Meanwhile In Iran.

Just as a popular revolt in Egypt succeeded in removing Mubarak events are moving on apace in Iran.

Like Mubarak, the dictators in Tehran resorted to brutality and teargas to stay in power, as the BBC reports:

“Thousands of opposition supporters have clashed with security forces in the centre of the Iranian capital, Tehran.

Police used tear gas and detained dozens rallying in solidarity with uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia. There was one report of a death in Tehran.

The BBC also received reports of similar protests being held in the cities of Isfahan, Mashhad and Shiraz.

Earlier, the police placed opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi under house arrest, according to his website.

It said the move was intended to prevent the former prime minister attending the march in Tehran, which the authorities had prohibited. The road leading to Mr Mousavi’s house was also blocked by police vans.

Fellow opposition leader Mehdi Karroubi, a former speaker of parliament and a senior cleric, is also reportedly under de facto house arrest. “

Meanwhile in Syria, the dictatorship there are clamping down on everybody, including bloggers:

“Lawyers allowed into the closed session of the court in Damascus said Ms Mallohi was motionless after hearing her sentence. Her mother, who was waiting outside the court building, burst out crying after being told.

The judge did not give evidence or details as to why she was convicted, they added. However, when she was charged, one official claimed that “her spying led to an attack against a Syrian army officer”.

“Trumping up charges that imply treason as a lesson for others is quite old fashioned,” one human rights activist told the Reuters news agency. “Sadly, the regime has not learnt any lessons from Tunisia or Egypt.”

There has so far been no comment from the Syrian authorities.

Ms Mallohi, the granddaughter of a former minister, has already served one year of her sentence, as she has been in custody since late December 2009. She was held without charge for the first nine months.

Last month, the state security court sentenced Abbas Abbas, a 69-year-old left-wing activist, to seven years in jail.

The BBC’s Lina Sinjab in Damascus says Ms Mallohi’s conviction comes at a time of political upheaval in the region, with popular protests in Tunisia and Egypt which were largely organised through social networking websites and blogs.”

She was jailed for five years, without any evidence.

Update 1: Over in Bahrain there were protests too:

Update 2: Also Hamas are none too keen on election, as Haaretz relates:

” But Hamas, which holds power in the Gaza Strip, immediately said it would move to prevent such a vote from taking place in the coastal territory.”

Update 3: Not forgetting Algeria:

“Hundreds of youths have clashed with security forces during protests in the northern Algerian town of Akbou.

Police reportedly used tear gas and batons to drive back crowds protesting over unemployment. About 30 people, most of them protesters, were hurt.

In January Algeria was the first in a string of countries to see street protests, as people rallied against high food prices and unemployment.

Several people were killed as unrest spread across the country.

The sporadic protests have been continuing since early January.

On Saturday, thousands of people took part in protests in the capital, Algiers, demanding the resignation of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, but were dispersed by riot police.”

In The Age of The Internet: More Racism At The Guardian.

The Internet should aid research, it should enable people to be better informed, particularly those in the West, where it is more widespread.

Yet it is still possible to find educated journalists, with access to the Internet, who don’t know the basics.

Instead of Googling Carlos Latuff and realising that he has a propensity for publishing racist cartoons against Jews and Israelis, instead of doing that the Guardian decides to push his work.

Rather than familiarising themselves with Carlos Latuff’s racism, the Guardian becomes complicit.

Readers will remember that Carlos Latuff is notorious for his participation in the Iranian regime’s International Holocaust Cartoon Contest.

Ben White, Bigot Or Colonialist?

Ben White will be well known to this blog’s readers and whilst normally I try to ignore that individual, I will make an exception in this case.

Ben White has a lot of form.

But what I find worrying, in this instance, is White’s underlying thinking as Seismic Shock ably illustrates:

Last year, White wrote for Comment is Free:

” […] the Palestinian Authority is also staffed with “native” West Bank leaders for whom business interests long since trumped fighting for national liberation. Then there are also the groupings created by individuals who have a loyal power base around them.”

