Iran regime sentence dual Iranian-American citizen to 18 years imprisonment

The Los Angeles Times reported San Diego man, 46, sentenced to 18 years imprisonment in Iran for the so called charges of “collaborating with a hostile government”.
Speaking from Ninava jail in Gorgan, northeast Iran, Gholamreza Shahini said he was visiting family members in Iran when he was arrested on 11th July. During his trial last week, he was sentenced to 18 years of imprisonment.
The week before this, two Iranian American businessman received ten years prison sentences on similar charges, adding to the growing number of dual nationals being arrested.
The number is increasing since the nuclear deal was signed last year. Before this, the U.S. had ceased diplomatic relations with Iran since the 1979 Islamic revolution.
However, it appears that President Hassan Rouhani ’s outreach to the West is being undermined by tyrants wanting to “use prisoners as bargaining chips in future negotiations”.
Shahini said that prosecutors presented posts from social media as evidence during the trial. He said he does not know why he was arrested. He was due to start graduate school in homeland security studies this autumn.
He was put into solitary confinement for two weeks after his arrest. He was then put into a ward containing several hundred prisoners who had been arrested on murder or drug charges. They had to share eight bathrooms and a handful of showers.
Although he has seen hospital doctors, his asthma and dental issues remain unaddressed.
He said: “I’m a U.S. citizen. Let’s put pressure on the Iranian government so that it will not happen to another citizen. Maybe I am Iranian, but I am also American.”
He added that he would go on a hunger strike as soon as Iranian media outlets announce his sentencing. “I won’t stop unless I am free or die.”
His family say that Shahini has converted to Christianity – something which could add to his troubles with the Islamic Republic.
His sister, Fatemeh Shahini, called the news “a nightmare.” His girlfriend, Sevil Suleymani, said she and the rest of the family were shocked by the swiftness of the proceedings. She said: “After hearing his sentence, he is in a bad situation. He is really scared. It is shocking for all us. Nobody expected this.”
The LA Times points out that Iran’s official media has not reported Shahini’s sentencing and the State Department has not yet commented.

IRAN’S REVOLUTIONARY GUARDS LEND CREDENCE TO US CONCERNS OVER RANSOM PAYMENT

In the wake of this week’s announcement of the conviction of US-Iran dual nationals Siamak and Baquer Namazi, a number of commentators and news outlets – particularly those critical of White House policy toward Iran – have speculated that the father and son are being held, along with other Western nationals, as hostages to be used for ransom or as bargaining chips in dealing with the US and its allies. In recent weeks, the Obama administration has come under serious fire for revelations that a January prisoner swap coincided with a 400 million dollar delivery of cash, which the administration described as the first part of the settlement of a decades-old debt.

As more details of that payment emerged, lawmakers spoke with increasing conviction about the “ransom payment” violating long-established US policy of not paying for hostages. Much of this commentary warned that the West could now expect Tehran to be emboldened in taking additional hostages, as it has arguably done in the form of the Namazis, the recent San Diego State College graduate Robin Shahini, the Iranian-British mother and charitable program coordinator Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, and others.

On Wednesday, a report by the Washington Free Beacon lent credence to those concerns, noting that a number of Iranian officials had floated the idea of the American prisoners being exchanged for large sums of money. Iranian news outlets with close ties to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps have reportedly said that the US is expected to offer “many billions of dollars” for the release of Siamak Namazi and his 80-year-old father.

Regardless of such commentary by Iranian hardliners, the Obama administration continues to maintain that it has never paid ransom for American hostages, although it now acknowledges that the 400 million dollar cash delivery was used as leverage to make sure of the release of four Americans once this had been separately negotiated.

For many, the difference is trivial, and the White House’s claim was subjected to serious criticism on Thursday in the form of an editorial published at Hot Air. The article argued that it does not matter what the Obama administration thinks of the payment; all that matters is how it was received by Iran. And there had been previous reports of quotations from Iranian political and military officials saying that the money had been offered in exchange for the release of Washington Post correspondent Jason Rezaian and others.

The IRGC’s comment about “many billions of dollars” underscores this perception and also gives strong evidence in favor of US congressmen’s belief that the perception of ransom would have an adverse effect on the cases of other Americans detained in the Islamic Republic.

But Iran News Update has pointed out in previous reports that there are other incentives for Iranian authorities to target Western nationals. Certainly, such arrests serve as part of the regime’s crackdown on potential sources of dissent or challenges to the country’s enforced, hardline Islamic identity. But more than that, and particularly in the case of arrests of businessmen like Siamak Namazi, this trend serves to discourage Western investors from challenging the IRGC’s control over the Iranian economy.

This latter issue was also mentioned by Hot Air, which indicated that the expectation of ransom money provides the IRGC and its affiliates with reason to hope that they can make money off of the West while simultaneously keeping Western economic and cultural influences at bay.

