Behind the Headlines/June 18, 2018

Jamshid Chalangi:

In tonight’s program of Behind the Headlines once again we will look at the continuation of human rights abuses in Iran as the country now has the highest number of defence lawyers in its jails.

Also, which foreign country the Larijani brothers are linked to?

And, is the Trump government willing to accept the Iranian regime’s request for direct talks?

Our guests tonight to discuss these topics are the Tehran-based political activist Ms. Hengameh Shahidi and Maysam Mehrani who join us from Ankara.

Jamshid Chalangi:

Ms. Shahidi, what have you done to deserve being imprisoned by the Iranian regime?

Ms. Hengameh Shahidi:

After the 2009 Green Movement I was sentenced to six years in prison and were released half way through on medical condition. However, only a year later they opened a new case against me for organizing a painting gallery!!

In 2016 Mr. Rouhani’s intelligence and security organs arrested me on charges of working for Amad News, to which I had absolutely no connection. They did not have any evidence for their accusations too and as such I had to be freed after two weeks but they still kept me in Evin prison for five months.

During that time I went on hunger strike and developed sever kidney infections and the judiciary was forced to agree with a furlough. They had at the same time accused me of being a spy for a foreign country. The justice and security systems are so intertwined that I would not dare leaving my destiny and that of my family’s in their hands.

Maysam Mehrani:
The regime’s main fear is that people like Ms. Shahidi can be free and educate people about their human rights. You can see the parallel activities of the intelligence and security forces in Iran by listening to Ms. Shahidi’s story.

In the Islamic republic regime’s “justice system” they have a written list of bogus accusations that anyone that they arrest is “qualified” for them. This is because Iran’s justice system is not independent of the political power of the regime and just carries the orders of the ruling clique.

Jamshid Chalangi:

And today they have even executed a member of the Gonabadi dervishes.

Ms. Hengameh Shahidi:

Yes, they have executed Mr. Salas last night in a hurried way as Larijani, the head of the judiciary had feared that the appeal court may overrule his death sentence if Mr. Salas’s lawyer could submit new evidence that she has to prove his client’s innocence.

Maysam Mehrani:

Rouhani leads the most repressive administration of the regime for his own security background. He is the same man who had called for hanging the protesting students at Friday prayers gatherings and has even confessed to being the man who imposed the mandatory hijab on women.

Today the Iranian people are not on the side of the so-called reformists, they are against them and regard them as an extension of the regime.

Ms. Hengameh Shahidi:

I believe the head of the judiciary Sadegh Larijani is even worse than the hanging judge Sadegh Khalkhali.