#iran death penalty report

[onbreakreadlastpost]

Iranian court sentences pop star Tataloo to death for blasphemy

#FreeAmirHosseinMaghsoudloo

#FreeTataloo

#AbolishTheDeathPenalty

Iran reportedly executed at least 901 people in 2024, UN says

STOP THE EXECUTIONS IN IRAN. STOP THE DEATH PENALTY WORLDWIDE. SPREAD THE WORD.

[mrssylargray]

These are Iranian journalists Niloofar Hamedi & Elaheh Mohamadi, the reporters who 1st broke Masha Amini story a year ago. They are now on trial & facing death penalty by mullah regime in Iran for covering Masha's killing.

[f1ghtsoftly]

All The Women’s News You Missed Last Week

A Florida woman jailed for repeating the phrase “Delay, Deny, Depose” in a response to a health insurance claim denial. Australian Parliament passes a new “gag” rule on abortion debate. 3 new victims of P. Diddy come forward will allegations and more this week. 

Want this in your inbox instead? Subscribe here

LGBT: 

Syracuse judge who refused to marry same-sex couple will stop hearing criminal cases for now, officials say

Women’s Rights: 

Iran imposes strict hijab laws; approves death penalty for offenders

Texas sues New York doctor accused of posting abortion pills

Queensland parliament passes ‘unprecedented’ gag on abortion debate

Male Violence: 

Cult leader who claimed underage girls among his ‘wives’ jailed for 50 years

Hannah Kobayashi found safe after disappearance, family says 

Women cops forging ties for life with the sex trafficking victims they rescue 

The 50 men accused in mass rape of Gisèle Pelicot 

Rape inquiry linked by Swedish media to Mbappé closed 

New name, no photos: Gisèle Pelicot removes all trace of her husband 

Champion cyclist pleads guilty over Olympian wife's car death 

Yung Filly charged with reckless driving while on bail for rape charges 

Jay-Z asks court to dismiss rape lawsuit over inconsistencies 

Paula Abdul settles lawsuit alleging sexual abuse by Nigel Lythgoe 

Three men accuse Diddy of rape and sexual assault in new lawsuits 

Rapper Slowthai breaks down as he is cleared of rape 

Calls for Archbishop of York to resign over Church failings in sex abuse case 

Abuse survivors 'still failed years after inquiry' 

Harshita Brella told family her husband would kill her, mother tells BBC 

Women in the News: 

Woman charged with threatening healthcare firm by using CEO killer's words 

Assad's police threatened to bury me and my reporting. Now I'm back, and free 

Relatives of missing Syrians 'suspended between hope and despair' 

The woman helping amputees rebuild their lives in war-torn Ukraine 

Family 'devastated' no prosecutions over Garda car death

Canada's finance minister quits over Trump tariff dispute with Trudeau 

Woman killed in London triple shooting named 

One in four babies in England born by Caesarean 

Arts and Culture: 

Influencer's brand faces backlash over bullying claims 

Quannah ChasingHorse: The Indigenous American supermodel on bringing change 

Meet Karol G, Colombia's Taylor Swift 

As always, this is global and domestic news from a US perspective covering feminist issues and women in the news more generally. As of right now, I do not cover Women’s Sports. Published each Monday afternoon.

[sethshead]

Another disconcerting element of “Queers for Palestine” is that it popped up in prominent left-wing anti-Israel/pro-Palestine rallies in the immediate aftermath of Hamas’s terrorist attacks, before Israel had the chance to respond. As such, there is no way to interpret this slogan and the surrounding leftist fervor except as a signal of support not merely for Palestine, but specifically for Hamas, the jihadist movement with the explicit aim of eradicating the state of Israel. It's imperative to understand that Hamas, as detailed in its 1988 Covenant, is propelled by a fundamentalist Islamist ideology with the goal not only of eliminating all Jews but also conquering the world — just like ISIS. Senior Hamas official Mahmoud al-Zahar was recorded saying, “The entire planet will be under our law, there will be no more Jews or Christian traitors.” Western support for Hamas, under the guise of Palestinian liberation, overlooks the deep-seated radical Islamist ethos driving the organization, which, if unbridled, would jeopardize the very freedoms cherished by LGBT people across the developed world. Anyone who doubts this should try being gay, bi, or trans in most of the Middle East and North Africa’s (MENA) Muslim-majority countries. Virtually all of these nations have laws that criminalize homosexuality and being trans, some of which carry the death penalty​​. Human Rights Watch’s "Everyone Wants Me Dead" report succinctly encapsulates in its title alone the perilous environment faced by LGBT individuals in these regions​. [...] The aftermath of the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran is a harrowing tale of leftists being tortured and executed en masse by the very Islamic regime they supported for the sake of their anti-imperialist goals. Many Iranians who aligned with leftist organizations supported the revolution only to find themselves persecuted by Islamists they helped put in power. Immediately following the revolution, the new regime led by Ayatollah Khomeini began systematically oppressing LGBT people and publicly executing them by the thousands. These atrocities were justified as a means to "eliminate corruption" and prevent the "contamination" of society. Between 4,000 to 6,000 gay, lesbian, and bi people have been executed since the 1979 Islamic Revolution​​. Iran’s legal system, rooted in Islamic law, criminalizes consensual sexual relations between same-sex individuals, with penalties ranging from lashes to death. Iranian law does not distinguish between consensual and non-consensual same-sex intercourse, allowing authorities to prosecute both perpetrators and victims of sexual assault​.

