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The message of solidarity from the NAW Executive
At its Annual General Meeting in Sheffield on Saturday 11 May 2013, members of the National Assembly of Women (NAW) from across Britain learned from CODIR something of the abuse, repression and segregation suffered by women in Iran at the instigation of a vicious and dictatorial regime and of their brave struggle for equality and respect. The next day the Executive Committee of the NAW, when it convened for the first time after the AGM, published the following statement:
The National Assembly of Women wishes to express its solidarity with the women of Iran who are struggling for peace, democratic rights, equality and social justice. We congratulate the Committee for the Defence of Iranian Peoples' Rights (CODIR) for its work in campaigning for the release of all political prisoners, for women's rights and in support of independent trade unions in Iran.
...more
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The Women's Committee of UNISON stands in Solidarity with the struggle of Iranian Women for equality
Dear CODIR
We, UNISON South West's Women's Committee, would like to send the following message via you to our sisters in Iran:
Dear Sisters in Iran
We have heard from the Committee for the Defense of Iranian Peoples' Rights (CODIR), to which our trade union is affiliated, about your brave struggle for equal rights for women and for a future determined not by dictatorship but by the people of Iran.
We know that your struggle is met with harsh oppression by the Iranian theocratic regime and that women are being silenced by every means - intimidation, incarceration, torture and sometimes death - for what they do to protest against abuse and discrimination, to demand that trade union and human rights are respected and to continue their progressive struggle for peace, democracy and justice.
...more
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Iran prepares for high-stakes presidential election
Hashemi Rafsanjani's last-minute entry makes race more unpredictable, but many voters have bitter memories of 2009. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader, gazes down from a giant coloured backdrop that adorns the wall of the Tehran ministry that has been registering candidates for next month's presidential election. Slightly above and behind him are the unmistakably baleful features of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini - a reminder that the political system of the Islamic Republic he founded back in 1979 remains as complex and opaque as ever. Next month millions of Iranians will vote for a replacement for Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the abrasive populist Khamenei anointed in 2005 and who won a second term four years later in a contest which that is widely believed to have been rigged. Mir-Hossein Mousavi, the Green movement leader who claimed victory in 2009, is still under house arrest, his supporters in disarray, in prison or in exile. ...more
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May Day message!
CODIR's urgent call for solidarity!
This May Day Iranian working people once again mark International Workers' Day in extremely difficult conditions. Inflation, mass unemployment, poverty wages, unpaid salaries and attacks on trade unions are the everyday experience of our comrades in Iran. The Iranian people face massive challenges. International sanctions have brought the economy to its knees; the threat of military attacks is still in the air.
Workers protests against these conditions are brutally suppressed. The regime does not tolerate trade unions. Many trade union activists are imprisoned. Some are tortured. ...more
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The May 2013 issue of CODIR's Bulletin, published
We thank you for your continued support for the campaign for peace, democracy and human rights in Iran.
In this Issue: - May Day message page 1
- Oppose
War &
Sanctions
against Iran
Page 2
- Regime
Attacks
Trade Unionsists
Page 3
- Gender
Segregation
in TV!
Page 3
- URGENT
ACTION!
Page 4
...more
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May Day message from UNISON to the Committee for the Defence of Iranian Peoples' Rights
On behalf of UNISON I would like to send a message of solidarity to the Committee for the Defence of Iranian Peoples' Rights (CODIR) and to the workers and trade unionists of Iran on the occasion of May Day 2013.
UNISON stands in solidarity with the struggle of the Iranian people for peace, human and democratic rights and social justice. To this end UNISON will continue to support CODIR's campaigns for the release of all political prisoners, for women's rights and in support of independent trade unions in Iran. UNISON commits to work through the TUC to ensure that the issue of workers' rights stay high on the agenda of the ILO....more
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Trial by camera - "TV confessions" and the death penalty in Iran
TIt was called "Terror Club" - an hour-long "documentary" that aired on Iranian state TV in
August 2012. The 12 individuals - seven men and five women - featured in the show,
appeared, one by one, in front of a camera, "confessing" to their involvement in the killing of
Iranian nuclear scientists over the past year.
Beyond their starring role on television, no clear details about the arrest and detention of these
12 people are known. It is not known if any of them have been charged or tried - despite the
recent announcement that 18 unnamed people will shortly go on trial for these murders. But it
is known that all 12 could face the death penalty if they are found guilty of the alleged
killings....more
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IRANIAN HUNGER STRIKERS IN CRITICAL CONDITION
Two men imprisoned in Adel Abad Prison in Shiraz, south-west Iran, are in critical condition after a prolonged hunger strike protesting the harsh treatment of dervishes, including lawyers, in Tehran's Evin Prison. They have been beaten, have lost consciousness several times, and are being kept alive by intravenous drips in prison. Saleh Moradi and Kasra Nouri, are Gonabadi dervishes from the Nemattolah Gonabadi order, one of Iran's largest Sufi orders. They started a "wet" hunger strike (taking water but not food) on 15 January in protest at the illegal transfer of seven dervishes, including lawyers, imprisoned without trial, to solitary confinement in Tehran's Evin Prison. On 21 March, both men intensified their protest by entering into a "dry" hunger strike (refusing water as well as food). They have reportedly each lost 35 kilos and are thought to be in critical condition. ...more
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Press release: Urgent call to free imprisoned teacher in Iran
The Committee for the Defence of the Iranian People's Rights (CODIR) has today called for the immediate release of Mohammad Tavakoli, Secretary of the Kermanshah Teachers' Guild Association. Mr Tavakoli was arrested last week after being called to present himself for questioning at the intelligence section of the Kermanshah Revolutionary Guard. Kermanshah is a provincial capital in Western Iran, 525 kilometres from the Iranian capital, Tehran. Mr. Tavakoli teaches at one of the Kermanshah's zone two district schools. Prior to his arrest he had been harassed on a number of occasions by the security forces for his trade union activities. In August last year he was threatened by the security forces for publicising news of teachers' pay cuts. Mr. Tavakoli has previously stated, "During their last contact with me, the security officer told me that the Kermanshah Teachers' Guild Association is illegal. They added that if you continue your activities, you will be dealt with severely." ...more
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ONE OF WORLD'S BIGGEST PRISONS FOR JOURNALISTS 34 YEARS AFTER KHOMEINI'S RETURN
Reporters Without Borders learned today of the arrests of three more journalists, bringing to 16 the number detained in a renewed crackdown on media personnel in Tehran that began a week ago. In all, a total of 42 journalists and 20 netizens are now detained in Iran, which makes it one of the world's biggest prisons for news providers. The two latest detainees are Rihaneh Tabtabai, a journalist with the daily Bahar, who was arrested yesterday, and Ali Dehghan, Bahar's business editor, who was arrested the day before. The third newly-reported arrest is that of Fatemeh Sagharchi of the news website Jamaran, who was detained on 26 January "in connection with the current crackdown on journalists," her lawyer, Mahmoud Alizadeh, said. Like Tabtabai and Dehghan, she was arrested by plain-clothes intelligence officers. In a statement on 29 January, the intelligence ministry accused the journalists of belonging to "a media network linked to the West, created by the BBC and managed in cooperation with several western governments." ...more
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Press release: Solidarity organisation demands freedom for journalists
The leading solidarity organisation in the UK, campaigning for the release of political prisoners in Iran, is demanding that the Iranian government release fourteen journalists who have been arrested this week. CODIR, the Committee for the Defence of the Iranian People's Rights, has been raising concerns about human rights issues in Iran for over thirty years, including the regime's persistent intimidation of the media. Iran's judiciary has shut down more than 120 newspapers and jailed dozens of editors and writers since 2000. The current arrests are seen by CODIR as a significant stepping up of pressure on the limited freedom of the press in Iran. ...more
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Iran must release journalists detained in newspaper office raids
Iran must release all journalists being held solely for carrying out their legitimate work, Amnesty International urged after at least 14 reporters were arrested in the past three days amid police raids on newspaper offices. The journalists are reportedly accused of cooperating with "anti-revolutionary" Persian-language media organizations outside Iran. "This latest example of locking-up Iran's journalists is a result of draconian restrictions on reporting which violate the right to freedom of expression and must be relaxed," said Ann Harrison, Deputy Director of Amnesty International's Middle East and North Africa Programme. ...more
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"Hotel Evin" where checking out is not easy
Members of the Iranian Parliament this week visited the notorious Evin prison in Tehran, declaring it fit for purpose. Jane Green looks at the realities of life in Iran's jails especially for political prisoners.
Evin Prison in Tehran has for nearly thirty years been a notorious centre for the punishment, torture and execution of opponents to the Iranian regime. Human rights organisations, both inside and outside of Iran, have cited examples of savage tortures and the maltreatment of prisoners on many occasions over the years and urged the Iranian government to desist in its mistreatment of political prisoners in particular.
It is remarkable then that a member of the Iranian Parliament's (Majlis) National Security and Foreign Affairs Committee delegation could comment, after a six hour visit to Evin Prison that, "This wasn't a prison. It is Hotel Evin". ...more
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Iran gives hunger-striking trade unionist five-day bail
Jailed Iranian trade unionist Reza Shahabi was temporarily released on bail late on Monday night following more than three weeks on hunger strike. The Tehran bus workers' union Vahed treasurer was let out of prison for five days to address his health problems. Mr Shahabi was released from Evin prison at around 10.30pm without any prior notification. He ended his 23-day hunger strike when he got home to his family an hour later.
He has been in jail since June 2010 when he was sentenced to six years in prison, a five-year ban on union activity and a £3,500 fine. Mr Shahabi was severely beaten during his interrogation and his health has deteriorated massively....more
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Press Release: Support urged for trades unionist on hunger strike in Iran
A trades unionist imprisoned since June 2010 by the Iranian authorities is now into his second week of hunger strike to protest against mistreatment by the prison authorities in Tehran.
Reza Shahabi, the Treasurer and Executive Board member of theTehran and Suburbs Bus Company trades union, went on hunger strike on 17th December 2012 to protest against mistreatment by jail guards as well as prevention of his medical treatment by the judicial authorities. Shahabi last went on hunger strike two years ago, protesting against his imprisonment.
Shahabi, who had undergone major surgery of his neck, was deemed to be in need of at least "two months rest at home". Doctors stated that he was "incapable of withstanding any further punishment," but was nevertheless sent back to Ward 350 of notorious Evin prison in Tehran on 14th August, 2012. Since then, his health has deteriorated significantly.
...more
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© 2005-2006, Committee for the Defence of the Iranian People's Rights
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