Tagged: Iran

January 12th, 2018 Breaking News

Iranian protestors being tortured, killed and detained in prison

(AMERICAN MILITARY NEWS) — By Melissa Leon

Government protests in Iran might have calmed, but the two-week movement continues to draw international attention, as new reports reveal that protestors are being tortured and possibly even killed while in custody. And, many of those Iranians in custody are being held without charges against them.

One Iranian spoke to Fox News from outside Evin Prison in northern Tehran and said that people in custody are being tortured – “maybe tortured to death.” The Iranian is a 31-year-old activist and business owner whom Fox said declined to give his last name out of fear.

Amir told Fox that one of his friends was arrested “by plainclothes police at the beginning of the protests in Tehran. […] Then he was beaten badly. He said 400 to 500 people were forced into a room that should only hold 120 persons. They suffered all the torture – sleep deprivation, lack of food, all the things.”

Fox reported that Amir said conditions inside the prison are “beyond abhorrent,” and that prison officials are attempted to force detainees to film videos insisting they’re being treated well, known as “stage managing.”

“People are very concerned about the health of the arrested people. Mothers are there and they don’t know anything about their child’s situation, or even if they are alive,” another protestor told Fox.

Protests began late last year, on Dec. 28, in Iran’s second largest city and one of Iran’s holiest places, Mashhad, due to the country’s high inflation, economic policies and economic inequality, and unemployment. The protests have spread to more cities and the message has turned more toward regime change.

The White House Press Secretary released a statement on Wednesday calling for the immediate release of all protestors, following reports of torture and death.

The White House said:

The Trump Administration is deeply concerned by reports that the Iranian regime has imprisoned thousands of ‎Iranian citizens in the past week for engaging in peaceful protests. Further reports that the regime has tortured or killed some of these demonstrators while in detention are even more disturbing. We will not remain silent as the Iranian dictatorship represses the basic rights of its citizens and will hold Iran’s leaders accountable for any violations. The protesters in Iran are expressing legitimate grievances, including demanding an end to their government’s oppression, corruption, and waste of national resources on military adventurism. Iran’s regime claims to support democracy, but when its own people express their aspirations for better lives and an end to injustice, it once again shows its true brutal nature. ‎The United States calls for the immediate release of all political prisoners in Iran, including the victims of the most recent crackdown.

These are the biggest waves of protests since the nationwide protests in 2009 that the world watched through Twitter.

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December 7th, 2017 Breaking News

Khamenei, Iran-backed militia leader threaten U.S. over recognition of Jerusalem

(THE TOWER) — Iran’s Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei expressed his anger over the decision to move the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, threatening that Palestine will be “freed” and claiming that America was starting a “war in the region to protect the security of the Zionist regime.”

The Jerusalem Post reported on Wednesday that Khamenei had dismissed President Donald Trump’s decision as a sign of desperation. “That they claim they want to announce Quds as the capital of occupied Palestine is because of their incompetence and failure,” Khamenei said, using the Arabic name for Jerusalem. He added: “On the issue of Palestine (US) hands are tied and they cannot advance their goals.”

Iran has long supported a number of Palestinian terrorist groups, including Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, in their fight against Israel.

Meanwhile, the leader of an one of the Iran-backed Shiite militias operating in Iraq, which make up the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) threatened to attack United States forces in the wake of Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, Agence France-Presse reported on Thursday.

“The decision by Trump on Al-Quds (Jerusalem) makes it legitimate to strike the American forces in Iraq,” Akram al-Kaabi, leader of the Al-Nojaba militia, said.

Al-Nojaba was formed in 2013 by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). It answers to Iran’s IRGC-Qods Force commander Qassem Soleimani and is part of the PMF, or Hashd al-Shaabi, as the militias are known in Arabic.

In addition to fighting against ISIS in Iraq, Al-Nojaba has fought in Syria to support regime President Bashar al-Assad and helped Iran extend it influence across the region.

The U.S. is estimated to have between 5,000 and 9,000 troops currently serving in Iraq.

Last week, CIA Director Mike Pompeo said that he sent a letter to Soleimani warning him and his proxies not to target American troops.

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November 25th, 2017 Breaking News

Saudi crown prince: Iran’s ayatollah the ‘new Hitler of the Middle East’

by Ben Kew

Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman described Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as the “new Hitler of the Middle East” to New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman in an interview published Thursday.