Impunity for Iran leaders should end

30,000 massacr

By Majid Sadeghpour 

The biggest massacre of political prisoners since World War II was carried out in Iran in 1988. The Iranian regime as a whole and many senior officials in power today were the perpetrators.  The indiscriminate murder of 30,000 prisoners of conscience was ordered by the regime’s then-supreme leader Khomeini and carried out by members of “death commissions” set up around the county.
Many of these prisoners had already completed their sentences but were executed without fair trials in 1988 simply for their beliefs and support for the main opposition group Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK). The victims included men, women and even teenagers. Some of the women were pregnant at the time of execution, according to the regime’s second highest official at the time, Ayatollah Hossein-Ali Montazeri.
A newly released audio tape by members of Montazeri’s family implicates the key orchestrators of the 1988 mass murders. Some of them are the same officials with whom the West negotiated the nuclear deal.
Last month, the House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-Texas) introduced an important resolution “Condemning the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran for the 1988 massacre of political prisoners and calling for justice for the victims.” Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce (R-Calif.) and Ranking Member Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.), plus a dozen more bipartisan members cosponsored H.Res. 159.
The Resolution “Urges the Administration and United States allies to publicly condemn the massacre, and pressure the Government of Iran to provide detailed information to the families of the victims about their loved ones and their final resting places.”
In August, Montazeri’s son, who is a religious figure in his own right, released an important audio tape of his father’s meeting with senior regime officials that had remained sealed for over two decades.
“In my opinion, the greatest crime committed during the Islamic Republic, for which history will condemn us, has been committed by you,” Montazeri, the regime’s no. 2 official at the time, is recorded telling a group of judicial and intelligence officials. They included Mostafa Pourmohammadi, who today is Hassan Rouhani ’s justice minister.
The current head of Iran’s Supreme Disciplinary Court for Judges was a member of the death commission, as was the head of one of the most powerful and influential state conglomerates. Four members of the State Expediency Council, six members of the Assembly of Experts, and twelve of the highest ranking judiciary officials along with many others including military officials have been identified as members of these “death commissions.”
The perpetrators’ disposition and seniority in Iran’s current regime truly represents an affront to humanity and in many ways would be akin to a bizarre scenario whereby Nazi officials are promoted to key positions in today’s Germany - an unthinkable scenario.
Such brazen promotion of extremism and disregard to humanitarian laws necessitates an appropriate reaction by the international community, a reaction against the world’s leading state executioner.
The leader of the main Iranian opposition, Maryam Rajavi , said it well. 'Standing up to the violations of human rights in Iran is also the responsibility of Western governments because its consequences do not remain within Iran. The terrorism and fundamentalism emanating from it have been hurting defenseless people in Nice, Paris, and Brussels.'
France’s former Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner recently said, “The massacres did not take place only in 1988. Iran continues to have the highest execution rate per capita. The executions have even increased after the nuclear deal.'
In short, the mass murderers of 1988 are still murdering today, but the global community has responded with indifference.
This is a watershed moment for those who yearn for democracy because the 1988 mass execution in Iran gives the clearest example of unabated brutality in modern human history.  Its connection to current policies is also visible.
Western negligence will only encourage further domestic suffering for Iranians and more of the regime’s unbridled terrorism in the region and around the world.
That is why House Resolution 159 “urges the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Iran and the United Nations Human Rights Council to create a Commission of Inquiry to fully investigate the massacre and to gather evidence and identify the names and roles of specific perpetrators with a view towards bringing them to justice.”
With the possibility of a more prudent foreign policy by the next US president and a purposeful European pushback against Islamic extremism, the prospect of support for real change in Iran is growing.
Such democratic change requires public expression of support for the Iranian people and their organized resistance by the international community and especially Washington.

Dr. Sadeghpour is the political director of the Organization of Iranian American Communities – US

نرگس محمدی: به راهی که رفته باور دارم و پشیمان نیستم

زندانی سیاسی، نرگس محمدی در واکنش به تأیید محکومیت ۱۶ سال زندان خود، از اقدامات انجام داده دفاع کرد و طی نامه‌یی نوشت: «من به راهی که رفته و کاری که کرده و آنچه اندیشیده‌ام باور دارم و بر تحقق آن یعنی تحقق حقوق‌بشر اصرار دارم و پشیمان نیستم. اگر مدعیان عدالت‌پروری و دادستانی، استوار بودن رأی ۱۶ سال حبس ظالمانه را در دادنامه‌های صادره اعلام می‌کنند، ما نیز استوار بودن ایمان و باورهایمان را نزد افکار عمومی اعلام می‌کنیم 

