Showing posts with label # Maryamrajavi #Iran #Mek #Paris #freeIran. Show all posts

Iran Regime Is Not a Leader in the Muslim World and Will Not Be Until They Abandon ExtremismIran (General) 25 September 2017

Iran Focus
London, 25 Sep - Following some absurd comments by the Supreme Leader of Iran about his and the Regime’s status in the Muslim world, one political scientist is telling the Regime to take their cues on peaceful co-existence from Saudi Arabia.
Dr. Majid Rafizadeh, a leading expert on Iran and US foreign policy, wrote an op-ed for Arab News in which he dismissed claims on Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s website in which he is described as the “leader of the Islamic World”.
Rafizadeh highlights that a leader of the Arab News world should at least show some qualities of Islam, like uniting the Shiite and Sunni worlds and building bridges between the Muslim and non-Muslim worlds.
He said that nothing in the Iranian Regime suggests that religion has been used to unify but everything suggests that it has been corrupted to divide....MORE

Created: 20 September 2017

JEDDAH: US President Donald Trump addressed the UN General Assembly for the first time Tuesday, saying Iran’s government is a corrupt dictatorship disguised as a democracy.
Tehran “has turned a wealthy country, with a rich history and culture, into an economically depleted rogue state whose chief exports are violence, bloodshed and chaos,” Trump said. “The longest-suffering victims of Iran’s leaders are, in fact, Iranian people.”

Message From Maryam Rajavi About the 1988 Massacre of 30,000 Political Prisoners in Iran

Iran Focus

London, 19 Aug - President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), Maryam Rajavi, had a message for the participants of the Paris Int District Exhibition of the 1988 Massacre of 30,000 political prisoners during 1988 in Iran.

This exhibition was the initiative of Mr. Jean-François Legaret, the Mayor of Paris municipality District 1. It was attended by several French mayors, including Armand Jacquemin, mayor of Moussy Le Vieux, Jean-Claude Jegoudez, mayor of Grisy-Sur-Seine, and Jacky Duminy, mayor of Ors, as well as relatives of the victims and people who spent years in Iranian prisons. Additionally, Scottish politician, Struan Stevenson, President of the “European Iraqi Freedom Association” and former President of the European Parliament’s Delegation for Relations with Iraq, took part in this exhibition and supported the call by the head of the opposition.

New information about the 1988 massacre has been revealed during the last year, including of names of the victims, as well as the locations of numerous mass graves. Also highlighed was that President Hassan Rouhani appointed Mostafa Pour-Mohammadi, member of the “Death Committee”, and one of the key officials in charge of the 1988 massacre, as Minister of Justice. His Justice Minister for his second term, Alireza Avaie, is another one of the perpetrators of the massacre, who was previous designated as a violator of human rights by the European Union.

Mrs. Rajavi speech is reproduced below:

Dear friends,

I salute all of you. Your presence in this exhibition means that the restless conscience of humanity has not caved in to the mullahs’ demands over the massacre of political prisoners in Iran. The mullahs want indifference. They want you to close your eyes and ears and remain silent.

Since the inception of their rule 38 years ago, the mullahs’ demands can be summarized in the following sentences:

Here you are; this is our market and here is our oil and gas. Just when it gets to human rights and freedom of the people of Iran, turn your head away.

This is how they hanged our 30,000 political prisoners in Iran in days such as these in summer 1988, without any reactions by Western governments.

Those who remained silent over this tragedy, betrayed humanity because the mullahs found out that their crimes had no consequences. So, they continued by exporting their terrorism and fundamentalism abroad and drenching the Middle East in blood.

If in those days, the massacre had not been met with silence, today, the mullahs could not sink Syria in a whirlpool of blood.

Fortunately, the movement calling for justice for the victims of the massacre in Iran has expanded since last year. Today, even youths born after the massacre have risen up to call for justice for the victims.

The people of Iran want to end the impunity of those in charge of the massacre and hold them accountable. This has turned into the Iranian people’s most important political demand from the clerical regime.

