Iran Halt executions of Kurdish and other political prisoners

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
Public Statement

12 January 2010
AI Index: MDE 13/007/2010

Iran: Halt executions of Kurdish and other political prisoners

Amnesty International is calling on the Iranian authorities not to execute at least 17 members of Iran’s Kurdish minority, including one woman – Zeynab Jalalian – who are on death row after their conviction of political offences. The organization fears that they could be executed at any time, particularly in light of the execution of two other Kurds in Iran in recent months, most recently Fasih Yasmini in Khoy on 6 January 2010.

All were convicted after unfair trials for moharebeh (enmity against God) for membership of banned Kurdish opposition groups, mainly the Party for a Free Life in Kurdistan (known by its Kurdish acronym PJAK), an armed group, and Komala, a Marxist organization. Some are reported to have been tortured in detention and to have been denied access to a lawyer.

The executed man, Fasih (Fateh) Yasmini was arrested during clashes between PJAK and Iranian security forces in the village of Hendavan, near Khoy, in or around February 2008. It is not clear whether Fasih Yasmini was involved in these clashes or not. He was reportedly among a number of villagers arrested, including five girls, his father Hossein Yasmini, and another man Fahim Reza-Zadeh, who are said to have been taken to a Ministry of Intelligence detention facility in Khoy, where Fasih Yasmini was reportedly tortured. His family had no news of him for about two months.

Hossein Yasmini is currently serving a two-year prison sentence, while Fahim Reza-Zadeh was sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment to be served in exile. Fasih Yasmini’s death sentence by the Khoy Revolutionary court is believed to have been upheld on appeal by Branch 10 of the Appeal Court of West Azerbaijan Province and by the Supreme Court and he was executed without his lawyer being informed – a requirement under Iranian law – on 6 January. Fasih Yasmini’s family have not been given his body, possibly to prevent them holding a funeral or memorial service for him. Amnesty International condemns this execution.

Ali Saremi (or Sarami), aged 62, was sentenced to death for moharebeh on 29 December 2009 after being convicted of membership of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI), an opposition group based in Iraq. He was arrested in September 2007 after speaking at a commemoration at the Khavaran cemetery in Tehran for the victims of the 1988 “prison massacre” and has been held since. Amnesty International issued an urgent action on his and six other’s behalf in November 2007 (see http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/MDE13/128/2007/en).

Held without trial for many months, mostly in Evin Prison, his final court session took place on 16 November in Branch 15 of the Revolutionary Court. Two days after demonstrations against the government on Ashoura on 27 December 2009 were violently repressed by security forces, he was told that he had been sentenced to death. The Iranian authorities have blamed various groups for organizing the demonstrations, including the PMOI and a “Marxist grouplet”. Ali Saremi has a son in the PMOI who lives in Camp Ashraf, Iraq, whom he has visited. Ali Saremi has spent 23 years in prison for his political activities both before and after the Islamic Revolution in Iran.

Background

Since the unrest which followed the disputed presidential election in June 2009, Amnesty International has documented an increase in the number of executions in Iran, and the Iranian authorities have threatened to try demonstrators for moharebeh, moves which appear designed to dissuade people from participating in demonstrations against the government.

The 17 Kurds on death row for political offences are reported to be:
1. Zeynab Jalalian [f]
2. Habibollah Latifi
3. Sherko Moarefi
4. Farhad Vakili
5. Farzad Kamangar
6. Ali Haydarian
7. Hossein Khezri
8. Rashid Akhkandi
9. Mohammad Amin Agoushi
10. Ahmad Pouladkhani
11. Sayed Sami Hosseini
12. Sayed Jamal Mohammadi
13. Rostam Arkiya
14. Mostafa Salimi
15. Anwar Rostami
16. Hassan Talai
17. Iraj Mohammadi

