International support for Grand Iran Gathering ‘Free Iran’, Lord Carlile of Berriew says 'time for justice'

Hon. Lord Carlile of Berriew, QC,

Lord Carlile of Berriew, QC, a leading British parliamentarian and Joint Chair of the British Parliamentary Committee for Iran Freedom, called on major global institutions and governments to persuade the Iranian regime, 'if necessary, with sanctions, that they cannot go on in the way in which they have. It is time for justice, fairness, equality and proper civil institutions for the people of Iran.'
Describing the situation in Iran under President Rouhani as 'shocking', Lord Carlile, outlined a few examples of the repression and violence of the Iranian regime at home and abroad. There are, he said, 'thousands of political prisoners in Iran.' In Syria, the regime was 'sponsoring the recruitment of child soldiers;' and, in Iraq, it was 'creating chaos'.
Lord Carlile, who is also a distinguished lawyer, highlighted the plight of Camp Liberty residents. Their fate was supposed to be subject to an international agreement, he said. However, the regime was preventing its residents from moving to Europe, and was sponsoring violence against them.
'Civil society in Iran,' Lord Carlile said, 'does not support the regime'. He invited solidarity with the Iranian people in drawing attention to a mass rally of 'thousands' of sympathisers, including law makers from across the globe. The Free Iran rally will be held on July 9 in Paris.
 

Syrian opp.: Assad regime and Iran stoking sectarianism in the region

Hijab says Assad regime has evaded from discussing political transition during UN-mandated talks in Geneva

ANKARA- UN-brokered talks at resolving the six-year conflict in Syria have reached a dead end due to refusal of the Syrian regime to discuss political transition in the country, an opposition negotiator said.
Speaking to Anadolu Agency, Riad Hijab said that the Bashar al-Assad regime has evaded from discussing political transition during recent UN-mandated talks in Geneva.
“With every round of negotiations, the regime begins to escalate its bombardment and commit massacres against the [Syrian] people,” said Hijab, the coordinator of the High Committee of the Syrian opposition in negotiations.
Hijab said that the Syrian opposition has suspended its participation in the UN talks due to massacres committed by the regime against Syrian civilians.
“Any return to the negotiations would require creating a favorable climate, which currently does not exist,” he said.
“The Syrian people are still suffering,” he said, citing a recent escalation in attacks by the Assad regime.
“We have seen an unprecedented escalation by the regime and its allies Iran and Russia against the Syrian people, using banned weapons as phosphor and napalm bombs,” he said.
Syria has been locked in a vicious civil war since 2011, when the Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests with unexpected ferocity.
Since then, more than a quarter of a million people have been killed and more than 10 million displaced across the war-battered country, according to the UN.
UN-mandated talks between the Syrian regime and opposition to look into ways of resolving the six-year conflict collapsed in late April.
UN envoy Staffan de Mistura said on Thursday that the international body will not hold another round of Syrian talks until both sides agree the parameters for a political transition deal, which has an August 1 deadline.
'I have informed the Security Council just a few days ago ... The time is not yet mature for the official third round of the intra-Syrian talks,' de Mistura said.
Hijab further accused the Assad regime and allied Iran of stoking sectarianism in the region.
He also criticized attempts by Russia – which began airstrikes against Assad’s opponents in September -- to designate the opposition Jaish al-Islam and Ahrar al-Sham groups as “terrorist” organizations.
“The two groups are defending the rights of the Syrian people and are working to remove the regime,” he said, going on to call on the international community to “show a real resolve to guarantee political transition” in Syria.
Source: Anadolu Agency, 13 June 2016

Iran regime’s crackdown on teachers, activists major concern for British MPs MPs

 

British peers and MPs have expressed deep concern about the crackdown on teachers and union activists by the mullahs' regime in Iran.

The all- party British Parliamentary Committee for Iran Freedom (BPCIF) in a May 26 statement said it is 'extremely concerned' over the recent arrest and detention, under fraudulent national security charges, of teacher activists in Iran for their peaceful political activism to fight for their improved livelihood.