وی افزود: چگونه می‌شود یک فعال حقوق‌بشر که همواره در مظان اتهام و تحت تعقیب و بازداشت نهادهای امنیتی بوده را بابت این موضوعات به محاکمه کشید، در حالی‌که می‌دانند چنینآسیب‌های اجتماعی رو به فزون گذاشته در جامعه‌مان معلول چه علتهایی است؟ 

این زندانی سیاسی پرسید: آیا افزایش شدید آسیب‌هایی نظیر اعتیاد، فقر، بیکاری و خودکشی محصول کار فعالان حقوق‌بشر است 'یا نتیجه عملکرد حکومتی است که مرزی برای رعایت حریم خصوصی افراد جامعه متصور نیست و حقوق فردی، مدنی و سیاسی شهروندانش را نه تنها رعایت نمی‌کند، بلکه با رویکردی امنیتی- نظامی به آنها دست‌اندازی می‌کند و صدای هر معترضی را با زندان و بازداشت پاسخ می‌گوید؟.

زندانی سیاسی نرگس محمدی در ادامه یادداشت خود افزود: «قوه قضاییه رژیم ایران به‌وضوح و روشنی جای متهم و شاکی را عوض کرده و عاملان فرهنگی- اقتصادی- اجتماعی مشکلات و آسیب‌های اجتماعی را مصون از پرسش و محاکمه و قربانیان و منتقدان واقعی را به حبس و مجازات می‌کشد. سؤال اینجا است که زنان معتاد و... قربانیان عملکرد و اهداف چه کسانی هستند؟.

وی در پایان نامه خود افزود: «این احکام ظالمانه را که آزادی‌ام را به بند و چهار دیوار زندان خواهد کشید، بر نمی‌تابم. زندان را تحمل خواهم کرد، اما حتی یک روز آن را قانونی، انسانی و اخلاقی نمی‌دانم و علیه این ظلم همواره سخن خواهم گفت.

خاطرنشان می‌شود تأیید 16سال زندان این زندانی سیاسی توسط دادگاه تجدیدنظر با واکنش بین‌المللی مواجه شد.

هیومن رایتس واچ طی بیانیه‌یی تأیید حکم16سال زندان، زندانی سیاسی نرگس محمدی را ناعادلانه خواند و خواستار آزادی فوری او شد. این سازمان حقوق‌بشری اتهام «اقدام علیه امنیت ملی» علیه نرگس محمدی را «مبهم» توصیف کرد.

سارا لی ویتسون، مدیر بخش خاورمیانه هیومن رایتس واچ، روز شنبه در این باره گفت: «از اتحادیه اروپا خواست در گفت‌ و گوهای تجاری خود با مقامهای رژیم ایران، موضوعات حقوق‌بشری را نیز مطرح کنند. 

اتحادیه اروپا نیز روز جمعه، نهم مهرماه، با انتشار بیانیه‌یی ضمن محکوم کردن تأیید حکم ۱۶ سال زندان برای نرگس محمدی، از مقامهای رژیم ایران خواستار آزادی فوری نرگس محمدی شد.

مارک تونر سخنگوی وزارت‌خارجه آمریکا نیز روز جمعه این حکم را «خشن و غیرقابل توجیه» خوانده و گفت: «هیچ‌کس نباید به‌دلیل فعالیت‌های مدنی مسالمت‌آمیز خود زندانی شود. 

قبل از آن نیز سازمان گزارشگران بدون مرز و عفو بین‌الملل با انتشار بیانیه‌هایی، تأیید حکم زندان نرگس محمدی را محکوم کرده و خواستار آزادی فوری و بی‌قید و شرط او شده بودند.
خاطرنشان می‌شود نرگس محمدی در اردیبهشت‌ماه 95 در شعبه ۱۵ بیدادگاه رژیم به‌ریاست قاضی جنایتکار صلواتی، به اتهام «اجتماع و تبانی به قصد ارتکاب جرم علیه امنیت ملی کشور» به پنج سال زندان، به اتهام «فعالیت تبلیغی علیه نظام» به یک سال زندان و در مورد اتهام «تشکیل و اداره گروهک غیرقانونی لگام» به تحمل ده سال زندان محکوم شده بود. این حکم در دادگاه تجدیدنظر تأیید شد.

Iran: Amnesty International react to “shameful” 16-year-sentence for human rights defender Narges Mohammadi

NCRI - Amnesty International havehighlighted the recent news that the 16-year prison sentence against Iranian human rights defender Narges Mohammadi, who is critically ill, has been upheld by the Iranian regime’s appeal court.

Their Research and Advocacy Director for the Middle East and North Africa, Philip Luther, said: “This verdict is yet another cruel and devastating blow to human rights in Iran, which demonstrates the authorities’ utter contempt for justice. Narges Mohammadi is a prominent advocate of human rights and a prisoner of conscience. She should be lauded for her courage not locked in a prison cell for 16 years.” 

