Iran: Forcing women to wear the veil to receive public services

Pictures attest that in step with various repressive campaigns to clamp down on women and impose the compulsory veil on them, numerous billboards and placards are posted in cities across the country,

depriving women from public services if they do not were the head-to-toe black veil or Chador. In this way, Iranian women will have to wear the Chador in order to enter certain places.

 The first picture is from a banner posted outside the "National Library" making it mandatory for women to wear the Chador if they want to enter the library. It reads: In this cultural place, it is mandatory to observe the Islamic Hijab. Women's entry to the national library with shawls and scarves is forbidden.

The second picture is from a clinic called "Kowsar." The placard reads in part: Beginning on July 23, 2015, this clinic will serve only women who wear the Chador…

 http://bit.ly/2bBkO05

https://twitter.com/4FreedominIran/status/764458948225269760

Iran Freedom on Twitter: "Iranian in #Sweden condemn the #terrorist regime in #Iran and will change the regime. #News #UN #Amnesty #ICC #CNN "

mobile.twitter.com

Iranian in #Sweden condemn the #terrorist regime in #Iran and will change the regime. #News #UN #Amnesty #ICC #CNN · 0:28. 6:49 AM - 13 Aug 2016. 26 Retweets33 Likes. Reply to @4FreedominIran · Home · Sign up ·

https://twitter.com/4FreedominIran/status/764450422102827008

Iran Freedom on Twitter: "Iranian resident in protest of mass #execution in #Iran hanging their selves as symbolic.#UN #CNN #AFP #1988massacre "

mobile.twitter.com

Iranian resident in protest of mass #execution in #Iran hanging their selves as symbolic.#UN #CNN #AFP #1988massacre · 0:11. 6:15 AM - 13 Aug 2016. 50 Retweets59 Likes. Reply to @4FreedominIran · Home · Sign up · Log in · Search · About. More like this; Less like this; Cancel. Not on Twitter?

1

An opponent of political violence was once set to lead Iran. One last quarrel changed it all.

A mourner holds a poster of Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri at the cleric's funeral in 2009. (Associated Press). In 1988, nearly a decade after Iran's Islamic revolution, the country's leader-in-waiting faced a decision.
He could stay silent as Iran stepped up a campaign of mass executions, torture and gulag-style imprisonment against perceived internal opponents. Or he could follow his conscience and speak out.
Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri chose to take a stand.
It came at a high cost. Montazeri was dumped as the hand-picked successor to the revolution's leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. He would be declared a foe of the state and placed under house arrest for six years.
The executions and purges of the late 1980s in Iran are well known and have been examined in books and reports by rights groups such as Amnesty International. Less clear, however, is what transpired at the highest reaches of power during a pivotal period for Iran and, by extension, for the wider region and Tehran’s relations with the West.
An audio file that surfaced this week — posted on a website maintained by supporters of Montazeri, who died in 2009 — purports to offer a new glimpse into his last, desperate attempt to limit the killings and roundups.
http://wapo.st/2bnVU42

Publication of Montazeri’s shocking audio recording during a meeting 

Add caption

 

with the “death commission” after 28 years; the imperative of putting the clerical regime’s leaders on trial for crime against humanity
The publication of a shocking audio tape in which the former heir to then-Iranian regime’s supreme leader, Khomeini, a meeting with members of the “death commission” 28 years ago (August 15, 1988) reveals new information about the scope and breadth of the massacre of political prisoners at the time.
It also shows that the Iranian regime’s leaders who held positions of power since the beginning of the regime’s establishment must face justice for committing one of the most horrific crimes against humanity.http://bit.ly/2aH0MvM

Shocking audio surfaces: Khomeini’s ex-heir acknowledges massacre of PMOI by Iran regime

NCRI - A shocking audio recording has been published for the first time of Khomeini’s former heir-apparent, Hossein-Ali Montazeri, acknowledging the brutal nationwide massacre in Iran in 1988 of activists of the main Iranian opposition group, the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI or MEK).

Montazeri, who was subsequently dismissed as the heir by then-Supreme Leader Ruhollah Khomeini, is heard addressing a meeting with the “death committee,” comprised of Hossein-Ali Nayeri, the regime’s sharia judge; Morteza Eshraqi, the regime’s prosecutor; Ebrahim Raeesi, deputy prosecutor; and Mostafa Pour-Mohammadi, representative of the Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS). He tells the death committee members: “The greatest crime committed during the reign of the Islamic Republic, for which history will condemn us, has been committed by you. Your (names) will in the future be etched in the annals of history as criminals.” He also added, “Executing these people while there have been no new activities (by the prisoners) means that … the entire judicial system has been at fault.”http://bit.ly/2aKrT8G

Their voices are trapped behind prison walls': Protesters launch three-day 'hunger strike' outside Downing Street in anger over mass executions in Iran

