OIAC Statement: Dan Benjamin’s anti Iranian opposition, MEK, tirade is a pathetic reaction to his rebuke by Secretary Clinton and US Congress, and the American people’s rejection of failed policy of appeasing the ayatollahs
OIAC
Reading through Daniel Benjamin’s vitriolic, holier-than-thou, screed, against Rudy Giuliani was truly astounding. We are not in a position to defend America’s Mayor here, as his record speaks for itself and he can do that job ably. Mr. Benjamin is disingenuous and clueless in his pro-mullah attacks on the Iranian opposition movement known as the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK/PMOI). What we, members of Iranian American Communities, are astounded by is the depth of depravity that he and his ilk will sink to in defending their ill-gotten infamy for impeding the Iranian people’s struggles for genuine democracy by effectively aiding and abetting the sectarian Islamic theocratic despots in Iran.
Iran- Human Rights (Women, Minorities, Ethnics)
Iran: responsibility of implementing blinding punishment placed on 11 year old girl
Iran Human Rights
A young girl blinded at the age of four chooses to approve the implementation of her attacker’s retribution sentence.
Iran Human Rights (NOV 24 2016): Fatemeh, an 11-year-old girl who was blinded at the age of four by her uncle, is once again a victim due the inhumane Iranian law of Qisas (retribution).
The blinding retribution sentence for a man who had blinded Fatemeh on July 8, 2009 was reportedly carried out two weeks ago in a prison in the Tehran area. In accordance with Iran’s Islamic Penal Code, the age of maturity for females is 9 and for males is 15. As a result, the responsibility of the retribution sentence was placed on the shoulders of Fatemeh.
“I didn’t know what to do, but when I was reminded of the moment that I was blinded with acid, I decided to implement the sentence, so I may send the message that the punishment of such a bitter action is retribution, and that nobody can get away after ruining someone else’s life,” said Fatemeh in an interview with Iranian state-run media.
Hassan Rouhani: Iran’s Executioner
American Thinker
As we begin to wind down to the end of Hassan Rouhani’s term as president of the regime in Iran, it is time to take a look back at the past four years. We all remember how the West joyfully welcomed his election — read selection — as a change of gear in Iran aimed at moderation. However, what the world witnessed ever since has been anything but. An atrocious rise in executions, continued public punishments and an escalating trend of oppression has been Rouhani’s report card during his tenure. With a new administration coming into town, Washington must make it crystal clear to Tehran that human rights violations will no longer be tolerated.
Northern Iran: Seven Prisoners Executed
Iran Human Rights
Iranian authorities have executed seven prisoners in northern Iran.
Iran Human Rights (NOV 25 2016): According a report by the Iranian state-run news agency Jame Jam, two prisoners were hanged in the Gilan province (northern Iran) on murder charges. The report does not mention the identities of the prisoners or the exact location or date of the executions.
The human rights news agency HRANA has reported on the execution of four prisoners at Karaj Central Prison (Alborz province, northern Iran) on drug related charges. According to the report, the executions were carried out on Thursday November 24. The names of the prisoners have been reported as Mohsen Jamali, Yasser Kavyani, Davoud Totalzehi and Asef Mohammad Saeedpour. Mr. Totalzehi and Mr. Saeedpour were reportedly Baluch citizens.
Iranian Court Sentences Another Juvenile Offender to Death
Iran Human Rights
Iran Human Rights has obtained information about an 18-year-old juvenile offender detained in Sanandaj Prison who was recently sentenced to death by an Iranian court. His case file was reportedly sent to Iran’s Supreme Court for review.
Iran Human Rights (NOV 27 2016): According to close sources, Ayoub Shahbazi, who was born on August 30, 1998, was arrested by Iranian authorities in 2014 and charged with murder at the age of 16.
“When Ayoub was a young child, he lost his father. Due to financial poverty, Ayoub was unable to attend school and therefore is illiterate. From a young age, he was working with his mother cleaning people’s homes. Four years ago, because he had no one to guide him, Ayoub became a drug addict. He ended up killing one of his own family members for money,” a confirmed source tells Iran Human Rights.
