The Iranian Diaspora Brief

The Iranian Diaspora Brief: January 21, 2021

Top Stories

Britain Says Working To Release Zaghari-Ratcliffe, Other Dual Nationals In Iran | Reuters

Britain is working “virtually around the clock” to secure the release of British-Iranian aid worker Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and other dual nationals held in Tehran, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Wednesday. “We’re working virtually around the clock to secure the release of all the dual nationals that concern us in Tehran … We’re doing everything we can to secure the (end to) what we regard as the completely unjustified detention in Tehran of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe,” he told parliament.

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Iran Jails U.S. Businessman, Possibly Jeopardizing Biden’s Plans For Diplomacy With Tehran | NBC News

Only weeks after the U.S. election and three days after an Iranian nuclear scientist was assassinated, Iranian authorities convicted a U.S. businessman on spying charges, a family friend said. The case threatens to complicate plans by the next administration to pursue diplomacy with Iran, as President-elect Joe Biden has said he would be open to easing sanctions on Tehran if the regime returned to compliance with a 2015 nuclear agreement.

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Dozens Of Kurdish Activists Arrested In Iran | Radio Farda

The Kurdistan Human Rights Network reported on Wednesday, January 13, that Iranian intelligence agents had arrested at least 26 Kurdish students and civil rights activists in recent days in Karaj, Mahabad, Rabat, Marivan, Bukan, and Sarvabad. The latest arrests were made on Wednesday morning in Selin’s village in Oraman, during which the agents of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps’ (IRGC) Intelligence Organization detained Akram and Siamak Advaei.

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Regime Abuses

A Killing Field Named The Islamic Republic | Radio Farda

In its report on the state of journalism in the world in 2020, Paris-based Reporters Sans Frontières (Reporters Without Borders) has appropriately ranked Iran as the global record-holder of killing media staff. Referring to Ruhollah Zam’s kidnapping process that led to his trial behind closed doors, sentencing, and hanging, the internationally renowned organization has called his death not execution but a murder. However, 42-year-old Zam was not the only journalist killed by Iran merely for his views and activities as a social media activist and reporter.

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Digital Deputy Head Detained In Iran | Radio Farda

The Young Journalists’ Club (YJC) website announced on Thursday, January 14 that Iranian security forces have arrested the international deputy head of Sarava Holding, Emad Edward Sharqi, while he was set to leave Iran. The YJC published a picture of Sharqi being detained at an airport. According to the report, a court had previously sentenced Sharqi to ten years in prison for “espionage and military intelligence gathering.” He was released on bail and “intended to flee Iran” before the appeals court, the YJC reported.

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Family Of Iranian Dissident Jailed Since 2001 Appeals For Help To Secure Parole | Voice Of America

The family of a jailed Iranian dissident who is marking 20 years in Iran’s prison system without a single day of leave is appealing for international help in securing his parole from a life sentence for supporting an exiled opposition group. Saeed Masouri, who is in his mid-50s, has been imprisoned in Iran since Jan. 8, 2001, for being a supporter of the People’s Mujahedeen of Iran, also known as the MEK. The group is led by France-based activist Maryam Rajavi and advocates the overthrow of Iran’s ruling Islamist clerics.

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Iran Gives Director 3-Year Prison Term For Film About Journalist-Turned-Activist | Voice Of America

Iran has sentenced a film director to an effective three-year prison term for alleged national security offenses, including his work on a decade-old documentary about an Iranian journalist who later became a prominent anti-government activist, according to the director’s sister. Speaking to VOA Persian from her home in Canada on Tuesday, Neda Mihandoust said Iranian authorities had sent a notification of the prison sentence to a lawyer for her Tehran-based brother Reza Mihandoust, also known as Navid, two days earlier.

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Iran: Eleven Executions In One Week | Iran News Update

According to the Iranian opposition People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI), the Iranian regime has executed at least 11 prisoners in various provinces in the past week. Following Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s remarks banning the officials from purchasing American, British, and French Covid-19 vaccines, the regime faces a new wave of hatred and distrust from the population. In this respect, the regime has intensified oppressive measures, including the implementation of death penalties, to quell possible protests before they begin.

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Freemuse And Center For Human Rights In Iran Call On Iran To Free Writer Arash Ganji, Stop Prosecuting Free Speech | Center For Human Rights In Iran

Branch 28 of the Revolutionary Court in Iran sentenced writer, translator, and the secretary of the board of directors of the Iranian Writers’ Association, Arash Ganji, to 11 years in prison. Ganji was convicted of conspiracy, membership of an illegal organization and propaganda after he translated a book about a Kurdish-led uprising in Syria from English to Farsi.  “Convicting Arash Ganji for translating a book from English to Farsi violates his right to freedom of expression protected by international human rights law,” said Dr. Srirak Plipat, Freemuse Executive Director.