He added that it is “harsh” and “appalling” that this sentence has been given for human rights work that has been carried out peacefully. He said it is clear that the authorities have “laid bare their intent to silence human rights defenders at all costs”. 

Luther said that this sentence is even more shocking because it comes at a time when Iran’s regime is preparing for renewed bilateral dialogue with the EU, and “given that Narges Mohammadi was convicted for her work campaigning against the death penalty and meeting with the former EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs”. He said that this sentencing raises many doubts about Tehran’s commitment to dealing with the EU over human rights issues. 

“Narges Mohammadi’s conviction and sentence must be quashed and the authorities must order her immediate and unconditional release. We urge the EU to make these calls, too, and put the heightened repression of human rights defenders in Iran at the heart of their dialogue.”

Iran upholds 16-year sentence for anti-death penalty campaigner Narges Mohammadi

Narges Mohammadi, right, listens to Karim Lahidji, president of the Iranian league for the Defense of Human Rights, left, during a press conference on the Assessment of the Human Rights Situation in Iran, at UN headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, in 2008. (Magali Girardin / AP)

 By Ramin Mostaghim, Shashank Bengali

An Iranian appeals court on Wednesday upheld a 16-year prison sentence for a prominent Iranian human rights advocate.

Narges Mohammadi had been sentenced in May on charges of violating national security and acting against the Islamic regime through her support of an anti-death penalty campaign.

As vice president of the Defenders of Human Rights Center in Iran, Mohammadi gained attention in 2014 for defending women who had acid thrown on them in the city of Esfahan, purportedly for dressing immodestly.

While jailed this summer at Tehran’s Evin Prison, she staged a 20-day hunger strike in protest of authorities who barred her from speaking by phone with her family.

Mohammadi is mother to 9-year-old twins, who live in France with their father. Friends say she suffers from a chronic illness that causes partial paralysis, which has worsened due to her imprisonment.

The appeals court in Tehran upheld Mohammadi’s sentence following a hearing in the case last week.

A relative of former imprisoned Iranian lawyer and human rights activist Nasrin Sotoudeh adjusts her scarf at her house in Tehran. (Abedin Taherkenareh / European Pressphoto Agency)

“It is shocking for me as a human rights lawyer that a fellow lawyer with children would be sentenced to jail for even one day,” said Nasrin Sotoudeh, a colleague who served three years in jail until being released in 2013.

“She has committed no crime but doing her legal work. Is it wrong to defend the victims of violence?”

Mahmoud Behzadi, Mohammadi's lawyer, said his client had not decided whether to appeal to Iran's Supreme Court.

Amnesty International and other human rights groups have assailed Mohammadi’s treatment as an example of how Iranian authorities use broad national security laws to punish dissidents or those seen as hostile to the conservative theocracy.

Human rights activists and dual nationals continue to be imprisoned during the presidency of Hassan Rouhani, a relative moderate whose 2013 election had raised hopes of an easing of Iran’s harsh security laws.

Mohammadi is a supporter of the Campaign for Step by Step Abolition of the Death Penalty, known by its Persian acronym, Legam. Iran is one of the world’s leading practitioners of capital punishment, putting to death an estimated 1,000 people last year, many for drug offenses.

Last month, Iran put to death a teenager who was convicted of a crime when he was 17. Approximately 160 minors are on death row in Iran, according to Amnesty International.

Siavash Ramesh, a 28-year-old political activist, said Mohammadi’s sentence shows the Iranian regime won’t tolerate criticism of its death penalty laws.

“They sentenced her to give a warning to human rights activists and give her a lesson not to trespass against the regime’s imposed red lines,” Ramesh said.

Iran: Justice for Victims of 1988 Massacre Committee formed

The committee of Justice for victims of 1988 massacre announced its formation on Wednesday, September 21, 2016, in Geneva.

The committee, comprised of a number of human rights experts and renowned personalities, urged the UN Human Rights Council to investigate the extensive executions of political prisoners in Iran in summer 1988 in light of the recent documents revealed.

Rama Yade, former Human Rights Minister of France, and Ingrid Betancourt, former senator and presidential candidate from Columbia, are among the members of the London-based Committee. The Justice for Victims of 1988 Massacre Committee urged the UN to form an investigative committee in this regard.

Ms. Ingrid Betancourt told a press conference in Geneva, "Such a step is very important to defend human rights… Those who ordered these killings, are today among prominent officials of the Iranian regime. Considering that these criminals have very important responsibilities in Iran, this shows how problematic the present Iranian government is."