White here criticises huge swathes of Palestinian society in a terribly unfair manner. Also I can’t help thinking that his use of the term “native” sounds horribly colonialist.

Having told us that he understands antisemitism (which might vex Israelis), and then criticised the “natives” in the West Bank (which might vex Palestinians), we have to wonder, is Ben White really the best person to be running political campaigns about the Middle East?

The more you read White’s new site, well, it just gets more and more confusing.

“

[My emphasis.]

I couldn’t have put it better.

Roll Around The Blogs And News.

It seems like ages since I rounded up some of the blogs that I read and their thoughts, but this time it is with the addition of some news stories that struck me.

First out, Flesh is Grass is espousing Fairness with an eye on the comprehensive spending review.

Martin About the design…and my own two pence.

Jeffrey Goldberg on Pam Geller, and in my view, he’s far too polite:

“In a recent New York Times interview, the blogger Pamela Geller leveled many serious charges against Islam; she stated that Muslims curse Jews and Christians during their five-times-a-day prayer; that the only good Muslim is a secular Muslim; and most perniciously, she said that the Qur’an has never been properly translated, insinuating that it contains dark secrets about Muslims and their religious responsibilities. This last bit struck me as outrageous, because, as a Jew, Geller should know that anti-Semites have spent nearly two thousand years insinuating that the Talmud contains secret instructions guiding the alleged Jewish attempt to dominate the world. To make the same unsupported charge against Islam is egregious.”

Unite union’s plaque for the Spanish Civil War dead.

I hope the miners in China will be rescued.

The FT has more.

Ami Isseroff on Peace is the only option.

Eamonn McDonagh says Ahmadinejad: An Honest Anti-Zionist.

YourFriendInTheNorth looks at North Korea:

“Totalitarian dictatorships are of course unpredictable beasts in that they can often collapse just as easily as they can declare war. At the opening of the 1980s few people predicted the revolutions that would sweep eastern Europe in the final months of that decade. There may be some hoping that the DPRK, now officially in a period of transition to a new leadership, will suddenly implode at some point in the near future in the same way that Romania, Czechoslovakia and their Stalinist neighbours did in that momentous year of 1989. Unfortunately, that is unlikely. Even more disgraceful than those indulging in such wishful thinking is the fact that there are many senior officials in the south who are content for the status quo to continue, so afraid are they of the potential cost of reunification and the possibility of millions of their fellow countrymen flocking to Seoul and other cities in the south in the wake of the 65 year old border evaporating. “

Weggis (with a nice new design) on Pissing into the Wind, he doesn’t seem to think too highly of a particular boat to Gaza.

Everybody Hates a Tourist has an excellent piece on how a leading member of the English Defence League LGBT’s division has resigned over the EDL’s constant racism.

We hear about a Lib Dem Crash from Harry Barnes and his time at Ruskin College.

Jams on Trafalgar – THE TRUTH!.

I had been intending to cover Foxconn and their appalling treatment of workers for sometime, the Daily (Maybe) beats me to it with an informative post on the company and Hundreds of Foxconn workers arrested in India.

The CST on Abe Foxman: speak out against anti-Muslim bigotry, very timely.

Stumbling and Mumbling considers Freedom, rationality & religion, and Expertise in politics. Good conclusion:

“Instead, the job of shadow chancellor is to come up with what Tanweer Ali calls “simple frames” – easily-understood narratives and soundbites. And as Paul says, Johnson might be better at doing this than Balls precisely because he is not trapped by any knowledge.
These points do not apply merely to Johnson. As Jonathan says, Miliband has applied the no-expertise principle quite widely: Yvette Cooper has no background in foreign affairs and Balls little interest so far in home affairs.
There is, however, a cost here. Excluding expertise from politics has a conservative bias, because radical critiques of hierarchical capitalism require in-depth understanding, and cannot be reduced to mere slogans (they often are, but those slogans don’t work).
But then, the function of managerialist politics is precisely to uphold the existing order.”