But I've been told by queer activists that criminalized, illicit sex is hot, and that gay men in the Muslim world therefore have the best and most sex of anywhere. Given that frequent, anonymous, and risky sex is to those activists the high point of LGBTQ liberation, gay men in Gaza and Iran are thus freer than they are in the US. It is truly Michel Foucault's world, and we are all just living in it.

Back in reality, however, Navabi places his finger on a core part of the "Queers for Hamas" problem: the flattening of all conflicts into a single perceived intersectional struggle between power and the lack thereof. Motives, histories, local considerations, ideological incompatibility - all of these can be replaced by the imposition of provincial Western issues on very different peoples, ideas, needs, and lives. None of the individual conflicts and movements embraced by intersectionality discourse are allowed to breathe on their own, to have their own particulars respected. Instead it all becomes one vast, undifferentiated, vague liberation kitsch using the same prefabricated slogans and jargon. "How is that not its own form of small-minded, white-man's-burden, Western colonialism", you may ask. And you would be right.

[warningsine]

Guards beat female inmates in clashes that erupted at Tehran's Evin prison following a spate of executions, the family of jailed Nobel peace prize winner Narges Mohammadi said, raising new concerns about her health.

Rights activist Mohammadi, 52, who won the 2023 prize for her campaigning including against the death penalty, has been jailed since November 2021, and has spent much of the past decade in and out of prison.

The Paris-based family of Mohammadi emphasised it had no direct contact with her since her right to make phone calls was cut in November.

But it said it had learned from several other families of detainees held in Evin that clashes erupted on Tuesday as the female prisoners launched a protest in the yard against the executions.

According to rights groups, around 30 convicts were hanged this week, including Gholamreza (Reza) Rasaei, who the Iranian judiciary said was executed on Tuesday in connection with 2022 protests.

"The protest by prisoners against the execution of Reza Rasaei led to a violent crackdown by prison guards and security agents," Mohammadi's family said in a statement late Thursday, citing the reports.

"Several women who stood in front of the security forces were severely beaten. The confrontation escalated, resulting in physical injuries for some prisoners."

The family said that after being punched in the chest, Mohammadi suffered a respiratory attack and intense chest pain, causing her to collapse and faint on the ground in the prison yard.

She was bruised and treated in the prison infirmary but not transferred to a hospital outside, it said.

"We are deeply worried about her health and well-being under these circumstances," the family said.

Iran's prison authority denied that prisoners were beaten and blamed the confrontation on inmates.

Two prisoners "had heart palpitations due to the stress," but medical examinations determined that their general condition "is favourable," it said in a statement, according to the Tasnim news agency.

Relatives and supporters had earlier this month raised new concern about Mohammadi's condition, saying they had been informed of the results of medical tests carried out in July "which showed a worrying deterioration of her health".

In the past eight months, Mohammadi has been suffering from acute back and knee pain, including a herniated spinal disc. In 2021, a stent was placed on her main heart artery due to a blockage.

Mohammadi has kept campaigning even behind bars and strongly supported the protests that erupted across Iran following the September 2022 death in custody of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurd arrested for allegedly violating the Islamic republic's strict dress rules for women.

Mohammadi in June received a new one-year prison term for "propaganda against the state", on top of a litany of other verdicts that already amounted to 12 years and three months of imprisonment, 154 lashes, two years of exile and various social and political restrictions.

(AFP)

[beardedmrbean]

An Iranian court has reportedly sentenced controversial pop star Amir Hossein Maghsoudloo, also known as Tataloo, to death after he was found guilty of insulting the Prophet Muhammad.

“The Supreme Court accepted the prosecutor’s objection” to a prior five-year prison sentence for blasphemy, AFP reported, citing the Iranian newspaper Etemad.

