Archive for May 2014

China-Russia disgraceful Veto in the Security Council blocks ICC Referral of the Syrian Situation

22 May 2014 – FIDH – In a disgraceful move, Russia and China vetoed no less than accountability in Syria today at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) by rejecting an unprecedented resolution proposed by France and Lithuania referring the situation to the International Criminal Court (ICC).

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Report: Iran court orders Instagram blocked

The Washington Post – By Associated Press, Friday, May 23 – TEHRAN, Iran – An Iranian court ordered that the photo-sharing app Instagram be blocked over privacy concerns, a semiofficial news agency reported Friday, the latest in a series of websites to be banned in the Islamic Republic.

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Iran Urged To Halt Execution Of Two Ahwazi Arabs

RTT – 5.22.2014 UN human rights experts have appealed to Iranian authorities to halt the scheduled execution of two members of Iran’s Ahwazi Arab minority after their death sentences were reportedly upheld by the Iranian Supreme Court.

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Iran opposition activist free after serving term

Washington Post – By Associated Press, Published: May 22 TEHRAN, Iran — A semi-official Iranian news agency says a prominent opposition figure has left prison after serving his five-year sentence. Thursday’s report by ISNA quotes an unnamed official as saying authorities released Behzad Nabavi, a deputy parliament speaker in the 1990s and a close ally of opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi.

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Dancing to Pharrell William’s “Happy” Lands Youths in Jail

May 20, 2014—Six young men and women, who were arrested and detained in Tehran for making a video in which they danced to Pharrell William’s hit song “Happy,” should be immediately released, the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran said today.

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Iranian women post pictures of themselves without hijabs on Facebook

The Facebook page ‘Stealthy Freedoms of Iranian Women’ was set up 10 days ago and has since attracted thousands of photos. Photograph: Facebook

theguardian.com, Monday 12 May 2014 – Saeed Kamali Dehghan: Campaign set up by London-based Iranian journalist Masih Alinejad attracts more than 130,000 likes on social media site
Thousands of Iranian women are taking off their veils and publishing pictures of themselves online, igniting a debate about the freedom to wear or not wear the hijab.

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IRAN: Stop torture, cruel and inhuman treatment against Mohammad Sadiq Kaboudvand and other human rights defenders

Mohammad Sadiq Kaboudvand

Paris-Geneva, May 7, 2014 – The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint FIDH-OMCT programme, has been informed about acts of torture as well as cruel and inhuman treatment against Mr. Mohammad Sadiq Kaboudvand, an Iranian human rights defender and President of the Human Rights Organisation of Kurdistan, who has been serving an 11-year prison sentence since 2007.

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Iran:  Defending Workers’ Rights is Disrupting Public Order

“It is four years now that I am denied the chance to accompany my children to school because of my union and guild activities in defense of the legitimate rights of my co-workers … and in the hope that today’s … students, and fathers, mothers, [and] political, civil, and labor rights activists of tomorrow, would not go to prison because of their concerns for their livelihood and their children’s advancement.” Reza Shahabi, Union activist and political prisoner, first day of school, September 2013

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