Stroppy on LGBT rights , battle not won.

The Scottish Anti-Fascist Alliance has coverage of the Scottish Defence League and the typical “we are not neo-nazis defence” doesn’t work for the SDL either:

The Srebrenica Genocide Blog has coverage of Radovan Karadzic’s trial.

Snoopy thinks Lieberman is confused.

Searchlight’s A journey to hope Anti-fascism in a new era.

Rosie is less than impressed with the many incarnations of the RCP.

James Bloodworth sees the end of mass higher education.

Carl Paladino is taken apart at Mystical Politics.

Matt on a particularly odd form of one-state solution and Juan Cole.

Hitchens vs. Hitchens, again at Roland’s.

Green’s Engage has a piece on some monumental political stupidity and malice, Green Left’s guest urges support for the English Defence League.

Finally, Max on Liu Xiaobo, superb:

“I hope to be the last victim of China’s endless literary inquisition, and that after this no one else will ever be jailed for their speech.”

Update 1: Ops, I missed this one, John Gray on a completely flawed report by Lord Young.

Young, you will remember came into politics under Margaret Thatcher and was key in arguing for privatisation all over the place.

Update 2: Bob has a long thought entry, An enormous EDL post.

19 And A Half Years.

Blogging has been criminalised by the Iranian State.

Hossein Derakhshan has been jailed on spurious charges, which is intended to send a message to Iranian bloggers, “follow the State’s line or you’ll be locked up”.

Reporters without Borders has more:

“Reporters Without Borders is outraged by the extremely long jail sentence that has just been passed on Iranian blogger and journalist Hossein Derakhshan. He has been sentenced to 19 and a half years in prison followed by a five-year ban on political and journalistic activities. He has also been fined the equivalent of more than 30,000 euros.

“Such a long jail term has never before been imposed on a blogger in Iran and is indicative of a desire to make an example out of Derakhshan,” Reporters Without Borders said. “He is the victim of political rivalry within the government and the case against him was fabricated. We urge President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to intercede personally in order to obtain his release without delay.”

The press freedom organisation added: “Derakhshan defended the Islamic Revolution’s principles, supported Ahmadinejad’s policies and returned to Iran from Canada after being assured by people close to the president that he would not be arrested. Canada and the rest of the international community must press for this harsh sentence to be quashed and for Derakhshan to be freed at once.”

Derakhshan’s partner, Sandrine Murcia, said the judge in charge of the case telephoned the family today to confirm the verdict and sentence, details of which had been published on the pro-government website Asriran.

Derakhshan was convicted of collaborating with enemy states, propaganda against the Islamic Republic, propaganda in support of counter-revolutionary groups, “insulting what is holy” and creating immoral websites. He can appeal against the verdict.

Arrested by Revolutionary Guards on 1 November 2008, Derakhshan was given a trial without due process and had remained in detention even since awaiting the court’s verdict. He is a collateral victim of in-fighting between the Revolutionary Guards and the Iranian intelligence services.”

The Globe and Mail has background:

“Mr. Derakhshan, 35, is widely known by his online name “Hoder.” He was born in Iran, but moved to Canada and became a Canadian citizen in early adulthood. He is a staunch advocate of free expression in Iran, and became known as the “blogfather” of Iran’s on-line community for training pro-democracy advocates to blog and podcast in the late nineties. Later, he apologized for his dissenting views, and emerged as an unlikely supporter of the regime, at one point comparing Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to a modern-day Che Guevara.

So when the Iranian government invited him to travel to Iran in 2008, he accepted, thinking he would help his country reach out to the world, according to friends and family. Upon his arrival, however, another branch of the government arrested him.