The British lawmakers in particular condemned the harsh sentences against Jafar Azimzadeh, Mahmoud Beheshti Langaroudi, and Ismail Abdi who have been sentenced to long prison terms, merely for their peaceful activities to secure better wages and living-conditions for Iranian teachers and workers.

'We warn that these prisoners of conscience are in a serious health condition due to their hunger strike in protest to their unjust sentences along with the Iranian authorities' ill-treatment and harassment of their families, fellow teachers, workers, and union members,' the BPCIF said in its statement.

'The notion that advocacy and peaceful activities meant to improve the livelihood of Iranian teachers and workers constitute acts against national security is not only ridiculous but appalling. Such a claim by the Iranian authorities can only be interpreted as silencing legitimate demands and social dissents under the pretext of national security.'

These repressive measures coincide with a recent warning by a group of United Nations Human Rights experts “that over a dozen political prisoners in Iran, including some prominent human rights defenders are at risk of death in detention due to their worsening health conditions and the continued refusal by the Iranian authorities to provide them with medical treatment.” The Iranian authorities’ rationale for withholding treatment to these prisoners is unacceptable especially since these prisoners “allegedly have been arrested, detained and convicted purely for their peaceful exercise of their fundamental freedoms and rights.”

The UK Parliamentarians joined the UN experts in reiterating the situation of political prisoners and activists.

The British Parliamentary Committee for Iran Freedom BPCIF called for the immediate release of political prisoners in Iran.

It urged the UK government and the relevant UN bodies to condemn the Iranian regime's extensive use of national security charges to silence legitimate opposition and popular dissent. 'This in turn will pressure the Iranian authorities to release all political prisoners and respect the Iranian people's right to freedom of expression, assembly, and peaceful protests.'

There is no going back in history, Iranian women will succeed!

We are all equal

The Women's Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran had an online conference Friday evening, May 13, 2016.
The committee's Elham Zanjani hosted Dr. Ranjana Kumari, director of the Center of Social Research, from India and author of nine books on women's rights especially on violence against women, and Ms. Diana Culi, former Member of Parliament and President of Women's Forum in Albania, writer and journalist with a focus on women.
The panel focused on the plight of women in Iran and women's rights in tomorrow's free Iran as outlined in the ten-point plan of the Iranian Resistance's President-elect Maryam Rajavi. 
The conference initially discussed the early days when the Khomeini regime took power in Iran, stripping women of their rights and imposing the compulsory veil and dress code and excluding them from offices and work places, particularly in the Iranian judiciary. It was also pointed out that Tehran has not signed the CEDAW because it contradicts the country's laws on countless instances and because misogyny is institutionalized in the regime's laws.
Ms. Culi noted at this point that the first thing every dictatorial regime does is to oppress women and there is a long history of such discrimination. So, it was a major achievement for the world in 1995, to come up with the Convention on the Elimination of All forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) which is a very important instrument for countries that really want to be democratic. It was in the World Conference in Beijing in 1995 that it was officially declared for the first time that women's rights are human rights.

Iran: cellmate of executed decorator saved from death

                                     Women in Iranian prisons

Important News

• Iran: court hearings for rights advocate postponed
• Girl college students clash with security agents in southwest Iran
• Protesting teachers rally in northern Iran

Related News

• Iran: court hearings for rights advocate postponed
• Girl college students clash with security agents in southwest Iran
• Iran: Baha’i prisoner deprived of leave

Mohammad Ali Jaddari Forughi, the lawyer of death row prisoner Sahar Mahabadi Monfared wrote:
“Sahar Mahabadi Monfared was saved from “Qisas” (punishment of retaliation) at 2:30 pm on Monday, October 5 after the family members of the victim agreed to spare her…”

Reyhaneh Jabbari

It must be noted that Reyhane Jabbari, a 26-year old decorator who was in the same ward with Sahar for about a year prior to her execution, had placed intensive effort with the help of her mother – Mrs. Sho’le Pakravan – to save Sahar’s life and have her spared from execution. This was done while she, herself was on the death row and was finally hanged on Oct. 25, 2014.