• Iranian protesters launched three-day 'hunger strike' outside Downing St
• Urging government to condemn hangings of up to 30 prisoners this week
• Relatives called to Iranian prison to say last goodbye were instead told to go straight to the morgue when they arrived, say reports
• Comes on the anniversary of executions of some 30,000 prisoners in 1988

http://dailym.ai/2bfKXNT

Outrage: Protesters launched a hunger strike outside Downing Street, in London, following the mass executions of prisoners in Iran

 

 

http://dailym.ai/2bfKXNT

IRAN’S WESTERN CRACKDOWN: Morality police raid clothes shops in ban of un-Islamic clothing

Morality police have raided clothes shops in Iran

The crackdown on Western outfits in the Islamic Republic has seen factories and shops being targeted - and comes after a leading cleric bizarrely accused the fashion of causing rivers to run dry. 

At least 15 women’s clothes shops have been closed down by morality police in Hamedan in a renewed drive to wipe out improper clothing. 

Four factories and shops have also been shut down in Isfahan, central Iran. 

Islamic codes of behaviour and dress are strictly enforced in the country with women expected to cover their heads, wear trousers and a long sleeved coat or tunic that reaches to the mid-thigh or knee. 

RELATED ARTICLEShttp://bit.ly/2b5h3gf

UN deplores mass executions in Iran

NCRI - The United Nations has condemned the mass execution of Sunni political prisoners that the Iranian regime carried out this week.

"UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein on Friday deplored the execution of 20 people in Iran this week," said a statement on the High Commissioner's website.

"Reports suggest that most if not all of those executed were from a minority group – Sunnis from the Kurdish community. In many of the cases, there were serious doubts about the fairness of the trials, respect for due process and other rights of the accused. One of the men who was hanged yesterday, Shahram Ahmadi, had allegedly been beaten and coerced into signing a blank piece of paper on which his false confession was recorded. His family members were unable to visit him before he was executed, and were reportedly directed to the cemetery instead of Rajai Shahr Prison west of Tehran," said the statement.http://bit.ly/2aGdNG9

Iranians to go on 3-day hunger strike outside Downing Street in call for halt to executions in Iran

NCRI - Members of the Anglo-Iranian community and supporters of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) in the United Kingdom plan to stage a sit-in protest on the anniversary of the massacre of 30,000 political prisoners in Iran in 1988 and will go on a 3-day hunger strike in London outside Downing Street in solidarity with political prisoners and the victims of torture and execution inside Iran.

In the summer of 1988, some 30,000 political prisoners, the vast majority affiliated to the main opposition group People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI or MEK), were summarily and extra-judicially executed by the mullahs’ regime. The majority of those executed were either serving prison sentences for their political activities or had already finished their sentences but were still kept in prison.

http://bit.ly/2aAioMD

Aniversary of Massacre 1988 3

Aniversary of Massacre 1988 2

Aniversary of Massacre 1988

Massacre 1988

http://bit.ly/2akrSZl

The Complete Infidel’s Guide to Iran” by Robert Spencer

Iran is the most dangerous anti-American force not the ISIS

By Robert Spencer
New York Post, July 30, 2016 -The greatest threat to national security today isn’t ISIS, or China, or Russia or even the administration’s favorite bogey, climate change. The greatest threat is the Islamic Republic of Iran, a regime that has been on a war footing toward the United States since 1979, mandates chants of “Death to America” in every mosque in the country at Friday prayers, and now, thanks to President Obama and John Kerry, is on the fast track to obtaining nuclear weapons
http://bit.ly/2akrSZl

The Iranian opposition that Obama refused to support in 2009 must be given active aid of all possible kinds. And any future negotiations with the Islamic Republic of Iran should only be entered into with a clear-eyed understanding of that regime’s bloodthirstiness, willingness to deceive and unshakable hostility to the United States.
Iran is more dangerous than ISIS, but the Iranian people are the heirs of one of the oldest civilizations on earth.
They deserve better than the Islamic Republic. As do we all.

Source: New York Post, July 30, 2016

http://bit.ly/2akrSZl

.

'You're too late' –families not allowed to say goodbye before mass execution in Iran – The Express

The following is a report published by Britain's Express about the brutal massacre of Sunni prisoners in Iran today:

The Express

'You're too late' Heartbreak of families who miss final goodbye before mass execution

FAMILIES preparing to say a final farewell ahead of a mass execution were told they were too late and their loved ones were already dead by prison officials.

By KATIE MANSFIELD

PUBLISHED: 20:45, Tue, Aug 2, 2016 | http://bit.ly/2aRVjUF

UPDATED: 20:54, Tue, Aug 2, 2016

Relatives of prisoners were told this morning to visit one last time but when they arrived they were told the inmates had already been hanged.