On Tuesday, he was convicted of insulting Islamic thought and religious figures, managing obscene websites and co-operating with “enemy states” because he visited Israel five years ago. He was also ordered to pay the equivalent of approximately $45,000 in fines.

“It’s not as bad as a death sentence, but it’s an awful and really bad sentence for someone that’s only writing,” Mr. Derakhshan’s former wife, Marjan Alemi told CBC’s The Current.

“He went back thinking he could go back to Iran and help,” she added.

Ms. Alemi said Mr. Derakhshan has spent most of the two years preceding his trial in solitary confinement.

“He can’t exercise. He can’t have books. He can see his family for only five or 10 minutes a week,” Ms. Alemi said. Neither the family’s lawyer, nor any representative from the Canadian government were present at his trial.”

Update 1: Iranian.com has a piece on him.

These are clips from Hossein Derakhshan before his return to Iran and arrest. He answered questions from his blog visitors.

Update 2: Free the blog father has a petition.

Update 3: I missed Terry Glavin’s earlier piece on this issue.

Plus the Free Hoder blog.

And the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran too.

The Draw Of Power.

According to Henry Kissinger, power is the ultimate aphrodisiac.

I am not sure if that is true but I am trying to work out why anyone would want to meet President Ahmadinejad?

Unless it is to be close to his power, to be able to say they have actually met a President, even if his election win was fiddled and anti-Ahmadinejad protesters killed as a result.

Why would supposed radicals in North America wish to meet Ahmadinejad after he’s just given a conspiratorial speech on 9/11?

Why would anyone, with any sense, want to meet this certifiable racist?

Apparently, over a hundred people, including some radical political leaders met him recently, Fightback News covers it:

“New York, NY – Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad met here, September 21, with 100 leaders and representatives of anti-war, labor, alternative media and Iranian and Palestinian solidarity organizations. Among the participants were Sarah Martin, Freedom Road Socialist Organization, Margaret Sarfehjooy, board member of the Minneapolis-based Women Against Military Madness, former attorney general Ramsey Clark, former Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, Sara Flounders from the International Action Center, Brian Becker of the ANSWER coalition, Ramona Africa of the Free Mumia Coalition and Amiri Baraka, poet and activist.

The meeting was called by the president of Iran with the hope that a frank and honest exchange of views will help activists further the cause of peace between the people of Iran and the U.S.

Specific demands raised include to oppose war, occupation and hostility worldwide; oppose interference in the internal affairs of other countries; support the right to nuclear energy for all, but nuclear weapons for none; and to support dialogue, justice and equality among all countries in the UN.

After listening intently to the statements of 22 of the participants, President Ahmadinejad said, “We have a treasure chest full of views. I agree with everything you have said and therefore you have spoken from my heart also. Now I will speak in my own way.”

He said that the source of war, capitalism, must be identified and pointed out. “Violent capitalism is based on superiority, hegemony and violation of rights.” He went on to say that one reason capitalists start wars is to fill up their pockets. They must empty their arsenals so they can build more weapons. As he said at a U.N. meeting earlier in the day, “Capitalism has come to an end. It has reached a deadlock. Its historical moment has ended and efforts to restore it won’t go very far.”

Ahmadinejad spoke of the U.S. wars in Iraq and deaths of over 1 million people for oil . He pointed out that in an Afghan village over 100 innocent people were killed just to get a few terrorists. He expressed anger that even with the floods in Pakistan, the U.S continues to bomb Pakistani villages. He said it is hard to sleep at night after hearing the heart-wrenching stories of the Palestinians living under siege in Gaza with no medicines, no clean water and not enough food. He expressed solidarity with the activists’ goals of struggling for peace and justice at home and abroad and he pledged that Iran will stand strong to the end.

“Speaking with Mrs. Ahmadinejad and hearing the president reinforced the importance of struggling against the U.S. campaign to isolate and demonize Iran,” said Sarah Martin. Margaret Sarfehjooy reported, “I think the meeting was important because we had the opportunity to meet with so many dedicated grassroots activists from all over the country and share our hopes for peace and justice with the Iranian people through their president and his wife.” “

Unbelievable.

