dictatorship's spies are sleeper cells for terrorism against the people of Europe. The time has come to uproot them.

Unleash the Opposition to Sanction Iran

By: Roger Gale

The Huffington Post - Ever since the 2002 revelations by an Iranian opposition group detailing Tehran's clandestine nuclear program, Iran has been the foreign policy nightmare which has baffled United States Presidents and Secretaries of State. Sidelined by the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, Iran's nuclear defiance was ignored at times as other crises in the region took precedence. Now, as Tehran forges ahead with its nuclear program, there can be little doubt that the single largest policy decision the current President must take is how to deal with the threat posed by the Iranian regime.

In the lead up to his election, President Obama long advocated a policy of engagement with rogue states, and his strategy in dealing with the Iranian threat has centered on dialogue and diplomacy. Many believe that the President had pinned his hopes on a conviction that in the June 2009 Iranian Presidential elections Mahmoud Ahmadinejad would be replaced by elements within the regime that had a greater interest in listening to proposals put forward by the US.

The President's belief may well have been based on sound foreign policy. However, the election of less radical elements within the regime never materialized in an election overshadowed by allegations of widespread fraud, and the President has found himself face to face with a man who has conclusively stated that Iran's nuclear program is not up for negotiation.

The days, weeks and months that have passed since that hotly contested presidential election have meant that Obama is faced with an Iranian regime whose hardcore element has rallied around its own President as widespread protests amongst the Iranian population call for an end to the rule of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Whether negotiations, diplomacy and engagement were ever tools which could have convinced Tehran's leaders to step back from their nuclear ambitions is questionable, but internal developments in Iran have meant that this regime will not and simply cannot negotiate if it wants to survive in its current form.

The Iranian people's widespread protests calling for an end to the rule of the Iranian leadership has in a strange twist of fate forced Tehran's leadership to show their cards on the nuclear front, cards which have indicated to the international community that engagement and incentives will have no impact on their nuclear ambitions and continued nuclear defiance.

The question now raised is whether the international community is willing to impose the further financial sanctions that may bring the present Iranian regime to its knees in the coming months.

Such sanctions must clearly play a role in any policy developed towards Iran, but we must couple this with the one thing that the Iranian regime fears most, the democratic desires of the Iranian people and the Iranian opposition movement.

The Mujahedeen e Khalq (MEK) has been at the heart of Iran's opposition movement for years. Blacklisted in the US, the group has faced pressure from authorities intent on not allowing anything to hinder their ambitions to engage Tehran. As the Iranian people gear up for further widespread protests on the 31st anniversary of the overthrow of the Shah, they will be looking to the world for support.

Sanctions are measures that will play their course in the coming months, but today and now the President should unfetter the Iranian opposition by removing the ban on the MeK and allowing the Iranian opposition movement to forge ahead towards democratic change.

Roger Gale is a Member of Parliament in the United Kingdom and a former Vice Chairman of the Conservative Party.

Source:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/roger-gale/unleash-the-opposition-to_b_457353.html?view=print

Joint Statement by the EU and US calling on Iran to fulfil its human rights obligations

Summary: 8 February 2010, Brussels - Joint Statement by the European Union and the United States calling on the Iranian government to fulfil its human rights obligations

The European Union and the United States condemn the continuing human rights violations in Iran since the June 12 election. The large scale detentions and mass trials, the threatened execution of protestors, the intimidation of family members of those detained and the continuing denial to its citizens of the right to peaceful expression are contrary to human rights norms.

Our concerns are based on our commitment to universal respect for human rights. We are particularly concerned by the potential for further violence and repression during the coming days, especially around the anniversary of the Islamic Republic's founding on 11 February. We call on the Government of Iran to live up to its international human rights obligations, to end its abuses against its own people, to hold accountable those who have committed the abuses and to release those who are exercising their rights.

    * Ref: CL10-037EN
    * EU source: Council
    * UN forum:
    * Date: 8/2/2010

Source:
http://www.europa-eu-un.org/articles/en/article_9471_en.htm

Obama's Iran test

By Lord David Alton

The Hill - As US President Barack Obama used his first State of the Union Address to lash out at Iran over its continuing nuclear defiance, it was clear that 2010 will see a new approach in dealing with Tehran.

How things have changed since, one year ago in January 2009, in his first sit-down interview, President Obama symbolically used an exchange on Al- Arabiya TV to offer a conciliatory approach in his conduct of American-Iranian relations. President Obama then told the news channel, that "if countries like Iran are willing to unclench their fist, they will find an extended hand from us."

Well, Tehran's fist has remained well and truly clenched not least over its nuclear intentions.

Tehran sees its sole method of survival through its success over its nuclear weapons programme; of that, there is little doubt. This is even more so now as the regime, weakened at home by the mass protests of the last six months, looks to its nuclear programme as a safety net for survival.

