Calls for Iranian Authorities to Stop Abusing Human Rights of Women

NCRI Staff

NCRI - Iranian police have threatened women with lengthy prison sentences for participating in protests against the compulsory veil. The police said in an official statement last week that women could be charged with “inciting corruption and prostitution”.

Since December, there have been dozens of women attacked and arrested in Iran for peacefully protesting against compulsory veiling – a practice that Amnesty International has described as “discriminatory and abusive”.

This is just one more example of how the authorities in the country are escalating a violent crackdown on the rights of women.

The Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International, Magdalena Mughrabi, said: “This is a deeply retrograde move by the Iranian authorities in their ongoing persecution of women who dare to speak out against compulsory veiling. It places many women at serious and immediate risk of unjust imprisonment while sending a chilling message to others to keep quiet while their rights are being violated.”

She added that women’s rights in Iran are violated by authorities that are compelling them to cover their hair. Mughrabi said that this practice has been going on for decades and goes against their dignity. “Rather than threatening women with jail terms for claiming their human rights, the authorities should immediately abolish the discriminatory, abusive and degrading laws and practices of compulsory veiling.”

https://www.ncr-iran.org/en/news/women/24403-calls-for-iranian-authorities-to-stop-abusing-human-rights-of-women

British Lawmakers Urge Support for Iranian Women's Quest for Freedom

The British Committee for Iran Freedom (BCFIF) issued the below press release following its conference in the parliament today in an early start to the celebration of International Women's Day:

UK must use its voice in the UN to support Iranian people’s democratic aspirations and the struggle of women for freedom

On the eve of International Women’s Day, cross-party members from both Houses of Parliament attended a conference titled “Iran Uprising: Women the Leading Force for Change” on Tuesday, 27 February 2018.
Prominent British women’s rights activists, academics and representatives of different Anglo-Iranian Associations joined mPs.

Panellists called on the Government to work with allies at the UN and the EU to put pressure on the Iranian regime, including punitive measures, to immediately release all political prisoners, in particular female activists, Maryam Akbari Monfared, Atena Daemi and Golrokh Ebrahimi Iraee and thousands of protesters who have been detained since nationwide protests began on 28 December.

Speakers also criticised the participation of Iran’s justice minister, Ali-reza Avaee, at the UN Human Rights Council session in Geneva today. He is one of the perpetrators of the 1988 massacre in Iran and sanctioned by the EU and UK since 2011 for serious human rights violations.

In her opening remarks, Rt Hon Theresa Villiers MP, said, “Our purpose this morning is to come together to express our solidarity and support for the brave women of Iran who are challenging the oppressive theocratic regime in their country.”

https://www.ncr-iran.org/en/news/women/24404-british-lawmakers-urge-support-for-iranian-women-s-quest-for-freedom

Iran: A Detainee of the Recent Protests, Died Under the Torture

With the killing of another detainee of the recent Protests, called Taleb Basativand, under torture in the prison of Ilam (the city in west of Iran), the number of people arrested during the uprising who were killed under torture reaches at least 13.

The Iranian resistance calls on the public, especially the brave youth, to support the families of martyrs and prisoners of the uprising and to express solidarity with them. The Iranian resistance, calls for the condemnation of this crime by the United Nations Security Council, European Union and its Member States and all human rights defenders, and demands urgent action fir the release of the detainees of the uprising. The Iranian Resistance calls on the High Commissioner and the UN Human Rights Council to form an international truth-finding delegation to investigate the crimes of the mullahs’ regime against political prisoners.

Taleb Basativand, a student at Ilam University, who was arrested by law enforcement agents during the uprising of January, was temporarily released on bail. Subsequently, on February 18, the clerical regime intelligence arrested him again and after eight days, on Monday, February 26, the news of his death was given to his family. By threatening his family, they warned them against giving any information about this crime.

NCRI Women's Committee Condemns Brutalizing and Arrest of Women Protesting the Compulsory Veil

NCRI Women’s Committee vehemently condemns brutalizing and arrest of women protesting the compulsory veil, calls for urgent action to secure their release

Violent attacks on women who protest against the compulsory veil have continued in recent days, by the clerical regime’s forces’ beating and arresting the protesters.

