Iran: Arrest of 500 Gonabadi dervishes and their families in Tehran

Call by Mrs. Rajavi for swift and unconditional release of all imprisoned dervishes

Mullahs’ regime suppressive forces arrested 500 Gonabadi dervishes Saturday morning, September 20. They planned to gather at 11 a.m. in front of Tehran’s Prosecutor’s Office in solidarity with the imprisoned dervishes who are on hunger strike. The families of the prisoners who are on strike and a large number of women and children are amongst the arrestees. They are requesting to meet their imprisoned families and relatives who are in critical condition after 21 days of hunger strike. They are saying that if their brothers are to be victimized in prison, they too would want to join them. Their sole crime is that they are dervish.

After the protest gathering was announced by the dervishes, on Saturday morning, the clerical regime dispatched a large number of IRGC, intelligence, security and anti-riot agents to the street leading to the Prosecutor’s Office in Ark Square (central Tehran). They closed down the street, as well as the exits of Tehran’s Bazaar metro, in an effort to prevent the formation of this gathering. They are preventing protesters from standing and even sitting in front of the Prosecutor’s Office. The families of the dervishes, particularly the women who resisted the coercions by the suppressive forces, were assaulted, insulted and battered.

Those apprehended were taken to various police stations, including police station 113 in the Bazaar, 107 in Palestine, 124 in Qolhak, 159 in Bee-sim (Shush), 130 in Naziabad, 109 in Baharestan, 114 in Qiassi, Narmak (Haft Hoz), 156 in Afsariyeh, 145 in Vanak, 181 in Karaj, 160 in Khazaneh, 106 in Namjou, 118 in Satarkhan, Majidiyeh, Khani Abad, 156 in Kian Shahr, 139 in Marzdaran, and 134 in Shahrak-e Gharb.

Nine of the imprisoned dervishes: Messrs. Hamidreza Moradi Sarvestani, Afshin Karampour, Farshid Yadollahi, Reza Entessari, Amir Eslami, Omid Behrouzi, Mostafa Daneshjou, Mostafa Abdi and Kasra Nouri have staged a hunger strike in the Evin and Shiraz prisons since August 31 to demand complete release of the dervishes’ community from prisons and for the regime to be held accountable for years of violation of dervishes’ rights. The imprisoned dervishes in recent years have been under great pressure by regime’s henchmen. In addition to physical tortures, on numerous occasions they have been transferred to ordinary prisoners’ ward or to solitary confinement and in a heinous and humiliating act, their mustaches have been shaved off.

Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the Iranian Resistance, expressed deep abhorrence regarding the anti-human and anti-Islamic measures by the leaders of the Velayat-e faqih system against the innocent dervishes and called on all international bodies and human rights organs, especially the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, to adopt immediate measures to secure the swift and unconditional release of all the arrestees, as well as the imprisoned dervishes, and to look into their demands. She also called for the referral of the dossier of crimes of the religious fascism ruling Iran to the United Nations Security Council.

17 executions in one day, including 5 public hangings, in Kerman, Shiraz, Marvdasht and Bandar Abbas

Mullahs’ Head of Judiciary: Who is Secretary-General to say stop the executions; these words are cheap, baseless and lack reasoning. Executions for corruption on earth is an internal matter

At dawn Thursday, September 18, seventeen prisoners were hanged in Kerman, Shiraz, Marvdasht and Bandar Abbas. Five of the victims (four in Shiraz and one in Marvdasht) were hanged in public. Eight prisoners in the Shahab Prison of Kerman were hanged collectively. Four prisoners were executed in Bandar Abbas prison.

On September 10, seven prisoners, mostly young men 21 to 24 years old, were executed in the cities of Karaj (public hanging) and Hamedan.

On September 1, fifteen prisoners were hanged in prisons of Hamedan and Zahedan and the Ghezel Hessar Prison of Karaj. Ten of those hanged were protesting prisoners in Ghezel Hessar Prison.

On August 26 and 28, thirteen prisoners were hanged in Bandar Abbas central prison in two groups of eight and five.

Mullah Larijani, the head henchman of regime’s Judiciary, who was speaking in reaction to the UN Secretary-General’s annual report that had referred to some aspects of the catastrophic situation of human rights in the clerical regime, said: “Who is this Mr. Secretary-General to say you should stop the executions? Who are they to say so? The death sentence for corruption on earth is an internal matter… many of the things that are said in an official report of an important international organization; these words are cheap, baseless and they lack reasoning… You are not allowed to say, even on human rights grounds, why we are faithful!”

