IRAN/ROJHELAT: NEWS BRIEFING, 06 – 20 February 2021

9. Iran Confederate: Call for participation to take actions to end the machine of execution and repression in Iran and the unconditional release of the recent detainees in Kurdistan and all political prisoners of the Iranian people!

10. Kurdish man tortured and killed by Tehran police: human rights network

11. Iranian-Canadian scholar sentenced to seven years in jail in Iran

12. Open letter to Mr. Javaid Rehman over recent arrests in Iran: Kurdish Human Rights Advocacy Group

REPORTS

1. Human Rights Violations in Kurdistan of Iran (Annual Report)

2. New UN Report Assails Iran for Persistent Discrimination against Women

3. Monthly report on human rights violations in Kurdistan; arrests of 101 Kurdish activists, death of six Kolbars in January

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1. Human Rights Professor, Reza Eslami Sentenced as Bargaining Chip for “Hostage Diplomacy”

19 February 2021 | Iran Human Rights

Reza Eslami, human rights professor, member of the faculty of Shahid Beheshti University and a dual Iranian-Canadian citizen has recently been sentenced to seven years in prison, banned from university teaching and leaving the country.

https://iranhr.net/en/articles/4630/

2. Kolbar killed by soldiers in Iran

17 February 2021 | AFN

Iranian soldiers killed a kolbar from Balochistan on the Iran-Pakistan border. Again and again, news of kolbars killed by the Iranian forces come through from the border region to southern and northern Kurdistan. But also in the oppressed region of Baluchistan

https://anfenglishmobile.com/articles/search?q=iran

3. Over 1,300 IDPs and refugees arrived in Kurdistan Region in January 2021: JCC

15 February 2021 | Kurdistan24

The Kurdistan Region’s Joint Crisis Coordination Centre (JCC) on Sunday reported that in January 2021 over 1,300 internally displaced persons (IDPs) and refugees arrived at Kurdistan Region. According to the JCC statistics for the month of January, there were still 930,550 IDPs and refugees in the Kurdistan Region in January 2021 as well as 10,572 Iranians and refugees from other Arab countries.

https://www.kurdistan24.net/en/story/23943-Over-1,300-IDPs-and-refugees-arrived-in-Kurdistan-Region-in-January-2021:-JCC

4. Five Kurdish activists imprisoned, one taken to an unknown location for ‘further interrogation’

15 February 2021 | KHRN

Six Kurdish activists that were detained in the recent wave of arrests in Iran have been transferred to prisons in Orumiyeh and Mahabad during the past week, after the completion of their interrogation. One of these activists has later been taken from prison to an unknown location to be “further interrogated”…

https://kurdistanhumanrights.org/en/five-kurdish-activists-imprisoned-one-taken-to-an-unknown-location-for-further-interrogation/

5. Zahra Mohammadi (Zara), Kurdish language teacher’s 5 years imprisonment sentence confirmed

14 February 2021 | Hengaw

According to a report received by Hengaw Human Rights Organization, the Iranian Court of Appeals in Kurdistan Province reduced the initial sentence of 10 years imprisonment for Zahra Mohammadi, a Kurdish language teacher and head of the Nojin Socio-Cultural Association to 5 years.

https://hengaw.net/en/news/zahra-mohammadi-zara-kurdish-language-teachers-5-years-imprisonment-sentence-confirmed

6. 10 years imprisonment for two citizens in Piranshahr

12 February 2021 | Kurdpa

The court charged these two citizens with “membership and cooperation with one of the Kurdish opposition parties of the Iranian government,” citing Article 499 of the Islamic Penal Code approved by the Penitentiary Division in 1375 and, in accordance with Article 2 of the Law on Reducing the Punishment of Imprisonment in 1399.

https://kurdpa.net/en/news/10-years-imprisonment-for-two-citizens-in-piranshahr

7. Iranian repression targets women in Rojhilat

12 February 2021 | AFN

The wave of arrests against Kurdish civil society in Iran harshly affects women. Some of the women detained continue to be interrogated in Revolutionary Guard prisons. The wave of arrests that has hit Kurdish civil society in Rojhilat since January also affects several women. At least six of a total of twelve activists who have been imprisoned along with …

https://anfenglish.com/women/x-49963

8. Pandemic forces Iran to cancel mass marches for revolution anniversary

10 February 2021 | Al-Monitor

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, Iran’s state-organized marches marking the anniversary of its 1979 revolution had to be reduced to vehicle parades. Yet Iranian officials found their own ways to address tensions with the West.

https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/contents/trending-topics/iran-us-tensions.html

09 February 2021 | Rudaw

Since the last month and a half, more than 100 people, including men, women, young people whose hearts are beating eagerly for changes in their occupied society and homeland, have been arrested in Kurdistan by regime intelligence.

