Prosecutors in Sweden have charged an Iranian with war crimes over the mass execution of prisoners in 1988. The suspect was not named but has been widely identified as Hamid Nouri, 60. In 1988, Iran was at war with Iraq. Iran’s supreme leader ordered the mass execution of prisoners linked to an armed opposition group allied to Iraq. The suspect was working in a prison near the Iranian capital Tehran, prosecutors say. His lawyer told news agencies he denied the charges.
Weekslong Iranian protests over water scarcity present an early test for incoming president Ebrahim Raisi, who takes office next week amid mounting challenges including a grinding economic crisis and stalled nuclear negotiations with the West. The protests, which began nearly two weeks ago in the oil-rich southwestern province of Khuzestan, center on accusations that the Iranian government is diverting water to drill for oil, service other provinces and drive the area’s ethnic Arabs off the land. Protesters have shouted “We are thirsty,” while some chanted against Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the Islamic Republic.
An Iranian human rights organization has said that it has established the identity of 540 victims who have been killed or abducted abroad by Iran’s security forces in the past four decades. The Abdorrahman Boroumand Center for Human Rights in Iran (ABC), based in Washington DC, released a statement on July 27, highlighting the recent kidnapping plot against US-based Iranian activist Masih Alinejad and said the episode “fits a decades-long pattern of intimidation, extrajudicial killings and abductions of dissidents meant to undermine political and religious groups, silence activists and journalists, and prevent the mobilization of effective opposition movements inside and outside the country.”
Two weeks after the transfer of political prisoner Mehran Qarebaghi and an ordinary prisoner, Mohammad Hossein Ansarifar, from the Prison of Behbahan to the detention center of the Intelligence Department of Ahvaz, no news is available on them. The two prisoners were moved to the detention center of the Intelligence Department of Ahvaz at 3 a.m. on July 12. Mr. Qarebaghi is suspected of political activities and Mohammad Hossein Ansarifar who is accused of having cooperated with Mehran Qarebaghi.
The State Department on Wednesday said it was monitoring reports of internet outages and slowdowns in Iran amid ongoing anti-government protests spurred by a water shortage in the country. State spokesman Ned Price said in a statement issued by his office that the U.S. supports the “right” of the Iranian people “to voice their frustrations and hold their government accountable.” “The Iranian people are now putting a spotlight not only on their unmet needs but also their unfulfilled aspirations for respect for human rights — rights to which individuals the world over are entitled,” Price explained.
More than 100 political prisoners, activists, and relatives of people killed in protests or who have died in detention in Iran published a statement Wednesday supporting protestors in Khuzestan province. The statement, signed by 114 families and individuals says: “The demand of the Iranian people is to transition from the Islamic Republic to reach a human life under constitutional law based on human rights and safeguarding national interests, as the political path of a Supreme Leader has not been successful in the past 43 years and it has destroyed all bridges of rationality.” The principle of velayat-e faqih (‘guardianship of the jurist’), under which a clerical head of state exercises wide powers, is a cornerstone of the constitution adopted after the 1979 revolution, 43 years ago by the Iranian calendar in which years begin in March.
A wave of antigovernment protests that began in Iran’s southwest 11 days ago has spread to the capital, Tehran, where demonstrators have marched and chanted slogans against their Islamist rulers for the first time in 18 months. Video clips of Monday’s demonstration in central Tehran were widely shared on social media and acknowledged by the deputy governor of the Iranian capital region, Hamidreza Goudarzi. The clips showed at least dozens of Iranians marching on Tehran’s Jomhuri Islami Avenue, or “Islamic Republic Avenue,” chanting slogans against Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei…
The State Department on Wednesday condemned the use of violence against anti-government protesters in Iran, a rebuke that comes as nuclear negotiations with Tehran remain at a standstill. The widespread protests, which erupted nearly two weeks ago over chronic water shortages in the southwestern region of Khuzestan, have spread to several cities including the capital, Tehran. Amnesty International has accused Iran’s security forces of deploying unlawful force, including by firing live ammunition and birdshot, on the protests.
On their 12th day, the rallies that initially began in the Iranian oil-rich but underdeveloped province of Khuzestan attracted growing solidarity from across the country. Videos have gone viral of demonstrations in Tehran, Karaj, Kermanshah, Isfahan and Bushehr, where protesters have been chanting slogans against Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, with calls for an end to the clerical ruling establishment. The videos from the city of Kermanshah also showed tense clashes between the two sides with repeated shootings in the background.
Saeid Mollaei, an Iranian defector who took Olympic silver in men’s 81kg judo Tuesday, dedicated his medal to Israel, where he trained for the Tokyo Olympics. “Thank you to Israel for all the good energy – this medal is dedicated to you as well and I hope Israel is happy with this victory, today,” he said after his final match, according to the Jerusalem Post. Mollaei, the world champion in 2018, left his home country and went into hiding in 2019 after blowing the whistle on Iranian leaders who he said ordered him to throw the World Judo Championships in Tokyo to avoid the possibility of facing Israeli Sagi Muki.