The inaction by the international community, especially the Western countries, regarding the clerical regime’s crimes, including over 1000 executions since Mullah Rouhani assumed power, has emboldened the clerical regime to continue and ramp up torture, execution and suppression.

Iran’s human rights dossier should be referred to the United Nations Security Council. This is not just an essential step to stop the cycle of crime and execution, but is necessary for adherence to the values that the United Nations has been established to defend.

Responsibilities of the new Government of Iraq toward Camp Liberty residents in the framework of international law

September18, 2014

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Conference of NGOs in the margins of Human Rights Council session in Geneva:

Responsibilities of the new Government of Iraq toward Camp Liberty residents

in the framework of international law

On Thursday, September 18, in a conference in the margins of the current Human Rights Council in Geneva, political figures, representatives of international organizations and the Swiss parliament called the sanctions and restrictions imposed on Iranian refugees in Camp Liberty illegal as illegal and inhumane. They warned of the dangerous consequences of these sanctions and restrictions and called on the United States, the United Nations, and the Government of Iraq to respect their commitments vis-à-vis the refugees in Camp Liberty.

The speakers to this conference assessed the critical situation in the Middle East and the Arab World underlining the need to combat the unbounded and blind terrorism under the emblem of Islam that has targeted world peace and security.

Speakers welcomed the formation of an international coalition to combat extremist terrorism called ISIS and stated: The Iranian regime that has institutionalized through its revolutionary guards the export of fundamentalism and extremism has established another face of that same so-called ISIS “caliphate” for over three decades in Iran. They noted that not only the Iranian regime is no ally of the West in combating ISIS, but is itself a key part of the problem and has paved the way for this crisis. To engage Iran in this campaign or to cooperate with it in search of a solution to destroy this terrorist current should be a red line not to be crossed.

The conference underscored that the terrorist groups in Iraq such as the 9 Badr, the Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq, and the Kata’ib Hezbollah that are affiliated with Iran and are employed to massacre the Syrian people and the innocent Iraqis, particularly the Sunnis, have created the best fertile ground for the growth of terrorist groups such as al-Qaeda and ISIS. Therefore, confronting ISIS without cutting off the long hand of the Iranian regime and the terrorist groups affiliated with it will never bear fruit.

Speakers reiterated that to end the catastrophic situation in Iraq and to reach an enduring solution in the form of a stable pluralistic, secular and democratic Iraq, the West needs to brush aside its policy to ignore the Iranian meddling that has already been tested in Iraq.

This conference was held on the first anniversary of the September 2013 massacre of 52 refugees in Camp Ashraf by the Iraqi forces at the behest of the Iranian regime.

The speakers expressed concern for over 2700 Iranian refugees who face similar threats. They called on the United States and the United Nations to secure the rights of the residents based on their written commitments and the international law.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees reminded on August 5 that the residents of Camp Liberty are calling for their minimum rights on two fundamental issues: First, the provision of their safety and security and the acknowledgement of their rights as political refugees; and second, for the provision of humanitarian and human rights standards until the time that all of them leave Iraq. The speakers numerously drew upon the UNHCR statement.

In support for the rights of refugees in Camp Liberty, they emphasized on: the revocation of all restrictions against the provision of minimum security requirements and an end to all aggression against Camp Liberty residents by the Iraqi government and forces affiliated with the Iranian government; the complete annulment of the six-year blockade and free access of residents to medical and logistical services; declaring Camp Liberty a refugee camp; and an independent international probe into the six massacres and the criminal blockade of Ashraf and Liberty and an independent international probe into the slaughter of 136 residents in six massacres and the criminal blockade of Ashraf and Liberty, especially the September 1, 2013 massacre; and to establish, try and punish the perpetrators of these crimes.

Speakers accentuated that the provision of these rights is a clear test for the adherence of Government of Iraq to recognized international values and a distinct test of the United States and the United Nations in their relations with the new government in Iraq.

Sid Ahmed Ghozali, former Prime Minister of Algeria; Gilbert Mitterrand, President of France Libertés – the Danielle Mitterrand Foundation; Eric Voruz, member of Swiss Parliament and the Parliamentary Assembly of Council of Europe; Elizabetta Zamparutti, former Italian parliamentarian and President of the non-governmental association of Hands Off Cain; Parviz Khazai, the representative of the National Council of Resistance in Nordic countries; Gianfranco Fattorini, human rights activist; and Karen Parker, President of International Educational Development; offered speeches to this conference.

