Fatemeh, Amir, Parvaneh, & Zahra
The family of Amir Abbas Fakhravar, including his mother, seven brothers and sisters has been restricted from leaving Iran. Already existing tensions rose this summer, and have peaked in recent days with increased involvement of Revolutionary Court.
In July Mahlagha, Fakhravar’s sister and neice Mahsa were en route to visit Mahsa’s exiled father in France. Mahlagha, and her nine year old daughter were removed from the plane, and passports seized. Young Mahsa remembers the days when her father was imprisoned in Iran, but she continues to sing with a strong mind.
On September 12th, the entire Fakhravar family endured charges of acting against national security, as they were en route to Dubai for a legitimate three-day traveling tour. The family was removed from a Mahan Air flight at Khomeini Airport, passports confiscated, and directed to the Revolutionary Court. The Fakhravars were wary and perplexed as they were interrogated in the presidential security office with Intelligence Ministry.
In a recent speech directly observed by VOA at the Institute for World Politics in Washington DC, Amir Abbas said:
“[Iranian citizens] do not even have the option of escaping this suffocating environment. I can safely say that today every Iranian family has one political case in the Revolutionary courts. Some families such as mine have one for every member of the family. Iran has practically become a huge prison for 74 million Iranians. Last week my mother, three of my sisters and my nephew who had a visa and a passport were dragged out of the airplane, arrested and taken to the revolutionary court. They were told that they could not leave the country because of their relation to me. This smart and brave generation doesn't have much to lose but they have a lot to fight for- life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”
Last December after Ashura, Arash, Amir’s brother was arrested and put in solitary confinement for 30 days, and then put on probation for seven years.
In court, Parvaneh, Amir Abbas’ mother screamed at the judge and said: If you want to put me in jail, make an order!! The judge replied that he will show her later, and let them go.
Currently this innocent family who simply bear a son in exile, is facing investigation in a special chapter of Revolutionary Court inside Evin Prison for high profile prisoners. On Monday, Chapter 28 of Revolutionary Court gave an order to Mahlagha that she is forbidden to leave Iran, while they are working on other charges to send her to jail.
Inside Iran, family members are often individually seized and brought into political prison to witness torture, or to be tortured in the face of a political prisoner. It is rare indeed that an entire family is seized from a plane, into court, publicly put under investigation, and brought to trial with the butchery threat of Evin Prison.
On behalf of those of us who witness and support Amir Abbas’ tireless efforts in the west to support the Iranian people, our prayers are extended to the safety, livelihood, and peace of the Fakhravar family.
<span>Timeline from Amir Fakhravar’s Blog</span>
July: http://www.fakhravar.org/2010/08/blog-post.html
September: http://www.fakhravar.org/2010/09/blog-post.html
October: http://www.fakhravar.org/2010/10/blog-post.html
Speech at Institute of World Politics
(download full transcript and presentation)
Maria Carmela Ribecco wrote
this poem in memory of Delara Darabi
The images run in a drawing,
They are the hidden happiness of a caged woman,
The rags lost in the warm wind
That graze the remains of a shattered happiness.
The square empties itself of an absent woman
For a conviction, a punishment in the body.
Delara, the illusion is emptied by time,
Burnt by constant biting madness.
The head is inclined on a white paper.
“I hope that colours would bring me back to life”.
At dawn everything is still, the telephone rings
“They are going to hang me now,
Please help me, tell them to not do it!”
While the gallows puts an end to forgiveness
And the face doesn’t show any hopes.
The last breath gets lost
… it is evil that watches among the shadows.
A hand caresses the skin still warm
… it is a blackcap’s desperation.
The feet stir into the wind, suspended
… without touching the ground anymore
… without touching life anymore.
Delara Darabi was executed in Rasht Prison May 1 2009 (a 23-year-old)
The President of the Regime of Stoning. Has No Place in Your City
پيام مينا احدى به شهروندان نیویورک: جای رئیس حکومت سنگسار در شهر شما نیست!
Open Letter from Mina Ahadi to the People of New York:
Allow me to ask you, people of New York, who so heroically and humanely dealt with atrocities of 9/11, to protest the presence of Ahmadinejad, the president of the Regime of Stoning, at the United Nations General Assembly on September 23, holding Sakine’s picture in your hands.