For further information about Kurds on death row, please see Iran: Worsening Repression of Dissent as Election Approaches, February 2009, AI Index: MDE 13/012/2009 at http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/MDE13/012/2009/en
and Iran: Death penalty/ torture and ill-treatment, 30 May 2008

http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/MDE13/075/2008/en

Iran: Further Information on death penalty/torture/ill-treatment, 11 July 2008

http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/MDE13/094/2008/en

Iran: Death penalty / torture and ill-treatment, 18 December 2008

http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/MDE13/176/2008/en

Iran: Halt Executions of Kurdish Prisoners, 8 October 2009

http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/MDE13/102/2009/en

Iran: Kurdish man faces execution on 11 November 2009

http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/MDE13/119/2009/en

Iran: Further information: Iranian Kurdish man executed

http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/MDE13/121/2009/en

Iranian authorities must halt imminent execution of Kurdish man, 13 November 2009

http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/iranian-authorities-must-stop-imminent-execution-kurdish-man-20091113

For information about the “prison massacre” see: Iran: The 20th anniversary of 1988 “prison massacre”, 19 August 2008, AI Index MDE 13/118/2008,

http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/MDE13/118/2008/en

/ENDS

Mesbah Yazdi: Sexual abuse of political prisoners in order to make confessions is allowed

Mesbah Yazdi and Ahmadinejad were presented near to Ayatollah Khomeini’s mausoleum and Mesbah Yazdi, the Shiite fundamentalist cleric who Ahmadinejad follows him has answered to some questions of the followers of Velayat-e Motalaqe-ye Faqih (the supreme leader of Iran). In what follows there are the list of some questions and their answers:

1- Making confessions under bodily and psychologically torture is legitimated according to Islam?

Making confession of Zede Velayat-e Faqih (every one who is against the rule that a high ranking mullah should rule in Iran) is allowed and legitimated according to Islam.

2- Is making confession by using of drugs legitimated according to Islam?

Making confession of Zede Velayat-e Faqih is allowed and legitimated according to Islam.

3- May the interrogator rape the prisoner in order to make confessions?

The interrogator should have wudu (Islamic ablution) before raping and in the meantime of raping he should pray. If the prisoner is woman raping can be done from the both vulva and anal. It is better than no other one be present. If the prisoner is a man it is better to rape him in the presence of others.

4- If a woman prisoner becomes pregnant is the child Bastard?

The child of a Zede Velayat-e Faqih Zaife (Zaife is a humiliating adjective for women) is bastard, either she becomes pregnant by her husband or in the prison by an interrogator. However, if the rapist interrogator accepts the child it is better to consider it as a Shiite.

5- Sexual abuse of men prisoners is not Lavat? (Lavat is sexual relation of two men and it is hardly forbidden in Islam).

No, it is not Lavat, because the prisoner had done it despite to his own will. However if the young prisoner has enjoyed it is better not to repeat it.

6- What is decree about sexual abuse of virgin girls?

If she is being executed, this job is very very holy in front of the God and its reward in front of God is equal to pilgrimage the Kaba (going to Mecca which is considered of being highly holy in Islam), but if she is not being executed the job has rewards equal to pilgrimage Krabala (Imam Hussein Shrine).

Reference: http://balatarin.com/permlink/2009/8/14/1703433

Latest Report about Moustafa Salimi’s situation, HRAI

A brief report on the legal situation of a political prisoner, who has been detained in 2003 and then sentenced to death,
HRAI news, citizen rights, thought and expression: Moustafa Salimi is one of the 17 Kurdish political prisoners who have been sentenced to death, in what follows there is a brief story of his situation,
Kurdistan Committee of Human Rights Activists in Iran (HRAI): Moustafa Salimi (Aylouli) son of Abdullah from the village Aylou in the region Tyklou in the area of the city Saqez in 2003 became a member of a Kurdish opposition political party and he was cooperating with this party for three years.
In the beginning 2006 he brought an end to his cooperation with the political party and he lived in the house of one of his families in Nahavand, a city in Lorestan province. Security forces detained him in those times and after transferring him to intelligent services’ basements in Sanadaj and Saqez finally issued death penalty for being guilty of Moharaba (the word Moharaba means fighting against the God and/or the State of God).
His appealing was rejected in the court and even in the Judiciary Amnesty Commission and then he has been exiled to Rajai-Shahr prison in Karaj. This iranian citizen of the city Saqez who has a child is now in the central prison of Saqez while his death penalty is confirmed.
In the latest months he has been suffering from his unhealthy situation. He is sick and he needs medical care but his asking for medical care has always been neglected by the officials.