International Educational Development – IED

Nonviolent Radical Party, Transnational and Transparty

Women’s Human Rights International Association - WHRIA

EU 'disappointed' at lack of progress by Iran on nuclear issue

The 28-nation European Union said on Thursday it was disappointed with a lack of progress by the Iranian regime in addressing concerns about its atomic bomb research.

"The EU is disappointed with the very limited progress on PMD (possible military dimensions)," of the nuclear activities by the Iranian regime, the EU statement said.

The EU made the statement at a board meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and pressured the regime in Tehran to cooperate with a long-stalled U.N. watchdog inquiry.

An IAEA report in early September showed that the Iranian regime had failed to answer questions about what the U.N. agency calls the possible military dimensions of the Iranian regime's nuclear program by an agreed Aug. 25 deadline.

The EU statement said. "It is essential and urgent that Iran cooperates fully and in a timely manner with the agency regarding all relevant issues."

"We urge Iran to demonstrate its cooperation by providing the agency with access to all the people, documents and sites requested, and encourage it to facilitate this cooperation through the issuance of visas."

Iran: Dispatching club wielding vigilantes to various cities especially Tehran to suppress women and youth

The inhuman clerical regime has prepared a broad program to increase suppression of women and youth. In this regard, the head of Bassijis and vigilantes of “Ansar-e-Hezbollah” announced the mobilization of “mobile groups to promote virtue and prevent vice on a widespread level especially in Tehran.” The mission of these gangs of thugs is harassing people, especially women and young people under the mullahs-made pretext of "mal veiling". The range of suppressive measures is across the country, he said, but in Tehran the action field is very wide and the volume of operations would be high.

ISNA state News Agency reported about the record of actions of this suppressive force that “During completion of the organization, these groups have already started their mission in various parts of the city in preliminary form without having a media dimension, in the form of teams of several-dozen brothers and sisters”.

Revolutionary Guard Abdolhamid Mohtasham, the criminal Commander of "Ansar-e-Hebollah" by admitting the public hatred toward the regime and the Iranian Revolutionary Guards said "the weight of corrupts and their supporters in the society has changed against the religious people". He promised that "despite all the attacks of enemies and hypocrites ... day and night ... we suppress the mischief-makers and their supporters to remove them from the scene of action." He added: "If we don’t tackle this current, this corrupt current will stand against Hezbollah."

"Ansar-e-Hebollah" are groups of hooligans and thugs who are all revolutionary guards and related to the IRGC Intelligence. They played special role in suppressing the 2009 uprising of the people under the cover of plainclothes agents. Abdolhamid Mohtasham is among top Revolutionary Guards commanders, who is now engaged in commanding suppression and crime in plainclothes form.

Expansion of dispatching club-wielding thugs to various cities in Iran, especially Tehran, is the reaction of a moribund regime, which is faced on one hand with increasing social protests specially confrontation of youth with the regime’s suppressive forces, and on the other hand due to its inhuman and medieval nature is unable to meet minimum rudimentary demands of a frustrated people. 

Dissemination of bogus reports on cooperation of PMOI with ISIS; making preparations and provocative measures for a great massacre in Camp Liberty; call on U.S. and UN to protect Camp Liberty

The terrorist Quds Force and the Iraqi forces under the command of the Iraqi Prime Ministry are making preparations for suppressive measures and further attacks on Camp Liberty in the recent weeks.

1. On June 26, Maliki dispatched a delegation to Tehran requesting military assistance and support for his third term as Prime Minister. In return, the Iranian regime asked for intensifying suppression of Camp Liberty.

2. Three officers involved in the Ashraf massacres, along with several intelligence agents, have been stationed in a location in the vicinity of Camp Liberty. Moreover, a number of agents of the Iranian regime’s terrorist Quds Force who cannot speak Arabic are also present with them in this same center.

3. Intelligence agents are present in all the police guard posts around the camp and by their orders the barrels of BKC machineguns are aimed at inside the camp.

4. Some of these agents hurl stones at the camp from these guard posts. Some of them speak Farsi and their voices can be heard from inside the camp.

5. Meanwhile, as stated in the statement of NCRI Foreign Relations Committee of July 5, the Iranian regime, with its Iraqi paid hands, are disseminating false reports and fictitious scenarios about cooperation between the PMOI and ISIS in order to politically pave the way to carry out a new bloodbath in Camp Liberty.

6. On June 28 and 29, Iranian regime’s news agencies and websites widely reported an utterly fabricated report, quoting “Iraqi intelligence sources” that “120 PMOI members are fighting alongside ISIS and the remainder of Saddam’s regime forces in Mosul… they have come from France and a number of Western countries and have entered Mosul through Turkey”. (ashraf-news.com, ISNA, Khabar Online, asriran.com, Young Journalists Club, etc.)

7. On June 30, the official website of IRINN affiliated with the state-run radio and television also repeated this news and wrote: “Around 120 members of PMOI with official uniforms are fighting alongside the Ba’athist-ISIS terrorists in Mosul.”

8. On July 1, mullahs’ regime news agencies quoted Abbas al-Bayati, an Iraqi legislator closely associated with Maliki, that “pertinent organs in Iraq have attained information that shows members of the PMOI who have come from European countries have joined the ISIS terrorist grouplet” and “if involvement of these elements in terrorist operations against the security forces in Ninawa Province are proven, the Iraqi government will firmly respond”.

9. On July 5, Awad al-Awadi, another element of the mullahs’ regime in the Iraqi parliament considered “entry of PMOI members in Mosul to join ISIS ranks” as a “threat to Iraq's security” and said that “Government of Iraq has the right to follow up this matter through international organs” and to issue “international arrest warrant through the Interpol” for the leadership of the PMOI.

10. On July 6, the Iraqi al-Alam newspaper that serves Maliki wrote that “it is three months that PMOI members are fighting alongside ISIS organization in Syria and Iraq”.

Measures by the terrorist Quds Force and its Iraqi paid hands around Camp Liberty, as well as the campaign to disseminate fabrications against the PMOI and feeding absurd fabrications such as cooperation of PMOI with ISIS, leave no doubt about the ominous intentions of the clerical regime against the residents of Camp Liberty. As such, the Iranian Resistance demands immediate action by the U.S. government and the United Nations for protection of Camp Liberty.

Disseminating false reports, bogus scenarios and setting the stage for attacks on Camp Liberty

The clerical regime’s terrorist Qods Force and its puppet government in Iraq are disseminating false reports and fabricating bogus scenarios about cooperation between the People’s Mojahedin (PMOI/MEK) and the Islamic State of Iraq and Sham (ISIS) in a bid to exploit the current situation in Iraq and attack Camp Liberty and cause carnage.

To this end, the state-run news agency, ISNA, dispatched a totally false report on July 1, quoting Abbas Bayati, an Iraqi MP and a confidant of [Prime Minister Nouri] al-Maliki: “Relevant Iraqi agencies have obtained information that show members of the MEK who have come from Europe have joined ISIS” and that “120 MEK members have entered the province of Nineveh from Turkish borders to cooperate with ISIS.” ISNA added: “If the involvement of these individuals in terrorist operations against the security forces in Nineveh is proven, the Iraqi government will deal them a decisive response.”

According to information obtained from Iran, in schemes concocted by the Qods Force, a number of captured ISIS fighters have confessed that the MEK and ISIS have been coordinating in Europe such that after ISIS attacks Baghdad, it would free the residents of Liberty to use them in a war against the Iranian regime.

Simultaneous with these ludicrous lies, Iraqi forces, who are supposed to protect Camp Liberty, have pointed their machineguns toward the trailers inside the Camp and have increased their numbers. 

Three officers who were directly involved in the massacres at Camp Ashraf and a number of Iraqi intelligence agents  have been stationed next to Camp Liberty. A number of Quds Force operatives who cannot speak Arabic are present at this location.

At the same time, based on reports from within the regime, on June 26^th, Maliki send a delegation to Tehran to ask for military assistance and the backing of the regime for his third term as Prime Minister. In return, the Iranian regime has demanded that Iraq step up its crackdown on the residents of Liberty.

On January 7, 2014 the NCRI had revealed that the Qods Force commander, Qassem Soliemani, had asked Maliki to order Iraqi forces – exploiting the current situation in Iraq - to put on ISIS uniforms and attack and massacre the residents of Liberty.

The NCRI’s Foreign Affairs Committee again warns of the ominous intentions of the Iranian regime and the Maliki government to eliminate the residents of Liberty. It calls on the U.S. government and the UN to take urgent action to protect Camp Liberty.