SAPHR

BBC interview with Mohammed Mostafaei

2010-08-23T07:03:00.001-07:00

interviewed in Oslo, Farsi with subtitles

2 parts, http://bit.ly/bj9uCQ and http://bit.ly/bTUGJ2

Mohammad Mostafaei gives interview from Turkey

2010-08-06T01:27:00.001-07:00

Mohammad Mostafaei, the lawyer who became known worldwide for his defense of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, had been reported missing for several days after being questioned by Iranian authorities on 24 July 2010. Then word came that Mostafaie was 'detained' in Turkey. After a period of confusion over his situation, Mostafaie has given an interview to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty in which he talks about his detention in Iran, the arrest of family members, and his determination to carry on his work, even from outside Iran.

Mostafaie says: " I never thought that there would be so much lawlessness in our judiciary", and describes the authorities using his wife as a 'hostage' as "definitely not Islamic".

The full interview can be read here:

http://www.rferl.org/content/Iranian_Lawyer_Who_Fled_I_Had_The_Right_To_Defend_Sakineh_Mohammadi/2118914.html

During this week the hopeful news that Ashtiani had been offered asylum in Brazil seems to have been dashed by a cold response from Iran. Ashtiani's fate still hangs in the balance and her story, along with those of the others still under sentence of stoning, should not be forgotten.

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Brazil offers Ashtiani safe haven

2010-08-02T02:26:00.001-07:00

Brazil president Lula has stepped into the case of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, to offer the imprisoned woman a safe haven. Lula had previously said he could not intervene.

While this is good news, more than 10 people are still under a sentence of death by stoning - Lula must continue to use his friendship with Iran president to protect these individuals too. And remember Ashtiani's lawyer Mohammad Mostafaei remains in hiding after being interrogated, while members of his family are being used to threaten him into compliance.

Story:

http://tiny.cc/mxx2c

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ويدیویی از وضع و حال کنونی حقوق بشر در ایران

2010-07-23T02:52:00.001-07:00

متن فارسی

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The shadow of stoning remains!

2010-07-15T07:22:00.001-07:00

Following the campaign to save Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani from stoning (and do not let up, some say the sentence is still in place), there are still other women at risk of death by stoning - firstly Maryam Ghorbanzadeh is a pregnant 25 year old and when she has had her baby the sentence will be carried out. Then there is a 19 year old, Azar Bagheri, who was arrested at only 15. In addition to the mental torture of knowing her sentence, Azar has twice been subjected to a "mock execution" when she has been buried up to her chest as if to be stoned.

Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani reprieved; 15 Iranians still face stoning death

2010-07-09T06:47:00.001-07:00

Campaign to save Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani appears successful; but 12 women and 3 men still await execution by stoning including 19 year old woman accused at only 15 year of age.

"Shadi Sadr, an acclaimed Iranian lawyer, said it was hard to know exactly how many people were still facing stoning. Last year the Iranian parliament passed a law banning it, but the powerful Guardian Council has been silent on the issue.

"Many women are kept in prison because the government is very scared of the public attention," Sadr said. "One of my clients has been there for eight years and her family have abandoned her."

Publicity helps. "The only reason the Iranian government has not carried out stoning sentences on all these people is that it is afraid of Iranian public reaction and international attention," said Sadr."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jul/08/iran-death-stoning-adultery

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Iran fails to block UN Human Rights Council criticism

2010-06-18T05:52:00.001-07:00

After seeing little support for the bid to get seat on UN Human Rights Council, Iran has now been the subject of a strongly worded statement from the HRC expressing concerns over the situation in Iran:

“We cannot let this Human Rights Council’s session go by without marking the one year anniversary of these events this month.”

http://persian2english.com/?p=11971

[Fa/En]

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The Guardian newspaper - Interviews with exIRGC reveals use of torture and rape

2010-06-18T05:37:00.001-07:00

exIRGC speak of regime brutality

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jun/11/iran-revolutionary-guards-regime

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Cutting off the news

2010-06-06T09:15:00.000-07:00

A year ago, before the first votes were cast, the authorities began their clamp down on Iranians’ access to international news. Websites judged critical of Ahmadinejad were either censored or shut down. The text message system mysteriously failed hours before the polls opened. The problems persisted for some time after the disputed result.

Since that time, “mysterious” failures of SMS and internet have continued, often coinciding with important celebrations in the Iranian calendar – and planned anti-regime demonstrations. Many news sites find themselves filtered.

Last September, an IRGC affiliate, Mobin Trust Consortium, took a majority stake in Telecommunications Company of Iran. TCI controls Iran’s internet and cell phone access. In recent weeks two IRGC commanders have admitted to links between their organisation and the ‘Iranian Cyber Army’ – responsible for the infamous hacking of Twitter in December last year, as well as opposition websites like Mowjcamp and Kaleme.

As the anniversary of the elections approaches, there are already rumours that the internet has been slowing down as sites are being filtered and then unblocked, perhaps in preparation for another crackdown. Many journalists and human rights activists in Iran have been arrested.

We are a few days from 22 Khordad… what will we hear and see? What will we be allowed to hear, see and tell?

Iran takes seat on U.N. Commission on the Status of Women

2010-04-29T07:50:00.002-07:00

Barely hours after the news broke that Iran would be trying to gain a seat on the CSW, this press release from the United Nations was issued. Iran will take it's place on the Commission on the Status of Women at the first meeting of the 56th session in 2011.

