On 11^th April, over 4,500 truck drivers continued with their assembly and strike in Bandar Abbas transportation terminal, southern Iran, for the sixth consecutive day. The previous day, officials of the Iranian regime arrested three protestors instead of listening to their requests.

Mr. Gérard Deprez, a Belgian politician, Member of European Parliament and Chair of Friends of a Free Iran wrote a letter urging Ms. Federica Mogherini, the European Union’s High Representative, to use her planned visit to Iran this week to publicly speak out for human rights in the country.

The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) has published a press release by the British Parliamentary Committee for Iran Freedom (BPCIF) on their website. The press release calls for Ms. Federica Mogherini, the European Union Foreign Affairs Chief, to cancel her imminent trip to Iran taking into consideration the abysmal human rights record of the regime.

On Monday the European Union extended sanctions against over eighty officials in the Iranian regime. These sanctions have been extended until 2017 due to “serious human rights violations” taking place in Iran according to an EU position carried by the website of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI).

The Iranian regime’s Vice President for Women and Family Affairs in Iran, Shahindokht Molaverdi, has been summoned to the Prosecutor’s Office, a report by the Women’s Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) has revealed. This is due to her disclosure about all men being murdered in a village in Sistan and Baluchistan, a province in south-eastern Iran.

The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) has reported that prosecutors in Germany have filed espionage charges against two Iranians. They are accused of spying on exiled opposition members on behalf of the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS).

The German prosecutors announced that the indictment against “31-year-old Maysam P. and 33-year-old Saied R.” has been filed at a court in Berlin. (Their full names were not revealed due to German privacy laws.) These two men are said to have once been members of the People’s Mujahedin of Iran (PMOI /MEK), the leading opposition group.

As the Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi was preparing to visit Iran, the Iranian Resistance called for the cancellation of his visit. In an article on the National Council of Resistance of Iran’s website, they state that they are concerned that the terrorist and religious dictatorship ruling Iran is going to use the occasion to “step up human rights violations and export of terrorism and fundamentalism”. After all, the regime has a history of using such visits against the interests of not just the Iranian people, but also against “peace and tranquillity in the region”.

The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) has reported about the terrible suffering of the “butterfly children” in Iran. The children are suffering from a condition called “epidermolysis bullosa” (EB), often referred to as “butterfly disease” because the patient’s skin is as fragile as a butterfly. The incredibly delicate skin of sufferers blisters easily and is immensely uncomfortable.

The Women’s Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) on April 4 published a report, pointing out that the employment rate of women in Iran is significantly low, compared to other developing countries. 

“Only 12% of women aged 10 and above are considered economically active”, the report said, quoting the Statistical Centre of Iran. Iran is the second largest economy in the Middle East and North Africa region, yet a visible gender gap in employment allowed only 12 percent of women to contribute to the economy.