The Justice for Victims of 1988 Massacre Committee also held a meeting in Paris, in August and called for investigation into the massacre. In that meeting, Ms. Rama Yade talked about the significance of attending to the case of the 1988 massacre. She said, "This has been a concealed catastrophe. It has been concealed from us, from history, and therefore it is very important that today, we can pay tribute to the 30,000 men and women who were executed in Iranian prisons, the men and women who were buried in unmarked graves with disrespect."

Ms. Yade described the 1988 massacre as a "double disaster" because "there has been no judicial investigation in this regard. This disaster is actually a manifestation of tremendous injustices done: young men and women, sometimes very young, students, athletes, and various examples of Iranian society were victimized. In fact, a generation was victimized. This is also an injustice to the families, because without an officially identified tomb, the families of the deceased have to carry around the memory of their loved ones who were victims of such injustices from one place to the other."

Reports from Iran’s prisons

NCRI - According to reports, the political prisoner “Arjang Davoodi”  was summoned on the morning of September 22 by judicial officers in Gohardasht Prison (Rajaee Shahr) in Western Tehran. He was told to gather up his belongings and get ready to be sent into exile in Zabol, where he should stay for two years.

Considering the illnesses Davoodi is suffering from, his cellmates say that this is a conspiracy by the Iranian regime’s judiciary to murder him.

Also on Wednesday September 21, 2016, political prisoner “Reza Kahe” was summoned by the Gohardasht Prison Management Office. In the office he was investigated and threatened over his non-participation in prison’s mandatory classes (religious classes), congregational prayer as well as roll call.

In response, this political prisoner has protested about the pressure and stated that he will not take part in such classes and in the roll call as well, because he has been brought to this ward forcibly and against the Principle of Separation of offenses.

Also according to news, there was a violent clash between ordinary prisoners on Tuesday September 20, following which a number of them were transferred to other wards. The clash took place in ward 2 of Hall 5. This violent clash has raised concerns among the families of the political prisoners. Political prisoners and their families have repeatedly protested against prison’s non-conformity to the Principle of Separation of Offenses.

The political prisoner “Omid Shahmoradi Sanandaji” who following his long-suffering caused by his illness had finally been taken to a hospital outside of prison for treatment, was forced to return to the prison after the prison officials interrupted his treatment process by preventing him from carrying out tests at other hospitals.

Held in ward 7 of Hall 12 at Evin Prison in Northern Tehran, this political prisoner had previously gone on a hunger strike in protest against being prevented from having access to medical treatments.

It should be pointed out that Omid Shahmoradi was arrested in May 2012 and has been held in solitary confinements 240 for seven months.

Mike Freer MP: We must not turn a blind eye to Iran’s executions and abuses

In the week the United Kingdom upgraded its diplomatic presence in Iran to having a full Ambassador, the Iranian regime sentenced a British woman, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, to five years imprisonment, British lawmaker Mike Freer has pointed out.

This follows a series of arrests of British-Iranian dual nationality citizens, pointed out Mr. Freer, Member of Parliament from the Conservative Party.

“What has received less publicity is the ongoing program of executions undertaken by the regime. Whilst the West banks progress we turn an apparent blind eye to the bloodletting used to suppress opposition,” he wrote on Sunday for Conservative Home.

He added:August 2016 saw Hassan Rouhani’s supposedly moderate regime carry out a new spate of executions, including the mass execution of 20 members of a minority group.

Condemnation followed from many directions, including the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, who criticised the Iranian authorities and expressed “doubts about the fairness of the trials, respect for due process and other rights of the accused.”

This same month newly published audio recordings have emerged of meetings between Iran’s most senior clergymen in August 1988. In the recording the late Ayatollah Hossein-Ali Montazeri is heard accusing the leaders of Iran’s ‘death commission’ of “the greatest crime committed during the Islamic Republic, for which history will condemn us, has been committed by you…”

The late Ayatollah was referring to the massacre of tens of thousands of political opponents of the Iranian regime, including thousands of members of the People’s Mojahedin Organisation of Iran (PMOI).

Tehran’s use of executions as a form of suppression of its population’s desire for democracy has continued from 1988 to the present day. Supposedly moderate Presidents have come and gone, but one thing that has never changed is the systematic use of executions.

Looking at the individuals who formed the ‘death commission’ leads us to a worrying conclusion: that in reality, although the puppet’s head may change from election to election, those pulling the strings in Iranian politics have remained.

Four men made up the commission that led the massacres in 1988. Today three of those men remain senior figures within the Iranian regime.

Mostafa Pourmohammadi is Iran’s Minister of Justice, Hossein-Ali Nayyeri Iran’s head of the Supreme Disciplinary Court for Judges, and Ebrahim Raeesi among the regime’s most senior clerics and the head of the Astan Qods-e Razavi foundation (a multi-billion dollar religious, political and economic conglomerate and one of the most important political and economic powerhouses in the clerical regime).