I wonder if President Ahmadinejad’s old friend, David Duke, will be joining them at the next meeting?

(H/T: Contested Terrain)

Viva Fidel Castro.

Fidel Castro has shown that he isn’t just a declining ex-dictator with an eye to history.

No, Castro may have largely controlled and manipulated events in Cuba for nearly 50 years, but he’s no old codger.

Castro may have inflicted one-party rule on Cubans and limited their lives irreparably, but he’s no fool.

Fidel Castro has done what countless Western “anti-imperialists” avoided doing.

Castro has robustly and openly condemned Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s racism.

Castro does more in one interview with Jeff Goldberg than most Western “anti-imperialists” have managed to do in years, Castro sees through Ahmadinejad’s antisemitism and he is clearly against it.

Goldberg summarises:

“Castro’s message to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the President of Iran, was not so abstract, however. Over the course of this first, five-hour discussion, Castro repeatedly returned to his excoriation of anti-Semitism. He criticized Ahmadinejad for denying the Holocaust and explained why the Iranian government would better serve the cause of peace by acknowledging the “unique” history of anti-Semitism and trying to understand why Israelis fear for their existence.
…
He said the Iranian government should understand the consequences of theological anti-Semitism. “This went on for maybe two thousand years,” he said. “I don’t think anyone has been slandered more than the Jews. I would say much more than the Muslims. They have been slandered much more than the Muslims because they are blamed and slandered for everything. No one blames the Muslims for anything.” The Iranian government should understand that the Jews “were expelled from their land, persecuted and mistreated all over the world, as the ones who killed God. “

Fidel Castro has stated concisely in a few paragraphs more than the concerted Western media would really like to acknowledge, the length and persistency of antisemitism, and how that plays a part in Israeli’s thinking.

Castro has stated openly that antisemitism lingers on today, that is something that Western “anti-imperialists” would do well to ponder.

Viva Fidel Castro!!!

(H/T: Engage)

More Repression in Iran.

The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran reports that Ahmadinejad’s regime is again attacking human rights lawyers:

“Ebadi noted that prominent lawyers Mohammad Ali Dadkhah and Abdolfattah Soltani have both been imprisoned during the past year and released on large bails, Mohammad Seifzadeh is awaiting his trial, Mohammad Oliaeifar is serving a one year prison sentence, and Shadi Sadr and Mohammad Mostafaie have been forced into exile.

Two members of the One Million Signatures Campaign advocating for gender equality, Fatemeh Masjedi and Maryam Bidgoli, have been sentenced to one year in prison. On 22 August, security forces arbitrarily detained human rights activists Hassan Asadi Zeidabadi and Ali Jamali. Prominent human rights lawyer, Nasrin Sotoudeh, has been summoned and her assets frozen.

In an interview with the Campaign, Sotoudeh said that a new method of persecuting human rights lawyers by the authorities is to make unfounded financial allegations on tax grounds.

“I was referred to the taxation bureau and while there I noticed in addition to my name, they are conducting special investigations into thirty human rights lawyers,” Sotoudeh told the Campaign. She noted that while human rights lawyers take on cases on pro-bono bases, authorities are using bogus tax charges to prosecute them.

Sotoudeh said she believes these developments are aimed at putting an end to any legal defense by the human rights community. “The only institution capable of defending lawyers is the Bar Association, but the authorities are putting it under tremendous pressure and attempting to incorporate it into the Judiciary and take away its independence,” she said. “

(H/T: Roxana Saberi )

Ahmadinejad’s Racism.

Over the years some strange individuals in the West were arguing essentially that ‘Ahmadinejad is misunderstood, that he really wasn’t a racist’ and that his demagogic speeches were mistranslated.