The newspaper said: “The case was reopened, and this time the defendant was sentenced to death for insulting the Prophet.”

The Iran Front Page also reported that Tehran’s First Criminal Court sentenced Tataloo, 37, to death for insulting the Prophet after a retrial, overturning a prior five-year prison sentence.

The verdict, which followed an appeal and Supreme Court intervention, was not final and could still be challenged by the Supreme Court, according to media reports.

However, Iran International said on Sunday that the country’s judiciary denied reports claiming that Tataloo had been sentenced to death for blasphemy. It said that the initial report, published by the Jame Jam newspaper, was refuted by the judiciary’s media office, which stated that a final verdict has not yet been issued.

The Independent could not verify these claims. Tataloo, an underground musician, was extradited from Istanbul to Iran in December 2023 and has been in detention since.

Known for blending rap, pop, and R&B, he previously faced a 10-year sentence for promoting “prostitution” and was charged with anti-regime propaganda and publishing “obscene content”.

Despite his controversial image, Tataloo once engaged with conservative Iranian politicians, including a televised meeting with late president Ebrahim Raisi in 2017.

In 2015, he released a song supporting Iran’s nuclear programme, which faced setbacks after the US withdrew from the deal in 2018.

The news of the sentence came as two judges, Ali Razini and Mohammad Moghisseh, known for handling cases on national security and terrorism, were killed in a shooting at Iran’s Supreme Court in Tehran on Saturday, according to the judiciary’s Mizan Online website.

The judiciary reported that the gunman, described as a “terrorist”, entered their room, carried out the attack, and then killed himself. One other person was reportedly injured in the incident.

In 2024, at least 901 people were executed in Iran, the most in nine years, and a six per cent increase from the previous year. This includes about 40 executions in a single week in December, according to UN human rights chief Volker Turk.

“It is deeply disturbing that yet again we see an increase in the number of people subjected to the death penalty in Iran year-on-year. It is high time Iran stemmed this ever-swelling tide of executions,” Mr Turk said.

[secular-jew]

Coming to America! (In truth, it's already here).

After the gruesome killing, video footage was posted online of Sajjad Heidarnava walking the streets of Ahvaz while smiling and carrying his wife’s severed head.

An Iranian man has been sentenced to more than eight years in prison for decapitating his wife and displaying her head in public.

Mona Heidari, 17, was killed last year in February by her husband, Sajjad Heidarnava, and his brother Heydar in Ahvaz, the capital of the southwestern Khuzestan province.

After the gruesome murder, video footage was posted online of the murderer walking in the provincial capital, Ahvaz, while smiling and carrying his dead wife’s head.

Heidarnava was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison for murder and eight months for intentional assault, judiciary spokesman Massud Setayeshi told the media on January 18.

Heidari's family had forgiven the murderer and declined to demand qesas -- Iran's Islamic law of retribution.

"The accused has no right to protest against the verdict and the decision is final," the spokesman said.

Heidarnava's brother, Heidar, was sentenced to 45 months in prison for complicity in intentional hom1cide, Setayeshi said.

Heidari was married at the age of 12 and was the mother of a 3-year-old boy when she was murdered, according to Iranian media reports.

She had fled to Turkey several months before being persuaded to return to Iran by her father, according to the girl’s mother-in-law.

Human rights activists called for changes to the law to protect of women against domestic violence after Heidari's murder and to increase the minimum age of marriage for girls, which is currently 13.

In another notorious case, an Iranian man was sentenced to nine years in prison for beheading his 14-year-old daughter with an axe in a so-called “honor” k1lling that prompted widespread outrage in the country in August 2020.

In Iran, “honor” killings are only punishable by up to 10 years in prison. Otherwise, murder is punishable by a life sentence or the death penalty.

Many in Iran have blamed the Islamic legal system as well as the country's patriarchal culture and traditions for fostering an environment that allows for "honor" k1llings.

Iran is currently enveloped in a wave of unrest over the death of a young woman while in police custody for allegedly wearing a head scarf improperly.

Women and girls have spearheaded the anti-government demonstrations demanding more rights and freedoms.

[female-malice]

The Iranian regime has executed more than 127 people, including women and children, since the Hamas attacks of 7 October, according to human rights groups.

According to data collected by Iran Human Rights (IHR) and the Norway-based organisation Hengaw, which have been cross-referenced by the Observer, there has been an alarming rise in executions since the beginning of the war between Israel and Hamas.

A third group, Human Rights Activists in Iran (HRA), confirmed that there has been a significant increase in executions since the 7 October attacks, stating that on Wednesday last week, the regime executed seven people within a 24-hour period.