You are aware that Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, a 43 year old woman and mother of two, is held in the prison of the Islamic regime, and, like tens of others, has been condemned to death by stoning. You also know that over the past 31 years, the Islamic regime has executed, tortured, lashed, stoned, pushed from the rooftops, and cut off the hands of thousands and thousands of people. The leaders of this regime, including Ahmadinejad, must be arrested and brought to justice for crimes against humanity.
Now that the president of Regime of Atrocities is allowed to appear at the United Nations General Assembly in New York, rather than at [an international] court [of justice], attention naturally turns to New York and the freedom-loving people of New York. Sakineh has become the face of the protest of the Iranian people, and of the world, against the Islamic regime of Iran. You, freedom-loving people of New York, can play a memorable and historical role in the international protest against stoning, and the international display of support for the people of Iran [as they seek] to free themselves from the malevolence of the Islamic regime.
On behalf of Sakineh and those awaiting stoning, on behalf of Sakineh’s children, who have been denied even simple visits to see their mother, and on behalf of millions of people in Iran who oppose and seek the demise of the Islamic regime, I ask you to protest on the 23rd of September 2010 by holding up Sakineh’s picture and demanding that she be freed immediately. Join the people of Iran and demand that the Islamic regime be barred from all international organizations.
Murderers of the Iranian people should not be allowed to stand behind a podium at the United Nations.
به خود اجازه میدهم با شما مردمی که چنان انسانی و قهرمانانه با جنایت هولناک ١١ سپتامبر برخورد کردید، تقاضایی را طرح کنم. تقاضا میکنم که در روز ٢٣ سپتامبر در برابر سازمان ملل متحد حاضر شوید، عکس های سکینه را در دست گیرید و به حضور احمدی نژاد رئیس حکومت اسلامی قاتل مردم ایران در سازمان ملل اعتراض کنید.
میدانید که سکینه محمدی آشتیانی زنی ٤٣ ساله و مادر دو فرزند در زندان جمهوری اسلامی بسر میبرد و مانند دهها نفر دیگر به سنگسار محکوم شده است. میدانید که جمهوری اسلامی در طول ٣١ سال حکومتش هزاران نفر را اعدام کرده، شکنجه کرده، شلاق زده، سنگسار کرده، از پشت بام به پایین پرت کرده، دست شان را بریده و باید سران آن و از جمله همین احمدی نژاد به جرم جنایت علیه بشریت محاکمه شوند. اکنون که رئیس این ماشین جنایت بجای محاکمه در دادگاه به مجمع عمومی سازمان ملل راه داده میشود، چشم ها به نیویورک و به شما مردم آزادیخواه و شریف دوخته میشود. سکینه اکنون به چهره اعتراض مردم ایران و جهان به جمهوری اسلامی تبدیل شده است. شما مردم آزاده نیویورک میتوانید در مبارزه جهانی برای آزادی سکینه، بر علیه سنگسار و در حمایت از مبارزه مردم ایران برای رهایی از شر جمهوری اسلامی سهمی تاریخی و بیاد ماندنی ادا کنید.
به نمایندگی از سکینه و همه کسانی که در انتظار سنگسار هستند، به نمایندگی از جانب فرزندان سکینه که حتی از ملاقات با مادرشان هم محروم شده اند، به نمایندگی از میلیونها مردم معترض و به جان آمده ایران از شما میخواهم که روز 23 سپتامبر به خیابان بیایید، عکس سکینه را در دست بگیرید، خواهان آزادی فوری او شوید، خواهان پایان دادن به سنگسار در ایران و هرجای دیگر شوید، و در کنار مردم ایران فریاد بزنید که جمهوری اسلامی باید از همه مجامع بین المللی طرد شوند و قاتلان مردم ایران اجازه حضور و صحبت در سازمان ملل را ندارند.