The Women’s Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran vehemently condemns the suppressive measures, the brutalizing and apprehension of the protesting women.

The NCRI Women’s Committee calls on fellow Iranians, particularly the youth and women, to counter the mullahs’ revolutionary guards and security forces and do not allow them to arrest the protesting women.

According to reports, the arrested women continue to be harassed and mistreated in detention centers. Those who are wounded or have suffered broken bones are denied medical treatment.

The Women’s Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran urges international bodies defending human rights and women’s rights to condemn the clerical regime’s misogynist practices and take urgent action to secure the release of those women who have been arrested for improper veiling or dropping the veil, and for protesting the compulsory veiling.

Iran Regime's Leader Accuses "Enemies" Of "Provoking Workers"

NCRI Staff

NCRI - As labor protests in Iran continue, the website belonging to regime leader ‘Ali Khamenei’ has released his speech made on February 5 this year, in which he states “the anti-revolutionary had its eyes on the country’s workers from the very beginning.”

Khamenei has added that Islamic Republic opponents --or the anti-revolutionary, as he put it -- have been seeking to somehow provoke Iranian workers against the ruling regime ever since it came to power.

In his speech, however, Khamenei makes no reference to judicial and security measures applied against labor activists during the ‘80s; activists who were arrested or even executed, killed or somehow forced to leave the country while their counterparts who were spared detention had to turn to limited, clandestine activities or were forced to stay at home.

Khamenei accuses in his speech “the enemies” of what he describes as “putting a lot of effort to provoke Iranian workers into driving factories and working environments, big ones in particular, into recession”, saying the workers have always resisted and foiled enemies plots with discernment.

Iran Regime Experts: We're Caught in a Pinned Position

NCRI Staff

NCRI - Statements made by European officials over the past month suggest they’ve adopted a new policy with regard to the Iranian regime and the United States, in such a way that it could significantly change the situation for Iran.

“We knew that Trump would seek to align Europe with his policies and would put all his efforts towards that end. Nonetheless, we never took a positive step forward. We not only kept standing where we were, but we failed in some areas as well, allowing Europeans to move closer to Trump”, says regime’s former diplomat Ali Khoram in his interview with state-run Fararou website.

Also in this regard, regime’s international affairs analyst ‘Ali Bigdeli’ points to Europeans’ change in behavior, saying “the nuclear deal is different from what Germany and France have asked us to do. This was first raised by German FM, who laid out three conditions for Iran, with the first one being related to Iran’s human rights record, the second one requiring Iran to confine its forces within its own borders and the third one being related to Iran’s ballistic missile program. He specifically underlined that the three conditions are considered part of the nuclear deal.”

Iran: Massenverbrecher Avaei bei UN in Genf

Skandal - Mullah-Justizminister tritt trotz weltweiter Proteste im UN Menschenrechtsrat auf. Gebt nicht denen die Ehre, die gegen die Menschenrechte verstoßen!

Bei diesem Beitrag es sich um ein Blog aus der Freitag-Community

 Krieg ist schlimm, ein Bürgerkrieg ist furchtbar, der Krieg in Syrien ist nur noch grauenvoll. Die Allianzen wechseln, mancherorts bekämpfen sich Gruppen, die woanders koalieren – wer blickt da noch durch?! Und mittendrin „leben“ Zivilisten unter ständiger Todesangst. Als syrische Truppen und ihre Verbündeten den Osten der Stadt Ghouta angriffen, starben allein an einem Tag hunderte Zivilpersonen, darunter viele Kinder. Schon im Jahre 2013 waren hier durch den Einsatz von Sarin etwa 1.500 Menschen getötet worden. Die blutigen Gesichter kleiner Kinder sind in diesem schändlichen Krieg, der von Bashar Assad, seinen iranischen und russischen Verbündeten rücksichtslos geführt wird, allzu häufig. Mehr als 5 Millionen Menschen sind schon vor dem Horror geflohen. Weitere 6 Millionen wurden innerhalb von Syrien vertrieben. Und Hunderttausende sind krepiert in diesem sinnlosen Gemetzel.