Human rights activists and the families of those put to death have accused the regime of using the world’s preoccupation with war in Gaza as a cover to exact revenge on dissidents and put people to death without due judicial process.

“Since the start of the war, there has been little international focus on the human rights situation in Iran, and there has been no substantial response to the significant increase in executions,” said Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, the director of IHR, who added that his organisation has recorded double the number of executions in October and November compared with August and September.

Those who have been put to death in the last two months include a child, 17-year-old Hamidreza Azari, whose death was labelled “deplorable�� by the UN last week.

IHR claims that Azari was executed for murder at Sabzevar prison after giving a “forced confession”, and that state media falsely gave his age as 18 when reporting his death.

Iran has also executed 22-year-old Milad Zohrevand, the eighth protester linked to the Women, Life, Freedom movement to face the death penalty for participating in the nationwide anti-regime protests that erupted across Iran last year following the death of Mahsa Amini, a Kurdish woman who died while in police custody after allegedly being arrested for breaching Iran’s strict dress code.

The UN also condemned Zohrevand’s execution, saying that “available information indicates that his trial lacked the basic requirements for due process under international human rights law” and that it was “troubled” by reports that Zohrevand’s parents were arrested following his execution.

In October, the UN condemned the Iranian regime for carrying out executions at an “alarming rate”. It said, according to its data, at least 419 people were put to death between January and July this year, which constitutes a 30% increase compared with the same time period in 2022.

But Iranian human rights groups now say that the surge of executions over the past two months has pushed the total number of death sentences carried out by the regime since the beginning of 2023 to more than 700. Civil rights activists inside the country say the executions come at a time of sustained and brutal repression by the Iranian authorities determined to re-establish their authority after months of protests and unrest.

“We face increasing restrictions due to the dozens of morality police on the streets, and we face harassment or arrests if we even share the news of executions or killings on social media. They are using the silence of the international community to avenge our calls for freedom,” said one political activist inside Iran, who said they have already been detained multiple times.

The regime has faced allegations that it is carrying out death sentences in secret, without informing family members and without giving those facing execution access to legal representation.

The family of 27-year-old Hossein Ali Dil Baluch, who was handed the death penalty for drug offences, say he had reportedly had his sentence reduced due to lack of evidence before he was suddenly executed in secret at Birjand central prison on 19 October. His family say they were not told in advance and did not have the chance to see him before he died.

“In the majority of these cases, at least 95%, the defendants lacked legal representation and didn’t have a lawyer to support them,” said Moein Khazaeli, a human rights lawyer at Dadban, a centre for counselling and legal education of activists.

“In most of the cases in the hands of the revolutionary court, the defendants didn’t even have access to the case files and didn’t even know what the accusations were.”

Activists and protesters who spoke to the Observer said the repression of those critical of the regime and those belonging to minority groups also continues to rise in Sistan-Baluchistan, Kurdish regions and among the Baha’i community.

Since the beginning of October, 38 Baha’i citizens have been collectively sentenced to more than 133 years of imprisonment by judicial authorities, according to human rights groups. The Baha’i community constitutes Iran’s largest non-Muslim minority and has been subjected to mass arrests, abductions and long-term imprisonment.

Human rights activists also say that in recent weeks the regime has been carrying out executions of prisoners who have been detained for years, sometimes decades, as their cases move through the judicial system.

Meysam Chandani was 22 when he was arrested in Sistan-Baluchistan province by the Islamic Republic’s intelligence forces in Saravan in 2011 and charged with “waging war against god”. Activists claim that for years Chandani faced torture and was refused medical help before his death on 11 November.

Many of those put to death in recent weeks had been charged with drug-related offences.

On 15 November, Zarkhaton Mazarzehi, 46, who was a mother and grandmother, was put to death after being charged with drug-related offences. A relative said she was a widow and supporting her whole family when she was arrested, and that after she was charged she was not given access to a lawyer and denied the charges.

“Zarkhaton did not surrender to the pressure [to confess],” they said. “The world shouldn’t doubt that the executions in Baluchistan have increased and will continue to increase in order to create terror among the people.”

The Baluch minority, most of whom are Sunni Muslims, have been disproportionately targeted, accounting for nearly one-third of all executions. The vast majority of Iran’s Muslims are Shia.

In the past few months, there has also been a wave of arrests of dissidents and lengthy sentences handed down to anti-regime protesters.

In November, Mahsa Yazdani, whose son was reportedly killed after being shot by security forces during an anti-regime protest in 2022, was sentenced to 13 years in prison after she demanded justice for her child on social media.

At the end of October, Iranian authorities also arrested Nasrin Sotoudeh, a prominent lawyer and human rights defender, as she attended the funeral of a teenage girl who died after a disputed metro incident with a member of Iran’s morality police.