The campaign calling for justice obtained new information about the slaughter, including a large number of names of the victims, as well as the locations of numerous mass graves which the mullahs had previously concealed. The people of Iran demand that the perpetrators of the massacre be held accountable and their impunity ended.

The Justice seeking movement in Iran managed to corner the mullahs.

Khamenei intended to put a member of the 1988 massacre’s Death Commission in the office of president, but the nationwide campaign calling for justice foiled his plans.

Nevertheless, the mullahs from either faction cannot and do not want to distance themselves from the massacre.

Over the past four years, the mullahs’ president Hassan Rouhani had appointed Mostafa Pour Mohammadi, one of the key officials in charge of the 1988 massacre, as Minister of Justice. He has now decided to appoint a new Justice Minister for his second term, but the new minister, too, is another one of the perpetrators of the massacre, by the name of Avaii who has been already designated as a violator of human rights by the European Union.

Rouhani’s cabinet includes the largest number of officials from the regime’s security and intelligence agencies. Several of the most senior officials of the Intelligence Ministry are among his cabinet ministers.

We have urged the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to set up an independent committee to investigate the 1988 massacre.

The UN Security Council must set up a special tribunal or refer the issue to the International Criminal Court to arrange for the prosecution of the leaders of the Iranian regime.

I urge all governments to make their relations and trade with the religious fascism ruling Iran contingent on end to executions and torture.

And I call on all democrats and advocates of human rights in France and the world to join the Iranian Resistance to help it advance its cause by calling for an independent investigation to bring justice to the officials in charge of the 1988 massacre.

Thank you all very much.

How Iran Is More Dangerous Than North Korea

Heshmat Alavi , CONTRIBUTOR

Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani speaks during a press conference in Tehran on May 22, 2017. Rouhani said that Iran does not need the permission of the United States to conduct missile tests, which would continue 'if technically necessary'. / AFP PHOTO / ATTA KENARE (Photo credit should read ATTA KENARE/AFP/Getty Images)

Iran’s nuclear program even without a bomb as we speak, enjoys the potential of becoming more dangerous than today’s North Korea after a recent hydrogen bomb testing – with new reports showing the blast delivering a far more powerful yield than presumed – and its increasing row with the international community.

True is the fact that North Korea’s nuclear program is more advanced than that of Iran. True is the fact that Pyongyang has also provided ballistic missile hardware and technology to Tehran for decades now.

Iran’s nuclear program, however, elevates to a higher level when we come to fully comprehend the nature of Tehran’s ambitions in pursuing objectives through treacherous measures. This is a regime that has yet to be punished for its malevolent actions throughout the past decades, and this needs to change.

The clerics in Tehran rule a state fully acknowledging the fact that its very survival hinges on the ability to literally adopt an aggressive approach that is germane to causing mayhem abroad.

Taking advantage of the Iran-Iraq War of the 1980s, launching terrorist attacks and assassinations throughout the 90s, and in the new millennium enjoying the devastating 9/11 aftermath in the wars of Afghanistan and Iraq, leading onto Syria and Yemen today.

While there is no intention to justify North Korea obtaining nuclear weapons, it is crystal clear that Pyongyang has gone the limits in procuring its nuclear arsenal for defensive purposes and to be legitimately recognized and respect.

Iran’s regime, however, has far more hostile goals in its crosshairs. As the Islamic State terror group is being defeated in Iraq and Syria, an increasing concern is focused on Tehran’s intention of establishing a land-bridge to the Mediterranean. This would provide Iran the capability to send boots, arms, finances and other necessities for its proxy forces checkered across these lands to establish a long-lasting foothold.

I am a political/rights activist focusing on Iran & the Middle East. I also write in Al Arabiya English, and contributed to The Hill, Algemeiner and Raddington Report. I tweet @HeshmatAlavi

IRAN: PROTEST AND CLASHES ERUPTS IN WESTERN CITY OVER KILLING OF PORTERS BY IRGC

Protests erupted in the city of Baneh (western Iran) over the killing or wounding of several porters by members of the Iranian regime’s State Security Forces (police) and Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) over the last several months.A large group of residents of the city gathered outside the governor’s office on Tuesday (September 5) and demanded an end to the attacks against these poor workers that try to make living by carrying heavy loads on their shoulders cross the border with Iraq and Turkey.

A number of shops and markets were closed in support of the protest.

The Iranian regime’s state security forces clashed with protesters, a number of video clips received indicates.

The Iranian regime’s Revolutionary Guards Corp shot and killed two men in the western city of Baneh on Monday, 4 September, two weeks after killing another porter prompted public protests against the regime.

The victims Heydar Faraji, 21, and Ghader Bahrami, 45, were both shot and killed in the city’s Bazar district.

Members of families of the two workers gathered outside the Governor’s office in the city to protest the killings. Mr. Bahrami, one of the victims, was married and father of four children.

Recently, a member of the Iranian regime’s parliament acknowledged that two weeks ago another porter had been killed by members of IRGC in the same region. He warned that such incidents would “touch the hearts of people” in Kurdistan and other regions of the country.

On the night of July 31, Iran’s repressive forces opened fire on a group of porters around a village near the city of Sardasht, western Iran, leaving one porter by the name of Azad Mina-Abduli seriously wounded.
The day before a group of porters, who strive to make ends meet through delivering and selling goods, was attacked by border police. One of the porters was killed and two others were seriously wounded.

Prior to this on June 25, another porter by the name of Karim Mohammad Aminzadeh from the city of Sardasht lost his life after repressive forces opened fire. Another porter, Mohammad Ahmadiyan, was seriously wounded.

On June 29, two other porters from the cities of Sardasht and Piranshahr were also seriously wounded as repressive forces opened fire and a landmine exploded.

More than 68,000 porters are working in Iran’s border provinces, of which 16,000 to 18,000 are in Piranshahr and Sardasht, reports indicate.

The Iranian Resistance has repeatedly called on international organizations to condemn the killings of these poor workers by the Iranian regime’s Revolutionary Guards or State Security Forces.

Iran: The Fall of a Bus Into a Valley, 40 Dead and Injured

NCRI Staff

NCRI - Iran regime official: “more than 40 percent of the country’s roads are in poor conditions”

September 12, 2017. Following the fall of a bus to a valley, 11 passengers died and 29 were injured. Tehran Fire Department states that the incident occurred at 2:30 am. The bus was carrying passengers from the city of Karaj west of the capital Tehran, to Northern city of Sari.

The Head of Public Relations at Tehran Emergency Center, Hassan Abbasi reported that there were 40 passengers on the bus.

The Spokesman for Tehran Fire Department, Jalal Maleki stated that the bus fell into a valley with the depth of 100 meters.

It is noteworthy that earlier in September, A bus crash killed 12 people in Iran, 11 schoolgirls and their bus driver, who were travelling to the southern city of Shiraz for a sporting and cultural event, state media reported.Thirty other people were injured, and 13 of them were in serious condition, according to state television.

Based on the statistics presented by Iran's Forensics Department, the number of road accidents increased by 9.5% during the first four months of the current year in comparison to the last year.

The figures show that over 219 thousand people died in road accidents between 2005 and 2014 in Iran. Moreover, the state-run ISNA News reported that 18 thousand people died in road accidents in 2015 and this figure is equal to the crash of 60 airplanes with 300 passengers.

In addition to road fatalities, traffic injuries could also bring about heavy social, cultural, and economic damages.

“Road traffic accidents are the third cause of death in the country so that one Iranian dies every 33 minutes due to such accidents”, says Iraj Harirchi, regime’s Deputy Healthcare Minister.

Acknowledging Iran’s poor ranking with regard to traffic safety records, Harirchi added “the number of wounded in the country’s road accidents is 20 times higher than the number of deaths.”

