Archive for the ‘Iran’ Category

Iran expected to execute three protesters over killing of police officers – The Guardian

Iran

Videos released of Majid Kazemi, Saeed Yaqoubi and Saleh Mirhashemi confessing, which families say were torture-induced

Fri 12 May 2023 10.44 EDT

A recent spate of executions in Iran looks set to continue after authorities released videos of three protesters confessing to the killing of three security officers in the so-called Isfahan House case.

The men have already been found guilty of the murder and have no further grounds for appeal. More than 60 people have been executed in Iran since late April, some for drug offences and many from the region of Balochistan, where the protests have been most intense.

In a further sign of a crackdown, about a dozen human rights lawyers were also summoned to attend a meeting at the prosecutors office in Evin jail in Tehran to be told to curtail their activities, according to Sharq newspaper.

One of those summoned, Ali Mojtahedzadeh, said: If we are looking to create peace in the country, why should a lawyer who is always in the prosecutors office be summoned to the prosecutors office as an accused? At least one of the lawyers active on social media has been told she will face charges of propaganda against the regime.

The three defendants in the Isfahan House case, Majid Kazemi, Saeed Yaqoubi and Saleh Mirhashemi, have been found guilty of warfare, a more serious offence than murder. They were arrested on 21 November and accused of killing three Basij police officers in Isfahan five days earlier. Their family claim they are innocent, and the only evidence against them is torture-induced confessions.

The latest official videos broadcast on state TV, in which the men incriminate themselves and one another, could be seen as an attempt to prepare the public for their execution. One of the men said he had been influenced by Instagram, and he was grateful to the government for filtering it.

In a released phone call from inside jail to his fiance, Kazemi subsequently said: We were told to say these things in court all of it under torture. I did not have any gun or do anything. After the publication of his recorded denial, and with a cousin active in Australia protesting his innocence, he was moved out of the public ward. The men were found guilty in hearings that lasted only four days.

Lengthy contemporary police radio recordings do not appear to back up the prosecution claims that they shot police while on motorcycles.

Last week, the UN human rights chief, Volker Trk, called on the authorities in Iran to halt all executions and abolish the death penalty.

Trk said more than 10 people were being put to death each week in Iran, making it one the worlds highest executors. Since 1 January 2023 at least 209 people had been executed, he said, adding that the figure was likely to be higher due to the lack of government transparency. Trk noted this number included a disproportionately high number of minorities.

Iran shocked Sweden a week ago when it executed the Swedish-Iranian man Habib Chaab on the charge of corruption on earth, stemming from his role in a deadly attack on an Iranian military parade in Ahvaz in 2018. Iranian agents arrested Chaab in 2018 in Turkey.

Jamshid Sharmahd, a German-Iranian national who was also reportedly arrested outside Iran, is also at serious risk of execution after Irans supreme court upheld his death sentence on 26 April. His daughter has been campaigning tirelessly for his life.

Iran on Friday confirmed it had released Bernard Phelan, a 64-year-old French-Irish citizen sentenced to six-and-a-half years in jail two months ago in Iran, along with the French national Benjamin Brire. In a phone call after the release, the Iranian foreign minister, Hossein Amir Abdollahian, told his French counterpart, Catherine Colonna, that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) was Irans red line, a reference to the likely Iranian reaction of any EU move to proscribe it.

The Iranian foreign ministry also claimed it had received assurances from the Irish foreign ministry that it recognised the IRGC as a force fighting terrorism. There was no confirmation of this by Ireland.

The crackdown comes as Iran is selected to head the social forum of the UN Human Rights Council, a move described as deeply worrisome by the US.

Member states have been told the social forum on 2 and 3 November at the UNs headquarters in Geneva will be chaired by Ali Bahraini, the Iranian ambassador to the UN in Geneva. The director of the Center for Human Rights in Iran, Hadi Ghaemi, described his appointment as shocking ethical blindness.