These excuses became weaker and weaker as Ahmadinejad invited the creme de la creme of the world’s Holocaust denying sewer to Tehran, including the ex-Grand Wizard of the KKK, David Duke.

So now it will be all the more interesting to see how apologists, excusers and obfuscators in the West try to explain away the new Iranian web site, the truly disgusting HoloCartoons.com [Warning: link to an extreme racist site.]

The preface of their Flash booklet starts with:

“This book tends to denounce the conspicuous lie of the “planned murder of 6 million Jews during the Second World War” allegedly called “Holocaust”.

The lie which is so obvious that there is no need for any further explanation.”

I found the rest to be indescribably wretched. Wiki has a small entry on it.

Update 1:

After a bit of digging around it seems that the site is registered to:

”Registrant:
Shahbazi Ins.
Mohamad Mahdi Hemati

No 204, No 32 St., Janbazan e Sharghi St., Nabovvat Sq.
Tehran
Tehran,1649975683
IR
Tel. +98.9123789761
Fax. +98.2177209040

Creation Date: 10-Dec-2008
Expiration Date: 10-Dec-2010”

It goes through the DNS servers at mihannic.com, which is registered to:

”Registrant:
tsit
mihannic sales department

No 167 farhad ave.
mashhad
khorasan,91839
IR
Tel. +98.5117688642
Fax. +98.5117625855

Creation Date: 12-Nov-2005
Expiration Date: 12-Nov-2013”

Ebrahim Hamidi And His Lawyer.

Mohammad Mostafaei, the lawyer for Ebrahim Hamidi has been forced to leave Iran.

His wife, Fereshteh Halimi, had been kidnapped and kept in Evin prison without charge until recently, the Guardian explains more:

“Mostafaei fled to Turkey, where he was promptly arrested for entering the country illegally. On Friday, however, the Turkish authorities released him after EU diplomats intervened on his behalf. As he left, Mostafaei had repeated his fears for his wife’s safety. “They’ve taken her in as a hostage; it’s kidnapping,” he told the Observer. “Just look at what is happening to my wife and realise the flaws and failings of the Iranian legal system, especially towards Ebrahim Hamidi and Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, who are awaiting execution on basis of false accusations,” he added.

Mostafaei, whose office in Tehran is now sealed off, is credited with saving at least 50 people from execution during his career, among them many juvenile offenders. A recent client, Ali Mahin-Torabi, 21, was released in July after Mostafaei’s efforts commuted his death sentence. With Mostafaei exiled, activists are worried for Hamidi. “It’s shocking that although Hamidi’s accuser admitted in a recorded testimony that he had lied, he is still facing execution,” Mostafaei said.”

Ahmadinejad, 9/11 and Denial.

I can’t quite work out if President Ahmadinejad reads 9/11 truther web sites or is so engrossed with the idea of “Zionist” plots that his speeches naturally flow from his Internet reading, or straight from his own built-in prejudices.

Whatever the case, no one can accuse him of being shy about his views and whilst reiterating his continued Holocaust denial President Ahmadinejad is now articulating 9/11 conspiracy theories, which naturally have his own brand of racism embedded in them, Reuters has more:

“(Reuters) – Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Saturday the September 11, 2001 attacks were exaggerated in a fresh broadside at the United States just days after President Barack Obama voiced willingness to talk to Iran.

Well-known for his anti-American and anti-Israeli rhetoric, the hardline populist Ahmadinejad also repeated his denial of the Nazi Holocaust in which six million Jews were killed.

Ahmadinejad said the September 11 attacks with hijacked airliners on New York and Washington D.C. had been trumped up as an excuse for the United States to invade Afghanistan and Iraq.

Speaking at a Tehran conference, Ahmadinejad said there was no evidence that the death toll at New York’s World Trade Center, destroyed in the attacks, was as high as reported and said “Zionists” had been tipped off in advance.

“What was the story of September 11? During five to six days, and with the aid of the media, they created and prepared public opinion so that everyone considered an attack on Afghanistan and Iraq as (their) right,” he said in a televised speech.

