Happy Cyrus the Great (Kooroshe Kabir) day. Persia, the land of poets and history, perfumes and spices and mysteries. But in reality, the people of Iran have nothing to be happy about. The only celebration is that of a past Glory, destroyed by the ruthless mullahs. By using the word destroy, I am not implying the mullahs have won. Their destruction of our land is temporary. The day will come when they (mullahs) are no longer, and we shall rise once again. For now, this is our reality. The land where the first charter of human rights originates, has for the last 36 years been one of the worst violators of human rights. Cyrus the Great proclaimed more than 2500 years ago: Today, I announce that everyone is free to choose a religion. People are free to live in all regions and take up a job provided that they never violate others rights. Cyrus the Great declared himself not a conqueror, but a liberator and the rightful successor to the crown. __________ Mona Mahmudnizhad (September 10, 1965 - June 18, 1983) was an Iranian Baháí who, in 1983, together with nine other Baháí women, was sentenced to death and hanged in Shiraz, Iran because of her membership in the Baháí Faith. The official charges ranged from “misleading children and youth” because she was teaching children who had been expelled from school for their beliefs and serving in an orphanage to being a ‘Zionist’ because the Baháí World Centre is located in Israel. __________ (Reuters) - A former psychologist has been executed for heresy in Iran after eight years in detention, human rights groups said, in the latest example of what activists say is a worrying rise in the use of death penalty by the Islamic Republic. Mohsen Amir Aslani was hanged in a prison near the city of Karaj west of Tehran on Sept. 24, according to the Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), which is based outside Iran, for corruption on earth and heresy in religion. Iranian opposition news websites have said Aslani, 37, had given religious classes where he propagated a new interpretation of the Koran. He was also accused by the authorities of insulting the Prophet Jonah. The Iran Wire website reported that in one of his classes he told his audience that Jonah could not have emerged from the whales belly, and it was this statement that led to his charge of insulting the Prophet Jonah. __________ By Ari Soffer First Publish: 9/19/2014, 4:45 PM An Iranian court earlier this week sentenced a blogger to death for insulting the Muslim prophet Mohammed. The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran said 30-year-old Soheil Arabi was found guilty of sabb al-nabi - insulting the prophet - on August 30. He was arrested along with his wife in November of last year, after Revolutionary Guard forces kicked down his door while he and his family were still sleeping. Arabi was accused of using numerous Facebook accounts to post messages deemed insulting to the imams and the prophet Mohammed, but claimed in court he had done so without thinking and in poor psychological condition, an informed source told the human rights group. His wife was released shortly afterwards but he was detained in Iran notorious Evin Prison - for the initial two months in solitary confinement. The source emphasized that Arabi was in poor psychological health, and accused the judged of handing an overly harsh sentence even by the Islamic Republics draconian standards. Article 262 of the Islamic Penal Code states that if a person insults the Prophet of Islam, his punishment is death. But in Article 264, it explicitly says that if a suspect merely claims in court that he said the insulting words in anger, in quoting someone, or by mistake, his death sentence will be converted to 74 lashes, said the source. I would like to emphasize that if only the suspect claims this, he will not be eligible for death, and there is no need to even prove his claim. Unfortunately, despite this Article and the explanations provided, the judges issued the death sentence. They didn’t even take any notice of Soheil’s statements in court in which he repeated several times that he wrote the posts under poor [psychological] conditions, and that he is remorseful. Three of the judges ruled for the death sentence, and two ruled for imprisonment. The sentencing took place in the same week as six Iranian youths were given 91 lashes and up to a year in prison for producing a viral video showing them dancing to US artist Pharrell Williams to hit single Happy. The three men and three women had their sentences suspended for three years, meaning that it would only be carried out if they repeat any similar offenses during the next three years. __________ HRANA News Agency – Farhad Yazdani, an 18-year-old Bahai living in Shiraz, has been sentenced to one year in prison, for participating in social networks used to plan a mass water-fight in Be`sat Park in Shiraz. According to the report of Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), the background to this is the use of social networks, last July, to organise water fights in Be`sat Park and Aram Park in Shiraz, and in other cities in Iran. The water fight in Aram Park was cancelled when the security forces threatened to disrupt it, but the event in Be`sat Park led to clashes with security forces. Farhad Yazdani, according to a relative, was not an organizer of these events, but was one of those invited to join in. His home was searched and he was arrested on July 15. He was taken to the Ministry of Intelligence’s Facility 100 in Shiraz, where he was held until August 9, when he was transferred to Adel Abad prison. In the meantime his family had been seeking his release, and he was eventually released on bail, 10 days before his ‘trial.’ Judge Sadati, who sits in Branch 1 of the Revolutionary Court in Shiraz and is head of the Revolutionary Courts in Shiraz, issued a verbal finding condemning Mr. Yazdani to one year in prison. According to a relative, the Judge told Mr. Yazdani that, if the did not protest his treatment, he would be freed on bail after four months in prison. The relative felt that Mr. Yazdani was treated in this way only because he was a Bahai. In Islamic Iran, throwing acid on women gets you no punishment. In Islamic Iran, attempting to rape, gets you no punishment. But God forbid you are a Bahai youth wanting to join other Iranian youths to spurt water at each other in a park. Farhad was the only one sentenced to jail time, the other Iranians were not punished for wanting to play with water guns.
Posted on: Wed, 29 Oct 2014 20:47:20 +0000
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