“[Iran’s] supreme leader is the new Hitler of the Middle East,” the prince, commonly referred to by his initials MBS, said in the lengthy interview. “We learned from Europe that appeasement doesn’t work. We don’t want the new Hitler in Iran to repeat what happened in Europe in the Middle East.”

Iran has a long history of sponsoring or promoting terrorism across the Middle East, dating back to the country’s 1979 Islamic Revolution.

MBS’s comments come amid escalating tensions between the two countries after Saudi Arabia says its forces intercepted a missile fired from Yemen targeting one of its major airports, which authorities have described as a “blatant act of military aggression” by Iran, acting through its Yemeni proxies.

Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Qasemi responded to the “adventurist” crown prince by accusing him of “immature, inconsiderate, and baseless remarks and behavior,” multiple agencies reported.

“No one in the world and in the international arena gives credit to him because of his immature and weak-minded behavior and remarks,” Qasemi said. “I strongly advise him to think and ponder upon the fate of the famous dictators of the region in the past few years now that he is thinking of considering their policies and behavior as a role model.”

During the interview, the Prince also outlined his country’s latest anti-corruption purge, in which around 200 elites –including princes, ministers, and business tycoons—were arrested or fired in recent weeks.

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November 14th, 2017 Related News

IDF spokesman: Iran exporting “toxic” ideologies around Middle East to achieve dominance

(THE TOWER) — In the latest episode of ‘Tipping Point’, The Israel Project’s weekly podcast, Lt.-Col. Jonathan Conricus, the new head of the international media branch at the IDF spokesperson’s unit, discussed the fragile situation on the Syrian border, the prospects of war with Hezbollah, and the significance of the Hamas-Fatah reconciliation.

Addressing the situation in the region, Conricus warned that Iran is striving for hegemony and is on the verge of establishing a direct land corridor from Tehran through Baghdad to the Mediterranean, which would drastically change the security situation in the region.

“The aggressive export that Iran is doing of their specific brand of violent extremism and terrorism to many countries – to Lebanon through Hezbollah, to Syria through various proxies, to Yemen and other regions – it’s a pattern of exporting very toxic and dangerous ideologies around the Middle East, trying to achieve some kind of dominance,” he explained.

Conricus pointed out that Iranian and Israeli interests in Syria couldn’t be further apart, with one party trying to stabilize the situation and saving lives, and the other thriving on chaos and destruction. “It’s interesting to see the contrast of what Iran is doing in Syria and of what Israel is doing on the Golan Heights,” he said, adding “What the IDF is involved in is ‘Operation Good Neighbor’, providing humanitarian aid for more than a year and a half now. More than 3,000 Syrians have been given medical attention, sometimes even life-saving procedures by either Israeli military doctors or in hospitals.”

Moving on, Conricus addressed the prospect of a third Lebanon War. “Hezbollah is in clear violation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701; they are stockpiling weapons in southern Lebanon,” he stated. Conricus continued, “They have their missiles and rockets, approximately 120,000 of those, within the civilian population in Lebanon and aiming their rockets at Israeli civilians, intentionally doing so in order to extort pressure on the Israeli leadership.”

The IDF spokesperson further accused the terrorist organization of war crimes. “In southern Lebanon, they have dug underneath houses, schools, hospitals, mosques, and U.N facilities, using them for military purposes, which is a violation of the law of armed conflict.”

Conricus said the IDF was ready to respond to all eventualities. “We are prepared for different scenarios,” he stressed. “There would be a very heavy price for any act of aggression, whether against the IDF, or, for sure, against civilians, and I think Hezbollah knows this. And I also think Hezbollah is aware of the price they would pay, if they were forced by their Iranian masters to attack Israel.”

But Conricus also acknowledged that Hezbollah is now a more formidable enemy. “For sure Hezbollah has evolved,” he admitted. “What we see today is that Hezbollah is accountable in Lebanon. They bear responsibility vis-à-vis the Lebanese population. They are part of government, they wield significant political power, they have the strongest military force inside Lebanon.” He added, “The bottom line is that Hezbollah has developed. They have become not only a terrorist organization, but an organization that is also political and that has civilian responsibilities.”

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August 4th, 2017 Breaking News

Kissinger warns: ‘Iranian radical empire’ could emerge in a post-ISIS Middle East

(ALGEMEINER) — The downfall of ISIS could be a boon for Iran, former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger cautioned in an article published by CapX this week.