Apple and Google are letting Iran's cyber surveillance go unchecked

For years, the Iranian regime has been struggling to rein-in access to Internet services because it knows full-well providing unharnessed access to the Internet will defeat its censorship machine. The mullahs ruling Iran had a first-hand experience of what the Internet can do in 2009, when images and videos of the regime’s brutality toward peaceful protesters were broadcast worldwide on social media networks.

And with the advent of secure, encrypted messaging applications, keeping tabs on and monitoring Internet traffic has become even harder for the state.

A new report by the Iranian opposition coalition National Council of Resistance of Iran sheds light on the Iranian regime’s yearslong campaign to adapt its surveillance and censorship apparatus to the ubiquity of Internet connectivity.

Titled “Iran: Cyber Repression: How the IRGC Uses Cyberwarfare to Preserve the Theocracy,” the report unveils the regime’s covert and overt tactics to spy on citizens and spread propaganda across social media channels.

What are Iranian criminals doing in the UN Human Rights Council?

Two months have passed since Iran’s uprising. A revolt that continues to wreak havoc across the ruling regime in Iran. Senior officials, terrified of the consequences and awaiting punishments in the near future from the Iranian people, are busy pointing fingers at others for years of crimes and crackdown.

Two such examples vividly explain this reality.

The horrific murder of Iranian-Canadian photojournalist Zahra Kazemi has remained silent for years. She was arrested in Iran back in 2003 and murdered after horrific torture. Her body was not given to her family and buried by the authorities, while completely denying the murder. Reports indicate they splashed her body with acid to destroy any evidence of crimes.

Nearly 15 years later, Ali Younesi, former intelligence minister under Mohammad Khatami, acknowledges the fact that authorities murdered her. However, to deny any role for himself and the “reformist” Khatami he accused former Tehran public prosecutor Saeedas the main individual behind Kazemi’s death.

Another case involves the quelling of the 1999 Tehran University crackdown, again under Khatami’s watch. While more than 18 years have passed, we are now hearing Hassan Firouzabadi, currently the military advisor of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and armed forces chief of staff at the time, saying very specifically how the crackdown was carried out in agreement with Khatami and current President Hassan Rouhani, both of whom claim to be “moderates” and/or “reformists.”

ANALYSIS: Why is Iran raising the stakes in Syria?

By Heshmat AlaviSpecial to Al Arabiya English

Tuesday, 27 February 2018

As the world continues to fail in stopping the bloodshed of innocent people in Syria, Iran seeks two main objectives of saving face back home & raising the price any possible deal in the future that is becoming more and more likely now.

The Assad regime is continuously bombing innocent people in Eastern Ghouta near Damascus, killing at least 500. Rescue workers are continuously pulling dead civilians from the rubble. As the United Nations Security Council has adopted a 30-day ceasefire resolution, it has become crystal clear that strong actions need to back-up such demands.

As the killings are appalling, we must keep in mind how Tehran is the driving force to maintain Syria as part of a dreamed Shiite-Persian empire. Iran continues to expand its foothold in Syria, while Arab countries across the Gulf, Germany and France are also being heard making strong demands. The European Union as a whole should also be making Iran understand such hostilities are unacceptable.

Supporters of the #NCRI, on Tuesday held a rally in front of the @UN Headquarters in Geneva against #Avaei,They waved flags and signs reading "Arrest Avaie"

https://www.afp.com/en/news/826/pr

SENIOR U.S. LAWMAKERS MEET MARYAM RAJAVI

Lawmakers call for comprehensive sanctions against the regime, expulsion of the IRGC from the region

Senior Members of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the United States House of Representatives, Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA), Chair of the Subcommittee on Europe, Eurasia and Emerging Threats, and JudgeTed Poe (R-TX), Chair of the Subcommittee on Terrorism, Non-Proliferation and Trade, met withMaryam Rajavi, on Saturday, February 24, 2018.

In the meeting which took place at Maryam Rajavi’s residence in --Oise, the two sides discussed the uprising by the Iranian people that began on December 28, 2017, its consequences and the options before the international community.