This week the leader of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), Iran’s largest coalition of opposition groups, called on the international community to bring about justice for those massacred in 1988 through the international prosecution of the masterminds of the 1988 massacre. I join her in that call.

Included in that list alongside Mostafa Pourmohammadi, Hossein-Ali Nayyeri, and Ebrahim Raeesi must be Ayatollah Khamenei Iran’s current Supreme Leader and a public supporter of the 1988 massacres.

It is time to take decisive steps sending a clear message to the leaders of Iran that executions which take place without a fair trial, respect for due process or without the individual’s rights being preserved will not be accepted by the international community. Have we sacrificed human rights for progress on decommissioning centrifuges?

It is important that in today’s climate, where Hassan Rouhani is hailed as a moderate and a man the international community can work with, that we do not simply address the man but rather the establishment in Tehran. Entry into the international community and the benefits that brings must come at a cost for Iran and not simply be a right of way.

Bringing about international prosecutions against the perpetrators of the 1988 massacre is not only something we should have done many years ago, but it will show Tehran that breaches of international protocols will not be accepted if the regime wishes to play a greater part in the international community.

Mike Freer is MP for Finchley and Golders Green.

Iran: The 1988 massacre was politically motivated to eradicate the opposition

London, 14 Sep - An activist group, comprised mainly of women who lost family members during 2009 Iranian uprising, have published a letter calling for the indictment of the government officials who have escaped justice for their role in the 1988 massacre.

This group, known as “Mothers of Laleh Park”, published their open letter on the National Council of Resistance of Iran’s website.

They stated that the 1988 massacre was politically motivated to eradicate the opposition; trials lasted five minutes at most, most of those sentenced to death had already served the majority, or all, of their prison sentence and then they were all buried in mass unmarked graves to prevent a shrine being built.

They quote the Nuremberg Trials as evidence that the massacre was a crime against humanity in which 30,000 were slaughtered to enhance the political standing of a few.

Their letter read: “The regime of Islamic Republic during the past twenty-eight years has remained silent about this crime to avoid disclosure of its secrets.  But the mothers and families of the massacred political prisoners and other justice-seeking activists in Iran and abroad in all these years have tried in different ways to stand still and fight against this silence to hold the officials accountable and bring the government to respond.”

They cite that those responsible for the massacre were not punished, but promoted, such as Mostafa Pour-Mohammadi, the Justice Minister in President Rouhani’s Cabinet, who was on the Death Commission in 1988.

Since outrage began last month over a leaked audio file proving the existence of the Death Commission, Pour-Mohammadi has refused to apologise, instead expressing pride in his actions and he was far from the only one.

On the other side, ‘moderates’ like Khamenei, Rouhani, Khatami have remained largely silent, which brings into question perceived moderateness.

Their letter stated: “We, Mothers of Laleh Park, who also grieve [our martyrs] in Khavaran grave site, call for indictment of all officials of the Iranian regime who have been complicit and had a role in the killings in the 1980s particularly the massacre of 30,000 political prisoners in the summer of 1988 in Iran. We demand removal, trial in courts and punishment of all those criminals who occupy the highest judicial and executive positions and authorities in Iran.”

It continued: “Our homeland in the past 37 years has been invaded by those who have brought nothing but evil and enmity of freedom, justice, and equality, and their Sharia and civil laws and achievements are also extremely discriminatory and against freedom. They have no respect for human lives and ideas, and the outcome of their existence and their present for us is repression and destruction of humanity. They are the ones who have destroyed thousands and thousands of freedom-loving souls and noble free and dynamic thoughts, but enough is enough and a solution must be found.”

They finished their letter with a series of questions, designed to get to the truth of the Iranian Regime’s crimes including who the perpetrators of the massacre were, why trials were kept behind closed doors, the burial places and the exact names of all those massacred in 1988.

مهین حری:‌ پیوند جنبش دادخواهی با خواست سرنگونی

به رغم 28سال استمرارانواع جنایتها؛ برای اعمال سیاست سکوت در باره بزرگترین قتل عام جمعی در سال67؛ از جمله کشتن شاهدان قتل عام؛ اکنون با ضربه افشای فایل صوتی آقای منتظری؛ پیوند صورت مساله سرنگونی با کارزار دادخواهی؛ تمامیت رژیم را به چالش سرنگونی کشانده و سراپای آن را در بحرانهایی باعمق خنثی سازی تمامی عناصر قدرت در رژیم؛ رو به رو ساخته است. شدت و درجه این بحرانها تا آن جا عمیق و کارآ است که هیچ جزیی ازباندها و هیچ ساختاری ازارگانهای دست اندرکار درحاکمیت، ازآن مصون نمانده اند.

