Back to Brief on Iran
In his report to the UN General Assembly, Prof. Maurice Copithorne, the UN Human Rights Commission’s Special Representative on the human rights situation in Iran, said human rights violations in Iran have worsened since the suppression of student demonstrations and popular uprisings in Tehran and other Iranian cities in July.
Prof. Copithorne expressed concern at the fact that "executions remain at an unacceptably high level, torture and similar treatment or punishment continue to exist and the prison system is facing unacceptable physical conditions."
He wrote: "The crimes for which most of the executions are carried out are unknown, although a number of those put to death were said to be supporters of or activists in the illegal opposition Mojahedin Khalq Organization." On cruel and inhuman punishment, the Special Representative noted that "there continue to be amputations of arms, hands and most commonly fingers."
Mr. Massoud Rajavi, President of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, welcomed the fact that Prof. Copithorne’s report reflects, albeit partially, the clerical regime’s crimes in Iran and said: This report shows that all claims and propaganda purporting "change" and "reform" under Khatami are totally baseless. They are merely a ploy to legitimize trade deals and economic ties with this inhuman regime.
Mr. Rajavi said: This proves once again that treating the religious, terrorist dictatorship ruling Iran as "separate factions" with the intention of acquitting certain parts of the ruling clique and thereby cultivating "moderate" business partners in this regime will only result in greater rights abuses and more suppression.
Prof. Copithorne pointed out that the mullahs’ regime has not allowed him to visit Iran for the past four years. He wrote: "In the period under review, the Islamic Republic of Iran has seen more political and social turmoil than in recent years." Referring to the antigovernment demonstrations and unrest in Iran, he wrote: "The rights of those engaged in the struggle as well as bystanders may be trampled on; this is certainly happening in the Islamic Republic."
The Special Representative emphasized that the mullahs’ terrorist attacks on their opponents outside Iran have increased recently and referred to the bombing of "a loaded bus in Iraq." Six Mojahedin members died in the attack last June.
Contrary to the mullahs’ propaganda and its reproduction in some of the media in the West, Prof. Copithorne pointed out that there has been no progress in the "most critical areas" of human rights violations in Iran.
He pointed out that "the period under
review passed without much substantive change in the status of women" in
Iran, noting that the Government "is not addressing the removal of those
discriminatory laws and practices which remain the cause of the unequal
treatment faced by women in Iran."
Editor of Daily Taken to Evin Prison, IRNA (State News Agency), November 2
TEHRAN - Mashallah Shamsolvaezin, editor in chief of the banned daily Neshat, was tried at the branch 1410 of the Tehran public court and committed to Evin prison on Tuesday.
Shamsolvaezin was informed of the already registered and new charges leveled against him. The new allegations against him include forgery and illegal use of forged documents and counterfeiting Hussein Baqerzadeh's signature.
The previous charge against Neshat's editor in chief was, according to the article 26 of the press law, allowing the publication of articles of Hussein Baqerzadeh and Emadeddin Baqi in Neshat.
Shamsolvaezin is currently the editor
in chief of the daily Asr-e Azadegan.
Three Iran Students Jailed For "Blasphemy", Reuters, November 2
TEHRAN - A special Iranian court handed down jail terms on three students charged in connection with a satirical play and acquitted a fourth in a case that shook Iran's religious establishment.
State media said on Tuesday that Iran's press court sentenced playwright Abbas Nemati and a fellow student to three years in jail for insulting the 12th Imam, one of the holiest figures in Shi'ite Islam.
A member of Nemati's family denounced
the sentence, as too severe and said an immediate appeal would be filed.
Iran Revolutionary Guards To Test New Missile, Reuters, November 2
TEHRAN - Iran's Revolutionary Guards are holding air exercises in a desert in central Iran, and will test-fire a new locally-manufactured anti-aircraft missile next week, the official IRNA news agency reported on Tuesday.
The exercises began in a desert near Qom, south of the capital, on Sunday and will end on November 10 with "final testing" of Sayyad-1 anti-aircraft missile, it quoted the commander of the maneuvers General Hossein Khaleqi as saying.