[underthewingsofthblackeagle]

Defying Hijab Rules in Iran Now Punishable by Death The Iranian government's new hijab law imposes severe penalties, including death or up to 15 years in prison, on women who defy strict dress codes. This oppressive legislation targets personal freedom, silencing women while legitimising public harassment and punishment. Amnesty International has condemned the law, which criminalises even sending unveiled videos abroad. Despite the repression, Iranian women continue to resist, standing firm against the regime's control. The law follows the tragic death of Mahsa Amini in 2022, intensifying societal tensions. This report explores the resilience of Iranian women, their struggle for autonomy, and the fight for a future free of oppression.

[humanrightsupdates]

Iran: Alarming Surge in Executions

87 Executions Reported after June Elections, including 29 in One Day

(Beirut) – Iranian authorities have reportedly executed at least 87 people in the month after the presidential elections in late June, 2024, Human Rights Watch said today. Among those executed was Reza (Gholamreza) Rasaei, a Kurdish man arrested during the 2022 nationwide “Women, Life, Freedom” protests that followed the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Jina Amini in custody.

The nongovernmental group Iran Human Rights reported that in addition to the spate of post-election executions, on the morning of August 7 the authorities carried out mass executions of 29 prisoners at 2 prisons. Twenty-six people were executed at Ghezel Hesar Prison and three people at Karaj Central Prison. Those executed included 17 people sentenced for “premeditated murder,” 7 convicted on drug-related charges, and 2 Afghan nationals sentenced for “rape.” Human Rights Watch has for many years documented serious due process violations and unfair trials in Iranian courts.

“The Iranian authorities are carrying out an egregious execution spree while trumpeting their recent presidential elections as evidence of genuine change,” said Nahid Naghshbandi, acting Iran researcher at Human Rights Watch. “For those campaign slogans to be meaningful, Iran’s new president, Masoud Pezeshkian, should urgently intervene to overturn existing death sentences, place a moratorium on capital punishment, and take steps to reform the judiciary.”

The Iranian government has long made extensive use of the death penalty, including in response to protests in which those prosecuted and executed were exercising their fundamental rights to free expression and peaceful assembly. Human Rights Watch opposes the use of the death penalty in all circumstances because of its inherent cruelty. The Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) reported that the authorities executed Rasaei on August 6 at Dizelabad prison in Kermanshah without prior notice to his family or a final meeting with them. Rasaei, 34, was a member of the Yarsan religious minority group from Sahneh in Kermanshah province. Rasaei was arrested on November 24, 2022, in Shahriar, Tehran, and transferred to Dizelabad prison after his interrogation.

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: Jeff Brumley

Published: Sep 18, 2023

A U.S. agency has added 11 nations to its list of countries willing to use fines, imprisonment or the death penalty to punish those accused of insulting religious beliefs or institutions.

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Liberty increased its list of the number of countries with blasphemy laws from 84 in 2020 to 95 this year, a 13% increase. The list includes democracies, theocracies and several traditional American allies spanning the globe.

The commission’s newly released report defines blasphemy as any “act of insulting or showing contempt or lack of reverence for God or sacred things,” while laws criminalizing the behavior typically seek to “punish expressions or acts deemed blasphemous, defamatory of religions, or contemptuous of religion or religious symbols, figures or feelings.”

But whether the ordinances call for fines, imprisonment or capital punishment, such measures violate basic human rights standards established by the United Nations General Assembly, USCIRF said. “Under international human rights law, freedom of religion or belief includes the right to express a full range of thoughts and beliefs, including those that others might find blasphemous.”

While proponents of blasphemy rules and practices claim they promote social harmony, “in practice, blasphemy laws empower government officials to punish individuals who express minority viewpoints. In Bangladesh, a tribunal recently sentenced a Hindu man to seven years in prison for allegedly insulting Islam in a Facebook post,” the report said. “In Russia, blasphemy charges are often, though not exclusively, used to target individuals who are perceived to have insulted the Russian Orthodox Church.”

Yet nearly half the world’s nations have adopted blasphemy laws, often claiming the provisions promote internal security and social and religious cohesion, the agency said. “Blasphemy laws can be contained in a variety of legal instruments, including constitutions and statutory laws, and are often part of national penal codes.”

The countries USCIRF added to its 2023 blasphemy fact sheet are the Bahamas, Barbados, El Salvador, Guatemala, Cambodia, Kiribati, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Monaco, Portugal and Cape Verde.