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Iranian Authorities Insist On Corporal Punishments | Iran Focus

While international law bans corporal punishment, like flogging and amputation, branding them as torture, it’s commonly used in Iran and is just one of the reasons that the United Nations has condemned the Iranian government 67 times. In 2020, at least 19 floggings sentenced were carried out, while dozens more were issued, mostly against people charged with non-violent or political crimes, like drinking alcohol or criticizing the government. Let’s look at some of those carried out.

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Political Prisoner Denied Medical Treatment For Suspected Cancer | Iran Human Rights Monitor

Iranian political prisoner Masoumeh Senobari has been denied medical leave and hospital transfers despite being suspected of cancer. The authorities of Tabriz Prison where Masoumeh Senobari is held, have rejected the poitical prisoner’s requests for medical leave or hospital transfer. Masoumeh Senobari’s family have been following up on her treatment and medical tests and have accepted to pay for her treatment, but prison authorities have prevented her from doing her sonogram test and overlooked her visits to the prison dispensary requesting dispatch to civic medical centers.

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Iran Set To Execute Wrestler Mehdi Ali Hosseini | Bloody Elbow

Last September Iran followed through with its threat to execute Iranian national team wrestler Navid Afkari after he was charged with murdering a security agent. Human rights groups claim that the charges against Afkari were the result of a forced confession, brought about through torture. Figures from the international wrestling community, as well as UFC President Dana White, spoke out against Iran in an attempt to pressure the country to stay Afkari’s execution. Despite these calls, Iran carried out the execution by hanging, per an official release. Afkari was 27-years-old.

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Iran: Executions Continue As International Community Remains Silent | NCRI

At least six persons have been executed within the last few days in Iran, according to the reports by the Iranian Resistance. The continued executions underline Tehran’s intention of continuing human rights violations despite global “condemnations” and its disregard for international human rights standards. The United Nations issued its 67th resolution of condemnation over the Iranian regime’s human rights violations on December 16. Less than a week after the UN resolution, the regime executed 14 prisoners, showing its absolute defiance of international norms, condemnations, and human rights standards.

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In the News

The Instagrammers Who Worry Iran | BBC News

Growing up in Iran, Fatemeh Khishvand dreamed of becoming famous, posting selfies on Instagram in the hope of getting noticed. Typical enough – only Ms Khishvand’s selfies were anything but. They were heavily doctored photos in which her face appeared gaunt, distorted, and enhanced by make-up. Posted under a pseudonym, Sahar Tabar, the photos were so striking they attracted international media attention when they first appeared in 2017. In some, Ms Khishvand bore an uncanny resemblance to American actress Angelina Jolie.

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Coronavirus Has Hit Iran’s ‘Resistance Economy’ Set Up To Combat US Sanctions – And Ordinary Iranians Are Worried | The Independent

Stuck away off a dual carriageway heading out of Tehran is a business centre, grey and anodyne, with extensions bolted on and a set of copper chimneys on top. Inside are a set of start-up ventures, part of Iran’s response to Donald Trump’s draconian sanctions imposed after he pulled the US out of the deal with international powers on the country’s nuclear programme. Inside, in modern open-plan offices, young people sit with their laptops, swapping their desks for think-pods for reflections or discussions, and beanbags to rest and sleep.

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Tehran Denounces ‘Hostage Taking’ After Iranian Accused Of Being Agent Arrested In U.S. | Radio Free Europe

Tehran has accused Washington of “hostage taking” after an Iranian political scientist was arrested in the United States and accused of being an agent of Iran’s government. Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh made the accusation on January 20, a day after U.S. authorities announced the arrest of Kaveh Afrasiabi, an Iranian citizen with U.S. permanent residency. The Justice Department said Afrasiabi was arrested at his home in Watertown, Massachusetts, on January 18 on charges of “acting and conspiring to act as an unregistered agent” of Tehran.

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“Suffering” Iranian Retirees Joining Nationwide Protests Against Chronic State Failures | Center For Human Rights In Iran

On January 10, 2021, Iranian retirees gathered in front of government buildings in at least 19 cities including–Tehran, Mashhad, Isfahan, and Yazd–to protest the government’s lack of response to their demands. The protesters, who receive retirement checks from the State Welfare Organization’s (SWO) pension fund, chanted slogans against state policies and officials at well-organized rallies. According to official statistics published by the state-funded Mehr News Agency in June 2020, more than three million retirees are currently on the SWO’s payroll.