Can't find it in that press release? It's there, but it's a long way down. Perhaps the U.N. were trying to keep it quiet, after a leading Iranian cleric declared that "immodest" women caused earthquakes.

Iran bidding for seat on U.N. Committee for Status of Women

2010-04-28T10:27:00.002-07:00

In an attempt to cover up what Shirin Ebadi called a "heavy political defeat" when it was forced to withdraw from the Human Rights Council candidacy, Iran is bidding for a seat on the U.N. Commission on the Status of Women. Ebadi described the CSW as "unimportant", giving the Iranian government no powers - the CSW can only monitor women's rights issues. Another to see a possible upside was Parvin Ardalan, a leading activist for women's rights in Iran. Ardalan said it provided activists with a chance to criticise Iran's policies on the international stage.

Other Human and Women's Rights campaigners were taking a different view. Journalist Asieh Amini said a seat on the CSW would only provide "the Iranian government with a forum to defend its fundamentalist policies".

At this time, Iran look as if they will be elected uncontested to the CSW today after behind-the-scenes deals resulted in Thailand withdrawing it's candidacy in Iran's favour.

Iran withdraws from UN Human Rights Council bid

2010-04-25T03:04:00.002-07:00

The growing storm over Iran's "deteriorating" human rights situation has seen the country withdraw it's bid for a place on the U.N. Human Rights Council. Sources revealed that Iran had informed the Asian delegations it was pulling out on "the grounds of solidarity", but that the underlying truth was that it seemed unlikely enough votes could be secured.

Full story here:
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE63M4GV20100423

Iran Larijani speaks to UN about Iran human rights review

2010-03-31T07:28:00.003-07:00

Source: UN Webcast Unit, Department of Public Information.
UN Human Rights Council.
Seventh Universal Periodic Review.
Review of Iran (Islamic Republic of Iran).
Geneva, 15 February 2010

Mohammad Javad Larijani, Secretary General of the High Council for Human Rights of the Islamic Republic of Iran, delivers his speech.

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Human Rights websites attacked

2010-03-16T08:27:00.003-07:00

The Shiraz Association for the Protection of Human Rights in Iran has been formed because we believe that the right to a life without torture, rape, beatings, executions, repression, inequality and mass arrests for simply speaking our minds is fundamental to any human existence and that no human should have to suffer needlessly. Our objective is to enforce our government's compliance with its national and international commitments to safeguard human rights.

We begin this first post with highlighting the restrictions on freedom of expression in our country of Iran. On March 14 Fars News Agency reported that 29 websites were hacked by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. These websites contained information on Human Rights in Iran but were thought to be espionage sites by the government. One website called hra-iran.org was operated by a group calling itself Human Rights Activists in Iran (HRAI) which included a report on 400 Iranian opposition protesters that were arrested on 4 November 2009, an Iranian holiday that marks the anniversary of the 1979 takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran. The websites hacked were as follows:

EN-HRANA.COM
EN-HRANA.INFO
EN-HRANA.ORG
HRAICP.COM
HRAICP.INFO
HRAICP.NET
HRAICP.ORG
HRAIRAN.INFO
HRA-IRAN.INFO
HRA-IRAN.ORG
HRA-NA.INFO
HRANEWS.INFO
HRA-NEWS.INFO
HRA-NEWS1.INFO
HRA-NEWS2.INFO
HRA-NEWS3.INFO
HRA-NEWS4.INFO
HRA-NEWS5.INFO
K-RAFIEE.INFO
LC-HRA.COM
NEWS-HRA.INFO
RADIO-HRA.INFO
hra-iran.com
hra-news.org
hrairan.org
hra-iran.net
kamangar.info
hra-news.org
bsc-iran.org

This is just one example of the way information is being restricted in our country. The Iranian Government does not want people to know about the human rights abuses that are going on every day in Iran. Join in the dissemination of information...

SAPHR

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About Us

2010-02-25T04:07:00.001-08:00

Shiraz Association for the Protection of Human Rights

بنی آدم اعضای یک پیکرند
که در آفرينش ز یک گوهرند
چو عضوى به درد آورد روزگار
دگر عضوها را نماند قرار
تو کز محنت دیگران بی غمی
نشاید که نامت نهند آدمی

This human rights manifesto is addressed to Iran and those in the international community who believe in radical improvement for our human rights record and those who have the power to bring it about. The Shiraz Association for the Protection of Human Rights has been formed because we believe that the right to a life without torture, rape, beatings, executions, repression, inequality and mass arrests for simply speaking our minds is fundamental to any human existence and that no human should have to suffer needlessly. These human rights abuses are not consistent with Persian heritage or with the Islamic Republic of Iran's principles. We feel that Iran has been corrupted and as a result we ourselves are losing pride in our own country and we have become a country of shame in the eyes of foreigners.

Our objectives are:

To enforce our government's compliance with all its documented national and international commitments to safeguard human rights
To gain respect for the rights of all people in Iran no matter what their political or religious beliefs
To obtain freedom from torture and ill-treatment
To obtain freedom of expresssion
We believe that these objectives can be achieved if our messages about human rights abuses in Iran reach the right people.

"Human beings are members of a whole,

In creation of one essence and soul.

If one member is afflicted with pain,

Other members uneasy will remain.

If you have no sympathy for human pain,

The name of human you cannot retain."

Saadi, born in Shiraz, 12th century

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