Three Members of Iran's Law Enforcement Force Killed in Baluchistan

Fars News Agency reported that three members of Islamic Republic’s Law Enforcement Force ("NAJA") were killed in the town Zahak in restive Iranian Baluchistan on Tuesday 25 November. The policemen were gunned down while on patrol. Fars said the attackers on two different vehicles approached NAJA members, opened fired and escaped from the scene. No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack.

File photo: NAJA security force in Iran’s Sistan va Baluchistan province, which borders Pakistan and Afghanistan. (FNA)

Majlis Impeaches Science Minister

Iran’s Minister of Science, Research and Technology Reza Faraji-Dana was impeached today by Majlis with a vote of 145-110 with 15 abstentions. The minister was accused by the hard-right MPs of appointing figures as his deputies and advisors who were too close to the opposition leaders and the 2009 Green Movement. The impeachment article formally charged the minister for “politicizing the academic environment.”

Moments after Faraji-Dana was unseated by Majlis, President Hassan Rouhani appointed him as his senior advisor in science and education affairs.

Rouhani also appointed Mohammad Ali Najafi as the caretaker minister of science and education. Najafi was Rouhani’s first choice for the post last year, but could not get the vote of confidence in Majlis for the same reason Faraji was unseated today, too close to the opposition.

Photo credit: Iranian Minister of Science, Research and Technology Reza Faraji-Dana speaks during impeachment session at Majlis; 20 August 20 2014. (IRNA/Press TV)

Ashton Defends Meeting Iran Human Rights Activists

European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton today defended her talks with human rights activists during a recent visit to Iran, saying meeting dissidents is a central part of her official travels. Ashton’s spokesman, Michael Mann, also told reporters that meeting civil society representatives is part of Ashton’s visits.

"She (Ashton) always sees civil society representatives, particularly women, when she travels to a country," Mann said in Vienna. “It was the same when she went to Iran.” (Reuters, 18 March)

On Monday, Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif canceled a customary dinner with Ashton on the eve of the Vienna talks. Iran’s official news agency said Zarif’s decision was due to “undiplomatic” behavior, a reference to her Tehran meeting with female human rights activists, including the human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh.

File photo: EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton in Brussels, 17 March 2014. (Francois Lenoir/Reuters)

Zarif Cancels Ashton Dinner

Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif has cancelled a dinner meeting planned for tonight with EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton in Vienna over meetings she had with human rights and opposition activists during her visit to Iran earlier this month. (Fars News Agency/AFP.)

The cancelation of the scheduled dinner in Vienna, as reported by Fars, was intended to protest Ashton's “uncoordinated meetings in Tehran,” a reference to her meeting with female human rights activists; including Nasrin Sotoudeh, a human rights lawyer who has represented members of the Iranian opposition, and for which she has been imprisoned herself.

Zarif who has said he was ready to talk to members of opposition in Syria, and regularly meet with opposition parties in Western Europe, cannot accept that any foreign politician could meet with the Iran’s opposition. The Iranian government apparently believes either there is no opposition inside the country, or wished that the problem went away. But it doesn’t work that way! 

File photo: EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton (L) and Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif at a joint press conference. (AFP)

Iran’s Opposition Leaders Detained Three Years On

Iran’s Opposition leaders Mir Hossein Mousavi, and his wife Zahra Rahnavard, and Mehdi Karrubi have been held without charge or trial for three years today.

Amnesty International said today the detained opposition leaders have no possibility to challenge the lawfulness of their detention, and urged the Iranian authorities to immediately end their arbitrary detention and stop the harassment of their families. (Amnesty.org, 14 February)

UN Condemns Attack on Iranian Exile Camp

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon today strongly condemned the mortar attack on Iranian exile camp outside Baghdad.

UN News Center stated that the camp was attacked early in the morning today while most of the residents were sleeping. Six persons were killed and scores wounded. The camp serves as a transit facility for more than 3,000 exiles, most of them MEK members, where a process to determine their refugee status is being carried out by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

“The Secretary-General calls on the Government of Iraq, which is responsible for the safety and security of residents of both Camp Liberty and Camp Ashraf, to promptly and fully investigate the incident and bring perpetrators to justice,” said Mr. Ban's spokesperson in a statement. “He has repeatedly stated that violence and provocation are unacceptable.” (UN News Center, 9 February)

The High Commissioner for Refugees, Antonio Guterres, expressed his shock about the attack calling it “a despicable act of violence.”

“I call on the Iraqi Government to do everything it can to guarantee security to the residents,” he said. “The perpetrators must be found and brought to justice without delay.”

In a news release, the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) said it is closely liaising with the Government on the response to the incident, including medical assistance to the wounded.

Mr. Ban's Special Representative in the country, Martin Kobler, has also asked Iraqi authorities to promptly conduct an investigation into the mortar explosions.

Photo: Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. (UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe)

6 Dead in Attack on Iran Opposition Group MEK

Assailants fired rockets and mortar rounds at the refugee camp outside Baghdad housing members of Mujahedeen-e Khalq (MEK or MKO), killing at least six people and injuring more than 100 people, several of them critically. Camp spokesman Shahin Gobadi released photographs of five bloodied bodies swaddled in blankets, including one of a woman. (AP, 9 February)

The camp, a former American military base known as Camp Liberty, is home to some 3,100 members of the militant Iranian organization. The group’s political umbrella group, the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) is based in Paris. The Obama administration took the MEK off the U.S. terrorism list in late September.

Iraqi police said assailants fired rockets, while UN officials who supervise the camp said it was hit by mortar rounds.

NCRI President Maryam Rajavi called on UN High Commission for Refugees to immediately declare the refugee status of the residents of Camp Liberty in order to protect their lives and well being.

File photo: Camp Liberty outside Baghdad (AP)

Iranian Foreign Minister Holds Talks with Syrian Opposition Leader

The Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi today met with the Syrian opposition leader Moaz Alkhatib at the annual international security conference in Munich. Mr. Alkhatib, the chairman of Syrian Coalition, also separately met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. The meetings were the first between the Syrian opposition leader and the top diplomats of Iran and Russia, suggesting a possible breakthrough in efforts to broker an end to Syria’s civil war. Russia and Iran have been the staunchest allies of Bashar al-Assad. (Reuters, 2 February)

After a 45-minute meeting with Foreign Minister Salehi, Alkhatib told Reuters: “We agreed we have to find a solution to end the suffering of the Syrian people.”

File photo: Syrian opposition leader Moaz Alkhatib (Reuters)