According to state media, Iran is ranked eight regarding the traffic-related casualties, with only six African countries and one Asian one being in worse conditions.

“You’ll find few Iranians who have not lost a first or second degree relative in road accidents”, writes state-run Shahrvand newspaper on April 13, 2015.

According to state-run Alef website, Iran’s poor traffic safety record has caused the World Bank to refer in its review to Iran’s road traffic accidents, describing it as critical. (State-run Alef website, July 6, 2015)

Unsafe roads and low quality vehicles are the main reasons behind Iran’s increased road accident fatalities.

Pointing to Iran’s lack of road maintenance and investment on improving road safety, Rouhani’s Minister of Roads and Urban Development ‘Abbas Akhundi’ says “very little investment has been made over the past ten years over road maintenance. That’s why more than 40 percent of the country’s roads are in poor conditions, while billions of dollars is needed to resurface all asphalt roads.”

With necessary measures disregarded during road construction, many of the country’s roads are non-standard, lacking enough capacity to meet high traffic density.

With the country’s major road construction companies belonging to regime officials, the only thing they care about is plundering national wealth and making more profits, while road quality is none of their concerns. So, many of the country’s roads are so poorly built that they totally wear out within two years after construction, thereby leading to road accidents.

Meanwhile, the country’s rural roads have much more problems compared to urban ones. Most rural side roads need leveling and sanding while the main rural roads need to be repaired and asphalted.
The conditions of rural roads in many parts of the country are so poor that it would be impossible to access them in such adverse weather conditions like heavy rain, storm, strong wind, or fog. As a result, these areas are disconnected in different seasons from main roads and big cities, leaving drivers passing through them totally stranded.

In the northern province of Gilan, for instance, with higher living standards compared to other provinces, the conditions of rural roads are so bad that regime’s chief of police in Gilan is forced to acknowledge that “non-standard roads is one of the problems in province’s rural areas.” (State-run IRNA news agency, July 16, 2017)

A big problem on roads is lack of adequate lighting. In addition to that, shortage or lack of road signs and non-luminosity of many of them, non-existing or faulty guardrails, using guardrails that lack absorption and deflection capability, lack of equipment that separates opposing flows of traffic, damaged asphalts, and flooded routes, are also among the problems that have made country’s roads unsafe. Nonetheless, the regime has done nothing regarding constructing new roads or improving the old ones, widening narrow roads, or installing proper signs on country’s roads and routes.

Major U.S. allies in Asia welcome new U.N. Security Council sanctions on North Korea

UNITED NATIONS/SEOUL, Reuters, SEPTEMBER 12, 2017-- Major U.S. allies in Asia welcomed on Tuesday the U.N. Security Council’s unanimous vote to step up sanctions on North Korea, with its profitable textile exports now banned and fuel supplies to the reclusive North capped after it its sixth nuclear test.

Japan and South Korea said after the passage of the U.S.-drafted Security Council resolution they were prepared to apply more pressure if Pyongyang refused to end its aggressive development of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles.

Monday’s decision was the ninth sanctions resolution unanimously adopted by the 15-member Security Council since 2006 over North Korea’s ballistic missile and nuclear programmes.

A tougher initial U.S. draft was weakened to win the support of China, Pyongyang’s main ally and trading partner, and Russia, both of which hold veto power in the council.

“We don’t take pleasure in further strengthening sanctions today. We are not looking for war,” U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley told the council after the vote. “The North Korean regime has not yet passed the point of no return.”

“If it agrees to stop its nuclear programme, it can reclaim its future ... if North Korea continues its dangerous path, we will continue with further pressure,” said Haley, who credited a “strong relationship” between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping for the successful resolution negotiations.

U.N. member states are now required to halt imports of textiles from North Korea, its second largest export after coal and other minerals in 2016 that totalled $752 million and accounted for a quarter of its income from trade, according to South Korean data. Nearly 80 percent went to China.

“This resolution also puts an end to the regime making money from the 93,000 North Korean citizens it sends overseas to work and heavily taxes,” Haley said.