درگیریهای ادامه دارباندهای رژیم درجلسات علنی مجلس ارتجاع و رسانه های رژیم برسر نامه علی مطهری نایب رئیس مجلس ارتجاع برای معذرت خواهی عاملان کشتار67؛ سکوت و یا اعتراف به دست داشتن در کشتارها؛ اعتراف آخوند پورمحمدی به اعدامها و در حالی که در سال 88 آن را انکار کرده بود؛ بیانیه غیرمعمول خبرگان ارتجاع در تایید اعدامها به دلیل هزینه بالای سکوت برای خامنه ای که تا الان هم نتوانسته موضع مشخص بگیرد؛ اوج گیری مرگبار تضادها در زمینه های دیگراز جمله اظهارات رفسنجانی و روحانی برای کم کردن بودجه نظامی با محوریت سپاه پاسداران رژیم و کشمکش بین رفسنجانی و خامنهای برسرمنابع مالی سپاه؛ گشوده شدن روزانه پروندههای دزدی کارگزاران و عوامل دست اول رژیم و… اعترافات بی سابقه مهره های هردو باند رژیم به بحرانهای اجتماعی با ادبیاتی کاملا متفاوت با قبل از انتشار این فایل و مقصر دانستن باند مقابل؛ بخش محدودی از این لیست است. که فقط اشاره به یک نمونه از این موارد؛ گویای عمق تضادها ونشاندهنده سطح بحران در رژیم است:

این وضعیت رژیم محصول ضربه منهدم کننده به موقعیت خمینی و پیوستهای او در حاکمیت قتل عام است . امری که به طور قانونمند نه تنها غیر قابل احتناب است بلکه به سرعت سمت تشدید تا سرنگونی را طی می کند.چرا که این نظام بریک قدرت تصمیم گیرنده خاص و مطلق به نام ولی فقیه استواراست وپیوستهای درون سیستمی حاکمیت در راستای حفظ ولی فقیه موضوعیت دارند. همدستی تمامی باندهای رژیم در جنایات این رژیم محصول این ساختاراست . به همین دلیل خمینی با قتل عام 67 امکان هرگونه رفرم یا تحول درونی یا استحاله را در رژیم سوزاند و بی آینده کرد. یعنی خمینی با شریک کردن تمامی باندها و جناحهای رژیم در این جنایت ؛ امکان جدایی از سیستم حاکمیت ولایت فقیهی را تا آنجا غیر ممکن کرد که خروج ازاین سیستم تنها با خروج برخمینی و مرگ براصل ولایت فقیه میسر است. سکوت باندهای رژیم در قبال افشای فایل آقای منتظری بیان همین بن بست است و دقیقا به همین دلیل آلترناتیوی از درون این رژیم متصور نیست و تنها و تنها آلترناتیو واقعی این رژیم نیروی جنگنده سرنگونی طلبی است که به رغم بهای سنگین؛ به ننگ سازش با این رژیم تن نداده است. این آلترناتیو بنیان مرصوصی است که در فاز پایانی تنها ریسمان مستحکم برای نجات از حاکمیت ترور و قتل عام است. همه تلاش خمینی برای نابودی این مقاومت به هرشکل ممکن و تلاشهای نظام قتل عام باقیمانده از او برای شیطان سازی از مقاومت ایران و پنهان سازی قتل عام با تمام قوا؛ برای خنثی کردن همین تهدید بوده وهست.

