Iranian official defiant against international condemnation of Human Rights violations by Iran

Iran official: Clinton 'inconsistent'

February 17, 2010

The Secretary General of Iran's High Council for Human Rights, Mohammad Javad Larijani, on the AMANPOUR. set

By Tom Evans; Sr. Writer, AMANPOUR.

(CNN) - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's policy on Iran is "dubious, inconsistent, and naive," one of Iran's most influential officials declared Tuesday.

Mohammad Javad Larijani, a member of a powerful political clan in Iran, rejected an assertion by Clinton on Monday that the Revolutionary Guard is supplanting the Iranian government, and Iran is moving toward a military dictatorship. One of Larijani's brothers is speaker of the Iranian parliament and another is head of Iran's judiciary.

"On the one hand she (Clinton) is worried about democracy in Iran, on the other hand she's offering the most generous military help to states which don't run a single election," Larijani told CNN's Christiane Amanpour just after Clinton had completed a three-day tour of Arab countries in the Persian Gulf.

Larijani said the Revolutionary Guard, which has extensive business interests in Iran, is answerable to legal structures of the state.

"The Revolutionary Guard is part of our defense system, they have a legal status, they have a legal command, and they are legally answerable to Parliament," he added.

Larijani, whose title is secretary general of the Iranian High Council for Human Rights, also rejected Western criticism of Iran's rights record, declaring that his country is "the greatest and ... only democracy in the Middle East."

He said he explained Iran's position in full this week to the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland, where the U.S., Britain, France and other nations strongly attacked Tehran's record, as they stepped up pressure for new international sanctions against Iran over its nuclear ambitions.

"It is true that the United States and a number of Western countries aired their criticism toward us, but it was mostly a kind of cliche," Larijani said.

"But on the other side, a lot of nations also supported and commended our position," he added - a reference to countries including Cuba, Venezuela, and Sri Lanka.

Despite the government's massive crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators since the disputed presidential election in June last year, Larijani said Tuesday that no one is jailed because of protests in Iran.

"The only reason for jailing is the violence which was attached to the protests, a violence which got the life of more than 20 policemen and 13 civilians and also damaged the properties and also people's life and health," he asserted.

"I think the beating of our police is much less than the New York and Los Angeles police ... the violence in Tehran was much less that the violence in Paris.. (which) was in flames for three months."

He also rejected criticism of Iran's policy on executing people who, he said, were engaged in violence. "Those who indulge in terrorist activities, they are pursued by the law. They will face a very harsh sentence, if it is proved by the court."

Larijani acknowledged that official wrongdoing and unlawful acts do occasionally happen in Iran, but insisted the authorities take quick action to address problems when they are identified. He cited the example of what happened after the deaths of three protesters who were jailed at the Kahrizak Detention Center in Tehran. One of those who died was the son of a leading conservative politician.

He said the prosecutor-general, Saeed Mortazavi, who was linked to those deaths by a parliamentary committee could now face further investigation by the judicial authorities.

"Nobody will replace the court and their final decision," Larijani asserted.

Credits: Amanpour/CNN: Iran official: Clinton "inconsistent"

United Nations calls on Iran to release political prisoners

Iran rejects U.N. call to free political prisoners

GENEVA (Reuters) - Iran rejected calls to release all political prisoners and accept an international inquiry into violence after last June's contested presidential elections, an official U.N. report said.

WORLD (Editing by Louise Ireland and Jonathan Lynn) Feb 17, 2010

The Islamic Republic also refused to end the death penalty and said it would not make torture as an offence under its laws, according to the report on a discussion of its rights record in the world body's Human Rights Council.

In the discussion, held on Monday as part of the Universal Permanent Review (UPR) process which all U.N. members undergo every four years, it said many recommendations, including one from Chile urging guarantees of political and civil rights for all, including dissidents, were already in effect.

In Wednesday's report, approved by the 47-member Council, Iran had already declared it was an open democracy under the rule of law, pledged it would comply fully with international rights pacts and ensure that torture was eliminated.

The Council also registered Iranian promises to ensure religious freedom, freedom of expression and the right to demonstrate peacefully.

Critics of the UPR system, including many activist NGOs, say it gives too much room for countries to fend off detailed criticism on specific issues and allows them to make vague promises of future action.