( NCRI Women’s Committee )

News - Maryam Rajavi Messages Iran opposition leader hails Iran human rights session at UK House of Commons

Iranian opposition leader Maryam Rajavi

The following is the text of a message by Iranian opposition leader Mrs. Maryam Rajavi , President-elect of the Paris-based National Council of Resistance of Iran, to a meeting on human rights in Iran at the United Kingdom House of Commons sponsored by the all-party British Parliamentary Committee for Iran Freedom.
Maryam Rajavi’s message to a meeting on human rights in Iran at the UK Parliament
September 15, 2015
We call on Britain, Europe and all the world to stand by human rights, freedom and the Iranian Resistance and respect the Iranian people’s desire for regime change. There is such power and influence in this struggle that the world needs
The British Human Right Session,
The honorable members of the British Houses of Commons and Lords,
Dear friends,
I salute you and appreciate your attention to the issue of Iran and its victimized human rights and freedoms, particularly, the prominent parliamentarians Messrs. David Jones and David Amess, the sponsors of this meeting.
It has been years that human rights and freedoms in Iran have comprised a common struggle for the Resistance movement and for the honorable members of the British Houses of Parliament in the British Parliamentary Committee for Iran Freedom.
The people of Iran must have the right to freedom from arbitrary arrests, torture and extrajudicial executions.
They must have the right to enjoy personal freedoms and security and be equal to others before the law. They must have the right to be heard in fair trials before the courts. They must have the right to have their house and private life and their manners of clothing and their movements protected against attacks. They must have the right to freely express their opinions, freely write and read and freely form any gathering they desire. They must have the right to have free elections.
How much longer must the Iranian people only dream of enjoying their most basic rights? How much longer must Iranians give their blood and lives to gain a miniscule part of these rights?
Unfortunately, the issue of human rights and freedoms in Iran were overlooked more than ever in the past two years while the nuclear negotiations and its ultimate agreement were ongoing.
Taking advantage of western governments’ ignorance and irresponsibility, Iran’s ruling mullahs stepped up their suppression and clampdown on freedoms over the past two years. According to Amnesty International, the number of executions in the first half of 2015 amounted to nearly 700 which is highest record of executions in the past quarter of a century. The number of executions in the two years of Rouhani’s tenure has exceeded 2000.
During this period, the record of human rights has deteriorated in all areas. Teachers and workers’ protests are responded to by expulsions from work. The rights and freedoms of lawyers, human rights defenders, web bloggers, reporters, new Christian converts, Bahaii’s, Sunni youths, Kurds, Baluchis and more than anyone, the women and youths of Iran are trampled every day.
In the meantime, the mullahs’ oppressive hand has extended beyond its borders and tightened the siege onCamp Liberty, the seat of Mojahedin members. So far, 27 people have lost their lives due to lack of prompt and timely access to medical treatment.more

