The Iranian Diaspora Brief

The Iranian Diaspora Brief: March 29, 2021

Top Stories

The Middle-Class Women Of Iran Are Disappearing | The New York Times

A few weeks after the Trump administration withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal in May 2018, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo condemned “brutal men of the regime” in Tehran for oppressing Iranian women who were demanding their rights. “As human beings with inherent dignity and inalienable rights, the women of Iran deserve the same freedoms that the men of Iran possess,” Mr. Pompeo said. But the Trump administration then dealt a tremendous blow to Iranian women by reimposing sanctions on Iran, restricting oil sales and access to the global banking system, and pushing the economy into a deep recession.

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Iran’s Human Rights Abuses On The Increase | Arab News

Human rights violations by the Iranian regime and its militia groups across the Middle East are becoming much more egregious and appalling, with Iran’s leaders and their proxies appearing to act with impunity. In Iran, there are several categories that the international community ought to focus on. First of all, the suppression and execution of political prisoners and those who protest against the theocratic establishment have reached an unprecedented level. According to the recent Human Rights Watch “World Report 2021,” the Tehran regime is one of the leading executioners in the world.

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Head Of Iran’s Olympics Implicated In Murder Of Prisoners Via Torture | The Jerusalem Post

Iranian dissidents accused the Islamic Republic of Iran’s National Olympic Committee chairman, Seyed Reza Salehi, of killing Kurdish and Azerbaijani political prisoners via torture while he served as an intelligence officer. “Is the Olympics aware that there are horrific reports about Seyed Reza Salehi, the president of the NOC of Iran? During his time as senior director at the ministry of intelligence, he went by the name of Seyed Reza Fallah and was involved in the torture and murder of prisoners,” tweeted Sardar Pashaei, the former head coach of Iran’s Greco-Roman team and a world gold medalist in Greco-Roman wrestling, last week.

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Regime Abuses

IRGC Forms Group To Monitor Internet In Iran | Al Monitor

Following Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s speech on the important issues facing the country in the upcoming year, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps announced plans to form groups to make sure these issues are prioritized. In an open letter to Khamenei following the start of the Iranian new year on March 20, Hossein Salami announced the formation of the Headquarters for Realization of the year 1,400 Nowruz Orders. Salami said that the headquarters will consist of a leadership board which will include the heads of the IRGC and Basij Organization, intelligence officials as well as economic and construction officials linked to the IRGC.

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Net Activist Sentenced To 3 Years Of Prison For “Insulting” Khomeini, Lashes For Alcohol Possession | Iran News Wire

The 4th Branch of the South Khorasan Province Appeals Court in eastern Iran confirmed the three years and 40 lashes sentence for an internet activist. According to the Human Rights News Agency, the 47-year-old man, identified as Hamidreza Adeli-Far was sentenced to nine months of prison for “spreading propaganda against the state”, 18 months of prison and a 3 million tomans ($119) fine for “publishing lies on cyberspace” and another nine months of prison, lashes and a 3.375 million tomans ($134) fine for keeping 7.5L of alcoholic drinks.

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Serious Concerns Over Unlawful Exile Of Jailed Activist To Rajai Shahr Prison | Iran Human Rights Monitor

Political prisoner Saeed Eghbali is being held in solitary confinement with two death-row prisoners after he was banished from Evin Prison to Rajai Shahr Prison in Karaj. Prison officials have told Saeed Eghbali that he will be transferred to a ward holding common criminals and that they have no responsibility to protect his life and health. Saeed Eghbali was abruptly banished to Raja’i Shahr Prison in Karaj, a major city west of the Iranian capital. The move followed the sudden transfer of other political prisoners and activists including Atena Daemi, Maryam Akbari Monfared, and Esmail Abdi.