http://rojhelat.info/en/?p=10217

10. Kurdish man tortured and killed by Tehran police: human rights network

09 February 2021 | Rudaw

A young Kurdish man was tortured and killed three days after being detained by police in Tehran, the Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) reported on Tuesday.

https://www.rudaw.net/english/middleeast/iran/090220212

11. Iranian-Canadian scholar sentenced to seven years in jail in Iran

09 February 2021 | Rudaw

An Iranian-Canadian university professor was sentenced to seven years in prison in Iran, banned from leaving the country and teaching on charges of “cooperating with hostile foreign powers”, Iranian media outlets reported on Monday.

https://www.rudaw.net/english/middleeast/iran/090220211

12. Open letter to Mr. Javaid Rehman over recent arrests in Iran: Kurdish Human Rights Advocacy Group

07 February 2021 | Ekurd Daily

Condemnation of Recent Arrests by the Islamic Republic of Iran and Call for Action to Release Kurdish and non-Kurdish prisoners in Iran – an open letter to Mr. Javaid Rehman, Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran…

https://ekurd.net/open-letter-mr-javaid-rehman-2021-02-07

REPORTS

1. Human Rights Violations in Kurdistan of Iran (Annual Report)

February 2021 | KMMK

The Kurdish community remains one of the most suppressed groups in the country, with individuals being persecuted, arrested and in many cases sentenced to death, due to their alleged activism. The share of Kurdish political prisoners remains dramatically high in Iran.

https://kmmk-ge.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/KMMK2020-1.pdf

2. New UN Report Assails Iran for Persistent Discrimination against Women

15 February 2021 | Center for Human Rights in Iran

In the latest report issued by the UN’s top expert on Iran, UN special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran Javaid Rehman expressed alarm and concern over a broad range of human rights violations in the Islamic Republic, including the persistence of discrimination against women and minorities, juvenile executions, the persecution of human rights defenders and the lack of any accountability for the state violence against protestors in November 2019.

https://www.iranhumanrights.org/2021/02/new-un-report-assails-iran-for-persistent-discrimination-against-women/

3. Monthly report on human rights violations in Kurdistan; arrests of 101 Kurdish activists, death of six Kolbars in January

12 February 2021 | Kurdistan Human Rights

Investigations carried out by the Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) demonstrate the human rights violations committed by Iran against Kurds in the first month of the year as 101 have been arrested

https://kurdistanhumanrights.org/en/monthly-report-on-human-rights-violations-in-kurdistan-arrests-of-101-kurdish-activists-death-of-six-kolbars-in-january/

Peace in Kurdistan

Campaign for a political solution of the Kurdish Question

Email: estella@gn.apc.org

https://www.peaceinkurdistancampaign.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/peaceinkurdistan1/

Contacts Estella Schmid: 07846 666 804 & Melanie Gingell: 07572 430903

Patrons: John Austin, Baroness Blower of Starch Green, former GS NUT, Prof Bill Bowring, Julie Christie, Noam Chomsky, Jeremy Corbyn MP, Prof Mary Davis, Lord Dholakia, Simon Dubbins, UNITE International Director, Jill Evans, former MEP, Desmond Fernandes, Lindsey German, Convenor STWC, Melanie Gingell, Christopher Gingell, Prof Dr. Michael Gunter, Secretary-General, EU Turkey Civic Commission (EUTCC), Rahila Gupta, journalist, Nick Hildyard, policy advisor, Dafydd Iwan, Former President Plaid Cymru, James Kelman, Bruce Kent, Jean Lambert, former MEP, Dr Les Levidow, Open University, Elfyn Llwyd, John McDonnell MP; Aonghas MacNeacail, Scottish Gaelic poet, Mike Mansfield QC, David Morgan, journalist, Doug Nicholls, General Secretary, GFTU, Dr. Jessica Ayesha Northey, Sinn Fein MLA Conor Murphy, Dr Thomas Jeffrey Miley, Kate Osamor MP, Margaret Owen OBE, Ali Gul Ozbek, Former Councillor and Mayor of Haringey; Gareth Peirce, Dr Felix Padel, Maxine Peake, actor, Dr Thomas Phillips, Liverpool John Moores University, Trevor Rayne, writer, Joe Ryan, Tony Simpson, Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation, Stephen Smellie, PIK Trade Union Liaison Officer, Jonathan Steele, journalist, Steve Sweeney, journalist, Gianni Tognoni, General Secretary Permanent People’s Tribunal, Dr Tove Skutnabb-Kangas, Dr Federico Venturini, Associate Researcher, University of Udine, Italy; Dr Tom Wakeford, Dr Derek Wall, Julie Ward, former MEP, Kariane Westrheim, Chair, EU Turkey Civic Commission (EUTCC); Hywel Williams MP.