Language from the Bahamian constitution and penal code, which USCIRF provides for the nations listed, declares itself a Christian nation where the sale of “any blasphemous book, writing or representation shall be liable to imprisonment for two years.”

In newly added Monaco, where Catholicism is the state religion, anyone “who has, by word or gesture, desecrated the objects of worship, either in the places intended or currently used for its exercise … or even outraged the ministers of religion in their functions” can face one to six months imprisonment and a fine.

A nation’s addition to the list does not necessarily mean its anti-blasphemy practices are new. The same holds for countries whose maximum sanction designations have changed. Saudi Arabia, for example, was listed with “no sanction specified” in 2020, but now has joined Brunei, Iran, Mauritania and Pakistan as those open to the death penalty in blasphemy cases.

And a country’s absence from a maximum punishment designation may not preclude it from using those sentences. Afghanistan is currently described as having no specific sanction for blasphemy, but the Taliban has stated a reliance on a form of Islamic jurisprudence that designates blasphemy as a capital offense, USCIRF explained.

Italy is included with Columbia,��Spain, Switzerland, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan as countries that levy fines for blasphemy. Its criminal code includes a provision for up to a year in prison for anyone who “insults the state religion,” which is Catholicism.

Eighty nations include imprisonment for blasphemy violations, USCIRF said. In addition to the Bahamas, they include Austria, Brazil, Germany, Finland, Burma, Cambodia, Egypt, India, Israel, Ukraine and Yemen.

Countries in all categories span the globe, with 13 in the Americas, 28 in the Asia Pacific region, 16 in Europe, 18 in the Middle East and North Africa and 20 in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Such laws, however light the punishment called for, foster discrimination and intolerance against religious minorities, USCIRF added. “While it is legitimate for individuals to speak out against blasphemy, legislation criminalizing blasphemy violates the right to freedom of religion or belief and the right to freedom of opinion and expression. International human rights law protects the rights of individuals; it does not protect religious feelings, figures or symbols from behavior or speech considered blasphemous.”

Another danger of blasphemy laws is that they open the door to persecution and mob justice, the report explains. “Individuals accused of blasphemy risk retribution from individuals and non-state actors in addition to government officials. In February 2023, a crowd in Pakistan stormed a police station and killed a man being held on suspicion of blasphemy. … In May 2023, Sri Lankan authorities arrested stand-up comedian Jayani Natasha Edirisooriya for allegedly ‘defaming Buddhism’ during a comedy show.”

Blasphemy statutes also can be manipulated by individuals to settle personal or business disputes, USCIRF said. “In January 2023, the colleague of a Christian woman working with Pakistan’s Civil Aviation Authority threatened to accuse her of blasphemy following a workplace dispute. In July 2022, a Pakistani court reportedly sentenced Ashfaq Masih to death for blasphemy. The blasphemy allegation emerged following a dispute Masih, a bicycle mechanic, had with a customer.”

==

We're going backwards.

There are some actions which are unnecessary to do—until someone tells you that you can’t do them. And then you must do them, if only to retain your right to make your own decisions on the matter. It is not really important, for example, whether you sit at the front or the back of a bus—until someone tells you that you can’t sit at the front. It’s not worth risking your life to eat at a lunch counter or to cross a bridge—until some thug tells you that you can’t cross it. And then you must. -- Robert Tracinski

When believers demand that even those who don't subscribe to an ideology must obey it, we have to keep blaspheming, insulting their religious ideas, and desecrating their religious symbols.

Simply to oppose the demand.

[mithliya]

The alleged torture of three young Iranian men facing the death penalty has been detailed in a report by Amnesty International that raises deep concerns about the country’s judicial system.

One of the men, Mehdi Mohammadifard, was raped by prison guards and severely beaten, the rights group said. Amnesty said it had learned that Mohammadifard suffered anal injuries and rectal bleeding that required treatment in a hospital outside the prison where he was being held.

The 19-year-old went into hiding after being summoned for questioning by the Revolutionary Guards before his arrest in the early hours of 2 October. During his arrest he was thrown to the floor and suffered a broken nose, Amnesty said.

Mohammadifard was sentenced to death along with 18-year-old Arshia Takdastan and 31-year-old Javad Rouhi in connection with protests in Noshahr, in Mazandaran province, on 21 September that broke out in response to the death in police custody five days previously of Mahsa Amini.

Their convictions on charges including “corruption on Earth” and “enmity against God” are subject to appeal at the supreme court.

Amnesty said it had obtained information that Rouhi was subjected to severe beatings and floggings, including on the soles of his feet and while being tied to a pole, and that ice had been placed on his testicles. Takdastan has also been repeatedly subjected to beatings, Amnesty said.