The senior U.S. lawmakers condemned the Iranian regime for its brutal crackdown on the protests and underscored that the international community must break its silence and inaction vis-à- the atrocities perpetrated by the regime against its own citizens. They also urged the U.S. Government to impose comprehensive sanctions, including financial and banking sanctions on Iranian regime’s officials and entities, especially those involved in suppressing the protesters. They also called for measures that would enable the Iranian people to overcome the blocking of the internet and allow them access to communication systems. The lawmakers urged the U.S. Government to force the expulsion of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps and its proxy militias from the countries in the region.

U.N. Slammed by Haley Over Planned Address by Iran Regime’s Minister Involved in Massacre of Political Prisoners

AFP: A protest is planned in front of the UN headquarters in Geneva next Tuesday, when Avaie is due to speak

US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley slammed the world body’s Human Rights Council on Sunday, saying it should be “ashamed” for inviting an Iranian minister, sanctioned for known human rights violations, to speak at the council’s annual meeting in Geneva this week. Haley said that the council was “discredited” by Iranian Justice Minister Alireza Avaie’s slated address to the body’s membership, adding that it only reinforces the United States’ criticisms of the UN and threats to defund the world body.

“The Human Rights Council should be ashamed to allow Mr.to address its membership,” Haley said in a statement.“Yet again the Council discredits itself by allowing serial human rights abusers to hijack its work and make a mockery of its mandate to promote universal human rights. This does nothing but reinforce the United States’ call for much needed reforms at the Council for it to be viewed as a good investment of our time and money,” she said.

Iran regime's 'days are numbered', say US politicians

A SENIOR US politician has said the days of the clerical regime in Iran “are numbered” and that those behind it could lose power “in a blink of an eye”.

Dana Rohrabacher – a Republican member of the House of Representatives’ Foreign Affairs Committee – was speaking after a conference on the prospects for change in Iran in Paris, which also looked at US and European policy on Iran.

Rohrabacher also had talks with Maryam Rajavi, president-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI).

He and colleague Ted Poe condemned the regime for its violent crackdown on protesters and said the international community had to break its silence and inaction.

They urged Trump’s government to impose comprehensive sanctions as well as measures to enable the Iranian people to overcome the blocking of the internet and access communication systems.

Rohrabacher and Poe also urged their government to force the expulsion of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps and its proxy militias from the countries in the region.http://www.thenational.scot/news/16046978.Iran_regime__39_s___39_days_are_numbered__39___say_US_politicians/

‘Iran’s days are numbered’ US Congressman in urgent warning to Islamic regime

The Republican said the end of the Islamic Republic is in sight, saying the regime could be kicked out of power “in the blink of an eye”.

Protests in the country have continued this month after first erupting late last year due to anger at soaring unemployment and economic problems.

These spiralled into bigger demonstrations as citizens vented their anger at the regime ruled by religious leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

But despite Tehran clamping down on the protests, with hundreds of demonstrators rounded up and arrested, Mr Rohrabacher said they signal the end for the regime.

He was speaking yesterday at a conference in Paris organised by the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) and the People’s Mojahedin Organisation of Iran (PMOI).

Pope calls for immediate halt to Syria violence

Pope Francis looks on during his weekly general audience at St Peters square in Vatican on February 14, 2018

AFP-25 February 2018- Pope Francis on Sunday called for an immediate end to violence in Syria to allow aid deliveries, especially in the rebel enclave of Eastern Ghouta which has been hit by regime bombardment.

'This February has been one of the most violent (periods) in seven years of conflict,' he said during Angelus prayers. 'All this is inhuman.'

'I therefore issue an urgent appeal for an immediate halt to violence to allow access to humanitarian aid -- food and medicines -- and the evacuation of the wounded and sick.

New air strikes hit Eastern Ghouta on Saturday raising the civilian death toll from seven days of intense bombardment to over 500 including more than 120 children, according to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor.

https://english.mojahedin.org/newsen/61683/Pope-calls-for-immediate-halt-to-Syria-violence

Syria, Russia, Iran Conduct Full-On Mass Extermination of Civilians in Eastern Ghouta

Eastern Ghouta buildings destroyed by airstrikes and shelling from Bashar al-Assad’s armed forces

