IRAN.— Women’s rights activist and journalist Faranak Farid, was arrested by plainclothes officers on 3 September 2011 upon leaving her home on an errand in Tabriz.

Allegedly, her charges were, “Insulting the Supreme Leader”, “Propaganda against the Islamic Republic regime”, and “Acting against national security”.

Faranak Farid is a member of the Azerbaijani minority in Iran, a poet, and the editor of the women’s section of the banned monthly journal, Dilmaj.

She is also a member of the One Million Signatures Campaign, also known as the Campaign for Equality. The One Million Signatures Campaign, a grassroots movement created in 2006, is a network of people, particularly women, campaigning to end discrimination against women in Iranian law.

Dozens of activists involved with the campaign have been arrested and harassed for their role in promoting the movement.

During her arrest, Farid is reported to have been assaulted and beaten by the officers. As a result of the beating, her arm was severely injured and her left eardrum was damaged, she has possibly lost hearing in her left ear.

Despite her requests for access to a doctor, Faranak Farid is not known to have received medical care.

According to several reports, Faranak Farid was interrogated extensively by the Tabriz Ministry of Intelligence agents shortly after she was detained. During the interrogation her glasses were taken from her and she was forced to sign a document that she could not read.

She is now being held in the women’s quarters of Tabriz Central Prison.

Source: wluml

IRAN.— On Sunday, July 10, 2011, four Iranian law enforcement officers entered Pegah Ahangarani’s house, taking her and some of her personal belongings into custody.

The Iranian actress and blogger was arrested as she prepared to leave for Germany to write a blog for the Deutsche Welle radio station about the women’s football World Cup.

Pegah Ahangarani was able to contact her mother briefly and reportedly told her that she neither knew where she was nor what her crime was.

Deutsche Welle discovered that Ahangarani is being detained in Tehran’s Evin prison, they have urged Iranian authorities to release her.

Pegah Ahangarani was scheduled to travel to Germany to observe the events at the FIFA Women’s World Cup to write an editorial of the event for Deutsche Welle.

Iran’s Intelligence Agency contacted Pegah Ahangarani just one day before her trip to Germany and warned her not to go, otherwise she would be arrested. Ahangarani decided to cancel her plans to travel to Germany. Ahangarani vanished soon afterwards.

On July 14, it was confirmed that she had been arrested four days earlier.

“Obviously with the arrest of Pegah Ahangarani, Tehran wants not only to prevent reporting of women’s football, but first and foremost, cooperation with Germany’s international service,” Deutsche Welle said.

Pegah Ahangarani last had contact with her family on Sunday, July 10, 2011, since then there has been no news of the actress, her family has reported her disappearance.

IRAN.— Reza Khandan, husband of imprisoned Iranian lawyer and human rights activist Nasrin Sotoudeh, has told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran that his wife is under intense pressure by security forces to give a false confession.

“Confessions are meaningful only when an individual has committed a criminal act and then confesses. But they want her to admit to doing things she has not done and to talk about them. This is not called a confession,” Khandan explained.

Reportedly, security forces told Nasrin Sotoudeh that if she does not supply a confession, she will not be allowed to leave the prison grounds. Sotoudeh has repeatedly refused to give such confessions.

“From the very first days of her arrest, she communicated that she was under pressure for confessions, but I think it was near January and February when her interrogators told her very transparently and clearly that she would not be able to leave the prison until she has been ‘interviewed.’ My wife also told them very clearly that she would not do it,” said Khandan.

Security officers have even gone so far as to prevent Sotoudeh’s transfer to Evin Prison’s General Ward for eight months. Sotoudeh was recently transferred from the General ward 209 to the Methodone ward of Evin prison.

The Methodone ward is an enclosed hall no bigger than 30 to 35 meters. The ward is normally reserved for prisoners who are addicts and use methadone as treatment to battle addiction to narcotics. The prisoners are only allowed access outside less than one hour per day. The prisoners are also banned from using facilities like the library and the phone. They are allowed cabin visits, but prohibited from face-to-face meetings.

As an attorney, Nasrin Sotoudeh was a prominent defender of human rights, the rights of women and political prisoners. Prior to her law career, Nasrin Sotoudeh was a journalist for a human rights newspaper and reported on human rights, women’s rights, and children’s rights abuses.

Nasrin Sotoudeh was arrested on September 4, 2010. Tehran Revolutionary Court sentenced her 11 years in prison, a 20-year ban on legal practice, and a 20-years ban on foreign travel on charges of “propagating against the regime” and “acting against national security.” She was also sentenced to a cash fine of $50 for taking off her hejab during a video speech.