Amnesty said the accused were denied the right to a lawyer of their choice at a hearing lasting less than an hour. It has called for the death sentences to be quashed.

Diana Eltahawy, Amnesty International’s deputy director for the Middle East and north Africa, said: “The fact that Arshia Takdastan, Mehdi Mohammadifard and Javad Rouhi and their anguished relatives live under the shadow of execution while Revolutionary Guards’ agents and prosecution officials reasonably suspected of responsibility or complicity in their sexual abuse and other forms of torture enjoy absolute impunity highlights the sheer cruelty and inhumanity of Iran’s judicial system.

“The Iranian authorities must immediately quash the convictions and death sentences of these young men and drop all charges related to their peaceful participation in protests. They must also order a prompt, transparent and impartial investigation to bring all those reasonably suspected of responsibility for their torture to justice in fair trials.”

The names of those suspecting of being responsible for the treatment of the three men are due to be handed to western authorities.

[abwwia]

Jailed Human Rights Activist Narges Mohammadi, 51, has been awarded the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize

in recognition of her fight against the oppression of Iran’s women and her fight to promote human rights and freedom for all.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?si=CZkb9BU0DfcdoPQ2&v=mgFh2o2dupY&feature=youtu.be

Narges Mohammadi at her home in Tehran last year during a medical furlough from prison. | Credit Reihane Taravati

Read: She Lost Her Career, Family and Freedom. She’s Still Fighting to Change Iran.

Fighting for change has cost Narges Mohammadi her career, separated her from family and deprived her of liberty. But a jail cell has not succeeded in silencing her. www.nytimes.com/2023/06/02/world/middleeast/narges-mohammadi-iran-political-prisoner.html (June 2023)

Narges Mohammadi (Persian: نرگس محمدی; born 21 April 1972) is an Iranian human rights activist, Nobel laureate, and scientist.

She is the vice president of the Defenders of Human Rights Center (DHRC), headed by fellow Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi.

She is a vocal proponent of mass feminist civil disobedience against hijab in Iran and a vocal critic of the hijab and chastity program of 2023.

In May 2016, she was sentenced in Tehran to 16 years' imprisonment for establishing and running "a human rights movement that campaigns for the abolition of the death penalty." She was released in 2020 but sent back to prison in 2021, where she has since given reports of the abuse of detained women. Via Wikipedia

#NargesMohammadi #Persian محمدی# #nobel #nobelprize #womensrights #peace #PalianShow #protectthewomen #stopwaronwomen #iran #iranian #iranianwomen #freedom @followers

[deborahdeshoftim5779]

The price of living under Islamic totalitarianism. Iranian musician Tataloo (so named because of his tattoos) has been "found guilty" of insulting Islam's founder, Muhammad. Of course, Iran's courts do not function according to Western standards, so any judgement of guilt ought to be dismissed as untrustworthy.

The world has watched in horror as Iranian mutawe'en (Islamic morality police) beat Mahsa Amini to death in September 2022, then attempted to conceal their crime. The Iranian regime used violence, mass imprisonment, death penalties, and sexual violence on Iranian women and men, when the latter two rose up in protest.

The Iranian regime is suspected of biological terrorism, owing to widespread reports of schoolgirls experiencing poisoning symptoms. Up until now, Iran has not faced any referral to the ICJ or the ICC for possible biological terrorism and enormous acts of repression.

Iran's collapse into brutality and savagery is the direct consequence of the Islamic Revolution of 1979. This revolution must be recognised as the destroyer of civilisation within that country, and for Iran to have a future, said revolution must be declared null and void. Doing so would bring enormous benefits to Iran and the Middle East, which has suffered due to Iran's malignant axis of terrorism.

It should also be noted that other Islamic nations have terrorised citizens with false charges of insulting Muhammad or insulting Islam. In Pakistan, a Christian girl named Rimsha was subjected to Muslim violence and threats after being falsely accused of insulting the Qur'an. Clearly, such threats are a terror tactic used by Muslim mobs in order to incite violence, mainly against non-Muslims. But I recall a headline from several years ago of an Egyptian Muslim who had questioned aspects of the Qur'an and was sentenced to prison.

The Muslim world is entrenched in totalitarianism and apocalyptic violence. It has failed to resolve its thousand year old war between the Sunni sect and the Shi'a sect. (Can anyone name another war that has raged for over one thousand years?) It has failed across the board to adopt the Western norms of political and civil rights that many former colonial powers had brought to Muslim lands. It has failed to reject the murderous and wicked doctrine of jihad, which is responsible for so much violence across the world, and the murder of countless innocent people.