Mina Ahadi
Spokesperson for the International Committees Against Stoning and Execution
September 17, 2010
International Committee Against Stoning (http://stopstonningnow.com/)
International Committee Against Execution (http://notonemoreexecution.org/)
The Islamic regime of Iran is held accountable for its crimes against humanity during the 80s
For the first time in the contemporary history of Iran, an international campaign has been launched to investigate the mass executions of Iran’s political prisoners, and to hold the Islamic Republic of Iran accountable for its crimes against humanity during the1980s, and in particular, the summer of 1988.
http://www.irantribunal.com/English/EnHome.html
Press and Media Statement
Iran Tribunal
7th April 2010
Since its establishment, the Islamic Republic of Iran has been suppressing and eliminating its opponents in a systematic manner. Persecuting, arrest, imprisoning and executing the revolutionary and freedom seeking forces has been the principal policy of the Islamic rule in Iran ever since it's clinching of power.
The initial assault on the opponents in the aftermath of the 1979 revolution was launched by attacking Turkman Sahra, Khoozestan and Kurdistan.In a systematic and widespread blitz in 1981, tens of thousands of members and supporters of opposition groups and dissents were detained, tortured and annihilated by execution throughout Iran. The smothering of any dissent expression in the early years led to the more rigorous and organised crimes in the later years.
During the summer of 1988, those prisoners who survived the mass killings of the earlier years, were rounded up and massacred within Iran's prisons. The killings in prisons were later horrifically extended to civic levels by kidnapping and murdering writers and intellectuals both within Iran and abroad.
Such levels of carnage still continues by suppressing women, students and the working class which exhibits the latest gruesome features of one of the most despotic regimes in the world. Brutal suppression, torture, rape and murder take place in Iran on a daily basis. Despite such menacing rule however, social defiance by millions of Iranians at epic levels has been witnessed and admired throughout the world.
Throughout the years of rule of tyranny, the families of the victims have pleaded for justice before the international community and have petitioned to unveil the truth about Islamic Republic crimes.Following such demands, some of the families of the victims of crimes committed by the Islamic Republic in Iran’s prisons during 1980s have initiated an international campaign to indict the Islamic Republic of Iran for crime against humanity. This campaign aims to prepare a tribunal in order to investigate the mass executions of the political prisoners in Iran during the 1980s; in particular in the summer of 1988.
This campaign was formally launched on 10 December 2009 after 2.5 years of initial preparation and groundwork. The freedom loving people of Iran and particularly the families of the victims of Islamic Republic crimes during 1908s urge the international community, media and the press to extend their support toward a successful outcome for this campaign.
Media coverage is imperative. We urge all conventional and the Internet broadcasting media institutions such as The BBC, Al Jazeera, Sky News CNN, GRITtv, Deep Dish TV, Democracy Now, etc. to engage with this campaign.
It is also essential that the news of this campaign is spread as widely as possible. This can be achieved by posting links from Campaign’s website at www.irantribunal.com on your websites, blogs, twitter and faceBook.
E-mail address of the Campaign: info@irantribunal.com The Campaign’s Site: www.irantribunal.com
Many thanks for your support
http://www.irantribunal.com/English/Documents/Press-statement.html
===========================================================
برای نخستین بار در تاریخ مبارزات توده های مردم ایران، "ایران تریبونال" کنفرانس حقوق دانان برجسته جهانی را برگزار کرد. لطفا اطلاعیه پیوست را ملاحظه کنید و با توزیح و انتشار این اطلاعیه از این دادگاه مردمی برای محاکمه رژیم جمهوری اسلامی به جرم جنایت علیه بشریت، حمایت کنید. به آن به پیوندید و در اهداف و فعالیت های آن شهیم شوید. با هم می توانیم برگ زرین دیگری به تاریخ مبارزات توده های مردم ایران بیافزائیم.
