Posts

Showing posts with the label #1988Massacre

Iran regime’s defiance increases tensions with Israel

-
Image
  By Dr. Majid Rafizadeh Rising tensions between the Iranian regime and Israel have the potential to spiral into a wider conflict if not adequately addressed. There are several reasons for the heightened tensions. First of all, although the Iranian regime attempts to distract attention from the direct involvement of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in Syria, Tehran continues to increase its military influence there and use its proxies against Israeli targets. Israel last month carried out an airstrike in Syria on a location where Iranian officials were meeting. Iranian leaders were reportedly meeting to discuss developments regarding their country’s drone and ballistic missile capabilities in Syria. The attack occurred on the same day that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blamed the Iranian government for an attack on a vessel owned by an Israeli in the Arabian Gulf. He said: “Last week, Iran attacked an oil tanker … and harmed the international freedom of navigation....
Post a Comment
Read more

Iran’s Rising Number of Executions: Sign of Systematic Impunity

-
Image
 Written by Amir Taghati Last week, Iran Human Rights Monitor reported that about the rising trend of executions in Iran. The recent confirmation of Ebrahim Raisi as the regime’s new president seems to have accelerated the trend. Raisi is notorious for his involvement at the highest level of the massacre of 30,000 political prisoners in the  summer of 1988 . The overall execution rates bear out the expectation that Raisi’s ascension to the presidency would coincide with a surge in arrests and harsh legal punishments. Iran Human Rights Monitor recently affirmed that conclusion with its monthly report, referencing not only execution rates but also notable instances of politically motivated legal action, including humiliating parades of accused criminals which stand alongside the regime’s longstanding practice of public execution as a means of intimidating the population. IHRM noted that at least 26 individuals were executed in total in July. This implies that the overall tr...
Post a Comment
Read more

UN Report Reinforces Activists Call for Europe to Take Action on Iran’s 1988 Massacre

-
Image
  By Alejo Vidal-Quadras This week United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres presented a report to the UN General Assembly regarding the situation of human rights in Iran. Among the issues highlighted in this report was the ongoing crime against humanity that is the  1988 massacre  of political prisoners. The report noted that authorities have attempted to conceal mass graves associated with the massacre and that family members of its victims have faced harassment for protesting or otherwise working to increase public awareness. As an example of this latter phenomenon, the report also pointed out the case of  Maryam Akbari Monfared,  who has served 12 years of a 15-year sentence for her participation in large-scale protests in 2009. “Harassment against her increased after she filed a formal complaint seeking an official investigation into the executions of political prisoners, including her siblings, in 1988”, the report read. The larger harassment campa...
Post a Comment
Read more