By Dr. Kamal Sido: Hassan Rohani, President of the Republic of Iran, is acknowledged as a reformer. Many even believe he will open his country. But since his accession to office the number of executions and the amount of human rights abuses has instead increased. Back in August 2013, when Hassan Rohani was elected as…
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Category Archives: Iran
The Dawn of an Independent Kurdistan
By Dr Jan Best de Vries: Hawler (Erbil) is the international capital of Bashur, public life is well organized, both streets and offices of American and many other foreign oil companies are well protected by the police, and, notwithstanding the permanent threat of IS at the borders of this part of Kurdistan, the atmosphere is…
De-islamization in a Free Kurdistan?
Dr. Jan Best de Vries: I am grateful that, as an outsider from Europe, in December 2014 I had the opportunity to relate in broad terms, to staff and students at the Mesopotamia Academy in Qamishlo, the history of the Kurds. When combining all the data from archaeology, history and linguistics at our disposal, one…
Execution of Another Kurdish Political Prisoner in Iran & Imminent Threat of More Executions in 2015
Kurdish Human Rights Advocacy Group Press Release: The Kurdish Human Rights Advocacy Group expresses its outrage at and condemns the brutal execution of Kurdish political prisoner Sabir Moklid Moane at the hands of the Islamic Republic of Iran on January 6, 2015 in a prison in Urmiye. According to Kurdish Human Rights activists Mr. Moane…
The Road to Jerusalem: IS Follows Saladin’s Steps
By Osamah Golpy: A popular Arabic song started to emerge in the second Palestinian intifada in 2000. It glorifies two Palestinians, a father and a son: the boy crying and the father waving, all in the eyes of the whole world, and then a burst of gunfire and dust, after which the boy is seen…
Kurd Journalist Kaboudvand, Jailed in Iran, Wins International Human Rights Prize
By Ava Homa (who received the award on his behalf): The International Center for Human Rights (ICHR) has awarded the 2014 Human Rights Prize to Muhammad Seddigh Kaboudvand, a Kurdish Journalist serving a ten-and-a-half year sentence in Evin Prison. Kaboudvand, an adopted member of PEN International was also named the international journalist of the year…
Iran: Not Just a Nuclear Issue, Save Kurdish Political Prisoners!
By Rebwar Rashed: The talks about Iran’s nuclear program and the negotiation between Iran and world powers have overshadowed the human rights issue. Iran’s nuclear program is just one, albeit a big one, of Iran’s many problems which include, for example: suppressing Kurdish people and others, such as the Balochi’s and Arabs; institutional and structural…
The war against Turkey/ISIS
By Dr. Jan Best de Vries: To my friend Salih Muslim “Under the pretense of stopping an ISIS attack on Turkey (for ISIS fighters constantly attack Kobane from Turkey – JBdeV) , the Turkish army bombarded the center of Kobani with tanks and artillery”, Kurdish newspaper Rudaw quoted Anwar Muslim, the co-chairman of Kobani, as saying…
Poetry in Exile
By Yasin Aziz: ‘The refuge we all seek is protection from forces which wrench us away from the security and comfort, physical and mental, which give dignity and meaning to human existence’ Aung San Suu Kyi Exile from country, family, social life, the atmosphere one is used to for many years: the warm social relations,…
Iranian Kurdish Women Seek a Voice
By Ava Homa: Oslo, NORWAY—The fourth Kurdish Iranian Women Conference was held this weekend in the capital of Norway. In a two day gathering, Kurdish women from across Europe, North America and Middle East came together to review the history of women’s movement and discuss its continuity. The conference has a central committee, mainly based…
UN, human rights and the inevitability of change towards a working policy for Iran
By Jamal Ekhtiar: Over the past three and a half decades, human rights issues in Iran have been on the agenda of the United Nations International rights system, but no progress has been made and now there must inevitably be change in the UN’s Iran rights policy. While the system claims to safeguard and protect human…
More Flaws in the Strategy to Defeat the Islamic State
By Glenn M Stewart B.A., M.A. Oxon: The political and strategic ramifications of the remarks made yesterday by General Martin Dempsey, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff about the possibility of using US advisors in support of both Kurdish and Iraqi government forces to attack IS forces in Iraq have clearly not been thought…
Terror, executions, the right to life, prison conditions and extra suffering for regional Iran
By Jamal Ekhtiar: One of the serious concerns under the current system in Iran is the violation of rights to life, including arbitrary executions carried out without equitable trials. The Iranian government usually justifies executions in the name of fighting crime and drug smuggling, which is an excuse because it could use other ways to…
Why Obama’s Strategy to Defeat the Islamic State Won’t Work
By Glenn M Stewart B.A., M.A. Oxon: The recent statement by the Obama administration outlining a strategy to defeat the Islamic State issued in an attempt to cover its irresponsible but honest admission that it does not have a strategy to defeat the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq is inadequate at best and laughable…
The UN and the non-implementation of existing rights laws by the Iran government
By Jamal Ekhtiar: Most of UN Special Rapporteur Dr. Shaheed’s recommendations concern some hundreds of individuals and, linked with this, Dr. Shaheed makes recommendations to the government in Iran about how to improve its legislation. However, in reality, the problems of human rights in Iran are not only associated with the need for new laws….