The time has come for the international community to pull this safety net from under Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and Tehran's leadership, allowing the Iranian regime to fall at the hands of the Iranian people. The removal of that safety net can only be achieved with the imposition of targeted sanctions against Tehran's leadership.

As the Iranian opposition movement gears up for further mass protests on the 31st anniversary of the people's revolution on 11 February, the message from the President and his European counterparts must be one of support. The Iranian leadership has long been isolated from its people and now there can be no doubt as to the Iranian people's demands for regime change.

Yes sanctions must be targeted at Tehran's leadership and yes they must be put together in such a manner as to have the least effect on the Iranian people. The Iranian people are well aware that their leaders live like kings as they suffer economic hardship.

We have all watched the recent protests in which Iranians have lined the streets knowing full well that by protesting they could face death or torture. Those same people will be supportive of any economic and diplomatic sanctions which bring an early end to the more than thirty years of ruthless tyrannical rule by Iran's theocratic masters.

In a clear warning to the Iranian population ready to line the streets in the coming weeks, Tehran's leadership recently executed two dissidents accused of plotting to overthrow the regime. At least nine others face execution, accused of having links to the People's Mojahedin Organisation of Iran (PMOI). The PMOI is Iran's largest opposition group and analysts believe it has played an integral role in recent unrest throughout Tehran.

One thing should now be clear to President Obama and his allies, Tehran will not unclench its fist when it comes to its nuclear programme, and the Iranian people will not yield in their desire for regime change.

The two now go hand in hand and support for the Iranian people's opposition movement must include the removal of the nuclear safety net which is integral to this regime's survival. As in all such scenarios the leadership must be isolated, and sanctions can achieve this aim. UN Security Council sanctions are critical, but if China continues to play hard ball and to use its veto, the West must forge ahead and impose its own comprehensive sanctions and not adopt a set of watered down sanctions which are symbolic rather than successful, simply to please China.

We can remove Tehran's nuclear safety net and we must do so in order to support the Iranian people's democratic ambitions.
 
Lord Alton of Liverpool is a cross-bench Member of the House of Lords of the United Kingdom

Source:
http://thehill.com/opinion/op-ed/79843-obamas-iran-test

'Shocking' execution of Iran protesters condemned

Amnesty International has condemned the execution of two men arrested during protests that followed Iran's disputed presidential election last year.

Mohammad Reza Ali-Zamani and Arash Rahmanipour were hanged on Thursday after being convicted in unfair trials of “enmity against God” and being members of Anjoman-e Padeshahi-e Iran (API), a banned group which advocates the restoration of an Iranian monarchy.

They are the first executions known to be related to the post-election violence that erupted across Iran in June and has continued since.

"These shocking executions show that the Iranian authorities will stop at nothing to stamp out the peaceful protests that persist since the election," said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Amnesty International's Middle East and North Africa Deputy Director.

"These men were first unfairly convicted and now they have been unjustly killed – it is not even clear they had links to this group as their 'confessions' appear to have been made under duress."

According to the Iranian authorities, at least nine other people are currently on death row in Iran after being sentenced to death in similar post-election 'show trials'. 

"Our fear is that these executions are just the beginning of a wave of executions of those tried on similar vaguely worded charges," said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui.

Mohammad Reza Ali-Zamani and Arash Rahmanipour were convicted of “enmity against God” by Tehran's Revolutionary Court in October. They were also convicted of "propaganda against the system", "insulting the holy sanctities" and "gathering and colluding with intent to harm national internal security".

Mohammad Reza Ali-Zamani was accused of illegally visiting Iraq where he was alleged to have met US military officials. 

Arash Rahmanipour's lawyer says he played no role in the election protests and was forced to confess in a “show trial” after members of his family were threatened.

The two men's lawyers were not informed of their clients' executions, as is required by Iranian law.

"These executions highlight how the justice system is used as an instrument of repression by the authorities. They are sending a warning to those who may wish to exercise their right to peacefully demonstrate against the government, not to go out in the street,” said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui.

Further anti-government demonstrations are widely expected to take place on the anniversary of the Islamic Revolution on 11 February.

According to Iranian officials, over 40 people have died in demonstrations since the election, which were violently repressed by the security forces. Amnesty International believes the number to be much higher. More than 5,000 people have been arrested, many of whom were tortured or otherwise ill-treated.

Scores have been sentenced to prison terms, and in some cases flogging, after unfair trials, and at least 11 have been sentenced to death.  One man – Hamed Rouhinejad - has had his death sentence commuted on appeal in January 2010.

Source:
http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/news/shocking-execution-iran-protesters-condemned-20100128

Iran executes two dissidents accused of being Mohareb (enemies of God) and sentences to death nine more

Iran delivered a chilling message of intent to the country's dissident movement today when it hanged two men accused of being Mohareb (enemies of God) by participating in protests following last year's disputed presidential election and sentenced to death nine more.