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Iranian Court Condemns Prisoner To Additional Four Years Imprisonment, 80 Lashes | Kurdistan Human Rights Network

Political prisoner Saeed Eghbali is being held in solitary confinement with two death-row prisoners after he was banished from Evin Prison to Rajai Shahr Prison in Karaj. Prison officials have told Saeed Eghbali that he will be transferred to a ward holding common criminals and that they have no responsibility to protect his life and health. Saeed Eghbali was abruptly banished to Raja’i Shahr Prison in Karaj, a major city west of the Iranian capital. The move followed the sudden transfer of other political prisoners and activists including Atena Daemi, Maryam Akbari Monfared, and Esmail Abdi.

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10 Kurdish Citizens Arrested For Attending Nowruz Celebration | Iran Human Rights Monitor

At least 10 Kurdish citizens in the cities of Marivan, Sanandaj and Saqez have been arrested for participating in Nowruz celebrations in western Iranian cities. At least four of those arrested are from Ney village in the city of Marivan, in Iran’s Kurdistan province near the Iraq border. The state security forces arrested four Kurdish citizens, Salman Afra, Seiwan Parto, Jamal Gerami, and Aram Nik pey, in the village of Ney on March 23 and 24. Security forces arrested Salman Afra and Seiwan Parto without an arrest warrant and transferred them to an unknown location.

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Kurdish Political Prisoner Denied Furlough To Attend Daughter’s Funeral | Iran Human Rights Monitor

Prison authorities have refused to authorize temporary leave for a Kurdish political prisoner to attend his daughter’s funeral. The Kurdish political prisoner Arash Nasri held in Rajai Shahr Prison of Karaj, has recently lost his 15-year-old daughter and requested a few hours furlough to attend her funeral. After several days of follow-up by him and his family, the grieving father was finally told that Deputy Prosecutor and Assistant Superintendent of Political Prisoners, Amin Vaziri, refused to authorize his leave under the pretext of “insecurity of society, and his security charges”.

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Basij Forces Fatally Shoot Two Young Men In Southwest Iran | Iran Human Rights Monitor

Iranian security forces and police shot and killed two young men from Iran’s Arab minority, in arbitrary shootings in the city of Shush in Khuzestan Province, southwest Iran. According to local sources, Ebrahim Atshani, 20, and Mostafa Hargani, 22, were shot by the IRGC Basij forces of “Danesh” base in the city of Shush. Both young men lost their lives after being taken to hospital. Both men were on a motorcycle on Friday, March 26, when the Basij forces shot Ebrahim Atshani in the stomach and legs, and Mostafa Hargani in the shoulder. The men were taken to a hospital, where they died later on Saturday.

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Iran’s Judiciary Hangs Mother In Front Of Her Teenage Girl | Iran Focus

According to human rights defenders, a mother was legally hanged with the blessing of her daughter at the Rasht Prison in the northern Iranian province of Gilan on March 13. Activists reported that the execution was carried out under the pretense of ‘retribution.’ The executed woman was Maryam (Masoumeh) Karimi. She had been on death row for around 13 years. She had been accused and sentenced to death for killing her husband in collaboration with her father. It is said that Maryam Karimi was exposed to ill-treatment. Furthermore, the husband had refused to divorce and put her wife in overwhelming conditions.

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In the News

Iran’s Online Anti-Government Protests Gain Momentum | Arab News

The online presence of the anti-government campaign, “no to the Islamic Republic”, calling for the removal of the clerical regime has gained popularity in the recent days, TV news channel Al Arabiya reported. The campaign launched in March against the current government has gained traction in the recent days with more than 600 anti-regime Iranians, including political activists, artists, athletes and academics. Supporters of the campaign say the current regime is an obstacle to the growth and advancement of the country—some advocates of the movement are relatives of Iranians killed by the regime.

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Iran’s Lobbies And Their Influence Campaign In U.S. And Europe | NCRI

It has been more than two months since legal proceedings began in the U.S. for Kaveh Loftolah Afrasiabi, the Massachusetts political scientist who spent more than a decade presenting himself to lawmakers and media outlets as an independent analyst on Iranian affairs before coming under suspicion of violating the Foreign Assets Registration Act. Although he is now facing the possibility of substantial prison time and financial penalties, Afrasiabi’s case represents a much larger phenomenon that has yet to receive proper attention from those individuals and institutions that are the targets of Iranian influence campaigns.

