Iran Letter: An Appeal for the Iranian Journalists and Activists in Turkey

Iranian journalists are amongst those who have become victims of human rights abuse, as a result of their work in promoting human rights in Iran, and have been oppressed by Iran's security agents and judiciary. These journalists, with their writing and ideas for peace, have become targets for human rights abusers.

The increasing pressure on journalists by the security agents follows no laws and rules and this has forced many of them to leave their motherland, against their will, to seek refuge in neighboring countries and to ask for asylum from the UN High Commission for Refugees. Many are currently incarcerated, and those seeking asylum face heavy sentences if they return to Iran. Iranian security agents have threatened them on numerous occasions and caused them anxiety.

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Iran Feature: The Week in Civil Society --- From House of Cinema to "Forbidden City" (Arseh Sevom)

Photographer Hoda Rostami in her "Forbidden City"

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After the Streets, “Campaign against Bad Hijab” Reaches Parks and Mountains

Last week we reported on the national re-launch of the so-called “moral security” project. The campaign has now gone beyond streets and reached mountains and parks as well.

The Forbidden City

While the Moral Security project is implemented with full force, the Iranian-Swedish artist, Hoda Rostami, challenges the treatment of her peers through the lens of her camera. Rostami’s collection of photographs from Tehran shows Iranian women freed from imposed hijab in current day-to-day situations. In an article on Tehran Review, the artist describes the motivation for her work:

My street photography soon turned into my concern for myself and others around me in a city and country that I loved, [so] I depicted it in another way, as I liked it to be. This collection is more of a manifest and an expression of words that appear to have been forbidden for years in this city.

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Bahrain Special: Preaching Religious Tolerance, Practicing Religious Discrimination

Bahrain Shia pray at the site of a demolished mosque, 24 December 2011

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The historic and continued discrimination against Shia citizens in Bahrain is regarded by many as institutionalised sectarianism, an opinion buttressed by the Al-Bandar report. Serious accusations have been leveled at the regime by NGOs, foreign governments, and the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry, but little to nothing has been done by the regime to address political, institutional, and structural causes, enabling the views which guided such policy and practice to remain intact.

There is often a notable disconnect between the Bahrain regime's rhetoric and the reality of its actions. Indeed, it is the role of the public relations firms paid millions to market a fantasy version of the island Kingdom to cover up this disconnect. However, this latest attempt for a vision of Bahrain as a modern, reforming state is remarkable in its audacity, and --- given the events at home, rather the presentation abroad --- more than a little chilling in what it perhaps purports to achieve.

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Iran Feature: The Week in Civil Society --- Standing Against Homophobia, Defending Students, and More (Arseh Sevom)

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Anti-Homophobia Campaign in Iran

May 17th marked the International Day against Homophobia and Transphobia. With sodomy remaining an offence which can be punishable by death, youth in Iran have begun a Facebook campaign to give voice to a message of anti-homophobia.

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Bahrain Live Coverage: Is the Regime Fostering Sectarian Conflict?

See also Bahrain Special: How Regime Supporters Used a New York Times Reporter (Again) To Denounce the Opposition
Bahrain/Egypt Video & Transcript: Nabeel Rajab and Alaa Abd-El Fattah with Julian Assange
Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: "Last Chance to Avoid Civil War"?
Tuesday's Bahrain Live Coverage: Countering the Regime's Allegations Against Nabeel Rajab

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0851 GMT: Wafi Al-Majed, husband of detained activist Zainab Alkhawaja, updates on her case after a brief court hearing this morning:

Zainab case postponed to 15 May. And they want the ppl of #bahrain to be silent! In your dreams. Its either our way, or the highway. Choose!

— Wafi Al-Majed (@fetusbahrain) May 9, 2012

0529 GMT: Amnesty International has declared Nabeel Rajab, the director of the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights, a "prisoner of conscience". It called for his immediate release after his arrest last Saturday at Bahrain's international airport.

Prosecutors have claimed that Rajab fomented violence through social media. His lawyer said about eight insulting tweets were mentioned in a court hearing on Sunday, which gave Rajab a seven-day detention order.

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Bahrain Document: Amnesty International on Regime's "Flawed Reforms"

A policeman challenges activist Zainab Alkhawaja, shortly before her arrest, 15 December 2011

Amnesty International, in a 58-page report, documents how the regime, despite the King's proclamation of "sweeping and broad" reforms, has failed to make significant changes since the November 2011 report of the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry. The organisation outlines a series of political, legal, and social measures which must be implemented for any notions of fairness, justice, and rights to take hold.

The Conclusions and Recommendations:

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Important recommendations contained in the BICI [Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry] report have yet to be fully implemented.

These include recommendations dealing with accountability for the human rights violations carried out in connection with anti-government protests in 2011. The reported investigations of allegations of torture and unlawful killings by the security forces have been shrouded in secrecy. So far only nine low-ranking policemen have been put on trial. The new investigative body, placed under the PPO, lacks independence, impartiality and effectiveness. Scores of prisoners, tried unfairly in military courts and sentenced to long-term prison sentences, have not been released although they were convicted solely for leading and participating in antigovernment protests without using or advocating violence. Police brutality continues unabated with daily excessive use of force to deal with demonstrators. Reports of torture and other ill-treatment continue to reach Amnesty International.

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Middle East and Iran Videos: 4 Activists on Women's Rights After the "Arab Spring"

VisionOnTV posts four interviews around last week's "Half a Revolution" event, held by Amnesty International, in London. Those interviewed are Dalia Abdelhammed Ali Ibraheem (Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights), Yara Sallam (Nazra for Feminist Studies), Layla El Wafa (Women for Libya), and Sussan Tahmasebi, a Washington-based Iranian activist.

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Iran Animated Video: The Death Penalty, the Juveniles, and a Lawyer

As part of Amnesty International's 2012 death penalty campaign, The Guardian and animators from Sherbet tell the story of lawyer Mohammad Mostafaei, who has saved 20 of the 40 juveniles he has defended from execution in Iran, and of Behnoud Shojaee, one of those whom he could not save:

Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: More Than 100 Die as Regime Takes Idlib

2024 GMT: We've been discussing a video on Twitter with several prominent activists that claims to show soldiers from the Free Syrian Army using a guided missile to destroy a T-72 tank in a convoy near Qalaat al Madiq, a besieged city in Hama province.

In which a #FSA soldier destroys a regime tank using an Anti-Tank missile - youtube.com/watch?v=LD2Eo6… #Mar15

— Fadi Mqayed ★★★ (@DSyrer) March 14, 2012

We'd note that the town of Qalaat al Madiq has been shelled by tanks for several days, and there are reports that a historic castle in the city has partially collapsed. While there are also rumors of FSA activity there, we have not been able to verify reports that the Free Syrian Army has successfully destroyed any tanks belonging to the regime.

2016 GMT: Saudi Arabia has closed its embassy in Syria and has withdrawn all embassy staff.

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Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Defiance

An insurgent fires at a regime tank in Idlib Province in the northwest

See also Syria Video Special: Interview of Paul Conroy, Survivor of Baba Amr
Friday's Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: "Assad Will Have to Kill Us All"

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2200 GMT: After clashes in Sitra in Bahrain today, a police SUV lost control and hit a wall, then burned. The Ministry of Interior reported that four policemen were injured.

An EA correspondent reports, "Sitra is now blocked by police am trying to find away in. Expectations of raids on houses & arrests on the island".

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