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Iranian Rights Groups Call On Khamenei To Allow Purchase Of U.S. And UK COVID-19 Vaccines | Center For Human Rights In Iran

In light of the statement by Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on January 8, 2021, that the Islamic Republic will not import any COVID-19 vaccines made in the United States or the United Kingdom, we the undersigned organizations call upon the Supreme Leader to rescind this order and allow Iranians to purchase any safe and effective vaccines as soon as they are available, regardless of their country of origin. It is the responsibility of all governments, as stipulated by international covenants which the Islamic Republic has  ratified, to protect the right to health and the right to life of its citizens.

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Turkey Will Not Deport Dissident Journalist To Iran | TRT World

Iranian journalist Mohammad Mosaed, who entered Turkey, won’t be deported, Turkish security sources told Middle East Eye on Monday.  Mosaed applied for international protection in Turkey after taking an illegal smuggling route from Iran at the eastern border city of Van, the report said. Turkish sources say he will be kept in a deportation centre until his application is resolved. An investigative business journalist, Mosaed was reportedly about to freeze to death when he contacted the emergency services to ask for help.

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UN Rights Chief ‘Appalled’ By The Execution Of Iranian Dissident | The Organization For World Peace

On Saturday December 12, dissident Iranian journalist Ruhollah Zam was executed by hanging in Iran, according to state television IRIB. United Nations Human Rights Chief, Michelle Bachelet, voiced outrage at Iran’s execution of the media activist and opposition figure. “I am appalled at the execution in Iran on 12 December of Ruhollah Zam, activist and founder of the AmadNews Telegram channel,” Bachelet said in a statement.

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Iran: Targeting Six Centers Of Repression In Tehran, Mashhad And Hamedan | NCRI

Following the State Security Force’s crackdown on the protest by unemployed youth in Shahrui (Behbahan) in front of Bid Boland-2 refinery, defiant youth in the cities of Tehran, Mashhad and Hamedan targeted six centers of suppression and set fire to their signs and entrances. These activities, which took place in the height of security conditions were widely welcomed by the public. On the same day, defiant youth in Hamedan also set fire to the large banner of Qassem Soleimani, the eliminated commander of the terrorist Quds force.

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Iranian Political Prisoner: Silence Is A Crime | NCRI

In a shocking letter from prison, Soheil Arabi, an Iranian political prisoner arrested in 2013, revealed how the regime’s officials extrajudicially prolong the prison sentences of those prisoners who expose mistreatment in prison. “It is astonishing that they [officials] plunder people’s belongings, destroy our country, and are ruthless, but gain more wealth and security daily. Instead, they call those protesting tyranny and corruption ‘security convicts’ and perform all types of tortures on them and kill them in prisons, like they killed Satar [Beheshti], Alireza [Shir Mohammad-Ali], and Vahid. Yet, nothing happens,” Mr. Arabi wrote in his letter.

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Opinion

It’s Not Too Late To Hold Iran’s Regime To Account For Its Greatest Atrocity | Hanif Jazayeri For Newsweek

Some may argue that a 1988 massacre of thousands of political prisoners in Iran is too distant a memory to warrant attention today. Not so, when that massacre was so widespread and brutal that it constituted a crime against humanity, and certainly not so, when the perpetrators are currently running Iran’s Judiciary. For comparison, imagine if Ratko Mladić, who massacred more than 8000 Muslim Bosniaks in Srebrenica was today appointed as Judiciary Chief of Bosnia. In Iran, Ebrahim Raisi who sat on the Death Commissions that carried out the 1988 massacre of more than 30,000 political prisoners is today the country’s Judiciary Chief.

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Human Rights Must Be Front And Center In Europe’s Iran Policy | R. Bruce Mccolm For International Policy Digest

Hamid Noury, a former Iranian regime official, has been incarcerated in Sweden since November 2019. He had traveled to Sweden for personal reasons but was arrested on charges of torture and crimes against humanity back in Iran. Noury’s provisional incarceration term is renewed every month by a judge to allow the investigation into his past to take its course. Hamid Noury is known in Iran for his role in the gruesome massacre of political prisoners in 1988 on the orders of Ruhollah Khomeini, Iran’s then-supreme leader.

