Italian MEP invites dignitaries, Iranians to join Maryam Rajavi in ‘free Iran’ Gathering

Italian MEP, Patrizia Toia

Patrizia Toia, a Member of the European Parliament from Italy, has voiced support for the campaign by Mrs. Maryam Rajavi , President-elect of the Iranian Resistance, to achieve a free and democratic Iran.
Ms. Patrizia Toia : Hello, my name is Patrizia Toia, member of European Parliament from Italy. I would like to use this opportunity to express my solidarity with the people of Iran who are living under a religious dictatorship. I am particularly concerned about women in Iran and about the limitations they have to tolerate.
People of Iran deserve to have a democratic leader. I have a lot of sympathy for the leader of the Iranian Resistance, Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, whom I have met several times in Brussels. She was at the European Parliament last March...
Her leadership as a Muslim woman brings hope for a free Iran.
I am also one of the signatories of the statement of 270 members of European Parliament on human rights in Iran which was issued recently. This statement signed by so many of my colleagues gives a strong message to the people of Iran that we in Europe care about democracy in Iran and we continue to support initiatives for a free Iran. That is why I encourage everyone to join the event in Paris of 9th of July. I hope your rally would be a great success. Good luck.

Human rights in Iran, not just a domestic problem

More than 2500 execution since Rouhani took office in Iran

BRUSSELS, June 23 (UPI) -- Last week, together with 270 other colleagues in the European Parliament, I signed a statement condemning the ongoing, rampant human rights abuses in the Islamic Republic of Iran. We have called on EU and Western governments 'to condition any further relations with Iran to a clear progress on human rights and a halt to executions.'
Iran is today the world leader in number of executions per capita. It has also been declared by the U.S. State Department as the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism.
The rate of hangings has increased in recent years with the arrival to power of the so-called 'moderate' president, Hassan Rouhani . Nearly 1,000 people were put to death in 2015 alone, according to the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Iran, Ahmad Shaheed, who declared it as the highest number of executions in Iran in 27 years.
In the streets of Tehran and other Iranian cities, morality police and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps have intensified their efforts to root out and punish various forms of deviance from the country's repressive religious laws, including the forced veiling of women and the criminalization of labor unions and other forms of peaceful gathering. Meanwhile, the Iranian regime's unwavering support for Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad has made Iran part of the problem rather than a solution to the Syrian war.
Iran's fingerprints are also deepening in Iraq, where Iranian-backed Shiite militias have recently been accused again by international rights organizations of systematic torturing and killing of the Sunni population in the battle to take over Fallujah. This will further alienate the Sunnis and drive them toward extremist groups such as the Islamic State.

Protesters ended their sit-in demo in Iraq’s Green Zone

Followers of Iraq’s Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr are seen in the parliament building

 (With Reuters, AFP)

 

Iraqi protesters, most of them supporters of  Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, started on Saturday a sit-in demonstration in Ihtifalat Square, located in Baghdad’s fortified Green Zone after they stormed the parliament.

An AFP photographer said the protesters were leaving the parliament building they stormed earlier in the day.

Members of the Sadrist militia group Saraya al-Salam could be seen ordering protesters to move out of the compound, some six hours after they broke into the fortified Green Zone area where the government is headquartered.

An emergency state was declared in Baghdad after hundreds of Sadr's supporters stormed the Green Zone and some entered the parliament building. The protesters stormed the parliament after lawmakers failed to convene for a vote on overhauling the government.

Iraqi security forces fired tear gas at one entrance of the zone but appeared to be largely standing down as protesters marched through the area, chanting and waving Iraqi flags. Hundreds were still pouring into the Green Zone as night fell.

The protesters, who had gathered outside the heavily fortified district housing government buildings and foreign embassies, crossed a bridge over the Tigris River chanting, “The cowards ran away!” in apparent reference to lawmakers leaving parliament, one of the witnesses said.

Iraqi protesters storm parliament in Baghdad

A guard at a checkpoint said the protesters had not been searched before entering. TV footage showed them waving Iraqi flags and chanting “Peaceful, peaceful!.” Some were standing on top of concrete blast walls that form the outer barrier to the Green Zone.

The protestors, many of whom were seen waving Iraq's national flag, were responding to calls made by Sadr.

This week, lawmakers again failed to approve new cabinet ministers. Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi had been seeking to replace the previous cabinet, which had been marred by allegations of corruption and patronage.

In a press conference Sadr denounced Iraqi political circles who are obstructing Abadi’s reforms that would see current ministers replaced by technocrats with no party affiliation to tackle systemic political patronage that has enabled bribery and embezzlement. Sadr also called for a one-million man “peaceful” demonstration.

“The political sides want to suppress the reform movement,” he said, describing the “reform movement as having only the interest of people in its core.”

He added: “[The reform movement] is for God, the will of people and Sadr has zero interest in it.”

Instead those who are trying to cling to the status quo are those who want to keep the “quota system” to keep “their interests intact,” he said.

Observers have criticized Iraq’s quota system, which divides power between Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds. The quota which keeps the presidency post for a Kurd and the premiership for a Shiite are blamed for political corruption, and weakening the state and its army.

Sadr is so far the main Iraqi political figure, who is lending his weight to push for Abadi’s reforms, stressed that the reform movement’s protests “will continue to be peaceful.”

Last Friday, Sadr warned political party leaders that they would face street protests if they obstruct Abadi’s government overhaul to fight corruption.

“You are not staying here! This is your last day in the Green Zone,” shouted one protester as thousands broke into the fortified area in central Baghdad.

EU condemns Iraq parliament protest

EU foreign affairs commissioner Federica Mogherini on Saturday criticized the storming of the Iraqi parliament by protesters as potentially destabilizing the country.

“The reported attack today on the Iraqi Parliament and the violent protests in Baghdad risk to further destabilise an already tense situation,” Mogherini said.

“It appears a deliberate disruption of the democratic process. A rapid restoration of order is in the interest of the Iraqi people, who have been suffering for too long for the lack of stability in their country, and is in the interest of all the region, confronted by many threats.”

“It’s crucial that all Iraqis and all the regional and international actors contribute to build a cooperative environment and a democratic, inclusive political process to stabilize the country,” Mogherini concluded.
 

Kuwait Parliament rises against Iran’s terrorist threats

 

Mullahs’ regime security forces demolished a social club belonging to the Christian community of the capital Tehran. According to a statistics, more than 300 churches and Christian religious congregations have been destroyed or brought down in mullahs’ ruled Iran and dozens more are left half destroyed without permit to rebuild or repair. Concerning the external policy by Mullah's regime in Iran its meddling in Arab countries still continue

The Kuwait-based al-Ray daily published a piece on Sunday, September 6th saying following terrorist threats and conspiracies by the Iranian regime against Arab countries of the Persian Gulf, Kuwait lawmakers are now insisting on the necessity to escalate security cooperation.
Kuwait MPs said the security package signed by the Gulf Cooperation Council Foreign Ministers in 2012 has yet to be adopted by the [Kuwait] Parliament and it should be adopted by this house. Government officials are seeking the adoption of the GCC security package by the Parliament.
Kuwait MP Dr. Abdulrahman al-Jiran called for a Kuwait Parliament emergency session to adopt the GCC security package.
“Now that Iran is advancing its expansionist agenda, to confront this we need to adopt the security package. The GCC states are a united entity that cannot be divided. The rulers of Tehran are against the GCC unity and have attempted to create divides amongst them,” he said.
Abdulrahman al-Jiran added Iran has accepted and trained militants and terrorist networks to gain control over the of GCC countries, and this has threatened our security and stability. Iran only understands the language of force, he said.