Iran Accuses Five of Warring Against God

By NAZILA FATHI
Published: January 7, 2010

At least five protesters arrested in Iran last week during antigovernment demonstrations will be tried on charges of warring against God, which carries an automatic death sentence if they are found guilty, Iran’s judiciary said Thursday.

The severity of the charge, coming so soon after the defendants were arrested, suggests that the Islamic theocracy is stepping up its efforts to intimidate protesters to end the demonstrations that began over the disputed election results in June and have erupted periodically ever since despite a brutal crackdown.

In a statement carried by IRNA, Iran’s official news agency, the judiciary said the five would soon be tried by the Revolutionary Court on charges of Moharebeh, meaning waging war against God. The statement did not disclose their names, when they would be tried or details of accusations against them.

Tehran’s prosecutor general, Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi, said Sunday that the judiciary would deal with detainees arrested during the most recent protests “very severely,” the news agency ISNA reported.

Authorities have invoked the Moharebeh charge against other detainees but some courts have dismissed it, said Nasrin Sotoodeh, a lawyer in Tehran who has represented several detainees.

“What is very surprising is how the court has come up with the indictment in 10 days since the arrest of the detainees,” she said in a telephone interview.

“How was the indictment put together so quickly? When did the defendants hire or meet with their lawyer? When did the lawyer read the case?” she asked. “No sane mind can believe that all this was possible in 10 days.”

In another sign of an intensified crackdown on dissidents, a Kurdish activist, Fasih Yasamani, 28, was executed early Wednesday by hanging at the Khoy prison in western Iran, on charges of membership in a Kurdish separatist group, according to the Human Rights Activists News Agency. If true, he was the second Kurdish activist executed in Iran in recent months. At least 17 other activists are on death row.

Authorities have also added new charges against seven Bahai leaders detained since 2008, under which they could face execution, the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran reported Thursday. Twelve other Bahais were detained during the mass arrests that began after the antigovernment demonstration on Dec. 27, the statement said.

Authorities have confirmed the deaths of eight protesters in Tehran during the demonstration.

A representative of the supreme religious leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, characterized protesters during a speech at a pro-government rally last week as “followers of the path of Satan.”

Refrence

Sleep Challenge 2010: Women, It’s Time to Sleep Our Way to the Top. Literally.

As women, we make a lot of New Year’s resolutions — “lose 10 pounds” and “finally write that novel” and “lose 10 pounds — seriously.” But this year, the two of us (that’s HuffPost’s Arianna Huffington and Glamour’s Cindi Leive) are suggesting you make a New Year’s resolution that could improve the status of all women in this country, starting with you. No, we’re not talking about universal child care or even banning Tiger Woods from ever texting again. If you ask us, the next feminist issue is sleep. And in order for women to get ahead in this country, we’re all going to have to lie down and take a nap.