She is currently serving her sentence and has initiated several hunger strikes to protest prison conditions and the unacceptable behavior of prison officials.

Sotoudeh is in very poor conditions in the prison and is planning to go on yet another hunger strike. The activist has lost over 30 pounds since her imprisonment in September, dwindling down to a mere 97 pounds, her husband Khandan fears for her health.

Melody is a United Nations Global Expert with the UN Alliance of Civilizations. She has also worked with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security reporting to the U.S. Congressional Commission on International Religious Freedom.

She has written for the Washington Post, CNN.com, Parabola, The Huffington Post, NPR, Ms. Magazine, and many others.

Where: UCSD, Peterson Hall Rm 104

When: May 12th, 2011 from 11a.m.- 12:30p.m.

LOS ANGELES, Ca– Friday, May 13th, the UCLA Burkle Center for International Relations and the UCLA International Institute will hold a conference on Iran. The conference will focus on Iran’s relationship with it’s Middle Eastern neighbors as well as the international community.

Questions that will be proposed include: How can relations between Iran and the outside world be improved? What are the prospects for change inside Iran? What can the United States do to engage Iran constructively? And are there lessons to be drawn from the experiences of other states that have successfully transitioned from pariah status to “member in good standing” within the international community?

Speakers include: Congressman Howard Berman, ranking Democrat on the Foreign Affairs Committee, Renee Montagne, co-host, Morning Edition,  National Public Radio, Burkle Center Senior Fellow Gen. Wesley K. Clark (ret.); Carnegie Endowment scholar Karim Sadjadpour; Jon Alterman, director of the Center for Strategic & International Studies’ Middle East Program, former CIA analyst Paul Pillar, Rand Middle East analyst Dalia Dassa Kaye, National Iranian American Council founder and president  Trita Parsi, and Abbas Milani, director of Iranian Studies at Stanford.

Registration is required to attend the conference. Admission to the conference is limited and early registration is recommended.

$25 General Admission (i.e., general public, community members, UCLA staff and faculty. $10 Student Admission (UCLA students or students of other universities and colleges; you will be asked to provide student identification at conference check-in.) Your registration fee includes breakfast, lunch, and admission to all panels and keynotes. Registration has been extended to Friday, May 6, 2011.

REGISTER ONLINE: www.international.ucla.edu/burkle/iran2011

Where: UCLA, James West Alumni Ctr. – Conference Room

When: Friday, May 13th from 9a.m.- 5p.m.

DRAFTED BY: Ashly Bloxon

IRAN.— There are currently hundreds to thousands prisoners being unjustly detained in prisons in Iran. Many of these are individuals were arrested in 2009 after protests that were ignited by the unexpected win by incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in presidential election.

The government responded swiftly to the protests, increasing restrictions on freedom of expression, association and assembly. Authorities targeted hundreds of political activists, including students, journalists, minorities, and members of political parties.

Students were at the center of these protests against the presidential election outcome and the human rights abuses committed by authorities. In Iran many still continue to face violent repression, and those that do speak out against these injustices face great risk.

Majid Tavakkoli, a student leader was arrested on December 7, 2009 after speaking at a university rally at Amir Kabir University of Technology in Tehran.

The university rally was on National Student Day and was one of numerous anti-government protests that followed the presidential election of 2009.

Majid is one of the hundreds of people who have been jailed in Iran for simply exercising their right to freedom of expression. He is now serving a term of more than eight years in prison.

Azadi Square (Freedom Square) in Tehran has been a monumental site in Iran’s history. Most recently, it was the site for the student led protests in 2009 following the disputed Presidential elections.

Amnesty International’s Azadi’s Square Action attempts to incite the government to end its violent repression and fulfill freedom to its people, as the Azadi Square signifies through its name.

Amnesty International calls on the international community to help “Shine a Light on Azadi Square” and freedom of expression by participating in a virtual protest.

Participants are to rename prominent places on their school campus or in the community “Azadi Square”, make signs denoting the location as Azadi square then take and upload a picture of the event to Amnesty International. The pictures will be used to create a virtual protest in Azadi Square calling for the freedom of Majid Tavakkoli and many other prisoners of conscience in Iran.

Learn more: http://www.amnestyusa.org/individuals-at-risk/priority-cases/shine-a-light-on-azadi-square/page.do?id=1691107