کارزار تدارک دادگاه بین المللی برای رسیدگی به کشتار زندانیان سیاسی در ایران
کنفرانس بین المللی حقوقدانان ایران تریبونال برگزار شد
برای نخستین بار در تاریخ ایران، کارزاری جهانی برای رسیدگی مردمی به کشتار زندانیان سیاسی در زندان های رژیم جمهوری اسلامی شکل گرفته است. هدف این کارزار، تشکیل دادگاهی مردمی است برای رسیدگی به اعدام های دسته جمعی سال های اولیه دهه ۶٠ و قتل عام زندانیان سیاسی در تابستان ۶٧. این تلاش را جمعی از خانواده های جان باخته گان و جان بدر بردگان از کشتارهای دهه ۶٠، فعالان حوزه های سیاسی، اجتماعی و فرهنگی در اکتبر ۲٠٠۷ آغاز کردند. از آن تاریخ به بعد، تلاش برای ایجاد زمینه های برگزاری چنین دادگاهی با جدیت و پشت کار بی وقفه فعالان کارزار آغاز شد. این پروژه مردمی در روزجهانی حقوق بشر در دهم دسامبر ۲٠٠٩ اعلام موجودیت علنی کرد. دو ماه بعد در تاریخ یازده فوریه ۲٠١٠ نخستین کنفرانس حقوقی برای تهیه و تنظیم پیش نویس ساختار دادگاه با حضور سه حقوقدان سرشناس جهانی از بلژیک، آلمان و کانادا برگزار شد. متعاقب آن، پیش نویس به بحث عمومی در میان حقوقدانان کارزار گذاشته شد. یک ماه بعد، در تاریخ یازده مارس ۲٠١٠ طرح ساختار دادگاه نهائی شد. براساس این طرح، می بایست کمیته راهبردی حقوقدان(Legal Steering Committee) برای سازماندهی کارهای حقوقی و دادرسی تشکیل می شد. این کمیته به یک حقوقدان سرشناس جهانی نیاز دارد که مسئولیت رهبری کمیته را به عهده بگیرد. چنین مسئولیتی بسیار سنگین و پرمشغله است و حقوقدانی که این مسئولیت را به عهده می گیرد، باید به مدت یک سال تا برگزاری دادگاه به صورت تمام وقت کار کند. پس از حدود چهار ماه تلاش جهانی، یک حقوقدان برجسته انگلیسی مسئولیت رهبری کمیته را پذیرفت. بعد از این موفقیت، لازم بود کمیته راهبردی حقوقدانان تشکیل شود.
پس از دو ماه و نیم برنامه ریزی و تلاش، کنفرانس بین المللی حقوقدانان برای بررسی کارها و تشکیل کمیته راهبردی در روز جمعه اول اکتبر ۲٠١٠ برابر با نهم مهر ١٣۸۹ برگزار شد. در این کنفرانس دوازده حقوقدان سرشناس و برجسته جهانی از کشورهای آفریقای جنوبی، کانادا، بلژیک، آلمان، انگلیس، فرانسه و آمریکا شرکت کردند. سه حقوقدان به دلیل گرفتاری شغلی نتوانستند در این کنفرانس شرکت کنند. برگزاری چنین کنفرانسی در چنین سطحی در تاریخ مبارزات مردم ایران بی نظیر و یک دستاورد جهانی برای مردمی ستم کشیده، ظلم کشیده و عدالت جو است که دادخواهی برای اجرای عدالت را خود بهدست گرفته اند.
در این کنفرانس، مسائلی همچون شکل و نحوه برگزاری دادگاه، نحوه تشکیل و وظایف کمیته راهبردی، تشکیل کمیته اجرائی، تامین هزینه های دادگاه و حدود اختیارات هریک از کمیته ها مورد بحث و بررسی قرار گرفت. در پایان، کمیته ای سه نفره مسئول تشکیل کمیته راهبردی حقوقدانان، کمیته اجرائی و نحوه برگزاری دادگاه شد.
کارزار تدارک دادگاه مردمی بین المللی برای محاکمه رژیم جمهوری اسلامی به جرم جنایت علیه بشریت
دهم اکتبر ۲٠١٠ برابر با هجدهم مهر ١٣۸۹
info@irantribunal.com
Lloyds, Barclays helped Iran evade anti-terrorism sanctions
BRITISH banks and financiers, including Lloyds and Barclays, helped Iran evade sanctions set up to prevent terrorism, the US said.
The sanctions were also put up to promote Middle East peace and stop the ayatollahs gaining nuclear weapons.
Investigations by prosecutors from the US Department of Justice found that Lloyds and Barclays helped the Iranians to access up to $US600 million ($604m) in the US financial system by hiding customers’ identities.
Lord Lamont of Lerwick, the former Chancellor, is on the board of a British trading house that was subjected to a civil penalty for breaching US sanctions by helping Iran to get banned American aircraft.
The Conservative peer remains chairman of the British Iranian Chamber of Commerce, which is supposed to advise businesses on how to comply with international trade restrictions against Tehran. His spokesman said: “Lord Lamont has not done anything wrong and has not been accused of any wrongdoing.”
Britain's role as a useful location for breaching the US financial and trade blockade of Iran emerged as Europe imposed its toughest sanctions yet against the Islamic Republic.
The financial sector shoulders the main burden of enforcing the restrictions, which include freezing assets of individuals and entities implicated in the suspected nuclear arms program.
To put pressure on Tehran, insurance services to Iran are being banned and investments in its oil industry and trading in bonds are forbidden.
Only financial transactions worth less than €10,000 ($14,170) to and from the Islamic Republic will be permitted and those exceeding €40,000 must be approved by authorities in Europe.
Details of the British financial sector's willingness over the years to help the Iranians to dodge sanctions have emerged from US court documents seen by The Times.
Two of Britain's biggest banks had to negotiate with the US Department of Justice's Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Section after being accused of breaching the restrictions.
Lloyds last year accepted that it had falsified up to $US350m worth of payment messages for transactions involving Iranians and Sudanese from the mid-1990s.
At the behest of, and with the knowledge of, its Iranian bank customers, Lloyds developed a policy of intentionally manipulating and deleting information about sanctioned countries, individuals and entities.
In the US, Acting Assistant Attorney-General Matthew Friedrich said the Department of Justice would “continue to use criminal enforcement measures against the knowing and intentional evasion of US sanctions laws, particularly where such conduct has the potential to finance terrorist activities”. Lloyds had to forfeit the $US350m.
Barclays two months ago forfeited $US298m over transactions that amounted to breaches of the Trading with the Enemy Act and International Emergency Powers Act. The bank followed instructions from banks in Iran and other sanctioned countries to leave their names out of US-dollar payment messages.
The agreement, which means Barclays should avoid prosecution, was attacked by US District Judge Emmet Sullivan, who heard the case. The judge said it was shocking that no individual had been identified over a crime. “The public looks at this and says, ‘They get a free ride here. They are paying for their justice’,” he said.
Lord Lamont is on the board of Balli Group, based in London, which was subjected to a $US15m penalty for conspiracy and breaching a trade ban over the provision of three US jumbo jets to Iran.
The Boeing 747s, worth $US140m, became available when United Airlines went bankrupt after the September 11, 2001 attacks. The Iranian authorities wanted the aircraft amid the sanctions.
The European Union, traditionally Iran's biggest trading partner, is now putting the final touches to the toughest sanctions it has imposed on the Islamic Republic. The package, being negotiated this week and due to be implemented by October 28, prevents European companies from investing with Iranians in oil and gas, bans cargo flights and forbids trade in items that could help the nuclear industry.
US curbs on Iran date back to the Islamic revolution of 1979 when militants besieged the US Embassy in Tehran and held hostages for 444 days. The US President of the time, Jimmy Carter, froze Iranian assets. In the 1990s, Bill Clinton imposed a near-total ban on trade when he was President.
The rest of the world failed to follow America’s example until 2006, when the UN became alarmed at the military potential of Iran's nuclear enrichment program.
UN sanctions have targeted Iran's atomic capability, leaders of the Revolutionary Guards, shipping, money laundering and finance for terrorism.
Dubai is a weak link in international efforts to maintain a stranglehold on the Iranians. The United Arab Emirates is Iran's largest source of imports. Goods intended for Iran are sent to Dubai, then re-exported to the Islamic Republic.
Until recently, Britain encouraged dealing with the Iranians. Last year, though, relations chilled when the agency UK Trade & Investment left Tehran, withdrawing practical support for British companies doing business in Iran. Now London is discouraging businesses from dealing with the Iranians. Will that be enough to stop entrepreneurial Britons seizing opportunities to work with Tehran though?
A well-informed observer said: “There is a problem of perception. In Iran, everybody is happy about getting new goods. In America, it appears to go against foreign policy. In London, it’s just business.”
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/