Stay with us here for a minute. Americans are increasingly sleep-deprived, and the sleepiest people are, you guessed it, women. Single working women and working moms with young kids are especially drowsy: They tend to clock in an hour and a half shy of the roughly 7.5-hour minimum the human body needs to function happily and healthfully. Cindi admits that between her work, her two young children and her wicked TV addiction, she averages only five and a bit; as for Arianna, she had a rude (and painful) awakening two years ago when she passed out from exhaustion, broke her cheekbone and got five stitches over her eye. Ever since then, she’s been working on bringing more balance, and more sleep, into her life­ with varying degrees of success.
2010-01-04-arianna_and_cindi.jpg
“Women are significantly more sleep-deprived than men,” confirms Michael Breus, Ph.D., author of Good Night: The Sleep Doctor’s 4-Week Program to Better Sleep and Better Health. “They have so many commitments, and sleep starts to get low on the totem pole. They may know that sleep should be a priority, but then, you know, they’ve just got to get that last thing done. And that’s when it starts to get bad.”

Does it ever! You probably already know about the health consequences of sleep deprivation, how cheating your body out of the R&R it needs can make you more prone to illness, stress, traffic accidents and even weight gain. (Dr. Breus swears that sleeping will actually do more to take off weight than exercise! Love that.)

But there’s more to it than simple physical problems. Rob yourself of sleep, ladies, and you’ll find you never function at your personal best. Work decisions, relationship challenges, any life situation that requires you to know your own mind — they all require the judgment, problem-solving and creativity that only a rested brain is capable of and are all handled best when you bring to them the creativity and judgment that are enhanced by sleep. “Everything you do, you’ll do better with a good night’s sleep,” says Dr. Breus. Yet women who constantly push themselves to get by on less never know what that “peak performance” feels like.

A nation of sleepy women is even less capable of greatness. Consider the fact that sleep deprivation is a strategy many cults are fond of: They force prospective members to stay awake for extended periods, up for all hours because doing so physically alters their subjects’ decision-making ability and makes them more open to persuasion. Ladies, the choice is ours. Do we want to be empowered women taking charge of our lives — or do we want to be cult members, dragging ourselves around like zombies and going along with everyone else’s crummy ideas?

We’re saying no to the zombie side of things and, as of January 4, resolving to get a full night’s sleep every night for a month. Cindi’s going for seven and a half hours (that’s Dr. Breus’ recommended minimum, since it allows for a healthy round of five 90-minute sleep cycles); Arianna’s choosing eight (arrived through trial and error as the number of hours it takes for her to be at her most creative and effective and have the most fun while being creative and effective).

Getting a good night’s sleep, of course, is easier said than done. You have to tune out a host of temptations, from Letterman to the PTA to your e-mail inbox — and most of all, to ignore the workaholic wisdom that says you’re lazy for not living up to the example set by Madonna, Martha Stewart and other notorious self-professed never-sleepers. Of course, the truth is the opposite: You’ll be much more likely to be a professional powerhouse if you’re not asleep at the wheel. (Even Bill Clinton, who used to famously get only five hours of sleep, later admitted, “Every important mistake I’ve made in my life, I’ve made because I was too tired.” Huh! ) The problem is that women often feel that they still don’t “belong” in the boys-club atmosphere that still dominates many workplaces. So they often attempt to compensate by working harder and longer than the next guy. Hard work helps women fit in and gain a measure of security. And because it works, they begin to do more and more and more of it until they can’t stop. But it’s a Pyrrhic victory: The workaholism leads to lack of sleep, which in turn leads to never being able to do your best. In fact, many women do this on purpose, fueled by the mistaken idea that getting enough sleep means you must be lazy or less than passionate about your work and your life.

In fact, we may be surprised to find out that if we sleep more, we become more powerful. After all, we’ve already broken glass ceilings in Congress, space travel, sports, business and the media — just imagine what we can do when we’re fully awake.

Inspired? Then join our one-month sleep challenge. We’ll be blogging on glamour.com and the Huffington Post every Monday and Thursday about how our quest for more sleep is going. You’ll get tips from health experts like Dr. Michael Breus and answers to some of your own personal questions about how to work more sleep into your life. But most of all, you’ll have a New Year’s resolution that’s fun and fulfilling to stick to — and a built-in answer to anyone who says, “You’re going to sleep now?” Sure you are — Glamour and the Huffington Post told you to! G’night, ladies. Sweet dreams.

Saudi-Iran frictions at graves revered by Shiites

By HADEEL AL-SHALCHI
The Associated Press
Monday, January 4, 2010; 2:52 AM
MEDINA, Saudi Arabia — At the cemetery where the Prophet Muhammad’s family is buried, an Iranian Shiite Muslim pilgrim overcome with emotion was jerked by a Saudi soldier, who barked a sharp order: “Stop crying!”

The soldier, a gun at his hip, then hovered over the pilgrim as he wrapped up his prayers to make sure he didn’t start weeping again.

The Baqee cemetery is where the bitter rivalry between Sunni powerhouse Saudi Arabia and Shiite Iran gets personal. Iranians and other Shiites flock to the graves to pay respects to several revered descendants of Islam’s prophet, while Saudi soldiers and morality police try to prevent dramatic displays of fervent praying or weeping.

Shiites’ prayer books are snatched away, they are ordered to read only Saudi-approved verses written on billboards at the site, and groups of worshippers are broken up.
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Part of the reason for the heavy restrictions is religious. Saudi Arabia’s strict version of Sunni Islam, called Wahhabism, considers customs like crying – or even praying – at gravesites and revering saints repugnant because it smacks of idolatry. In fact, many Wahhabi clerics consider Shiites heretics.

But beyond the religious practices lies politics.

The two countries have been locked in a struggle for influence across the Middle East. Saudi forces have been fighting for more than a month with Shiite rebels on the border with Yemen who it claims are backed by Tehran. The kingdom accuses Iran of fueling conflicts in Lebanon, the Palestinian territories and Iraq with its support for militant groups.

Saudi Arabia, an oil-rich U.S. ally, also appears increasingly worried over Iran’s nuclear standoff with the West. Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal expressed rare direct concern over Iran’s nuclear program in a recent interview with Western media – prompting angry comments by some Iranian officials for the kingdom to stay out of its business.

Mahdi Habibolahi, an Iranian who visited the Baqee after performing his hajj pilgrimage last month, sees a message in the harassment he and fellow Shiites face.

“Maybe they want to give us a warning, that you are different you should be careful, you shouldn’t interfere (in the region’s politics),” said Habibolahi, an English teacher.

The Baqee is on a large piece of land in front of the mosque that encloses the Prophet’s tomb in the holy city of Medina. Locked behind high marble walls and iron gates in the Baqee lie thousands of relatives, companions and descendants of the Prophet – including four “imams,” the saint-like figures that Shiites believe should have been the successors of Muhammad as leaders of the Islamic world.

The presence of the imams draws Shiites from around the world throughout the year, but particularly in the days after hajj. Iranian pilgrims organize an annual large prayer ceremony at the site.

IRAN: Chinese activists to opposition: ‘Go, Iranian friends! Go!’

The governments of Iran and China have grown considerably closer in recent years as the two regional powerhouses find themselves with complementary economies and little love for Western-led attacks on their domestic and foreign policies.

But now it appears relations are warming from the bottom-up, which could pose a threat to both governments.

Chinese democracy activists have launched an online campaign known by its Twitter tag #CN4Iran, or “China for Iran,” expressing solidarity with the Iranian opposition and condemning their own government’s complicity in the crackdown.

When pictures surfaced of Chinese armored trucks being unloaded in Iran, the CN4Iran contributors were quick to translate and spread the message through Facebook, Twitter, and other social networking sites.

The movement’s website is slickly designed and sports the opposition’s signature green as a background; a banner at the top reads: “We are watching you, and we are supporting you! Go, our great Iranian friends! Go!”

China has traditionally been opposed sanctions on the Islamic Republic, not wishing to damage its multi-billion-dollar trade in everything from oil and gas to fly swatters and subway cars.

Instead, China favors a position of noncommittal concern. It recently backed a United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency resolution condemning Iran over its nuclear program, but still opposes sanctions.