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Non-English Language Media

عفو بین‌الملل: زندانیان سیاسی-عقیدتی و فعالان محبوس در ایران باید فورا آزاد شوند| Voice Of America

عفو بین‌الملل در آغاز سال ۱۴۰۰ خورشیدی با انتشار تصاویر گروهی از زندانیان سیاسی- عقیدتی، فعالان حوزه حقوق زنان، و فعالان محیط زیست در ایران، خواستار آزادی فوری و بدون شرط این زندانیان از زندان‌های سراسر ایران شد. سازمان عفو بین‌الملل بار دیگر از مقامات جمهوری اسلامی خواست،‌ زندانیان سیاسی محبوس در زندان‌های ایران از جمله «سپیده کاشانی، هومن جوکار، سام رجبی، و امیرحسین خالقی، از فعالان محیط زیست زندانی»، «محمد نجفی، وکیل دادگستری و مدافع حقوق بشر»،‌ «راحله احمدی و مژگان کشاورز، از مدافعان حقوق زنان»،‌ «احمدرضا جلالی، پزشک دو تابعیتی زندانی»، «رحمان عساکره و مختار آلبوشکه، فعال حقوق فرهنگی و از اعضای اقلیت عرب»، «فرهاد فهندژ، شهروند بهایی زندانی»، سپیده قلیان، مدافع حقوق کارگران» و «گلرخ ایرایی، ‌فعال حقوق بشر» را فورا آزاد کنند.

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احضار یک فعال مدنی برای اجرای حکم زندان در دوران همه‌گیری کرونا در ایران| Voice Of America

ژیلا کرم‌زاده مکوندی، فعال مدنی منتقد حجاب اجباری در ایران، که شهریور ماه سال گذشته توسط یک دادگاه در ایران به شش سال زندان محکوم شده بود جهت اجرای حکم به زندان اوین احضار شده است. بابک پاکنیا، وکیل مدافع ژیلا کرم‌زاده مکوندی، به صدای آمریکا گفت: «۲۸ اسفند ماه، برای خانم مکوندی ابلاغیه آمد که باید خود را به اجرای احکام معرفی کند و در صورتی که مراجعه نکند جلب خواهد شد و قهراً او را با توجه به نوع محکومیت به زندان اوین می‌برند. این وکیل دادگستری در ادامه افزود: «برای ما هم باعث تعجب است که چرا در آخرین روز کاری خانم کرم‌زاده مکوندی را برای اجرای حکم زندان احضار کرده‌اند.

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 تاملی بر کارزار بزرگ «نه به جمهوری اسلامی» | The Independent

در تاریخ مبارزه‌ سیاسی با جمهوری اسلامی یک نکته را می‌توان به عنوان نقطه ضعف جدی شناسایی کرد؛ ناتوانی از برقراری ارتباط تاثیرگذار برون با درون کشور. تردیدی نیست که از همان سال‌های نخست استقرار جمهوری اسلامی، نارضایتی از این رژیم در درون کشور وجود داشت. این نارضایتی پس از مرگ روح‌الله خمینی در سال ۶۸، کم‌کم وجهه میدانی نیز پیدا کرد. اعتراضات مشهد، اسلامشهر، قزوین سه اعتراض خیابانی برجسته نیمه نخست دهه ۷۰ شمسی بودند که اگرچه خاستگاه‌های اعتراضی متفاوتی داشتند ولی تابوی اعتراض خیابانی علیه رژیم مستقر در تاریخ جمهوری اسلامی را شکستند. خیزش دانشجویی تیرماه ۷۸ نیز بیان سیاسی نارضایتی‌های تلنبارشده در آن سال‌ها بود.

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