“This ban will eventually starve the regime of an additional $500 million or more in annual revenues,” she said.

RESUME DIALOGUE

South Korea’s presidential Blue House said on Tuesday the only way for Pyongyang to end diplomatic isolation and become free of economic pressure was to end it nuclear programme and resume dialogue.

“North Korea needs to realise that a reckless challenge against international peace will only bring about even stronger international sanctions against it,” the Blue House said.

However, China’s official Xinhua news agency said in a commentary that the Trump administration was making a mistake by rejecting diplomatic engagement with the North.

”The U.S. needs to switch from isolation to communication in order to end an ‘endless loop’ on the Korean peninsula where “nuclear and missile tests trigger tougher sanctions and tougher sanctions invite further tests,” Xinhua said.

U.S. Ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley speaks to another ambassador before a United Nations Security Council meeting on North Korea in New York City

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe quickly welcomed the resolution and said after the vote it was important to change North Korea’s policy by imposing a higher level of pressure.

“U.S. GANGSTERS”

The resolution imposes a ban on condensates and natural gas liquids, a cap of 2 million barrels a year on refined petroleum products, and a cap on crude oil exports to North Korea at current levels. China supplies most of North Korea’s crude.

A U.S. official, familiar with the council negotiations and speaking on condition of anonymity, said North Korea imported some 4.5 million barrels of refined petroleum products annually and 4 million barrels of crude oil.

Pyongyang warned the United States on Monday that it would pay a “due price” for spearheading efforts on U.N. sanctions over its nuclear programme, which it said was part of “legitimate self-defensive measures”.

“The world will witness how (North Korea) tames the U.S. gangsters by taking a series of actions tougher than they have ever envisaged,” the foreign ministry said in a statement carried by the official KCNA news agency.

However, North Korea did not issue a response immediately after the adoption of the latest resolution.

Chinese officials have privately expressed fears that an oil embargo could risk causing massive instability in its neighbour. Russia and China have also expressed concern about the humanitarian impact of strengthening sanctions on North Korea.

Haley said the resolution aimed to hit “North Korea’s ability to fuel and fund its weapons programme”. Trump has vowed not to allow North Korea to develop a nuclear missile capable of hitting the mainland United States.

INTERNATIONAL WILL

South Korean officials said after the North’s sixth nuclear test that Pyongyang could soon launch another intercontinental ballistic missile in defiance of international pressure. North Korea said its Sept. 3 test was of an advanced hydrogen bomb and was its most powerful by far.

The latest resolution contained new political language urging “further work to reduce tensions so as to advance the prospects for a comprehensive settlement”.

China’s U.N. ambassador, Liu Jieyi, called for a resumption of negotiations “sooner rather than later.” He called on North Korea to “take seriously” the will of the international community to halt its nuclear and ballistic missile development.

The resolution also calls on states to inspect vessels on the high seas, with the consent of the flag state, if they have reasonable grounds to believe the ships are carrying prohibited cargo.

It also bans joint ventures with North Korean entities, except for non-profit public utility infrastructure projects.

Report: Iranian Revolutionary Guards’ sectarian activity rises in Sunni areas

The Iranian regime is also accused of working to eliminate Sunnis and disrupting development in their provinces

Al Arabiya, 11 September 2017 - The Iranian repressive and sectarian regime against Sunnis in the country warns of an upcoming civil war, according to a recent reformist opposition report.

First published on amadnews site, which is allied with the opposition, the report reflects the Revolutionary Guards’ continued and escalating activity in predominantly Sunni areas.

It also noted that cleric’s activities and the Guard’s institutions are increasing in southern areas of the country, specifically in Sistan, Baluchistan and Khorasan provinces.

According to the report, among these activities are calls of a sectarian nature. The most recent event called for was Eid al-Ghadeer, a Shiite celebration. Sunnis see this form of celebration in their areas as a form of provocation.

The Iranian regime is also accused of working to eliminate Sunnis and disrupting development in their provinces.

