EU legislators greet regime's FM with cries of 'murderer' and photos of Neda

Islamic Republic Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki received a less than enthusiastic reception from some EU parliamentarians as he made his way into the Foreign Affairs Committee in Brussels to make a speech on Tuesday, June 1, 2010.

British conservative legislator Struan Stevenson held up a photo of Neda Agha Soltan, who was killed by regime security forces during a protest in Tehran last year. He shouted 'murderer' at Mottaki as the Foreign Minister pushed his way into the committee hearing room.

Other legislators, particularly from Italy, Spain, and Estonia, joined the unusual protest, during which EU parliament security agents pushed back members of parliament, who were brandishing photos of Neda. 'We should never have invited him in the first place,' a British lawmaker can be heard saying on footage of the skirmish.



Satellite news channel Al Arabiya reported on the event and broadcast the same footage:


Meanwhile, protesters stood outside the European Union building in Brussels. One Iranian woman took a Belgian representative to task for organizing a luncheon with Mottaki as she explained that members of her family had been killed by the Islamic regime. She pointed to an older woman next to her and said that she had also lost dear ones, namely a son and a niece:


---

Further reading: The Wall Street Journal - 'Honoring Neda Soltan's Memory'

Close-Up: Students commemorate Kianoush Asa's death

Kianoush Asa

Much of the information coming out of Iran is in the form of footage uploaded to the Internet without the benefit of any description or explanation. Each installment in the Close-up series provides an in-depth analysis of a single video or a series of videos covering one event.

Hundreds of protesters commemorated the death of fellow student Kianoush Asa with a peaceful march that began at noon on Tuesday, June 1, 2010, on the campus of Elm-o-Sanat (Science and Technology) University, where Asa was pursuing a graduate degree.

Kianoush Asa was killed by security forces in Tehran's Azadi Square on June 15, 2009, but his family only managed to find his body at a Tehran morgue on June 24. He was buried in section 58, plot 12 of Bagh Ferdows cemetery in his hometown of Kermanshah a few days later.

The organizers of today's ceremony may have decided to hold the commemoration two weeks earlier than the real anniversary of his death in order to circumvent severe security measures which are expected to be in place in Tehran during the anniversary of the disputed election of June 12.

Chemical engineering building

Students were asked to congregate in front of the chemical engineering school (number 1 on map below) of Elm-o-Sanat University at noon. Kianoush Asa was studying to become a petrochemical engineer before he was killed.

The following footage shows students amassed in front of the chemical engineering school as they shout, 'Students would rather die than accept humiliation':

The protesters then marched peacefully towards what has come to be called Martyr Kianoush Asa Park (number 2 on map), a green area between the men's cafeteria and the professor's cafeteria. Students have started calling the area Asa Park since a memorial service was held for Kianoush there last year.

Students chanted 'Honorable student, support, support.' They cover their faces as they go past a man who is filming them:


The same man can be seen in this footage trying to film the faces of the students:


'We are all Kianoush and Neda. We speak with one voice,' they said, referring to Asa and Neda Agha Soltan, perhaps the most famous protester killed by security forces:


'Woe on Science and Technology University if it accepts humiliation':


Students sang the protest anthem 'Yareh Dabestaniyeh Man' (My Schoolmate). For a subtitled clip of a new version of the song, please click here:


The protesters chanted the name of opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi. 'Ya Hossein, Mir Hossein':


On March 9, 2010, Students celebrated what would have been the birthday of Kianoush at Asa Park:

Greens stage mock ballot in Stockholm

The Green Democracy group, based in Sweden, has staged another anti-Ahmadinejad event, part performance art, part demonstration. The participants organized a mock ballot in front of a banner proclaiming, 'Iran re-election 2010. Ahmadinejad is not Iran's president':



In March, to mark protests which took place around Iran during the chahar shanbeh souri fire festival, members of the group stationed themselves in public places in Stockholm and displayed videos documenting the post-election unrest on laptops:

Police stuff three suspects into car trunks

Video posted to the Internet on Monday, May 31, 2010, allegedly shows Islamic Republic police officers placing three suspects in the trunks of two police cars in Kermanshah, the capital of Kermanshah province, in western Iran. The majority of the population in that area is Kurdish.

