|
|
Press release: Solidarity organisation calls for a halt to the slide to war
The ongoing killing of Iranian scientists has been condemned as a provocation to war by a leading solidarity organisation campaigning for peace in the Middle East. The Committee for the Defence of the Iranian People's Rights (CODIR) last week pointed out that the assassination of 32 year old chemist, Mostafa Ahmadi-Roshan, was the fifth time a scientist associated with Iran's nuclear programme had been killed in the past two years.
CODIR claims that if such actions had taken place on US or British soil they would have been seen as tantamount to a declaration of war. CODIR has warned that there are elements within the Iranian regime which will see these actions in the same way and may foolishly and disastrously respond accordingly.
...more
Share  |
 |
|
|
Escalating conflict with Iran could spur disastrous war
With 10 days of naval exercises by Iran having just been completed, including the testing of long-range ballistic missiles, the naval commander for the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), Rear Admiral Ali Fadavi, has announced further activities next month. Fadavi has said that the drill in February will be "different compared to previous exercises held by the IRGC".
The exercises, coupled with the warning that Iran could close the strait of Hormuz, the narrowest point in the Persian Gulf, through which a fifth of the world's traded oil passes, has now encouraged the United States and Israel to announce that they are to carry out extensive joint maneuvers in the region. The U.S. and UK have said they will act to keep the shipping lanes open. Philip Hammond, the British defense secretary, said during a visit to Washington: "Disruption to the flow of oil through the strait of Hormuz would threaten regional and global economic growth. Any attempt by Iran to close the strait would be illegal and unsuccessful." ...more
Share
|
 |
|
|
They Were Not Allowed to Even Say Goodbye
In an exclusive interview with Rooz, human rights activist Asieh Amini who has been involved in gathering information about secret executions in Mashhad's Vakilabad prison, announced, "Many executed prisoners (in Vakilabad) learned of their fate just a few hours before being executed and were not allowed to say goodbye to their family members." Just two months after the secretary of Iran's human rights committee and the advisor to the head of the judiciary told reporters in New York that "No secret executions take place in Iran," the International Campaign on Human Rights in Iran, including some Iranian human rights activists, published the details of the execution of 101 prisoners in secret in Vakilabad. At the same time, Catherine Ashton, the representative of the EU for foreign affairs and security policy, expressed her deep concern about the growing number of executions in Iran and called for their suspension, including the sentence on Sakineh Ashtiani. ...more
Share |
 |
|
Political Prisoner Issa Saharkhiz Hospitalized in Tehran
Journalist and political activist Issa Saharkhiz has been at Imam Khomeini Hospital in Tehran since 14 December 2011, a source close to his family told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran. The source added that the political prisoner's family is under immense pressure not to give interviews to foreign media. "Everyone tried to keep the news about his hospitalization a secret, lest he be transferred back to prison," the source said. "All his kin are keeping silent, hoping that he receives his needed medical care before he is returned to prison."
Issa Saharkhiz, a journalist and the former head of the Ministry of Culture and Guidance's Domestic Press in the Khatami cabinet, was arrested in the aftermath of the 2009 presidential election. Security forces assaulted Saharkhiz during his arrest, breaking his ribs. ...more
Share |
 |
|
Season's Greetings!
With best wishes from CODIR for peace, democracy, human rights and social justice in every country of the world!Let's make 2012 the year of International solidarity with the struggle of the Iranian people for peace, freedom and democracy. |
 |
|
International Solidarity with the Struggle of the Iranian People for Peace and Progress!
In an unprecedented development, leaders of 72 Communist and Workers' parties meeting in Athens for their 13th annual conference adopted a statement in opposition to US and EU threats against Iran. The sponsoring parties of the statement, which include influential Communist parties such as those from Cuba, South Africa, the Russian Federation, Brazil, India and Cyprus, condemned the jingoistic propaganda emanating from the US, EU and Israeli administrations and expressed their "serious concern about future developments in relation to Iran". ...more
Share |
 |
|
Iran: Surge of secret executions for drug offences must end
In the 44-page Addicted to Death: Executions for Drug Offences in Iran, the organisation finds that at least 488 people have been executed for alleged drug offences so far in 2011, a nearly threefold increase on the 2009 figures, when Amnesty International recorded at least 166 executions for similar offences. In total Amnesty International has recorded some 600 executions reported by both official and unofficial sources this year, with drug offences accounting for about 81% of the total. The organisation called on the Iranian authorities to end the use of the death penalty against those accused of drug offences. ...more
Share |
 |
|
Ebrahim Madadi Re-Arrested Today
The ITUC was dismayed and incensed to hear today that Ebrahim Madadi, a courageous trade unionist and Comrade from Vahed Syndicate in Tehran, was re-arrested today after being freed only last Thursday. A move welcomed by the international trade union movement. ITUC General Secretary, Sharan Burrow, said :"this can only be interpreted as yet another crass and cynical move by the authorities to distract attention from the serious violations of trade union rights in Iran immediately prior to the ILO Regional Asia Pacific Conference which just concluded in Kyoto". ...more
Share |
 |
|
ITUC/ITF Joint press release: Imprisoned trade unionist Ebrahim Madadi is freed
The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) and the International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF) are welcoming the release today from prison of Ebrahim Madadi, a board member of the Tehran bus drivers' union, the Vahed Syndicate. Ebrahim had been unjustly held on false charges of endangering national security since being arrested and then rearrested in 2007 and 2008. "He is free because trade unionists worldwide have been demanding justice" ITUC General Secretary Sharan Burrow said. "It is also a result of pressure through the International Labour Organization (ILO) which has been critical of Iran for not living up to the international obligations they have signed onto". ...more
Share |
 |
|
Reza Shahabi, returned to jail, begins hunger strike
The situation of Reza Shahabi has deteriorated in the last few days. Last week protests at his being returned to jail from hospital appeared to have borne fruit: he was allowed back to hospital. But that progress has now been reversed, and he is believed to have once again been sent to Evin Prison, where as of Tuesday 22nd November he has begun a hunger strike in protest. His family have been refused access to him since 20th November, and have received no news about his state of health. ...more
Share |
 |
|
Union raises alarm over Shahabi's health
The Tehran bus drivers' union the Vahed Syndicate, of which imprisoned Iranian trade unionist Reza Shahabi is a board member, has raised concerns about his state of health. According to the union he has been returned to prison after being taken to hospital for an MRI scan and X rays for a neck injury. He had previously been transferred to hospital due to deteriorating health following his hunger strike last year. ...more
Share |
 |
|
|
Annual Report 2011
The authorities maintained severe restrictions on freedom of expression, association and assembly. Sweeping controls on domestic and international media aimed at reducing Iranians' contact with the outside world were imposed. Individuals and groups risked arrest, torture and imprisonment if perceived as co-operating with human rights and foreign-based Persian-language media organizations. Political dissidents, women's and minority rights activists and other human rights defenders, lawyers, journalists and students were rounded up in mass and other arrests and hundreds were imprisoned. Torture and other ill-treatment of detainees were routine and committed with impunity. Women continued to face discrimination under the law and in practice. The authorities acknowledged 252 executions, but there were credible reports of more than 300 other executions. The true total could be even higher. At least one juvenile offender was executed. Sentences of death by stoning continued to be passed, but no stonings were known to have been carried out. Floggings and an increased number of amputations were carried out....more
Share |
 |
|
| |
|
© 2005-2006, Committee for the Defence of the Iranian People's Rights
| | | | | | | | | | |
Home
Contact us CODIR says... CODIR in Action
CODIR against the War CODIR Canada About Us Archive
