In his address to the 147th session of Arab League’s Council meeting on Wednesday,
Dr Anwar bin Mohammed Gargash, United Arab Emirates (UAE) Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Emirates News Agency (WAM) reported that “thanks to the prominent role by Kuwait”, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries have adopted a realistic approach to govern their relations with Iran.
Iran has been continuing with its provocative behaviour and in the most recent incident it has carried out test-firings of ballistic missiles. One of the tests was a success and hit a floating barge located over 150 miles away. A US official said that the Fateh-110 short-range ballistic missile launches were the first ones tested in the past two years.
It also sent fast-attack vessels near to a US Navy ship in the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday. The US Navy has warships patrolling this area. The incident was described as “unprofessional” and “unsafe”. The IRGC boats came within 600 yards of the US surveillance ship “Invincible”. They then stopped, forcing the US ship and the three accompanying British Navy ships into changing course.
On Saturday 4th March, students of the Faculty of Literature at Allameh University in Tehran protested against gender segregation and inappropriate and illegal treatment.
They issued a statement about their protest. Part of it read:
“… The Nazis sent Jews to gas chambers to kill them and within a few minutes or a few hours their lives would be gone, but agents of the regime, day after day, trample upon the dignity and humanity of students! Countless people protested the methods of the Nazis because they saw the death of humanity. Shouldn’t we protest today against the ugly behaviour at Allameh Tabatabai University?”
The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) revealed at a press conference that three companies in Iran are being used as a front to carry out the smuggling of arms in the Middle East. The information revealed by the NCRI was collected by the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran’s (PMOI/MEK) network inside the country.
Conservative MP, Dr. Matthew Offord, also attended the conference to speak about Iran’s influence in the region.
For International Women’s Day, a conference entitled “Women in Political Leadership” was held in Tirana in Albania.
In attendance were activists and political leaders from all over the world. Many of the speakers spoke about the threat of the mullahs’ regime in Iran.
President-elect of the National council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), Maryam Rajavi, spoke about her wishes for equality and the bravery of the women in Iran including those who are currently imprisoned for political reasons. She also praised all freedom loving people who are working towards equality in Iran.
A report submitted to the Human Rights Council highlights the numerous abuses of human rights that are carried out in Iran.
It points out that there were at least 530 executions carried out in Iran during the 2016 period, highlighting that most of these were for minor drug-related offences.
In Iran, many prisoners are denied fair trial rights including basic due process. For example, prisoners are left incommunicado for long periods, and spend excessive amounts of time in pre-trial detainment.
The destructive role of Iran in various parts of the Middle East has been talked about over the past few weeks, with many leaders saying Iran is central to the tensions in the region. However, Tehran has been in this destructive role for nearly two decades.
Iran has sent many fighters to Yemen, Iraq and Syria, and has backed, financed and armed thousands more in other nations. Many are questioning how Iran can do this when its own economy is in such a precarious and delicate state.
Nervous that the annual Fire Festivities in Iran will involve public demonstrations, authorities are continuing to put in place suppressive measures to crackdown on the public. There have also been an increasing number of arrests in the past few days.
Shopkeepers are selling firecrackers and many have been arrested and had their goods confiscated. Reports of this happening have been coming from numerous provinces including Isfahan, Chahar Mahal & Bakhtiary, Sistan & Baluchistan, Fars, Gilan, Tehran and many more.
A call for urgent action has been issued by Amnesty International regarding Arash Sadeghi, a prisoner of conscience and a human rights defender who is being tortured and denied medical care by officials of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC).
Arash has a stomach ulcer that has resulted in digestive complications, internal bleeding and severe abdominal pain. Doctors say he needs urgent and extensive medical care.
The heart-breaking stories of young people committing suicide in Iran are becoming more and more frequent. They are testament to the difficulty of social conditions in Iran and are a result of state-mandated misogyny.
On 24th January this year, a young 26 year-old woman and future engineer, was arrested by regime officials. While she was in prison she was sexually abused. The day after she was released she killed herself.