Breitbart, Feb. 24, 2018 - Western leaders are expressing horror at the siege of Eastern Ghouta in Syria, which is amounting to mass extermination of innocent civilians, potentially including tens of thousands of innocent women and children. The siege and the mass extermination are being led by Syria’s president Bashar al-Assad and backed by Russia’s president Vladimir Putin and Iran’s Supreme Leader Seyed Ali Khamenei. All three of these people – al-Assad, Putin and Khamenei – are massively committing war crimes and crimes against humanity, and all three should be condemned as the worst kinds of war criminals, the worst war criminals so far this century.
Hundreds of people have been killed just since Sunday from missiles, shell fire, and barrel bombs packed with explosives and metal and laced with chlorine gas. The war criminals are particularly targeting bakeries, so people will starve, and hospitals, so the wounded cannot be treated, as well as food and aid convoys. Bashar al-Assad, who considers the 400,000 residents of Eastern to be cockroaches to be exterminated, wants to make sure that the baby cockroaches, in his view, won’t grow up to be adult cockroaches.

https://english.mojahedin.org/newsen/61690/Syria-Russia-Iran-Conduct-Full-On-Mass-Extermination-of-Civilians-in-Eastern-Ghouta

Assad defies UN ceasefire with ‘chlorine attack’ on eastern Ghouta

A child receives treatment after shells containing chlorine were allegedly dropped on the town of al-

The Times- Feb. 26, 2018- Syrian regime forces have defied a UN ceasefire resolution by launching an alleged chemical attack and bombing rebel positions in the besieged Damascus suburb of eastern 

Assad’s forces and militias backed by Iran clashed with rebels in three areas around the suburb and activists said that tens of people had died under repeated bombardment yesterday. They later claimed that shells containing chlorine had injured at least 16 people in the town of al-Shifonieh, one of them a child who later died.

Yaqub, a doctor who treated those affected, told the AFP press agency that he suspected “chemical weapons, probably a chlorine gas attack”. He said: “Most of the patients have chlorine odour from their clothes and their skin.

Russia sets stage for U.N. veto of western bid to call out Iran

The 15-member Security Council has to renew its targeted sanctions on Yemen on Monday.

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - 26 Feb. 2018-  Russia has laid the groundwork for a likely veto on Monday of a British, U.S. and French bid for the United Nations Security Council to call out Iran over its weapons falling into the hands of Yemen’s Houthi group.

The 15-member Security Council has to renew its targeted sanctions on Yemen on Monday. Russia has proposed a rival resolution that would simply extend the mandate of the regime for one year and not mention Iran.

The United States has been lobbying for months for Iran to be held accountable at the United Nations, while at the same time threatening to quit a 2015 deal among world powers to curb Iran’s nuclear program if “disastrous flaws” are not fixed.

Regime Change Is Only Way to Stop Iran Proxies in Iraq

NCRI - When Iraqi Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani issued a fatwa calling on all able-bodied Iraqis to defend their country against ISIS, a 100,000-strong fighting force, known as the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), emerged.

The PMF was made up of multiple volunteer Shiite militia groups that filled the void left by the collapsed Iraqi army, but some of these groups hid a dangerous sponsor: Iran.

While all PMF militias are technically under Iraqi control, those Iran-aligned groups still answer to the Iranian Regime and, as such, have done real damage to the safety and security of Iraq in order to expand Iranian influence in the country.

In fact, the Iran-backed PMF forces, who have been working in Iraq since the fall of the Baath regime, may even have been responsible for sectarian atrocities that laid the groundwork for ISIS and the 2006 war between Arab Sunnis and Shiites. They have violently resisted any attempt to disarm them by Iraq and the United States.

Tackle Syria by Tackling Iran

NCRI - Hundreds of people, mostly children, died in a direct strike on the rebel-held area of eastern Ghouta, in Syria, on Tuesday.

It is just the latest horrific atrocity by Bashar Assad and his Iranian and Russian allies in the brutal civil war that has caused hundreds of thousands of deaths, forced over five million people to flee the country, and displaced over six million.

Mike Pence Warns That the US Will Not Recertify Iran Nuclear Deal

NCRI - US Vice President Mike Pence has said that the Donald Trump administration will not recertify the 2015 Iran nuclear deal at the May 11 deadline, which increases the likelihood of US sanctions being reimposed on Iran.

At the Conservative Political Action Conference, Pence said: "The United States will no longer tolerate Iran's destabilizing activities across the region, and this country will no longer certify the disastrous Iran nuclear deal."

Amnesty International Reports on Grave and Numerous Human Rights Violations in Iran

NCRI - Amnesty International has released its latest report on the situation of human rights in the world. The situation in Iran was elaborated in great detail and the organisation highlighted many areas in which human rights are being heavily suppressed.

It pointed out that the UN Human Rights Council renewed the mandate of the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran, yet the Iranian authorities denied her access to the country.

Senior U.S. Lawmakers Meet Maryam Rajavi

Lawmakers call for comprehensive sanctions against the regime, expulsion of the IRGC from the region

Senior Members of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the United States House of Representatives, Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA), Chair of the Subcommittee on Europe, Eurasia and Emerging Threats, and Judge Ted Poe (R-TX), Chair of the Subcommittee on Terrorism, Non-Proliferation and Trade, met with Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran on Saturday, February 24, 2018.

U.N. Slammed by Haley Over Planned Address by Iran Regime’s Minister Involved in Massacre of Political Prisoners

AFP: A protest is planned in front of the UN headquarters in Geneva next Tuesday, when Avaie is due to speak

US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley slammed the world body’s Human Rights Council on Sunday, saying it should be “ashamed” for inviting an Iranian minister, sanctioned for known human rights violations, to speak at the council’s annual meeting in Geneva this week. Haley said that the council was “discredited” by Iranian Justice Minister Alireza Avaie’s slated address to the body’s membership, adding that it only reinforces the United States’ criticisms of the UN and threats to defund the world body.

KHAMENEI REGIME ONLY HAS TWO PATHS, HOPEFULLY, BOTH LEAD TO THEIR DEMISE!

While we are quickly approaching the headline of the Iran Deal and the final decision on the missile and regional activities of the regime, we are seeing contradictory positions within the regime.

A group of those who consider the Iran Deal as a “disarmament project” to overthrow the regime. An overseas regime broker named Amir Ahmadi says:

“The process proceeds in such a way that Iran must first be disarmament and economically weakened and disordered in the country and eventually overthrow the government; politics is the policy of overthrowing the regime”

In the words of this group of regime agents, there are two important circles. First, the negation of any negotiations on missiles and regional issues, and the second, the emphasis on the strategic role of the supreme leader (Vali-e Faqih) in determining the strategy and policies of the system.

WHY MARYAM RAJAVI BELIEVES IRANIAN WOMEN SHOULD BE FREE TO DRESS FREELY

by Mahmood Hakamian 

Last week, we featured a piece on gender equality and how it is imperative to the Iranian Resistance movement. In that piece, we outlined ten areas that Maryam Rajavi and the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) would tackle in order to make gender equality a reality in a Free Iran.

One of those areas was freedom of dress and today we will examine why Maryam Rajavi believes that choice in clothing is such an important area to achieve gender equality in.
What are the laws regarding women’s clothing in Iran?

Under the mullahs’ Sharia law, women are supposed to remain veiled in public. The law is incredibly unpopular in Iran and many women defy it at any given opportunity.

When was this law introduced?

The mandatory Hijab was introduced in the early days of the Iranian Regime and many Iranian women, especially those involved in the NCRI member group the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK), protested against it and held demonstrations to oppose the law.https://irannewsupdate.com/news/iranian-opposition/4698-why-maryam-rajavi-believes-iranian-women-should-be-free-to-dress-freely.html

Iran's cyber warfare against its people must not stand

New cyber revelations from the People’s Mujahedeen of Iran (MEK), the Iranian opposition movement, about the scope of mass surveillance by the Iranian regime are significant. Why? They show the desperation of the Iranian regime in confronting the uprising that began nationwide last December and has continued to this day.  

Anti-government protesters  chanted slogans indicative of a revolution: “Death to the dictator,” “Death to (Supreme Leader) Khamenei”, “Death to (Hassan) Rouhani,” “Don’t be afraid, we are all together,” “Forget about Syria, think about us,” “Not Gaza, nor Lebanon, my life for Iran,” and “Reformer, Hardline, the Game Is Now Over.”

The fact that protests expanded to over 140 cities, by some estimates, constitutes an existential threat to the regime and an opportunity to use the people’s resentment as leverage against it. The Obama administration squandered valuable opportunities in the past — most notably during the 2009 anti-government protests in Iran.

Only when the Iranian regime employed cyber technology was it able to slow down the spread of the protests and wage large numbers of arrests.

Maryam Rajavi speaks at International Women's Day event in Paris

On February 17, Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, addressed the conference "Women Force for Change, Iran Uprising and the Role of Women". During her address, she spoke about the role of women in standing up to the regime.

She pointed out that women are systematically repressed by the regime, including the use of the compulsory veil, which is against the Koran and Islam. Rajavi also noted the fact that current Iranian President Rouhani has been active in taking away rights and services from women throughout the years of the regime.

A number of prominent women, including political leaders, lawmakers, jurists, judges, mothers of martyrs and women's rights advocates from 23 countries and 5 continents participated in the conference.

"Iran's uprising is not only for the overthrow of a political regime but is a revolt against religious fundamentalism. This would be a blissful dawn, not only for the people of Iran, but for all the peoples of the region and the world," said Rajavi.

Iran Justice Minister's Participation at UN Appalling

With the attack last week that killed 17 people at a school in Parkland, Florida, it is easy to miss the humanitarian crisis that occurred across the globe in Syria. On Tuesday, hundreds of civilians, including children, died when Syria's government and its allies executed a direct strike on a rebel stronghold in eastern Ghouta — where Syrian forces used sarin in 2013, killing an estimated 1,500 people. The bloody faces of small children are all too familiar in this vicious war by Bashar Assad and his Iranian and Russian allies, who are intent on keeping him in power. More than 5 million people have fled the regime. Another 6 million have been displaced within Syria. And hundreds of thousands of people have died in the civil war.
Though this carnage has drawn condemnation from the U.S., Europe and elsewhere, as long as Assad's partners in crimes against humanity, Russia and Iran, continue to supply arms and fighters to the region, the killing will not stop. The United Nations has been impotent to impose meaningful sanctions because Russia, a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council, has veto authority to stop them, which it has used seven times so far. But what of Iran's role? Why has the international community not done more to focus on Iran's activities in the region? And more importantly, why are U.N. bodies inviting members of Iran's government to participate in human rights councils at the very time Iran is helping Syria massacre civilians?

Don't Honor Abusers of Human Rights

With the attack last week that killed 17 people at a school in Parkland, Florida, it is easy to miss the humanitarian crisis that occurred across the globe in Syria. On Tuesday, hundreds of civilians, including children, died when Syria's government and its allies executed a direct strike on a rebel stronghold in eastern Ghouta -- where Syrian forces used sarin in 2013, killing an estimated 1,500 people. The bloody faces of small children are all too familiar in this vicious war by  Assad and his Iranian and Russian allies, who are intent on keeping him in power. More than 5 million people have fled the regime. Another 6 million have been displaced within Syria. And hundreds of thousands of people have died in the civil war.

Don't Honor Abusers of Human Rights

With the attack last week that killed 17 people at a school in Parkland, Florida, it is easy to miss the humanitarian crisis that occurred across the globe in Syria. On Tuesday, hundreds of civilians, including children, died when Syria's government and its allies executed a direct strike on a rebel stronghold in eastern Ghouta — where Syrian forces used sarin in 2013, killing an estimated 1,500 people. The bloody faces of small children are all too familiar in this vicious war by Bashar Assad and his Iranian and Russian allies, who are intent on keeping him in power. More than 5 million people have fled the regime. Another 6 million have been displaced within Syria. And hundreds of thousands of people have died in the civil war.
Though this carnage has drawn condemnation from the U.S., Europe and elsewhere, as long as Assad's partners in crimes against humanity, Russia and Iran, continue to supply arms and fighters to the region, the killing will not stop. The United Nations has been impotent to impose meaningful sanctions because Russia, a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council, has veto authority to stop them, which it has used seven times so far. But what of Iran's role? Why has the international community not done more to focus on Iran's activities in the region? And more importantly, why are U.N. bodies inviting members of Iran's government to participate in human rights councils at the very time Iran is helping Syria massacre civilians?