No “Zionists” were killed in the World Trade Center, according to Ahmadinejad, because “one day earlier they were told not go to their workplace.”

“They announced that 3,000 people were killed in this incident, but there were no reports that reveal their names. Maybe you saw that, but I did not,” he told a gathering of the Iranian news media.”

As you might expect President Ahmadinejad loses no time in reminding us of his views on the Holocaust:

“He had previously said the “9-11” attacks were a “big fabrication” and has rejected the historical record of the Holocaust. On Saturday, Ahmadinejad repeated his belief that the Holocaust had been invented to justify the creation of Israel.

“They made up an event, the so-called Holocaust which was later laid as the basis for the innocence of a group,” he said. “

Ebrahim Hamidi

Peter Tatchell highlights the case of Ebrahim Hamidi:

“Iran to execute youth aged 18

False accusation of homosexual assault – Now withdrawn by accuser

Ebrahim Hamidi faces execution by hanging, despite no legal representation

His lawyer, Mohammad Mostafaei, forced into hiding by arrest warrant

Iran’s Supreme Court twice rejects guilty verdict and orders re-examination

Provincial court presses ahead with execution plan, defying Supreme Court

London – 4 August 2010

Gay Middle East and OutRage! are issuing an urgent appeal to save the life of 18 year old Iranian, Ebrahim Hamidi, who was sentenced to death on 21 June 2010 for a vague, unspecified sexual assault on a male. He is now awaiting hanging, despite his accuser admitting that he lied, and withdrawing his accusation of assault.

In addition, the Supreme Court of Iran has twice rejected the provincial court’s guilty verdict and death sentence and ordered a re-examination of the case. This ruling has been ignored by the local judiciary in East Azerbaijan province.

Ebrahim’s execution could take place at any time.

He now has no legal representation. His lawyer, Mohammad Mostafaei, has been forced into hiding after a warrant for his arrest was issued. The Iranian authorities are furious over over Mostafaei’s highly publicised efforts to stop the stoning to death of Sakineh Ashtiani on charges of adultery.

“There is no evidence that Hamidi is gay or that he committed any crime. This execution must be stopped. We need your help,” said Dan Littauer, editor of Gay Middle East.

“Ebrahim’s case shows the flaws and failings of the Iranian legal system. It is further evidence that innocent people are sentenced on false charges of homosexuality,” added Peter Tatchell of the London-based LGBTI human rights group OutRage!

Ahmadinejad’s Regime Kidnaps Trade Unionists.

After fiddling the Presidential election Ahmadinejad’s regime has taken to kidnapping trade unionists and their relatives, and holding them incommunicado as LabourStarts shows.

In their latest affront they have taken to attacking Mansour Osanloo’s family:

“According to reports received by “Human Rights and Democracy activists of Iran Roya Samadi, daughter-in-law of Mansour Osanloo, president of the board of directors of the Syndicate of Workers of Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company, was kidnapped and savagely tortured by three agents of Intelligence Ministry.

On Wednesday 2nd of Tir (June 23, 2010) Ms. Samadi, while going home from work around 5:30PM, was attacked by three men as soon as she got off the metro train in Karaj. The agents grabbed her by hair and while pulling her by her hair were kicking and punching her. All of this in broad day light in front of all other shocked commuters. Ms. Samadi while crying for help kept repeating that she’s Mr. Osanloo’s daughter-in-law. The agents put a tape over her mouth as to silence her pleas, and kidnapped her to an undisclosed location.

At the undisclosed location she was put inside a cell, cuffed at hands and feet, with her eyes also covered, and was savagely tortured for a long while. The blows were concentrated on her face and head. Her head was repeatedly hit against the wall. Scars from the beating are evident all over her body. Her gums are torn, teeth broken, swelling of head, wound on her arms and the right foot, and bruises all over her body.