Republicans: stop nuclear Negotiations with Iran

While the President of the Washington-based Strategic Policy Consulting Inc.and spokesperson for theNational Council of Resistance of Iran ( NCRI ), claims that the “Iranian regime did not answer to any of the IAEA’s questions regarding evidence nuclear bomb making activities.” Congressional Republicans are pressuring the Obama administration to take a firm line with Iran in the final stretch of the nuclear talks.
The Obama administration announced Tuesday that the negotiations would be extended for a week past the initial June 30 deadline.
Republicans say the extension is a sign the talks aren't going well and argue President Obama should consider walking away from the negotiating table before he gets forced into a "bad deal" that doesn't do enough to dismantle Iran's nuclear capabilities.
"The Administration’s deadlines and red lines with Iran are all moving in the wrong direction, and the backpedaling is a major threat to our security. Achieving a nuclear deal at all costs is not only short-sighted, it is dangerous," House Armed Services Committee Chairman Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Texas) said Wednesday.
Republicans say they fear the Obama administrationwill concede too much to Iran and are drawing their own red lines for what would be an acceptable agreement.
In particular, they are zeroing in on demands that Iran allow inspections "anytime, anywhere," including at military sites, and that the country come clean on any past nuclear weapons research. Republicans also say Iran should agree to phased-in sanctions relief.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) called on the administration Tuesday in a Politicoop-ed to pause negotiations until international negotiators could agree on those and other "basic objectives."
Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) also called for dismantlement of Iran's "vast nuclear program" and "complete transparency and accountability on any future sanctions relief to Iran."
Kirk has authored a bill with Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) that would require the White House to tell Congress whether any money from sanctions relief would go toward terrorism, nuclear weapons or to the bank accounts of Iranian officials.
Kirk said the deal would give back as much as $150 billion in frozen assets to Iran.
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), a 2016 presidential candidate, blasted reports that a senior administration official told reporters that the U.S. wouldn't insist upon access to Iranian military sites, because the U.S. would not allow for others to do the same.
“There is no place in this negotiation for moral equivalence," they said in a statement. "Iran must be held to different, more rigorous standards."
House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce (R-Calif.) added, “It’s logical that any deal with a nuclear pariah and state sponsor of terrorism must require exceptional access for international inspectors.”
"Stop explaining Iran’s position, and certainly don’t do it by comparing Iran with the U.S. in any way, shape, or form. The standard needs to be ‘go anywhere, anytime’ — not go ‘some places, sometimes,’” he said.
If negotiators submit text of the deal to Congress before July 9, Congress will have 30 days to review the deal and vote on a resolution to disapprove it. If Congress rejects the deal, the White House would have 12 days to veto the resolution. Congress would then have 10 days to override the veto.
Two nuclear proliferation experts argued Tuesday that there was "just enough" overlap between international negotiators and Iran to meet core concerns and that press reports suggesting that Iran Supreme Leader Al Khamenei ruled out all military site inspections were wrong.
"It is unrealistic and unnecessary to have carte blanche access to Iran's military sites to verify Iran's compliance with this agreement. Iran, like any other country, has legitimate concerns about safeguarding sensitive military sites," argued Kelsey Davenport, director for nonproliferation policy for the Arms Control Association, and ACA Executive Director Daryl G. Kimball.
President Obama on Tuesday said he would walk away from the Iran negotiations "if, in fact, it's a bad deal."
"If we can’t provide assurances that the pathways for Iran obtaining a nuclear weapon are closed, and if we can’t verify that, if the inspections regime — the verification regime is inadequate, then we’re not going to get a deal," he said at a press conference.
Some Republicans are calling for the administration to walk away from the talks.
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), a 2016 presidential candidate, blasted the pending deal and said the White House has "given into Iran's obfuscation and stalling tactics."
If the president were "serious about negotiating a deal that advances our security and protects our allies," he would walk away from the talks and impose new sanctions on Iran until "it comes to the table ready to negotiate seriously."
Rubio also said even if Congress could not override a presidential veto, a resolution of disapproval would set the stage for the next president to undo the deal — a suggestion that Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) made in a GOP letter to Iran earlier this year.
If the president "instead chooses to conclude a deal that ensure that Iran will be a nuclear threshold state, I am confident that a majority of both houses of Congress will join me in opposing it, which will lay the foundation for our next President to undo this disaster," Rubio said.
Iran isn’t the only threat facing us, but it’s a grave one. The White House needs to remember that this is one of the most serious issues of our time. It needs to remember that the consequences of a bad agreement may be to simply defer a decision on military action to the next President. And it needs to know that the Congress elected by the people is prepared to do anything it can to make Americans safer: whether that means working collaboratively with the President to advance the goal or whether it means working against a bad agreement that threatens our country and our allies.