The Iranian Diaspora Brief

The Iranian Diaspora Brief: December 17, 2020

Top Stories

Iran Faces Backlash Over Hanging Of France-Based Dissident | France 24

Iran on Monday faced a growing international backlash over its execution of the France-based dissident Ruhollah Zam, with Western governments accusing Tehran of abducting him abroad to be put on trial. Zam was hanged on Saturday after being sentenced to death over his role in protests during the winter of 2017-18, when he ran a popular social media channel that rallied regime opponents. He had lived in Paris for several years after being granted refugee status in France.

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Why Iran Abducted And Hanged Ruhollah Zam | The Economist

Even by Iran’s standards the justice was rough. Four days after sentence was passed, Ruhollah Zam was hanged. The judge said he had spied, incited violence and “sown corruption on earth”. Most Iranians took that to mean that he had simply disagreed with the right of the ayatollahs to rule. Mr Zam had been a remarkable dissident. In 2011 he went to Paris to escape the regime and, four years later, launched Amad, a news channel on Telegram, a messaging app. 

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Iran Transfers Another Jailed Female Dissident To Harsher Prison | Voice Of America

Iran has transferred a women’s rights activist from Tehran’s main prison to a notorious women’s jail on the capital city’s outskirts, according to a relative, making her the latest detained female dissident to face harsher treatment from Iranian authorities in recent months. Saba Kord Afshari, a campaigner against Iran’s compulsory hijab or veil for women in public, was transferred from Evin prison to the quarantine section of Qarchak women’s prison on Dec. 9, her sister, Sogand Kord Afshari, said in a series of recent tweets.

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Regime Abuses

Iran’s Rouhani Dismisses Outcry Over Journalist’s Execution | Al Monitor

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Monday defended the execution of a Paris-based Iranian journalist whose death triggered widespread condemnation in France and around the world.  Iran hanged Ruhollah Zam on Saturday after a court found him guilty of “corruption on earth,” a vague but serious charge that often is used to punish alleged espionage or an attempted government overthrow. European countries “have the right to comment, but Zam was executed upon a court’s ruling,” Reuters reports Rouhani told a televised news conference. “I think it’s unlikely that this will hurt Iran-Europe relations.” 

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Iran Sentences Kameel Ahmady, British-Iranian Anthropologist, To Prison | Al Monitor

A British-Iranian social anthropologist who conducted research on child marriage, female genital mutilation and other sensitive subjects has been sentenced to prison in Iran, his lawyer and state media reported. On Sunday, Branch 15 of the Revolutionary Court in Tehran sentenced Kameel Ahmady to nine years in prison and ordered him to pay a $727,000 fine, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported. Ahmady’s lawyer, Amir Raesian, tweeted that his client was handed an eight-year sentence for “collaborating with a hostile government.”

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Sweden Says Iran Has Denied Access To Detained Dissident | Asharq Al-Awsat

Sweden said Tuesday it had not been granted consular access to a Swedish-Iranian dissident who is detained in Iran after disappearing during a visit to Turkey in October. Iran’s state media in November reported the arrest of Habib Chaab, a political dissident living in exile in Sweden. A spokesman for Sweden’s foreign ministry said Tuesday its diplomats had still not been given consular access to Chaab, who has Swedish citizenship.

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Iran: Civil Rights And Cultural Activists Arrested, Further Detentions Expected | Iran Focus

According to human rights activists, Iranian authorities have begun a new wave of arrests in Khuzestan province, southwestern Iran. In their latest oppressive operation, the State Security Forces (SSF) targeted cultural activists in the city of Ahvaz. Locals reported the SSF has detained at least five activists and transferred them to unknown places. In this respect, on December 11, the human rights association No to Prison – No to Execution stated, “A day after the detention of Fatemeh Tamimi, a cultural activist from Ahvaz, in Jarahi district, authorities detained at least four others. Maryam Ameri, Tamimi’s partner, is among arrestees.”

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Political Prisoner Mohammad Ashtiani Denied Medical Treatment In Karaj Prison | Iran Human Rights Monitor

Mohammad Ashtiani has been denied medical treatment in the Central Prison of Karaj. Political prisoner Mohammad Ashtiani Araghi, 57, is in dire health conditions. He suffers from high blood pressure, Asthma, and hernia. He has been deprived of having access to his medications. This is particularly dangerous for his health considering the pandemic. Authorities of the prison’s clinic have told Mr. Ashtiani that they do not have sufficient budget to give him medicine for blood pressure. The prison authorities have also prevented him from going to the clinic to follow up on his illnesses.

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Facts On State-Sponsored Violence Against Iranian Women | Iran Focus

Most violence against Iranian women is perpetrated by state agents, according to the Women’s Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, and here were will run down exactly how. Female human rights defenders are regularly subjected to state-sponsored violence, with the authorities only intensifying its crackdown in recent years, viewing all human rights as threats to national security and failing to abide by the rights enshrined by the United Nations.

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In the News

UN Rights Chief ‘Appalled’ By Execution Of Iran Dissident | AFP

The UN rights chief voiced outrage Monday at Iran’s execution at the weekend of opposition figure Ruhollah Zam, and urged Tehran to halt its “alarming and increasing” use of the death penalty. “I am appalled at the execution in Iran on 12 December of Ruhollah Zam,” Michelle Bachelet said in a statement. “His death sentence and execution by hanging are emblematic of a pattern of forced confessions extracted under torture and broadcast on state media being used as a basis to convict people.”