While being tortured the agents kept shouting at: “You have to promise to us if Osanloo is freed from jail, he can’t stay here, and should not do a thing.”

After hours of savage torture, beating and abuse around 9:45 PM, the agents left her shocked body under Sayed Khandan Bridge, and left her. They also emphasized to her that she shouldn’t complain about this to anyone, and if she does she’ll face the consequences.

Although almost 24 hours has passed Ms. Zoya Samadi is still in shock and has not recovered.

For some months now she has been intimated by phone calls from Intelligence Ministry interrogators, she was once even ordered to show up at the 14th District “Islamic Revolutionary” ( read reactionary) Court. When the family showed up in the court they were told that such orders had never been issued. She was also beaten up last year and they attempted to kidnap her back then.”

Update 1: Entdinglichung has more:

“Zoya Samadi also suffered a miscarriage after the attack: http://iranlaborreport.com/?p=967 … and their are reports, that Kurdish political prisoner Zeinab jalalian is in danger of execution: http://www.astreetjournalist.com/2010/06/28/un-must-interfere-to-save-zeynabs-life/“

Update on Bita and Mohsen.

HMG certainly likes sending people back to Iran, irrespective of the consequences that they might face: torture or death.

Thankfully the British High Court and European Court of Human Rights have ruled that Bita Ghaedi won’t be deported today.

As with Nadia Arzane and Bashir Foris, HMG in the form of the Home Office are content to kick people out of Britain no matter the consequences, when certainly many of these activists would face the prospect of torture or death at the hands of Ahmadinejad’s regime.

Although the deportation has been delayed, Bita Ghaedi is still not safe and has a further hearing set for the 21st July 2010.

I wish her the best of luck dealing with the Home Office.

Deportation Campaign Against Iranian Activists.

I was alarmed to see the HMG is still deporting activists back to Iran and the clutches of the Ahmadinejad regime, Nadia Arzane and Bashir Foris are about to be sent back:

“The UK continues its deportation campaign against Iranian activists, this time a young pregnant couple whose deportation was scheduled for today. The woman, Nadia Arzane, became very distressed at time of boarding and due to stress on the unborn child, they did not fly today as planned. However, they are back in detention and still at very high risk fo deportation.

Any deportation of people to Iran, which detains, tortures, and executes political activists just like this couple, is unconscionable. But somehow the idea of sending a pregnant woman to her death is more revolting still. “

The background:

“Nadia Arzane and Bashir Foris are a married Iranian couple in their early 20s. They are currently detained in Yarl’s Wood IRC and due to be forcibly removed from the UK tomorrow, Friday 23rd April on Air Baltic BT652, from Gatwick airport to Riga, Latvia. Where it is likely they will be returned to Iran.

Nadia is an activist from Iran who supported the opposition party by making a stand against human right abuses. On a protest in July 2009, in the town of Bandar Abbas, she saw a person beaten to death by government agents. She handed out leaflets and CDs in her local area calling on people to vote against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. A few days later, she returned home from work and witnessed her father being beaten and arrested because he would not hand over information about her. Her father spent two months in an Iranian prison where he was tortured. As a young Christian and human rights activist she has suffered prolonged persecution from the Iranian government and will be arrested and possibly executed if she is returned.

Nadia has shown immense courage and conviction in her Christian Faith and her belief in Human Rights. Her and her husband have been detained since their arrival in the UK and are currently being detained in Yarl’s Wood Immigration Removal Centre.

Nadia and Bashir are under immense stress. Nadia’s physical and mental health are a serious concern. Nadia she is terrified. She is 14 weeks pregnant and at the stage during which miscarriages are most common. She has not had a full psychological assessment as recommended by health professionals; She is showing signs of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and is unable to eat or sleep. Without a full psychological assessment there is no way of knowing the full state of Nadia’s mental health, and how the stress of the imminent removal will affect the health of her unborn child. She is not receiving any treatment.”