Iran- Terrorism Activities (Middle-East)
Dan Benjamin’s anti Iranian opposition, MEK, tirade is a pathetic reaction to his rebuke by Secretary Clinton and US Congress, and the American people’s rejection of failed policy of appeasing the ayatollahs
OIAC
Reading through Daniel Benjamin’s vitriolic, holier-than-thou, screed, against Rudy Giuliani was truly astounding. We are not in a position to defend America’s Mayor here, as his record speaks for itself and he can do that job ably. Mr. Benjamin is disingenuous and clueless in his pro-mullah attacks on the Iranian opposition movement known as the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK/PMOI). What we, members of Iranian American Communities, are astounded by is the depth of depravity that he and his ilk will sink to in defending their ill-gotten infamy for impeding the Iranian people’s struggles for genuine democracy by effectively aiding and abetting the sectarian Islamic theocratic despots in Iran.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards’ Airline Wants to Fly to Canada
Linkis
An Iranian-born MP from Canada met with an Iranian delegation lobbying for the reopening of direct flights with Mahan Air.
An Iranian-born member of parliament met with a delegation from Iran lobbying for the reopening of direct flights between Iran and Canada on Mahan Air, as reported by Atash, a Persian news outlet in Canada.
The airline remains under terror sanctions by the U.S., which accused it of providing “transportation, funds transfers and personnel travel services” to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard’s Quds Forces. The U.S. says the airline is used by Iran to transport fighters and weapons to Syria to train Hezbollah jihadis, Syrian army troops and others.
Almost 700 Iranian troops and militia fighters ‘killed in Syria’ to preserve Bashar al-Assad
Telegraph
Almost 700 Iranian soldiers and militia fighters have been killed in Syria’s civil war, laying bare the scale and cost of Tehran’s intervention to preserve Bashar al-Assad’s grip on power.Officially, Iran maintains that only “military advisers” have been deployed in Syria. But the state media has reported numerous battlefield casualties, with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) disclosing last week that 13 of its fighters were killed near Aleppo.
Iran Regime Fears EU Office in Tehran
NCRI
NCRI – The EU office in Tehran is the second US spy-house
On Monday November 18, a prominent Mullah and close confidant of Iran regime’s supreme leader expressed the Iranian regime’s fear of opening the EU office in Tehran, rejecting the move as ‘opening a hangout for spies’.
Mullah Alamolhoda, the Iranian regime’s Friday Prayers Imam in Mashhad, said that “with the aim of having infiltrators in our country, the three European countries have sent their security experts and agents to Iran as ambassadors. What is this EU Office all about?”
He pointed to a document drafted following the nuclear deal to regulate the EU relations with Iran and said “the document is made up of several articles including FATF, Iran’s ensuring the security of Europe’s oil and natural gas and the third is to exempt the people with dual citizenship from being prosecuted. Unfortunately some of our political elites (officials) with highest responsibilities are dual citizens, but following the recent leader’s emphasis, the officials with dual citizenship are supposed to be excluded from responsibilities.”
Iran- Nuclear Activities
We Iranian-Americans take pride in our push for policy change
The Hill
As leaders of vibrant Iranian-American communities in California, Texas, and Missouri, we are sometimes amazed, but not really surprised to see how often our campaign for democratic change by the people of Iran, in favor of a free Iran, has come under fire. After all, we seek to oust the world’s number-one state-sponsor of terrorism and leading per capita executioner of its own citizens, a goal which certainly serves American national security interests.
But our cause does not serve the interests of the handful of discredited apologists of the Tehran regime. Or of that regime’s lobbyists in Washington. (Yes, even the mullahs have a D.C. lobby!) Of late, we have seen particularly venomous and defamatory propaganda targeting former U.S. officials who addressed scores of conferences and seminars we organized on U.S. policy on Iran.
Why Iran’s Private Sector Hasn’t Benefited From Privatization
Al Monitor
TEHRAN, Iran – Privatization in Iran only effectively started in 2001. Five years later, in 2006, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei backed a constitutional amendment – the Law on Implementation of General Policies of Article 44 of the Constitution – to ease the sale of state-owned enterprises in an attempt to downsize government and help expand the private sector. But this grand scheme has never hit its intended target, and genuine privatization has thus far remained slow.
…On a broader, structural level, the private sector only makes up roughly one-fifth of the economy. Meanwhile, 80% of fiscal spending is allocated to state-owned enterprises. Under such circumstances, it appears that hopes for further transparency and openness to induce genuine privatization in the country will likely remain unfulfilled.