Sixteen Years After 9/11, Iran Remains A Threat To America

NEW YORK city September 11

by David Ibsen

Inside Secoutces, September 10, 2017 - After the tragic events of September 11, 2001, Americans collectively searched for answers about who was behind the terror attack and why it occurred. While Osama bin Laden will forever be known as the mastermind of the tragedy, Iran’s role in the devastating attacks, and its collusion with al-Qaida and other terrorist organizations more generally, must not be overlooked.

An early 1990s meeting in Sudan between an emissary of Iran and al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, culminated in a decision to put aside Sunni-Shiadivisions in favor of an Iran-al-Qaeda pact to conspire against the U.S. As a report by the 9/11 Commission would state, “discussions in Sudan between al-Qaida and Iranian operatives led to an informal agreement to cooperate in … actions carried out primarily against Israel and the United States.”

With the help of Iran, al-Qaida developed a working relationship with Hezbollah, an Iranian terror proxy, supported both monetarily and operationally by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). In dealings facilitated by Iran, al-Qaida sent a cohort to Hezbollah’s base in Lebanon, where their operatives received training and propaganda instruction. It was even Hezbollah’s Imad Mughniyeh who inspired bin Laden’s signature calling card – coordinated, simultaneous attacks like those seen on September 11.

Iran’s influence on al-Qaeda was confirmed years after the attack. In 2011, Judge George Daniels, presiding over the case where the family members of 9/11 victims sued al-Qaida, the Taliban, and Iran over the 2001 attacks, found that Iran was liable for its involvement.

A deciding factor was the testimony of two defectors from Iran’s intelligence service, who testified that Iran had “foreknowledge of the 9/11 attacks” and the regime was “involved in planning” them.

Furthermore, Judge Daniels ruled in 2016 that “Iran provided material support or resources … to al-Qaida generally. Such material support or resources took the form of inter alia, planning, funding, facilitation of the hijackers’ travel and training, and logistics, and included the provision of services, money laundering, training, expert advice or assistance, safehouses, false documentation or identification and/or transportation.”

Lastly, a 2011 military raid unearthed letters written by Osama bin Laden stating that “Iran is our main artery for funds, personnel, and communication … There is no need to fight with Iran unless you are forced to.” His letters also revealed that the regime provided haven to al-Qaida after 9/11 writing, “Following the September 11 attacks … they entered Iran swiftly through various routes and not through the official gates.

A month later, other brothers joined with their families … it is known that the entry into Iran without a passport is not considered a crime.” These safe havens turned terrorist facilitation hubs allowed for the continued proliferation of al-Qaida. From Iran, al-Qaida operative Abu Musab al-Zarqawi rebuilt the network necessary to later establish the terrorist organization in Iraq. Others still were provided the security to plan and implement terrorist operations as they saw fit.

Fast forward to today and Iran continues to be the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism. Contrary to the Iranian leadership’s rhetoric portraying itself as a responsible partner in combatting terrorism, just this month, its client Hezbollah cut a reckless deal with ISIS which offered them safe passage to the Iraqi border in eastern Syria. And recently, U.N. Ambassador Nikki Hale accused Iran of illegally smuggling arms to Hezbollah over the course of a decade. Most disturbing against the backdrop of current international affairs are Iran’s persistent nuclear ambitions...

Next month, President Donald Trump will decide whether to recertify the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), also known as the Iran deal. With his decision, he will lend greater clarity to our nation’s approach to a regime that was involved in the most devastating terror attack in American history and is also seeking a nuclear weapons capability. As it scrutinizes the JCPOA and grapples with the prospect of a nuclear armed Iran, U.S. policymakers would be well-served to keep the memory of that dark day sixteen years ago – and Iran’s role – at the forefront of their minds.

David Ibsen
David Ibsen is the president of United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI).

Iran stars

FIERY TRUMP LASHES IRAN’S ‘CORRUPT DICTATORSHIP’ AT UN