“Across large areas of Iraq and Syria, an ideologically radical religious army, Isis, has declared itself a relentless foe of modern civilization, seeking violently to replace the international system’s multiplicity of states with a single Islamic empire governed by Sharia law,” the 94-year-old Kissinger wrote. “In these circumstances, the traditional adage that the enemy of your enemy can be regarded as your friend no longer applies. In the contemporary Middle East, the enemy of your enemy may also be your enemy. The Middle East affects the world by the volatility of its ideologies as much as by its specific actions.”

“The outside world’s war with Isis can serve as an illustration,” he continued. “Most non-Isis powers — including Shia Iran and the leading Sunni states — agree on the need to destroy it. But which entity is supposed to inherit its territory? A coalition of Sunnis? Or a sphere of influence dominated by Iran? The answer is elusive because Russia and the Nato countries support opposing factions. If the Isis territory is occupied by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards or Shia forces trained and directed by it, the result could be a territorial belt reaching from Tehran to Beirut, which could mark the emergence of an Iranian radical empire.”

Last November, as reported by The Algemeiner, Kissinger said the biggest challenge facing the Middle East was the “potential domination of the region by an Iran that is both imperial and jihadist.”

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November 18th, 2016 Breaking News

Former Muslims of Norway form group, speak out against Islam

(SPEISA) — On Thursday night, Ex-Muslim of Norway showcased their work and the need for ex-Muslims in the public debate in Norway – and the rest of the world.

– It is the first time we have a public meeting. We want to explain why we have started the association and what we stand for. And to say a little about the kind of challenges we face, both in Norway and elsewhere. We want to normalize criticism of Islam and normalize leaving Islam, says Cemal Yucel Knudsen (pictured) to Nettavisen.

Cemal Yucel Knudsen comes from Turkey and has Kurdish origin. He is a former Islamist and was active in the youth branch of Milli Gorus in Turkey. He is now an ex-Muslim, atheist, social commentator, leader and founder of EX-MN.

Lily Bandehy (pictured) is a refugee from the Islamic regime in Iran. She is deputy leader of EX-MN, an author, feminist, social commentator and Islam critic, with her own blog.

Walid al-Kubaisi is a refugee from Iraq and a board member of EX-MN, author, journalist, a regular columnist, social commentator, Islam critic, lecturer, and winner of the Freedom of Expression Prize 2016.

Eystein Emberland is a board member of EX-MN. He is a humanist, religion critic and one of the founders of the organization Secular Forum.

Leaving Islam does not come without consequences, and the penalty is non other than death. Therefore it goes without saying that these people are very brave, and they are certainly contributing to the current ongoing debate.

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June 19th, 2015 Related News

Ex-CIA head: Iran is genocidal, theocratic, imperial, totalitarian

(THE CLARION PROJECT) — Iran’s leaders are “theocratic, totalitarian, genocidal, imperial liars,” according to former head of the CIA James Woolsey.

Speaking on a conference call organized by the Clarion Project, Woolsey said he would rather deal with the Soviets he met across the negotiating table decades ago than talk to Tehran.

“They weren’t theocratic fanatics,” he said of his Soviet interlocutors.

Listen to Woolsey’s comments.

Woolsey now chairs the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, which not only looks at Tehran’s nuclear program but also its human-rights record.

“Iran is hanging political dissidents every day,” he told reporters and an international audience. “The problem is not the Iranian people,” he said.

He urged Western powers to encourage average Iranians to “stand up to their ‘masters’,” and believes with external support Iranians could succeed where their attempted revolution failed in 2009.

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March 2nd, 2015 Blog

Muslim hatred for Jews and how it got that way

ON TUESDAY, MARCH 3, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER Benjamin Netanyahu will address a joint session of the United States Congress at the invitation of the Speaker of the House John Boehner. This will take place despite strong opposition from the White House, whose approval for this event was not sought.

Netanyahu will address the danger that an Iran with nuclear weapons would represent not only for Israel, but also for the United States and the entire world. More pointedly he will seek to persuade Congress not to support a deal that the Obama administration appears to be working out with Iran that will guarantee that the Iranians will soon have such weapons. Allowing Iran to have nuclear weapons would be catastrophic, Netanyahu will argue. Read more »