The predawn executions of Arash Rahmanipour and Mohammed Reza Alizamani were the first since tens of thousands of ordinary Iranians poured onto the streets to challenge the re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran's president.

Grappling with the country's greatest political crisis since the Islamic Revolution of 1979, Iran's hardliners further indicated their unwillingness to brook dissent after the regime announced that death sentences had been passed on nine other government critics.

Yesterday's hangings mark a new watershed following months of intimidation and harassment designed to crush the spirit of Iran's uprising for change.

Last August a mass show trial of reformists accused of trying to orchestrate a revolution was staged in a Tehran courtroom.

Among the senior figures paraded on state television were the two hanged men, convicted, prosecutors said yesterday, for being "enemies of God".

Abbas Dolatabadi, Tehran's prosecutor general, told state television. "During their trials they confessed to plan to topple the Islamic Republic of Iran.

According to former prisoners and human rights activists, confessions are regularly extracted, especially during politically-tinged trials, through torture and sleep deprivation.

According to his lawyer, Nasrin Sotoudeh, Rahmanipour was detained two months before June's election protests and confessed only after his torturers threatened to harm his family if he held out.

Like many other people, Mrs Sotoudeh was convinced that the execution of the two men was primarily intended to deter further street action by the opposition.

"An execution with this speed and rush has only one explanation," she said. "The government is trying to prevent the expansion of the current (opposition) movement through the spread of fear and intimidation."

British Foreign Secretary David Milliband said I am "appalled" by the reported hanging of two men in Iran convicted of being Mohareb (enemies of God).  He added, "The trials and now these subsequent executions undermine Iran's claimed commitment to justice, human rights and democratic values."

The White House also "strongly" condemned the executions and said this act marked a new low in Tehran's "ruthless crackdown" on peaceful dissent. Deputy White House spokesman Bill Burton added, "Murdering political prisoners who are exercising their universal rights will not bring the respect and legitimacy the Islamic Republic seeks.”

So far, the tactic does not appear to be working. Messages circulated on the internet have called for fresh rallies on Feb 11, when Iran marks the 31st anniversary of the Islamic Revolution – one of the most emotive dates in the state's calendar.

It is unclear whether the Iranian regime will seek to reinforce its message of intolerance for dissent before then by carrying out further executions. Yesterday's announcement that there nine other dissidents bound for the gallows came as a surprise and there were conflicting accounts as to when they may have been sentenced.

Iran's leaders are increasingly aware of the fragility of their power base, observers say, a recognition that was reinforced by violent crackdown of protests on the Shia holy day of Ashura in late December in which at least eight demonstrators died.

In what appeared to be a sign of desperation, Iranian officials this week claimed the Ashura protests had been orchestrated by two German intelligence officers identified as "Yogi" and "Ingo".

Planning legislation to reduce subsidies for the poor, Iran's leaders are more nervous about further protests than ever, analysts say.

Despite the executions, the mass population who want change sense an opportunity to cause further damage to this illegitimate government.

Families join Iranian protest in London

By Rebecca Lowe

FAMILIES from Enfield are among the crowds protesting against the Iranian regime outside Downing Street this afternoon.

Around a dozen residents have joined the demonstration, which aims to convince the Government to take stronger action against Iran.

Hundreds of people have been arrested in the country since President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's controversial re-election in June.

It has now grown into the biggest challenge to the Iranian Government since the 1979 Islamic revolution.

Reza Rahmanfard, 50, from Southgate, lost his brother in 1982 when he was executed, aged 19, for supporting the People's Mujahideen of Iran (PMOI), the main opposition group.

Mr Rahmanfard was imprisoned for the same reason between 1982 and 1987.

Speaking today to the Enfield Independent, he said: "We are protesting to support the Iranian uprising and condem the Iranian regime.

"The main important issue is to force the British Government to take very firm action against the Iranian regime.

"We want them to put oil sanctions on Iran and stop diplomatic relations.

"We will defeat this regime, but Britain needs to be much, much firmer in its policy."

The PMOI is one of several organisations blamed by the Iranian Government for the demonstrations against its rule.

Since June 2009, Amnesty International has documented an increase in the number of executions in Iran, including those against the PMOI.

Ali Saremi, 62, was sentenced to death for "moharebeh", or enmity against God, on December 29, 2009, after being convicted of being a member of the PMOI. He has already spent 23 years in prison.

Mr Saremi's son lives in Camp Ashraf, Iraq - a refugee camp containing friends and relatives of Enfield residents, which was raided by the Iraqi Government in July 2009.

The raid resulted in 11 deaths and hundreds of injuries, but the Iraqi Government denies the use of violence.

Source:
http://www.enfieldindependent.co.uk/news/4853854.Enfield_families_join_Iranian_protest/