Instead of saying goodbye, the families were told to go to the morgue to collect the bodies.

The mass execution took place at Gohardasht Prison in Iran this morning, with at least 20 Sunni inmates hanged.

Gohardasht Prison has declared a state of emergency and it's believed the execution was brought forward in order to avoid protests.

The mass execution has been slammed by the National Council of Resistance in Iran (NCRI), who are fighting for more human rights in the Islamic Republic.

Shahin Gobadi, of the NCRI Foreign Affairs Committee, said: "There's a long precedent by the regime in first executing prisoners and then informing their families.

"One explanation for this is that the regime is afraid of a public backlash and protests outside the prison by the families to halt the executions.

"It is particularly cruel as none of the mothers and fathers managed to say goodbye to their loved ones."

Some of the bodies were hastily buried in the Behesht-e Zahra Cemetery.

| http://bit.ly/2aRVjUF

Iranian opposition consolidates efforts with Palestinians

President of National Council of Resistance (NCR) Maryam Rajavi met on Saturday, in Paris with the Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas. At the meeting, the two politicians reiterated the need to combat terrorism and fundamentalism in the region, and discussed the French initiative to revive peace process between Israel and Palestine.

Rajavi, a leader of the Iranian opposition in exile met with Mahmoud Abbas, who visited Paris to discuss two-state solution with the French President Francois Hollande and US Secretary of State John Kerry. Abbas expressed his solidarity with the NCR, whereas Rajavi supported the initiative of France regarding the resumption of Israel-Palestine peace talks, and accused the Iranian regime of instigating sectarian discord in the region.

The NCR was founded in July 1981 in Tehran to oppose the fundamentalist regime ruling Iran and establish a pluralist democracy. Eventually, the Council moved its headquarters to Paris. On July 9, 2016 NRC organised an annual rally in the capital of France, which brought together dissidents and activists living in exile from Iran around the world.

 http://bit.ly/2aFPZ8Q

Arrest of Iranian Cleric in Kosovo Sheds Light on Tehran’s terrorism and money laundering in Balkans 

http://bit.ly/2alc1sU

Arrest of Iranian Cleric in Kosovo on charges of financing terrorism and money laundering

The arrest of an Iranian cleric by authorities in Kosovo this week shed light on Tehran’s efforts to gain influence in the central European Muslim-majority nation.

Hasan Azari Bejandi was arrested earlier this week on charges of financing terrorism and money laundering through an organization that he heads. Bejandi has been linked to five Kosovar Shiite organization with ties to Iran.

Calling Bejandi the “most high-profile Iranian cleric to be arrested,” the report discribe the move as a possible blow to Iran’s designs in the Balkans, “potentially cutting off a rare avenue of influence for Tehran in Europe, where charities believed to be tied to Iran also operate in Albania, Macedonia, and Bosnia-Herzegovina.”

The arrest of Bejandi comes as Kosovar authorities are cracking down on foreign-funded Islamic organizations operating within its borders, which the government says are radicalizing youths. Iranian charities began operating in Kosovo following the end of the war there in 1999. The charities, which built schools and mosques, “also spread anti-Western and anti-Semitic propaganda, and are seen to be tied to Tehran’s long-standing effort to export its Islamic Revolution,”

Visar Duriqi, an investigative journalist for Kosovo’s Gazeta Express news website said that while these activities didn’t initially garner a lot of attention, “that changed when authorities found out that the NGOs were hiding their sources of income and the purposes of their spending.”http://bit.ly/2alc1sU

Iranian Women Reportedly Arrested For Riding Bicycles In Public

http://bit.ly/2aKk2KR

Iranian authorities are reportedly enforcing a rule which prohibits women from publicly riding their bicycles, reports the International Business Times.

Some Iranian women were reportedly taken into custody after resisting officers’ orders to pledge in writing that they would not ride their bikes in public again; signs prohibiting this activity are believed to have been put up in May.

Iranian authorities are enforcing a rule which prohibits women from publicly riding their bikes.

According to the National Council of Resistance of Iran, or NCRI, some women were arrested on July 26th for violating the recent directive.

Signs reportedly went up in May, with one example translated by NCRI as saying, “Bicycle riding for women is prohibited in this place. Women are set to ride at the women’s park.”

It was signed by the Headquarters of prohibiting vice and promoting virtue which the organization says is “One of the 26 Iranian agencies tasked with cracking down on women.”

Some of the cyclists are believed to have been taken into custody after they resisted officers’ orders to pledge in writing that they would not engage in the banned activity again.

It is unknown if these women continue to be held, but an NRCI member has since issued a statement condemning “such gender discrimination.”

The administration of President Hassan Rouhani was also called out for the growing level of restrictions placed on women’s freedom in Iran.