Friday, April 15, 2016

Iran: Political prisoners are living under horrifying situation



Mohammad Seifzadeh, the prominent Iranian human rights lawyer who for years defended political prisoners in Iran and railed against the inhumane conditions of their incarceration, was freed on March 10, 2016 after serving his own five-year prison sentence, and spoke at length about the harsh conditions he experienced first-hand as a political prisoner.

Iran must be expelled from Islamic Bloc


Session of the Islamic Summit Conference, Turkey, April 2016


The largest bloc representing Islamic countries is meeting in Turkey Thursday, and the vast majority of those nations have united against one of their own members: Iran.

Across the region Arabs are calling for Iran to be expelled from the Organization for Islamic Cooperation (OIC), a Sunni-heavy group encompassing 57 Muslim countries.

Thursday, April 14, 2016

Iran: political prisoner Arzhang Davoudi calls on Federica Mogherini




Letter of political prisoner Arzhang Davoudi to EU foreign policy chief before her visit
Her Excellency Madame Federica Mogherini
European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs
I am one of the most senior political prisoners in Iran who has always respected and acknowledged the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and related covenants, and from day one I have based my political activities on these frameworks. However, I have always faced charges of peacefully struggling for freedom, democracy, rights and justice.

Wednesday, April 13, 2016

Iran – Group letter of southeast Tehran workers to World Labor Organization



Dear Secretary-General of the World Labor Organization
Today, there is an irony about us workers, we who are part of the lower class, living in poverty allocated by the Iranian regime itself that is against workers.
Our salary is below 10 million rials a month, while the poverty line is set at 30 million rials!!!
We are left ashamed before our wives and children
Despite all this, we are not sellers!
We will not sell our dignity and pride, and on Labor Day we will clench our fists and chant against the terrorist regime ruling Iran.
We hope the world conscience will awaken more than ever before, and lead to more isolation for those ruling Iran.
We only have one request:
Widespread condemnation of the anti-labor and terrorist regime in international organizations
 A group of workers living in poverty in southeast Tehran (Shadabad metal market)

Northern Iran: Group letter of communications/electricity workers to World Labor Organization


 To Mr. Guy Ryder Secretary-General of the World Labor Organization
Greetings,
We congratulate you and all workers of our country on International Labor Day, especially those working tirelessly and risking their lives on a daily basis in electricity systems and installing electricity and communications towers. These workers are separated from their families for many months of the year to make ends meet and not be left ashamed before their families.
We would like to inform you that we work in very difficult conditions, at times 13 to 15 hours a day at heights of 30 to 300 meters, while we lack any life insurance and our salaries are stolen. With a monthly salary of only $300 dollars we cannot have a decent meal. On Labor Day we are requesting that you be our voice. Currently, our country’s money is spent on terrorist projects, killing innocent people in Syria, Iraq and European countries.
Mr. Secretary-General,
Any appeasement vis-à-vis Khamenei or Rouhani is a crime against humanity. We are requesting from you to distance yourself from these criminals and condemn this anti-human and anti-labor regime for its human rights violations.

A group of communications/electricity workers in northern Iran

Tuesday, April 12, 2016

Iran – University students express their solidarity with deprived workers



Students of Tehran’s free University have issued a statement on the occasion of “International Workers Day” and wrote:
“We, some of the students of Tehran’s free university congratulate all the workers on the occasion of “International Workers Day”. We condemn the oppression and injustices applied to you by the Mullahs wicked government”.
We demand all the workers’ rights activists to stand to bring changes in the conditions of Iranian workers.

Tehran – spectators in football stadium shout slogans against government officials

Tehran’s Azadi Stadium


An abusive body search by the security forces in Tehran’s Azadi stadium on Sunday April 10th caused the protest of football fans    who had gathered to watch a match. Spectators cried slogans against the security forces and the government authorities. Skirmishes broke out and the government forces asked for help.  They did not succeed to arrest anyone as the crowd hid the victims and took them away.

Iran: truck drivers stage widespread protests


 Protest gathering of more than 4,500 truck drivers in Bandar Abbas

Thousands of drivers of large trucks in the cities of Bandar Abbas, Shiraz, Isfahan and Yazd launched widespread protests and strikes.
On Monday 4,500 truck drivers in Bandar Abbas, southern Iran, staged a protest rally and went on strike on Monday, April 11th. These drivers protested the transportation system, corruption and tax extortion.
At times these hardworking drivers are forced to wait 20 days in line, and remain out of work, whereas regime elements wait only a few hours and receive their payload.
Moreover, the Tax Organization in Iran demands heavy taxes from these drivers and even demands taxes on surplus values.

Iran: When a street talks



Iran: abandoned children left in street

Poverty in Iran
An abandoned new born baby was placed in a trash bag on April 4th and left in front of a hospital in the city of Mahshahr, Khuzestan Province, southern Iran. 
Perhaps one would say the phenomenon of abandoned children is nothing new and happens every day in the four corners of the this cruel world. Poverty or even family problems are usually the main cause of this heartrending story.
Although poverty is also one of the main factors behind unwanted children in the mullahs’ ruled Iran, but there is another frightening reason behind leaving the most vulnerable and innocent human life at the mercy of the chance in the winter cold or summer heat.

Monday, April 11, 2016

The silent torment of Iran’s “butterfly children”



A new photo report from Iran provides a shocking glimpse into the extraordinary suffering that some impoverished children south of Kerman, south-east Iran, are facing.
These children are suffering from Epidermolysis Bullosa (EB), known commonly as butterfly disease, and their suffering is ever greater as a result of lack of proper healthcare provided to them by the mullahs’ regime.
The photos have been published in a number of state-run websites, including the Fars news agency, since April 5.
READ MORE

Iran: Shocking suicide of 15-year-old girl in Tabriz


On Saturday, April 9th a young 15-year-old girl from the city of Tabriz, northwest Iran, threw herself off the 10th level of a building. She died on the spot.
The motive behind this young girl’s suicide remains unknown. Images of this young woman before and after her suicide raised waves of anger against the mullahs on the Internet.

Unfortunately, suicides are becoming a daily issue in Iran under the mullahs’ rule. Social and economic pressures, unemployment, skyrocketing prices, corruption, drug addiction and social distress, pressures imposed by the repressive police and their meddling in all aspects of people’s daily lives has led to increasing suicide numbers across the country.

Iran: letters of political prisoners to Italian Prime Minister



Gohardasht Prison in Karaj, west of Tehran

Gohardasht Prison in Karaj, west of Tehran – April 10, 2016
Political prisoners Reza Akbari Monfared and Hassan Sadeghi have written separate letters to Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi describing the crimes taking place inside Iran and asking him to inspect these dungeons during his visit to Iran.

Letter of political prisoner Reza Akbari Monfared to the Italian Prime Minister
Dear Mr. Prime Minister of Italy
I have learned of your scheduled visit to Iran.

Sunday, April 10, 2016

Iran’s “April Fools”: A Day of No Strict Clothing Regulations



Weary from long years of suppression, she bravely comes before camera announcing her deep protest to the Mullahs ruling theocracy in Iran.
On the occasion of “April Fools”, she takes off her headscarf in protest to strict clothing regulations in Iran.
Women in Iran are under severe crackdown and cruelty, lashing and stoning even under the presidency of Rouhani.