infinite hope

…Annan wants the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and governments with influence on Syria’s government or the opposition to agree on recommendations for next steps at a meeting that has been penciled in for June 30 in Geneva.

But Iran’s involvement is opposed by the United States, Britain and France, but Annan said it should be at the table.

“We are discussing the composition and other aspects of the meeting, but I have made it quite clear that I believe Iran should be part of the solution,” Annan told a news conference in Geneva.

In response to Annan’s remarks, the U.S. State Department repeated its opposition to Iran taking part, saying Tehran was playing a “destructive” role in Syria.

“We would agree that Iran should be far more constructive with regard to Syria. From our perspective that includes breaking its ties with the Assad regime and stopping what it’s doing in terms of aiding and abetting the violence that is going on,” State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said.

“In its current posture, Iran is not playing a constructive role. We don’t see any role for it therefore in the conference.”

Read more…

INDIA SAYS it is determined to continue importing oil from Iran despite EU and US sanctions aimed at stopping trade until Tehran stops what the West insists is a military nuclear programme.

Reacting to US secretary of state Hillary Clinton’s comments that the US was engaging in “very intense and very blunt” conversations with India and others such as China and Turkey to stop oil imports from Iran, New Delhi officials indicated yesterday that they would not be coerced.

India’s finance minister Pranab Mukherjee recently rejected pressure from the Obama administration to join the US-EU led sanctions against Tehran.

India imports about 12 per cent of its oil and gas requirements from Iran for an estimated $12 billion (€9 billion), and maintains it will abide only by UN sanctions and not implement those imposed by individual nations or groupings such as the US and the EU.

Read more…

standwithfreeiran:

Send an e-letter through United4Iran. 

Your Excellency:

I write to express concern about a new bill before the Iranian Parliament that contravenes Iran’s international human rights obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. I am especially concerned about provisions within the new penal code that violate the rights of Iranian citizens through:

• Continued harsh penalties for minors with girls expected to assume adult responsibilities for criminal actions from the age of nine, and boys from the age of fifteen;

• Continued use of corporal punishment such as stoning and lashing considered cruel, inhuman, and degrading;

• Increased penalties for the charge of “action against national security,” which is routinely used to silence and imprison dissidents; and

• Continued discriminatory laws against women and religious minorities.

The Iranian government should immediately start the long overdue process of revising its laws to meet international human rights standards, as called for by the UN Secretary General, the UN Special Rapporteur, the UN General Assembly, and the UN Human Rights Council. This new penal code ignores the recommendations made by the international community to Iran during its Universal Periodic Review in February 2010. This includes recommendations accepted by the government to ensure its laws were in conformity with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to which Iran is a state party.

I strongly urge you to reject this bill and to send it back for revisions that ensure Iran’s laws are in accordance with its international legal obligations and commitments.

Sincerely,

[your name here]

motherjones:

Iran is talking tough, America is scrambling the aircraft carriers, and the world economy’s bobbing like a drunken sailor. Here’s everything you wanted to know but were afraid to ask - from what it means to you, to how it relates to some mysterious explosions in Iran.

mohandasgandhi:

While winds of change have been blowing through the Arab world this year, Iranians have been forced to wait for political reform.

In 2009, in the aftermath of an election that saw Mahmoud Ahmadinejad controversially returned to power as president of the Islamic Republic, millions took to the streets of Tehran to protest against the result. But the demonstrations were brutally repressed and the hopes of the “green revolutionaries” were dashed.

Since then Iran has closed itself off to international media scrutiny and it has been difficult to determine exactly what happened to the many thousands of dissidents arrested and imprisoned during the protests, or the current scale of political opposition to the regime.

Yet as this film reveals, that opposition is still alive and kicking and just as eager for change as before. Letters from Iran paints a fascinating portrait of the aftermath of the Green Revolution and a country holding its breath. 

This is heartbreaking.

Everyone needs to watch this. 

(Source: standwithfreeiran)

standwithfreeiran:

Iran’s Islamic regime is using “child soldiers” to suppress anti-government demonstrations, a tactic that could breach international law forbidding the use of underage combatants, human rights activists have told the Observer.

The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran says troops aged between 14 and 16 have been armed with batons, clubs and air guns and ordered to attack demonstrators who have tried to gather in Tehran. The youths – apparently recruited from rural areas – are being deployed in regular riot police roles and comprise up to one-third of the total force, according to witnesses.

One middle-aged woman, who said she was attacked by the youths, reported that some were as young as 12 and were possibly prepubescent. They had rural accents, which indicated they had been brought in from villages far from Tehran, she said.

Some told her they had been attracted by the promise of chelo kebab dinners, one of Iran’s national dishes.

“It’s really a violation of international law. It’s no different than child soldiers, which is the custom in many zones of conflict,” said Hadi Ghaemi, the campaign’s executive director. “They are being recruited into being part of the conflict and armed for it.”

Read more…