Many Iranian women experience various types of harassment

Crackdown of women in Iran

Almost every Iranian women surveyed during new investigation admitted they experienced some kind of physical sexual harassment.
This probe was conducted on 350 women between the ages of 25 and 50 in the city of Sari, capital of Mazandaran Province in northern Iran. The results were published in the seasonal magazine “Social Welfare”.
Researchers have described sexual harassment as physical, visual, verbal and sexual measures threatening, intimidating, humiliating and insulting women. All the women who took part in this survey had experienced non-verbal sexual harassment, nearly 90% had experienced verbal sexual harassment and nearly 95% had undergone physical harassment.
Furthermore, this investigation shows single women and divorcees had experienced more verbal harassment than other groups.
82.9% of single women, 63.6% of divorced women, 61.2% of married women and 40% of widows had experienced non-verbal harassment.
However, all the women whose husbands had passed away, 98.6% of single women, 94.9% of married women, and 81.9% of divorced women had 

Almost every Iranian women surveyed during new investigation admitted they experienced some kind of physical sexual harassment.
This probe was conducted on 350 women between the ages of 25 and 50 in the city of Sari, capital of Mazandaran Province in northern Iran. The results were published in the seasonal magazine “Social Welfare”.
Researchers have described sexual harassment as physical, visual, verbal and sexual measures threatening, intimidating, humiliating and insulting women. All the women who took part in this survey had experienced non-verbal sexual harassment, nearly 90% had experienced verbal sexual harassment and nearly 95% had undergone physical harassment.
Furthermore, this investigation shows single women and divorcees had experienced more verbal harassment than other groups.
82.9% of single women, 63.6% of divorced women, 61.2% of married women and 40% of widows had experienced non-verbal harassment.
However, all the women whose husbands had passed away, 98.6% of single women, 94.9% of married women, and 81.9% of divorced women had experienced minor or major physical sexual harassment.
Another issue researchers referred to is the relation between educated women and verbal sexual harassment. The higher education women receive, the more this type of harassment increases, and all women with masters degrees or higher have experienced this type of sexual harassment.
However, this “meaningful” difference in the rate of verbal and non-verbal harassment for educated women is not seen in physical harassments, and the amount of education had no effect on this type of harassments.
Employment for women has to some extent impacted their experience of sexual harassment. Verbal harassment is more for educated women, yet non-verbal and physical forms of sexual harassment was nearly the same for employed and non-employed women.
Researchers consider this social abnormality as a result of social inequalities and social-cultural structuring, which in itself is a result of “social inequality”.

  

25 news websites were hit by Internet suppression in Iran

Internet crackdown in Iran

The head of the East Azerbaijan Province public prosecutor’s office, Hekmat Ali Mozafari said 25 news websites in this province were “blocked” because of their “illegal” nature.

Mozafari warned the judiciary will take “firm” action against any election violations on cyberspace. 

Last week Kambiz Ismaeeli, head of the FATA police (in charge of monitoring Internet activity) in Kerman Province, reported 82 websites had been identified and warned for their “unlicensed” elections activities.

Iran: Ceremony held to honor the martyrdom of Neda Agha Sultan in Tehran

Neda Agha Sultan, the symbol of Iran’s 2009 uprising

Marking the birthday of Neda Agha Sultan, the symbol of Iran’s 2009 uprising whose heartbreaking clips of passing away after being shot at her heart in cold blood by the government backed militias shocked the world, was held during a ceremony on Saturday, January 23rd. Her family, friends and a group of Iranians had gathered for this ceremony in section 257 of Tehran’s Behesht-e Zahra Cemetery.

Neda was gunned down and killed by Iranian regime state agents, becoming a symbol of the Iranian people’s innocence in the face of the regime’s cruelty and crackdown.

Neda’s family and friends commemorated her memory and placed flowers on her grave.

Solidarity of France’s Elected Representatives with the Iranian Resistance against Extremism under

Maryam Rajavi : Helping false claimants of moderation in Iran, Fuels Machinery of Suppression and Export of Terrorism

National Council of Resistance of Iran

Sunday, January 24, 2016, a conference was held at the office of the National Council of Resistance of Iran in Auvers-sur-Oise (north of Paris) with political personalities and elected representatives of France participating. The conference was entitled, 'Solidarity of France’s Elected Representatives with the Iranian Resistance against Extremism under the Banner of Islam.'

In her remarks to the conference, Mrs. Rajavi noted: During the regime’s presidential elections, Rouhani promised to promote moderation. However, he is coming to Europe in a few days’ time with an ominous record of 2,000 executions, consecutive executions of political prisoners, rocket attacks on Camp Liberty, rampant poverty, unemployment and economic stagnation in Iran, stepped up deadly interferences in Syria and Iraq, warmongering in Yemen, terrorism in Kuwait and Bahrain, testing new missiles, etc.

Rajavi pointed out: Rouhani is travelling to Europe to cover up the regime’s weakness and isolation. He is trying to put up a moderate face to cover up the executions in Iran and the mullahs’ role in the massacre of Syrians.

She added: The Iranian people expect France not to give ground to Rouhani’s deceptions and stand by the people of Iran. This is defending both humanity and the values of France, and it is the right policy.

Rajavi asserted: To justify supporting the mullahs, some claim that Rouhani disapproves of these policies but Rouhani approves them. He defends the executions. He supports Bashar Assad’s dictatorship. He tries to expand the Revolutionary Guards’ missile program and he advocates religious tyranny.

A number of political personalities, mayors and elected representatives of the people of France including Rama Yade, former minister of human rights; Dominique Lefevbre, French National Assembly Deputy; Yves Bonnet, former Governor; Jean Paul Jeandon, Mayor or Cergy; Bruno Macé, Mayor of Villiers Adam; Claude Krieguer, maire d’Asnières sur Oise ; Khelid El Fara; Jean-Pierre Béquet, former Mayor of Auvers sur-Oise; Jacques Feyte, former Mayor of Neuville sur Oise, Gilbert Marsac, former Mayor of Joy le Moutier, Sylvie Fassier, Mayor of Le Pin, Armand Jacquemin, Mayor of Moussy Le Vieux, Hervé Touguet, Mayor of Villeparisis, and Souad Ancelot  representing elected members of the province of  Seine et Marne; Dominique Bailly, Mayor of Vaujours; Mohammed Cherfaoui, Boualem Benkhalouf,  representing elected members of Seine Saint-Denis et Jacky Duminy, Mayor of  Ors addressed the conference.

In another part of her speech, Maryam Rajavi noted the Iranian regime’s reluctant compliance with the nuclear agreement last week and added: Under the pressure of the Iranian Resistance’s revelations and sanctions by the international community, the Iranian regime had to give up its ominous nuclear project. This was a very important experience because it proved that the Iranian regime is sensitive to pressure.

Mrs. Rajavi emphasized: Now is the time to compel the Iranian regime to stop executions, free political prisoners, stop attacks on Camp Liberty and halt its missile program.

She reiterated that the only road to peace and stability in the region is eviction of the Iranian regime from the region, namely from Syria, Iraq, Lebanon and Yemen, and compelling it to stop the massacre of defenseless people of Syria.

Expressing her abhorrence over the dreadful tragedy of November 13 in France, Maryam Rajavi described the cancerous growth of Daesh as one of the destructive consequences of the mullahs’ hegemonic ambitions in the region. She said: When Iran’s ruling mullahs helped their puppet governments in Iraq and Syria to suppress the people of these countries, the opportunity emerged for Daesh to grow and spread.

Mrs. Rajavi pointed out: The Quran says there is no compulsion in religion. For this reason, we decisively reject the mullahs’ Sharia laws that are contrary to Islam. We reject despotic regimes whatever their names, Velayat-e Faqih, Islamic Caliphate or Islamic State. The genuine Islam promotes freedom and women’s equality, and calls for popular sovereignty and tolerance.

The NCRI artists, conductor and composer Mohammad Shams and musician Hamidreza Taherzadeh, had a beautiful musical performance in the gathering.

Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
January 24, 2016

Kerry: most of Hezbollah’s arms come from Iran

  John Kerry  with Saudi Arabias Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir 

 U.S. Secretary of State Johan Kerry expressed concerns about Iran’s military support to the Shiite Lebanese Movement of Hezbollah in a joint press conference with Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir on Saturday.
Kerry said most of Hezbollah’s arms come from Iran through Syria to Lebanon and that the group has about 80 thousand missiles.
Hezbollah, which has long been listed as a terrorist organization by the United States, has offered key support to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.
The United States and Saudi Arabia have both criticized and denounced Hezbollah’s support to Assad’s regime after protests erupted in Syria against the embattled leader’s rule in 2011 but turned into a civil war.
From his part, Jubeir said the Gulf States are working with Washington to face Iranian interference in the region and emphasized that the region’s stability requires Tehran stopping its aggression.
Saudi Arabia and its Gulf counterparts repeatedly denounced Iranian interference in their internal affairs.
Jubeir also said that Saudi Arabia does not see a “coming together” of Iran and the United States, which is well aware of Tehran’s regional “mischief.”
“No, I don’t see a coming together of the United States and Iran. Iran remains the world’s chief sponsor of terrorism,” he said.
“Overall I think the United States is very aware of the danger of Iran’s mischief and nefarious activities... I don’t believe the United States is under any illusion as to what type of government Iran is,” he said.
Meanwhile, Kerry also said after talks with Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states in Saudi Arabia that he was confident Syria peace talks would proceed.

“We are confident that with good initiative in the next day or so those talks can get going and that the U.N. representative special envoy Staffan De Mistura will be convening people in an appropriate manner for the proximity talks that will be the first meeting in Geneva,” he told reporters in Riyadh.

Kerry also said there was agreement that immediately after the first round of talks the International Support Group on Syria would convene. 
Kerry began a stop in Riyadh by meeting with representatives of the six nations of the GCC, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman and the United Arab Emirates.
He is also due to have talks with Riad Hijab, chair of the Syrian opposition’s High Negotiations Committee, which was formed in Saudi Arabia last month, amid uncertainty about whether Syrian peace talks slated to start next week in Geneva will take place.
The Saudi-backed Syrian opposition ruled out even indirect negotiations with Damascus before preconditions are met, including a halt to Russian air strikes, contradicting Kerry’s hopes for talks to start next week

Adel Al-Jubeir: Saudi Arabia will not allow Iran to undermine our security or the security of our allies

Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir

Jeddah, Arab News, 19 January 2016 - “Saudi Arabia will not allow Iran to undermine our security or the security of our allies. We will push back against attempts to do so,” Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir said in an op-ed published in the New York Times on Tuesday.
“The world is watching Iran for signs of change, hoping it will evolve from a rogue revolutionary state into a respectable member of the international community,” he said, adding that Tehran had a hostile policy toward its neighbors that would only cause more violence in the region.
“But Iran, rather than confronting the isolation it has created for itself, opts to obscure its dangerous sectarian and expansionist policies, as well as its support for terrorism, by leveling unsubstantiated charges against the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,” he said.
Al-Jubeir said Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies had no option but to continue resisting Iran’s expansionist ideology and responding forcefully to its acts of aggression.
“Superficially, Iran may appear to have changed … Certainly, we know that a large segment of the Iranian population wants greater openness internally and better relations with neighboring countries and the world. But the government does not,” he said, adding that its behavior has been the same since the 1979 revolution.
“The constitution that Iran adopted states the objective of exporting the revolution. As a consequence, Iran has supported violent extremist groups, including Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen and sectarian militias in Iraq,” said the foreign minister.
He said Iran or its proxies have been blamed for terrorist attacks around the world, including the bombings of the United States Marine barracks in Beirut in 1983, the Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia in 1996, and the assassinations in the Mykonos restaurant in Berlin in 1992. And by some estimates Iranian-backed forces have killed over 1,100 American troops in Iraq since 2003.
Iran uses attacks on diplomatic sites as an instrument of its foreign policy, he said, citing the 1979 takeover of the American Embassy in Tehran and the embassies of Britain, Denmark, Kuwait, France and Russia. The most recent incident involved Saudi Arabia’s missions in Iran, he said.
Touching on the Syrian crisis and the Iranian intervention in the war-torn country, Al-Jubeir said: “It is clear why Iran wants Bashar Assad of Syria to remain in power: In its 2014 report on terrorism, the State Department wrote that Iran views Syria ‘as a crucial causeway to its weapons supply route to Hezbollah.’”
“The report also noted, citing United Nations data, that Iran provided arms, financing and training “to support the Assad regime’s brutal crackdown that has resulted in the deaths of at least 191,000 people.”
The same report for 2012 noted that there was “a marked resurgence of Iran’s state sponsorship of terrorism,” with Iranian and Hezbollah’s terrorist activity “reaching a tempo unseen since the 1990s.”
He also underlined the Iranian support of Houthi militias for the takeover of Yemen. A process he described as having caused the war that has killed thousands. The minister said while Iran claims its top foreign policy priority is friendship, its behavior shows the opposite is true.
“Iran is the single-most-belligerent-actor in the region, and its actions display both a commitment to regional hegemony and a deeply held view that conciliatory gestures signal weakness either on Iran’s part or on the part of its adversaries,” he said.
Moreover, Al-Jubeir said Iran continues to violate international agreements. “In that vein, Iran tested a ballistic missile on Oct. 10, just months after reaching an agreement on its nuclear program, in violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions. In December, an Iranian military ship fired a missile near American and French vessels in international waters,” he said.
“Saudi Arabia has been a victim of terrorism, often at the hands of Iran’s allies. Our country is on the front line of fighting terrorism, working closely with our allies. Saudi Arabia has arrested thousands of terrorism suspects and prosecuted hundreds. Our fight against terrorism is continuing as we lead multinational efforts to pursue those who participate in terrorist activities, those who fund them and those who foment the mind-set that promotes extremism,” he said.
“The real question is whether Iran wants to live by the rules of the international system, or remain a revolutionary state committed to expansion and to defiance of international law. In the end, we want an Iran that works to solve problems in a way that allows people to live in peace. But that will require major changes in Iran’s policy and behavior. We have yet to see that,” he said.

A prominent Saudi Prince rejected Iranian ambassador’s request for a meeting

the Iranian government agents attack SaudiAraibian embassy in Tehran

Riyadh, Jan. 6th, 2016: Kingdom Holding Company Chairman Prince Alwaleed bin Talal said he rejected the Iranian ambassador’s request for a meeting, reported by Arabic daily Alriyadh..
He said on Tuesday he has cancelled the study of all projects and investment in Iran following Riyadh’s move to cut its diplomatic relations with Tehran, He said he also stopped all Flynas flights to Iran. Kingdom Holding owns 34 per cent of the budget carrier.
This comes after Saudi Arabia severed diplomatic ties on Sunday and froze commercial ties with Iran the following day after Iranian mobs stormed the kingdom’s embassy in Tehran and consulate in Mashad In a statement on Monday night, members of the UN Security Council condemned the attacks and said Iran was under obligation to protect all diplomatic missions, according to a report carried by SPA.

Saudi diplomat: We witnessed a complete destruction in Tehran

Saudi Minister of Foreign Affairs Adel al-Jubeir

Saudi Arabian diplomats who had been based in Tehran have returned home to Riyadh with stories of mistreatment at the hands of Iranian officials, Euro News reported on January 6th, 2016.
Their arrival follows their government’s decision to cut ties with Saudi’s main political and religious rival in the region following an attack on its embassy.
Leading embassy diplomat Mohammed al Otaibi told journalists at King Khalid International airport:
“We witnessed a complete destruction, they messed up the contents of the embassy (in Tehran), then there were three days of horror which we were forced to live through until we arrived here at the airport thank God.” He went on to claim his staff had been forcibly searched.
An Iranian mob stormed the Saudi embassy, setting it alight on Saturday
Despite the breach in relations Saudi Arabia says it will not affect talks on Syria, another round of which is scheduled in Geneva this month.