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Documentary ‘Nasrin’ Secretly Filmed In Iran To Highlight Iranian Human Rights Activist Nasrin Sotoudeh | Forbes

The inspiring documentary Nasrin tells the story of human rights lawyer, activist and political prisoner Nasrin Sotoudeh through interviews, B-Roll, incredibly powerful archival footage and the personal writings of Sotoudeh and her husband, fellow-activist Reza Khandan. The American screenwriter, director and producer Jeff Kaufman and his co-producer, Marcia S. Ross, were unable to get visas to travel to Iran themselves. They relied on their on-the-ground film crew as well as calls with Sotoudeh and Khandan.

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Parliamentary Bill Targets Minorities In Iran, Warns HR Organization | Radio Farda

A human rights organization, ARTICLE 19, has expressed concern over an Iranian parliamentary motion to add two articles to the country’s Penal Code for “insulting legally-recognized religions and Iranian ethnicities.” ARTICLE 19 warns that the draft motion passes, it will further erode citizens’ rights to freedoms of expression and religion.

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Global Outcry Grows Over Iran’s ‘Barbaric’ Execution Of Dissident | Asharq Al-Awsat

Iran on Monday faced a growing international backlash over its execution of the France-based dissident Ruhollah Zam, with Western governments accusing Tehran of abducting him abroad to be put on trial. Zam was hanged on Saturday after being sentenced to death over his role in protests during the winter of 2017-18, when he ran a popular social media channel that rallied regime opponents. He had lived in Paris for several years after being granted refugee status in France.

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Europe Says “No Business As Usual” With Iran After Hanging Of Dissident Journalist | Center For Human Rights In Iran

Major European countries have pulled out of a planned Europe-Iran Business Forum that was scheduled to begin today, December 14, in protest over Iran’s execution on December 12, 2020, of the dissident journalist Rouhollah Zam. The ambassadors of France, Germany, Austria and Italy all canceled their participation in the online forum, which was due to feature keynote speeches by Josep Borrell, High Representative of the European Union, and Iran’s foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.

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Why Iran’s Regime Labels Opposition To Human Rights Violations As “Terrorism” | NCRI

On Friday, Iran’s regime executed Ruhollah Zam, a European resident. When European countries condemned his execution, the regime’s foreign ministry summoned their ambassadors, claiming they promoted “terrorism.” How could the greatest state-sponsor of terrorism allow itself to label any opposition to human rights violations in Iran as ‘promotion of terrorism’? Domestic human rights violation, and export of terrorism abroad are the regime’s pillars of existence.

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Non-English Language Media

روحانی درباره اعدام ‌روح‌الله زم: فکر نمی‌کنم اخلالی در روابط با اروپا ایجاد شود | BBC News

حسن روحانی رئیس جمهور ایران در یک کنفرانس خبری در تهران شرکت کرده و طی آن به سئولاتی از جمله درباره اعدام روح‌الله زم مدیر کانال تلگرامی آمدنیوز، “سپری شدن دوره تحریم های آمریکا” و “نقص مدیران دولتی” پاسخ داده و ضمن، انتقاد از مجلس و منتقدان، از عملکرد دولت خود دفاع کرده است. آقای روحانی اعدام روح الله زم را بر اساس حکم قوه قضائیه خوانده و گفته حکم اعدام بر اساس قوانین ایران و جود دارد و قوه قضائیه هم که این حکم را صادر و اجرا کرده “از دولت مستقل است”.

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بیانیه۱۲۶ فعال سیاسی، اجتماعی و حقوق بشر در ایران در باره اعدام زم | The Independent

اعتراض به اعدام روح‌الله زم، موسس و مدیر کانال تلگرام «آمدنیوز»، ادامه دارد. ۱۲۶ نفر از فعالان سیاسی، اجتماعی و حقوق بشر در ایران، در بیانیه‌ای‌ با ابراز انزجار از اعدام آقای زم عنوان کرده اند: «بار دیگر هشدار می‌دهیم که اعدام، سرکوب، داغ و درفش کمترین دردی از دردهای جامعه را درمان نخواهد کرد و راه رستگاری جامعه ایران جز از طریق تجدید نظر جدی در این سیاست‌ها، انجام اصلاحات عمیق و ساختاری، به رسمیت شناختن مخالفان و منتقدان ملی و گشایش مسیر گفت و گو در چارچوب منافع ملی نخواهد بود.

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دو سناتور ارشد آمریکا از دو حزب در بیانیه‌ای خواستار رسیدگی به نقض حقوق بشر توسط رژیم ایران شدند | Voice Of America

دو سناتور ارشد آمریکایی از دو حزب عمده سیاسی دموکرات و جمهوری‌خواه، که به طور مشترک ریاست فراکسیون حقوق بشر سنا را برعهده دارند، روز چهارشنبه ۲۶ آذر ضمن محکوم کردن نقض حقوق بشر توسط رژیم ایران خواستار رسیدگی به این موضع در کنار مسائل هسته‌ای، موشکی و رفتار منطقه‌ای جمهوری اسلامی شدند. کریس کونز نماینده ایالت دِلاور از حزب دموکرات و تام تیلیس نماینده ایالت کارولینای شمالی از حزب جمهور‌ی‌خواه در یک بیانیه مشترک گفتند، تحریم‌های اخیر آمریکا علیه برخی مقام‌های ایرانی در ارتباط با ربودن رابرت لوینسون مامور سابق پلیس فدرال آمریکا در ایران، تاییدی است بر مسئولیت داشتن حکومت ایران در ناپدید شدن او.

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