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Non-English Language Media

ادامه موج بازداشت فعالان در شهرهای کردنشین ایران | BBC News

فعالان حقوق بشر می‌گویند موج بازداشت فعالان مدنی در شهرهای کردنشین ایران ادامه دارد. شبکه حقوق بشر کردستان می‌گوید با ادامه این موج تعداد بازداشت‌شدگان به ۴۱ نفر رسیده است. کاوه کرمانشاهی، از گردانندگان این نهاد حقوق بشری، می‌گوید: “اکثر بازداشت‌شدگان اخیر در حوزه‌های مختلف مدنی، فرهنگی، محیط ‌زیست و دانشجویی فعال بوده‌اند و تعدادی از آنها نیر شهروندان عادی هستند.” به گفته آقای کرمانشاهی ماموران حکم قضایی و دلیل قانونی برای بازداشت‌هایشان ارائه نداده‌اند و به صورت “خودسرانه” و با توسل به “خشونت کلامی و فیزیکی” بازداشت‌ها را انجام داده‌اند. اتهام بازداشت‌شدگان مشخص نیست و روشن نیست چرا مقام‌های قضایی و امنیتی ایران چنین برخوردی را انجام می‌دهند.

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 ادامه سرکوب فعالان مدنی در ایران؛ یک زوج اهل کردستان به زندان محکوم شدند | Voice Of America

ک زوج فعال مدنی اهل استان کردستان ایران که اواسط آبان ماه در اعتراض به ناعادلانه بودن روند رسیدگی به پرونده خود از حضور در جلسه دادگاه خودداری کرده‌ بودند، پس از بازداشت و حضور در دادگاه به حبس تعلیقی محکوم شده‌اند. یک منبع مطلع که به دلایل امنیتی نخواست نامش فاش شود به صدای آمریکا گفت که‌ این زن و شوهر که فریده ویسی و سیروس عباسی نام دارند پس از امتناع از حضور در جلسه دوم دادگاه خود در روز دوشنبه ۱۲ آبان، با صدور حکم جلب در تاریخ ۹ دی ماه توسط نیروهای امنیتی در شهر دهگلان بازداشت شدند. آنها پس از انتقال به شعبه‌ اول دادگاه انقلاب سنندج به ریاست قاضی سعیدی محاکمه شدند.

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کمیته حفاظت از روزنامه‌نگاران از ترکیه خواست روند اخراج محمد مساعد را متوقف کند | Voice Of America

کمیته حفاظت از روزنامه‌نگاران از دولت ترکیه خواسته است که روند اخراج محمد مساعد، روزنامه‌نگار ایرانی، از ترکیه و بازگرداندن او به ایران را متوقف کند. کمیته حفاظت از روزنامه‌نگاران روز دوشنبه ۲۹ در گزارشی اعلام کرد که این روزنامه‌نگار دیروز با ارسال پیامی به این کمیته اطلاع داده است که پلیس مرزی ترکیه پس از عبور او از مرز ایران و ورودش به شهر وان ترکیه، او را بازداشت کرده است. محمد مساعد که موفق به کسب جایزه بین المللی آزادی بیان کمیته حفاظت از روزنامه‌نگاران در سال ۲۰۲۰ شده است، به دلیل انتشار مطالبی در رابطه با قطعی اینترنت در اعتراضات آبان‌ ماه و انتقاد از عملکرد دولت در مقابله با ویروس کرونا دو بار بازداشت شد.

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 عماد شرقی، چهارمین شهروند ایرانی-آمریکایی زندانی در ایران| The Independent

شبکه خبری ان‌بی‌سی در گزارشی با اشاره به تابعیت دوگانه ایرانی-آمریکایی عماد شرقی، به نقل از بستگانش، تاریخ بازداشت‌ او را ۱۶ آذرماه (۶ دسامبر) اعلام کرد. پیش از این، باشگاه خبرنگاران جوان، ۲۵ دی‌ماه، با انتشار تصاویری از یک مرد میانسال در فرودگاه، از دستگیری عماد شرقی «حین فرار و خروج غیرقانونی از مرزهای غربی کشور» خبر داده بود. ان‌بی‌سی به نقل از بیانیه‌ خانواده شرقی که در اختیار این رسانه قرار گرفته، نوشته است: «بیش از شش هفته از بازداشت او می‌گذرد و ما نمی‌دانیم کجاست یا چه کسی او را در اختیار دارد. به دلیل احتیاط برای سلامت او ،ما هرگز به‌طور علنی در مورد پرونده او صحبت نکرده‌ایم و اکنون نیز تمایل نداریم.

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