In the now-daily battle to impose the compulsory hijab, the authorities have been ridiculed for putting up banners at the Tehran international book fair with fake quotes from famous authors praising the hijab. One banner quotes the Russian novelist Tolstoy as saying: The reason for the increase in divorce in Europe is corrupt civilisation, sexual disorders and the lack of hijab.

Another poster quoted Victor Hugo as writing that the face combined with dignity and chastity gives a woman such power that the strongest men cannot resist her and makes men submit and bow before a woman.

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Iran expected to execute three protesters over killing of police officers - The Guardian

The week in audio: Irans Hit Squads; Pod Save the UK; Frontlines of Journalism and more – The Guardian

Miranda Sawyer on podcasts and radio

Paul Caruana Galizia studies the dangers of being Iranian in the UK; a British version of the hit US show tries too hard, Jeremy Bowen probes BBC impartiality and more

Londongrad: Irans Hit Squads | Tortoise Media Pod Save the UK | Crooked Media Frontlines of Journalism (BBC Radio 4) | BBC Sounds The Greatest Hits of Abba (Greatest Hits Radio) | Planet Radio

Paul Caruana Galizia is the son of the murdered Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, and as such has a more than casual interest in corrupt authorities hiring assassins to get rid of problematic journalists. His mother, an investigative reporter who had exposed links between the Maltese government and dodgy businessmen, was killed in 2017 by a car bomb. Since then, Paul and his brothers, Matthew and Andrew, have worked hard not only to keep their mothers name alive, but also to try to track down her murderers (listen to Wonderys Who Killed Daphne? or Pauls own My Mothers Murder, on Tortoise).

Paul, who is based in the UK, has been carving out his own career as an excellent investigative journalist. Last year he researched and presented the darkly fascinating Londongrad podcast series. This looked at the links between the Lebedevs (Alexander and son Evgeny) and the UKs Tory government, particularly during the Boris Johnson era. With the second series, Paul turns his dogged mind and instantly recognisable voice to Iran in Londongrad: Irans Hit Squads. His argument is that, until recently, the biggest terrorist threat to the UK came from organisations such as Islamic State or al-Qaida; now it is from rogue states such as Russia and China and especially Iran. And London is the place where many of these crimes are being attempted.

The director general of MI5 confirms that there were at least 15 plots to kill or kidnap British or UK-based individuals by Irans intelligence services last year. Rana Rahimpour, a BBC presenter, describes how her life has changed since 22-year-old Mahsa Amini died after being taken into custody by Iranian authorities for not wearing her hijab (headscarf) correctly; Aminis death triggered the recent protests in Iran. Rahimpours reporting of it has made her and her family targets. My life in London, which I used to think was safe, is no longer the same, she says. Iran International, a TV station based in west London, has been forced to move to the US because of threats.

But why is no one being prosecuted? Because the British government doesnt want them to be. Iran has long been a state that Britain thinks can be flipped from an Islamic theocracy into something more palatable to the west. Caruana Galizia, a man who searches out truth like a laser, does not accept this argument.

This series isnt as easy a listen as the original Londongrad. The characters arent as flamboyant, the parties not as silly. Gone are the tales of Katie Price attending a Lebedev dinner that included Boris Johnson and flashing her boobs at him, saying, Theyre like granite. Instead, we have the mundane setting of a light industrial estate in Chiswick. Still, as with the first series, Caruana Galizia takes the shine off Londons glitz and exposes it for what it is. If I were writing a modern James Bond, this would be the series Id listen to, for background on todays international bad guys. Know your enemy.

More contemporary political shenanigans with the launch of Pod Save the UK, the new British spin-off of the immensely successful Pod Save America. The latter was started in 2017, just after Trump was elected, by four policy wonks from the Obama administration. It quickly established itself as a star in the podcast firmament and is now one of the most popular. In Trumpian times I used to listen a lot, though I gradually fell out of love with it. Everyone agreed with each other too much; it could feel a little smug.

The UK version, only a couple of episodes in, is hosted by comedian Nish Kumar and journalist Coco Khan. Neither, then, have the inside government info that the US version has, making this more of a straightforwardly funny-but-serious leftwing political show. Of the two hosts, Khan is much the better; quick-witted and well informed, though slightly too loud. Kumar is, sadly, just loud. Still, last weeks show the second was far stronger than the first.

The topic was republicanism what would Britain look without the monarchy? and featured Professor Amelia Hadfield, who was informed and interesting. Later, Labour MP Clive Lewis was fluent and funny. A stronger edit would be great more than an hour is about 20 minutes too long and the show suffers from that must-laugh-at-everything mania that can happen with new podcasts. No doubt this will lessen as everyone relaxes.

Pod Save the UK is a good example of how we like our political journalism these days: casual, funny and overtly biased. In Radio 4s Frontlines of Journalism, BBC veteran Jeremy Bowen tries to unpick ye olde Beeb approach: essentially, impartiality. These days, news is often reported differently. Can the BBC keep up? Should it change its reporting style? These are interesting questions. Its unfortunate, then, that the series is stodgy, dull-ish fare, unlikely to convince fans of Piers Morgan or James OBrien that the BBCs approach is best.

Just room, in this week of Eurovision, for a nice spot of Abba. Greatest Hits Radio has a four-part Sunday series, The Greatest Hits of Abba, about the super Swedes, slickly hosted by Mark Goodier. Naturally, this is a banger-packed listen, perfect for banishing any end-of-weekend fear. It will culminate with an interview with Bjrn Ulvaeus on 28 May. How can we resist ya? Etc.

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The week in audio: Irans Hit Squads; Pod Save the UK; Frontlines of Journalism and more - The Guardian

Frenchman ‘Weakened’ by Iran Prison Ordeal – Voice of America – VOA News

The family of a Frenchman released this week after he had been jailed by Iran said on Saturday he was "relieved" to be back in France.

On Friday, Benjamin Briere, whose ordeal in Iran lasted three years, and French-Irish citizen Bernard Phelan, held since October, were freed from their prison in the northeastern city of Mashhad, the French foreign ministry said.

There had been grave concerns about the health of the men, both of whom had been on hunger strikes to protest their conditions.

'Relieved'

Briere, 37, was first detained while traveling in Iran in May 2020 and later sentenced to eight years in prison for espionage.

"We were able to hold him in our arms at 1930 (1730GMT) on Friday, May 12, after three years of hell," Briere's family said in a press release.

"He is, like all of us, relieved, calm, and he is trying to realize that he's really here, with us," they said. "He is, however, very weak, physically and morally, a return to normal life will be long and certainly difficult, but now he is in good hands."

Dozens of foreigners jailed

The pair were among some two dozen foreigners jailed in Iran, who campaigners see as hostages held in a deliberate strategy by Tehran to extract concessions from the West.

Four more French citizens, described previously as "hostages" by the French foreign ministry, are still in prison by Iran.

A fifth individual, French-Iranian academic Fariba Adelkhah was released from prison in February but appears still unable to leave the country.

Several U.S., German, British, Swedish and other European citizens, such as Belgian aid worker Olivier Vandecasteele who was arrested in February 2022 also remain detained.

"All our thoughts now turn toward the five other French hostages still held in Iran," Briere's family said.

"Our thoughts are also with other families of European hostages held in Iran, with whom we share this heavy and painful battle," they said. "We send them strength and courage, and we continue to fight alongside them," they added.

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Frenchman 'Weakened' by Iran Prison Ordeal - Voice of America - VOA News

Iraq And Iran Ignore U.S. Sanctions In Talks To Expand Energy Ties – OilPrice.com

Iran and Iraq signed an agreement on Wednesday to expand energy ties and establish a joint office aimed at overlooking cooperation between the two countries, the Iraqi Oil Ministry announced, coming as part of Iranian Oil Minister Javad Owji's visit to Baghdad.

Upon arriving in the Iraqi capital, Owji was received by Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani and discussed with him "the overall cooperation between Iraq and Iran, and ways to develop them," as well as the ability to jointly confront "global economic challenges."

The energy agreement was signed between Owji and Iraqi Oil Minister Hayan Abdul Ghanni. The meeting between Sudani, Owji, and Abdul Ghanni "resulted in an agreement to establish committees to discuss the development of joint fields under international agreements and cooperation in refining, petrochemicals, as well as oil exploration and infrastructure development," an Iraqi Oil Ministry statement reads.

According to the statement, the Iranian oil minister expressed his country's desire "to expand the horizons of cooperation in the implementation of joint projects in oil and gas sectors, projects for the construction and development of oil refineries, the expansion of oil and gas pipelines, and environmental cleanup."

On Tuesday, Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi called for expanding energy ties between Iraq and Iran.

Raisi also emphasized the need for Baghdad "fulfill its commitments" regarding gas and electricity payments owed to Tehran.

As a result of harsh US sanctions, billions in Iraqi funds owed to Tehran have been frozen as an attempt by Washington to pressure Iraq into avoiding energy cooperation with the Islamic Republic.

Iraq has paid around $1.6 billion out of the staggering debt; however, US sanctions continue to complicate matters. Due to the sanctions on Iran, Iraq is only allowed to receive Iranian energy imports and pay for them via waivers that extend up to 120 days, a policy implemented by former US president Donald Trump and kept in place by current President Joe Biden.

In March, an Iranian trade official announced that a US sanction waiver resulted in Iran receiving another $500 million from Iraq. Iran provides a third of Iraq's electricity and gas supplies, and the two countries continue to cooperate despite the complications.

As a result of US economic hegemony, Iraq is one of the many regional countries considering the path of de-dollarization and fiscal independence from the west.

By The Cradle via Zerohedge.com

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Iraq And Iran Ignore U.S. Sanctions In Talks To Expand Energy Ties - OilPrice.com

Egypt and Iran continue path toward normalized ties – The Jerusalem Post

Egypt and Iran are continuing to move towards better relations as talks in Baghdad have continued since the announcement that Saudi Arabia and Iran reconciled.

Egypt, Saudi Arabia, UAE and Bahrain generally work closely together. Egypt was one of the countries to pursue ties with the Syrian regime and helped pave the way for Saudi Arabia and the UAE to do the same.

Reports at The National recently said that Egypt and Iran have been holding talks in Iraq's capital Baghdad since March to discuss normalizing relations between the two regional powerhouses.

These reports reiterate what was learned back in March, which is that the talks have also touched on reducing tension in places where Iran wields significant influence, such as Yemen, Lebanon and Syria, by supporting allied governments or armed groups, according to the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the negotiations have not been made public, as per The National. A meeting between the Iranian and Egyptian leaders could be in the cards.

An article in Irans pro-regime media, Tasnim, also noted that Egypt and Iran are moving to restore ties.

It is very important to restore relations between Iran and Egypt because Egypt is one of the oldest and most civilized countries in the region and the world, therefore Egypt's position is very high and important compared to other countries, the report says. In this regard, negotiations between Iran and Egypt are ongoing in Iraq, and in the near future Iran-Egypt relations will be restored and we will see the opening of embassies in both countries and after this action, a meeting between Raisi, the president of Iran. And El-Sisi, the president of Egypt, will be prepared.

These scant reports indicate that moves are slowly being made in the region. This is part of a new diplomatic era. The era has included reconciliation between Syria and the Arab League. In addition, there are talks in Moscow between Turkey, Iran and Syria.

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Egypt and Iran continue path toward normalized ties - The Jerusalem Post