She knew Iran’s Islamist regime despised her, but Masih Alinejad is still reeling over how far it was willing to go to silence her. According to a recently unveiled U.S. federal indictment, the Iranian-American journalist and human rights activist was the subject of an attempted kidnapping plot cooked up by Iranian intelligence operatives. They used private investigators to track her movements in Brooklyn and even considered spiriting her away on a speedboat that may have gone first to Iran-friendly Venezuela, prosecutors allege.
With the Olympic Games underway, we’ve already seen inspirational stories of lifelong dreams coming to fruition through sport. But some athletes never get the chance to reach their potential or attend the Olympic Games. Consider Navid Afkari, the Iranian wrestling champion. Navid will never get to compete in the Olympics, despite being a world class athlete, because he was murdered by the Iranian regime for opposing the government. Yet despite this appalling crime committed by Iran, as well as many others, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and other sporting bodies continue to allow Iran to compete.
A leading voice for human rights in Iran is targeted for kidnapping by agents of the Iranian regime from her home in Brooklyn, where she resides as a citizen of the United States. A Saudi commentator is dismembered in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. A plane travelling from Athens to Vilnius is forced to land in Minsk so that a young Belarusian journalist can be arrested. These stories – of Masih Alinejad, Jamal Khashoggi, and Roman Pratasevich respectively – remind us that activism and journalism are both vital and dangerous. They also point to a growing international trend which human rights defenders are calling “transnational repression.” The message to democracy activists is clear: No matter where you are or which passport you carry, you are not safe anywhere.
This week, dozens of Iranians marched in Tehran to protest a dire water crisis that has decimated farming in the southwest. But amidst the chants on the domestic front emerged another one: “No to Gaza, no to Lebanon; I sacrifice my life for Iran!” The chant reflects a crucial complaint that hums like a heartbeat through the Iranian people: that the regime has not only deprived them of crucial freedoms but has sold them out to fight someone else’s battles. And they are right. In 1979, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini’s Islamic Revolution turned Iran into a fanatic theocracy—one which continues to oppress Iranian citizens, particularly women and religious minorities. Then, just three years after the revolution, the nascent regime set its eyes on a dubious priority that had nothing to do with its own people: It established, trained, and funded the terrorist organization Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.
بنیاد عبدالرحمن برومند ، یک نهاد مدافع حقوق بشر در ایران، با انتشار گزارشی اعلام کرده است در تحقیقات خود، بیش از ۵۴۰ ایرانی را شناسایی کرده که که قتل و یا آدمربایی آنها به جمهوری اسلامی ایران منتسب است. بنیاد برومند همزمان تاکید کرده است: «این عدد همه موارد گزارش شده را در بر نمیگیرد. اگرچه هنوز باید در خصوص بسیاری از موارد گزارش شده تحقیق به عمل آید، با این حال، روند کلی حملات موفقیتآمیز حکومت ایران علیه دگراندیشان و مخالفان، به شدت نگرانکننده است. این گزارش پس از آن منتشر میشود که وزارت دادگستری ایالات متحده آمریکا، روز ۲۳ تیر ماه امسال، کیفرخواستی علیه چهار ایرانی صادر کرد که به تلاش برای ربودن مسیح علینژاد، روزنامهنگار و فعال مدنی، و چند فعال سیاسی و روزنامهنگار دیگر که در تبعید به سر میبرند و نامشان فاش نشده، متهم شدهاند.
ویدیوهای منتشرشده در رسانههای اجتماعی از برگزاری تجمع اعتراضی و سر دادن شعارهایی علیه جمهوری اسلامی در خیابان جمهوری تهران خبر میدهند. ویدیوهایی که حدود ظهر روز دوشنبه، چهارم مردادماه در رسانههای اجتماعی منتشر شد، گروهی از معترضان را نشان میدهد که در خیابان جمهوری تهران پیش میروند و شعار میدهند. یکی از این ویدیوها مربوط به تجمع و شعار دادن در زیر پل حافظ و نزدیکی پاساژ علاءالدین در خیابان جمهوری است و بعضی از کاربران رسانههای اجتماعی آغاز تجمع را از آن مکان و در اعتراض به بیبرقی عنوان کردهاند؛ اما آنطور که در ویدیوها دیده میشود، شعارهای معترضان اغلب شعارهای ضدحکومتی یا دعوت دیگران برای پیوستن به اعتراض است، از جمله.
اعتراضات سراسری ایران که در پی وخیم شدن معضل بیآبی در چندین شهر خوزستان آغاز شد و پس از چند روز به استانهای دیگر ایران گسترش یافت، سهشنبه ۵ مرداد سیزدهمین روز و شب خود را پشت سر گذاشت. بر اساس ویدئوهای ارسال شده به صدای آمریکا، معترضان روز سهشنبه ۵ مرداد با تجمع در مناطقی از شهر بهارستان در استان اصفهان، شعارهایی مانند «رضا شاه روحت شاد»، «مرگ بر خامنهای»، و «اصفهان خوزستان اتحاد اتحاد» سر دادند. این تجمعات پس از تاریک شدن هوا نیز ادامه یافت. در یک ویدئوی منتشرشده از اعتراضات شهر بهارستان در استان اصفهان، معترضان ضمن سر دادن شعارهایی در حمایت از مردم خوزستان تصویر آیتالله خامنهای، رهبر جمهوری اسلامی، را پاره کردند و به آتش کشیدند.