استراتژی رژیم برای حفظ تعادل خودش از طریق پنهان نگه داشتن جنایت قتل عام سال67 که وسعتی به گستره تمامی استانهای کشورداشت؛ با افشای فایل صوتی آقای منتظری درهم شکست. عواقب این شکست؛ از آن جا که رابطه مستقیم با سلب قدرت از نقطه کانونی حاکمیت دارد؛ باعث شده که رژیم توانش را برای ممانعت ازتاثیرحقیقت روی اذهان عمومی جامعه از دست بدهد. فرآیند این وضعیت از یک سو تجزیه و فروپاشی اجزای تشکیل دهنده قدرت است و از سوی دیگر شتاب همگرایی افکار عمومی و بسیج نیروی عمده در قاعده و بدنه هرم جامعه علیه رژیم و قدرت گرفتن خواست سرنگونی رژیم. عامل محرک و امید بخش و احیا کننده این خواست در توده های مردم؛ مقاومتی است که 35سال بلاوقفه در میدان نبرد با این رژیم حاضر بوده است. مقاومتی که با هویت مشخص از یک سو صاحب خون قتل عام شدگان است و اکنون با افشای فایل آقای منتظری برای توده های مردم؛ طرف مظلوم و حقی است که 35سال سوژه بیرحمانهترین تبلیغات سوء و پروپاگاندای رژیم به جرم حق گویی و خواست سرنگونی بوده و ازسوی دیگرهیچ جنایتی از جانب این رژیم نتوانسته او را خم کند یا به سازش با دشمن مردم بکشد. به همین دلیل اکنون در مرحله فروپاشی نظام ولایت به عامل مبنایی در توقف چرخه باز تولید در روند ادامه استبداد دینی در جامعه؛ تبدیل شده است . ضرباتی که این مقاومت از هرسو بر رژیم وارد آورده باعث شده که رژیم قتل عام را به پایان خط این سیاست و مرحله زوال بنیادین باز تولید ایدئولوژی قتل عام برساند.
کابوس دژخیمان خامنه‌ای از اوج گیری جنبش دادخواهی و افسوسشان از این که نتوانستند مجاهدین را نابود کنند؛ ریشه د راین تحول بی بازگشت دارد. یک سردژخیم وزارت اطلاعات در این باره با وحشت گفت: «درباره مجاهدین غفلت کردیم و مقداری کوتاهی شده است. آنها یک قوه خطرناک هستند و هیچ‌وقت توان نفوذشان را از دست ندادند.
باید به (مجاهدین) در سیاست‌گذاری‌ها توجه داشت....برنامه‌ریزی آنها برای حضور در پارلمان اروپایی و جوسازی علیه (نظام)، این بحث را ایجاد کرده که شاید نسبت به فیصله دادن و مختومه کردن پرونده (مجاهدین)، مقداری کوتاهی شده است». ( وطن امروز 14/6/95)
این زوزه ها که برآیند دو مولفه هراس و بن بست در رژیم است؛ ییانگر فرارسیدن روز مظلوم بر ظالم است و این گونه است که آبشار خون شهیدان در قتل عام 67 و موج کشتارهای قبل و بعد از آن و در 14سال پایداری در برابر کشتار و موشک باران دراشرف و لیبرتی حتی فضای اعدامیان در زندانهای تحت سلطه ولی فقیه دژخیمان را برپاشنه ایستادگی و در میان زندانیان سیاسی تا بیابیا گفتن اشرف نشان به دشمن در رزم آوری، آن هم در اسارت دژخیم ارتقا داده و این موج خروشان خیزش؛ پیوند با کارزار دادخواهی را در سرتاسر میهن اسیربه مرحلهیی مبرم از نبرد سرنگونی تبدیل کرده است.

SHOULD ANYONE CELEBRATE RESUMING DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS WITH IRAN?

INU - We should not be so quick to celebrate resuming diplomatic relations with Iran, warns Christopher Booker, a journalist for The Sunday Telegraph.

In a piece published on Sunday, September 11, Booker remarks that Britain celebrated new diplomatic relations with a ‘moderate’ Iran on Monday, September 5.

This celebration came just days before Iran announced that it had finally sentenced a British-Iranian charity worker to five years in Evin prison for espionage and attempting to overthrow the regime.

Nazanin Zaghari‑Ratcliffe, who worked with the Thompson Reuters Foundation, was on a family holiday with her daughter Gabriella, now aged two.

She’d taken Gabriella to visit her parents but when they arrived at the airport to return to the UK she was arrested by the Revolutionary Guards who separated her from Gabriella and locked her up without charge.

Nazanin’s visits by her parents, who are looking after Gabriella, and calls to her husband, Richard, who is in the UK, have been controlled and restricted by the Iranian authorities.

Moderate governments tend not to hold people for five months without charge, separate babies from their parents or hold other countries to ransom over the release of its citizens.

However, this is only one piece of evidence that the regime is not moderate. Another example comes from leaked audio footage regarding the 1988 massacre which killed 30,000 political prisoners in Iran, over just a few weeks.

The tape revealed the extensive planning behind the massacre and those who were involved. Those Regime members who were responsible for the mass murder of 30,000 political opponents, mainly members of the People’s Mujahidden of Iran (PMOI), did not face any kind of punishment, instead, they received promotions like the former deputy head of defense who is now President Rouhani.

Indeed, Ayatollah Montazeri, the heir to then‑Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khomeini, was featured on the tape calling the murders “horrendous” and warning that “history [would] condemn [them]” for the massacre.

He was sacked and placed under house arrest for the rest of his life.

His son, Ahmad, released the tapes last month and could now face the death penalty for revealing the regime’s involvement in the slaughter. Much like Nazanin’s family holiday, the tape was deemed “a threat to national security”, Iran’s go to response to actions which embarrass the regime.

Call for prosecution of perpetrators of 1988 massacre of 30,000 political prisoners

Iran: Call for prosecution of perpetrators of 1988 massacre of 30,000 political prisoners

Interview with former Iranian political prisoner Mostafa Naderi