The West not only needs to hold Iran accountable for its latest trumped-up charges, but also hold the Muslim world accountable for establishing these tyrannical regimes in the first place.

Iranian musician Tataloo has been convicted of preposterous and sinister charges; there's no way of verifying "guilt" for a non-crime; he was most likely subjected to coercion and/or torture; any hope for an "appeal" is unlikely to succeed against such a fraudulent and terroristic "legal" system.

We demand that these false charges be dropped.

Free Tataloo.

[dr-jan-baloch]

BW News: The Iranian authorities have executed several Baloch prisoners in Iran in the past few weeks, raising concerns over a sharp increase in death penalties, particularly among the Baloch population.

On Thursday, December 5, 2024, Mahdi Hossein Zahi, a 25-year-old Baloch prisoner from Mehrstan, was executed at Zahedan Central Prison.

According to the campaign, Mahdi was arrested in 2021 on charges of murder. He denied the accusation, claiming that he confessed to the crime based on a promise from the complainant that they would forgive him.

However, the victim’s family refused to pardon him and demanded the execution of his sentence. Mahdi had been held in Saravan Prison for two years before being transferred to Zahedan Central Prison in 2023.

His family was granted a final meeting with him just two days before his execution, on December 3, 2024.

Earlier executions reported by the campaign also took place at Zahedan Central Prison. On December 1, 2024, Ahmad Shah-Bakhsh (Khanshini), 33, was executed after being sentenced to death for murder in 2019.

Ahmad, a married father of two, was from Zahedan and had been held in various prisons before being transferred to Zahedan Central Prison for execution.

Additionally, on December 2, 2024, Khadanur Gorgij, 31, from Zabol, was executed after being convicted of murder.

The execution of Davood Mohammadi Takht-Shah(33) and Osman Dahmardeh(26) on November 28, 2024, following convictions for drug trafficking, also sparked controversy over the fairness and transparency of the Iranian Judicial system.

The two men were arrested in 2019 on the Yazd-Ardakan highway, but their families maintained that no drugs were found on their persons or in their vehicle. Despite this, their executions were carried out after nearly six years of legal proceedings.

Additionally, reports indicate that Reza Shirzai (Narouei), a 24-year-old Baloch from Zabol, was executed on November 27, 2024, in Ghezel Hesar Prison in Karaj after being convicted of murder. His family claims that he was wrongfully accused following a group altercation at a wedding.

Baloch analysts believe these executions are part of an ongoing pattern of capital punishment in Iranian prisons, particularly targeting Baloch people.

In the first half of 2024, at least 34 Baloch prisoners were executed, with Zahedan and Birjand prisons being notorious for carrying out a high number of death sentences.

[qnewsau]

Australian embassy in Iran celebrates Wear it Purple Day

New Post has been published on https://qnews.com.au/australian-embassy-in-iran-celebrates-wear-it-purple-day/

Australian embassy in Iran celebrates Wear it Purple Day

Staff at the Australian embassy in Iran have celebrated the annual LGBTQIA+ awareness day Wear It Purple with an Instagram post in the country which still has the gay death penalty on the books.

Wear it Purple Day is an Australian event focussed on supporting and affirming Aussie queer youth. Each year Wear it Purple Day is on the last Friday in August.

Ian McConville (above centre) was appointed Australia’s ambassador to Iran in April. He and his colleagues at the Australian embassy in Tehran celebrated Wear it Purple Day, sharing photos on the embassy’s official Instagram page at the weekend.

The staff celebrated the day “with a splash of purple in every corner, and some delicious cupcakes made with love,” the post read.

“Today, and every day, we’re dedicated to creating a supportive environment, where everyone, especially LGBTQIA+ youth, can feel proud to be themselves,” it read, in both Persian and English.

“Let’s keep championing diversity and inclusion for a brighter, more inclusive future.”

The post attractive negative comments, but the German embassy in Tehran also gave a shout-out with purple hearts in a comment on the Instagram post.

  View this post on Instagram

  A post shared by Australia in Iran (@australiainiran)

Iran criminalises homosexuality

The show of support for LGBTQIA+ people is vital as Iran’s strict laws curtail queer Iranians’ human rights.

Under Iranian law, same-sex conduct is strictly banned. Women face punishments of flogging and, for men, homosexuality attracts the death penalty.

A US State Department report earlier this year warned security forces “harass, arrest, and detain individuals they suspected or perceived as being LGBTQI+.”

“In some cases, security forces raided houses and monitored internet sites for information on LGBTQI+ persons,” the report said.

For the latest LGBTIQA+ Sister Girl and Brother Boy news, entertainment, community stories in Australia, visit qnews.com.au. Check out our latest magazines or find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.