The automobiles bear what appear to be official markings of Islamic Republic Security Forces police cars and official black registration plates. The smaller print on the car doors are illegible, but are situated in the usual spot where the jurisdiction and unit of Islamic Republic police forces are placed.

I invite readers who manage to read the writing on the car doors or who can ascertain the make of the automobiles to leave a comment.

Amnesty International releases annual report

Amnesty International released its annual report on the state of the world's human rights on Thursday, May 27, 2010. The document covers the period from January to December 2009.

In the introduction to the section addressing Iran, Amnesty states:

An intensified clampdown on political protest preceded and, particularly, followed the presidential election in June, whose outcome was widely disputed, deepening the long-standing patterns of repression. The security forces, notably the paramilitary Basij, used excessive force against demonstrators; dozens of people were killed or fatally injured. The authorities suppressed freedom of expression to an unprecedented level, blocking mobile and terrestrial phone networks and internet communications. Well over 5,000 people had been detained by the end of the year. Many were tortured, including some who were alleged to have been raped in detention, or otherwise ill-treated. Some died from their injuries. Dozens were then prosecuted in grossly unfair mass “show trials”. Most were sentenced to prison terms but at least six were sentenced to death. The election-related violations occurred against a background of severe repression, which persisted throughout 2009 and whose victims included members of ethnic and religious minorities, students, human rights defenders and advocates of political reform. Women continued to face severe discrimination under the law and in practice, and women’s rights campaigners were harassed, arrested and imprisoned. Torture and other ill-treatment of detainees remained rife and at least 12 people died in custody. Detainees were systematically denied access to lawyers, medical care and their families, and many faced unfair trials. Iran remained one of the states with the highest rates of execution and one of very few still to execute juvenile offenders: at least 388 people were executed, including one by stoning and at least five juveniles.

The report provides an overview of human rights violations in the Islamic Republic over the 12-month period which ended in December 2009 and includes the following highlights:

Unlawful killings

The authorities said 43 died in the protests but opposition sources said the true total was likely to be over 100.

Arrests and detentions

Well over 5,000 people were detained after the election by the end of the year, including opposition politicians, journalists, academics, students, lawyers, human rights activists and army officers.

Rape and other torture

Compelling evidence emerged that a number of detainees, both women and men, had been raped and otherwise tortured in detention, but instead of investigating allegations thoroughly, the authorities were quick to deny them and then harassed the victims and closed the offices of a committee collecting victims’ testimonies.

Unfair trials

Mass “show trials” involving scores of detainees were staged in successive sessions beginning in August. [...] More than 80 were convicted and sentenced to prison terms of up to 15 years; at least six others were sentenced to death.

Human rights defenders

Human rights defenders, including minority and women’s rights activists, lawyers and trade unionists, continued to face arbitrary arrest, harassment, prosecution and unfair trials throughout the year.

Discrimination against women

Women’s rights campaigners, including those active in the “One Million Signatures” campaign to end legal discrimination, were harassed, detained, prosecuted and banned from travelling for collecting signatures in support of their petition.

Freedom of expression and association

The authorities blocked websites voicing criticism, notably those of Iranian bloggers, and periodically blocked those of foreign news media reporting on Iran. [...] They also shut down or maintained bans on tens of journals, magazines and other print media, targeted critical journalists and infiltrated and undermined independent civil society groups.

Discrimination against ethnic and religious minorities

Members of Iran’s ethnic minorities continued to face discrimination along with harassment and imprisonment for advocating greater respect for social and cultural rights. [...] Among those targeted were Sunni Muslim clerics; Shi’a clerics advocating the separation of the state from religion; members of the Dervish and Ahl-e Haqq communities; members of a philosophical association called Al-e Yasin; Christians; and members of the Baha’i community, who remained unable to access higher education.

Torture and other ill-treatment

Methods reported included severe beatings; confinement in tiny spaces; deprivation of light, food and water; and systematic denial of medical treatment. At least 12 people were believed to have died in custody in 2009 apparently as a result of ill-treatment or lack of adequate medical care.

Death penalty

The rate of reported executions rose sharply during the unrest between the presidential election on 12 June and the inauguration on 5 August – 112 executions were recorded, an average of more than two a day.

To view and download the report in PDF format, please click on the links below:
A-Z Country Entries
The full report

The following video was released as an accompaniment to the 2010 Amnesty International report: