Iranian dissidents rally this weekend in Albania as Washington-Tehran tensions surge
The Washington Times, July 20, 2022
The world’s biggest exiled Iranian dissident movement will hold its annual rally this weekend to call for regime change in Iran and to push the U.S. and Western nations to adopt a firmer policy rather than seek negotiations and diplomacy with Tehran.
The rally comes as President Biden‘s efforts to restore the Obama-era nuclear deal with Iran appear stalemated. It will feature an in-person gathering at the movement’s Albanian headquarters, as well as a show of support from dissidents connecting virtually from smaller events occurring in dozens of countries.
Organizers say they hope the event, orchestrated by the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) and its associate group, the exiled People’s Mujahedin of Iran (MEK), will draw attention to the plight of opposition protesters inside Iran and highlight what it calls the Iranian regime’s hostile domestic and foreign policies.
“On July 23 and 24, the ‘Free Iran World Summit 2022’ entitled, ‘Iran on the Brink of Change – Resistance the Key to Victory,’ will voice support for the continuous uprisings and demonstrations of the Iranian people and the call to adopt a decisive international policy against Tehran’s hostage-taking and blackmailing,” an NCRI/MEK spokesperson said in an email to The Washington Times. Read More
Conviction of former Iranian official over involvement in 1988 prison massacres landmark step towards justice
Amnesty International, July 14, 2022
Responding to today’s landmark decision of Stockholm’s District Court sentencing a former Iranian official, Hamid Nouri, to life in prison over crimes related to Iran’s 1988 prison massacres, following a trial carried out under the principle of universal jurisdiction, Diana Eltahawy, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa, said:
“Hamid Nouri’s conviction and sentence today in Sweden for crimes related to Iran’s 1988 prison massacres is an unprecedented step towards justice for crimes committed in Iran and sends an unequivocal, and long overdue, message to the Iranian authorities that those responsible for crimes against humanity in Iran will not escape justice.
“For more than three decades, survivors and relatives of thousands of political dissidents extrajudicially killed and forcibly disappeared in Iran’s 1988 prison massacres, have struggled for truth and justice. With this first ever ruling against an Iranian official, albeit in a European court, they have finally witnessed an Iranian official held to account for these crimes. This must be followed by all states exercising universal jurisdiction to criminally investigate all other former and current officials in Iran against whom there is evidence of involvement in past and ongoing crimes against humanity, including Ebrahim Raisi, the country’s President. Read More
Belgian parliament approves prisoner swap treaty with Iran
Critics fear the deal will pave the way for the release of a convicted terrorist to Iran.
Politico, July 21, 2022
Belgian MPs ratified a controversial treaty with Iran that could allow an Iranian convicted of terrorism in Belgium to be sent back to Tehran.
Out of the 131 MPs present, 79 voted in favor while 41 rejected the treaty, and 11 abstained from the vote just after midnight, following a late debate Wednesday.
Critics fear that the treaty, which would permit Iranians convicted in Belgium to serve their sentences in Iran and vice versa, will pave the way for the release of Assadollah Assadi, a terrorist convicted in the Belgian courts and sentenced to 20 years in prison for his role in a bomb plot targeting a rally by opponents of the Iranian regime in France.
The treaty also allows each party to grant amnesty, and there is little doubt that Assadi, who worked as an Iranian diplomat, would quickly be set free.
Tehran meanwhile has been holding Belgian humanitarian worker, Olivier Vandecasteele, in jail since February as leverage. Read More
Top rights expert welcomes Swedish verdict in mass executions case
UN News, July 15, 2022
Welcoming the life sentence handed down to Mr. Nouri, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, Javaid Rehman, described the verdict as “a landmark and important leap forward in the pursuit of truth and justice for a dark chapter in Iranian history”.
The rights expert, who was appointed by the Human Rights Council, insisted that “denial, despite substantive evidence and impunity” could not be tolerated any more, in reference to Sweden’s principle of universal jurisdiction, which had allowed the country’s judges to try serious crimes, regardless of where they took were committed.
“I urge other States to take on similar investigation and prosecution of serious human rights violations in Iran using principles of universal jurisdiction,” said Mr. Rehman. “There is a serious accountability gap for past and present gross violations of human rights law, and national courts in other States play a fundamental role in filling that gap.” Read More
Iranian gets life in prison in Sweden for 1980s crimes
The Hill, July 14, 2022
STOCKHOLM (AP) — An Iranian citizen was Thursday sentenced to life imprisonment by a Swedish court after being convicted of committing grave war crimes and murder during the final phase of the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s.
The Stockholm District Court said that Hamid Noury took part in severe atrocities in July-August 1988 while working as an assistant to the deputy prosecutor at the Gohardasht prison outside the Iranian city of Karaj.
A life sentence in Sweden generally means a minimum of 20 to 25 years in prison, but it could be extended. If he is eventually released, Noury will be expelled from Sweden. Noury can appeal the verdict. Read More
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Iran’s clerics have built underground cities of missiles, but have ruined the lives of its people
Penn Live, July 18, 2022 by Behzad Raofi
Twenty years of age and my entire life ahead, I was forced to leave my home country Iran and traveled thousands of miles overseas to seek solace and call the United States ‘home’. I left behind a shattered society, taken over by Islamist extremists who thought hunting down intellectuals would ensure them a safe and long rule.
Ignorant of the fact that what was leaving the country wasn’t a Western-oriented generation, rather it was the nation’s future and the slightest hope of prosperity. Read more
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