"The proof of this pudding produced today will be in the eating," said one European diplomat asking for anonymity in referring to the Iran report. "We have seen promises like this before, but not much action to follow them up."

Despite agreeing to a Netherlands recommendation to "take measures to ensure that no torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment takes place," Iran rejected another from Spain to sign the U.N. anti-torture pact.

And it rejected a U.S. proposal that it allow the U.N. special investigator on torture, Austrian lawyer Manfred Nowak, to visit the country and have access to detention facilities -- although it has accepted a visit next year by Human Rights High Commissioner Navi Pillay.

Asserting earlier that the Iranian media was free and that the state did not block access to the Internet, it dismissed recommendations to "end severe restrictions on the right to free expression" and to stop harassment of journalists.

The Council has no mechanism to enforce implementation of pledges made in the UPR process, although countries are expected to report back on what they are doing.

Credits: Reuters: Iran rejects U.N. call to free political prisoners

Over 65 reporters face spying charges in Iran: rights group

(AFP) – Feb 16, 2010

UNITED NATIONS — More than 65 journalists, bloggers and writers have been detained in Iran since last June's disputed presidential polls and could be tried on charges of "spying" for the foreign media, a New York-based media rights group said Tuesday.

"The picture (in Iran) is pretty gloomy," Robert Mahoney, deputy director of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) told a press conference here as he presented a worldwide 2009 survey titled "Attacks on the Press in 2009" and highlighted the detentions in Iran.

Maziar Bahari, an Iranian-Canadian correspondent for Newsweek who was jailed in Iran in June and released four months later, also told reporters that more than 100 journalists, bloggers and writers had been arrested at different periods since the elections, including the more than 65 who were still behind bars.

"They can all be accused of spying for the foreign media," he said, noting that spying carries the death penalty in Iran.

"The government has no respect for the privacy of individuals," Bahari said. "The strategy of the Iranian government is to make everyone's life, especially journalists' lives, insecure."

And in an alarming development, Mahoney said Iranian authorities were now using online social networks such as Facebook to target journalists and dissidents.

"The Iranian government is now using (Facebook) to go after and find dissidents and journalists, mining their data, seeing who their friends are,' he added. "They are turning the technology that should liberate the press against the press. This is a worrying trend."

Mahoney said the CPJ was "monitoring more and more closely the government's attempt to censor and filter content online, to surveille journalists, to get into their contact books and generally try to disrupt their ability to use the internet as a tool for freedom of expression."

Last week, the United States also accused Iran of trying "a near total information blockade" to deal with anti-government protesters, calling the move unprecedented.

Based on US monitoring of networks and other information, State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said it appeared that "Iran has attempted a near total information blockade."

He added that his statement was based on US monitoring that showed the phone network was taken down, text messages blocked, satellite television jammed and the Internet "throttled."

Credits: AFP: Over 65 reporters face spying charges in Iran: rights group

Nokia Siemens condemned by MEP's for supplying surveillance technology to Iran

Nokia Siemens "instrumental to persecution and arrests of Iranian dissidents", says EU

A European Parliament resolution has criticsed Nokia Siemens involvement in Iran

By Matt Warman, Consumer Technology Editor, 11 Feb 2010,

A European Parliament Resolution has criticised Nokia Siemens

Nokia Siemens has been condemned in a European Parliament resolution for its links with Iran. The company was criticised for “providing the Iranian authorities with censorship and surveillance technology [and] being instrumental to persecution and arrests of Iranian dissidents”.

Nokia Siemens has vigorously denied that it has provided anything to Iran that is not completely standard in other countries around the world.

The resolution further called on EU institutions to "ban the export of surveillance technology by European companies to governments and countries such as Iran". Nokia Siemens, however, said it had provided only “limited monitoring capabilities, similar to those used by law enforcement in many countries, for predefined phone numbers only”. It added that their system, supplied to Iran in 2008, “does not allow the scanning of network traffic in order to discover or identify users based on the content of their transmissions”.

In a lengthy Q&A released on Nokia Siemens’s website, the company went on to deny providing any continued support for the technology, which it no longer sells, and adds that it offers no facility for the detailed inspection of the small amount of email traffic which is carried on Iran’s mobile networks. In Iran, mobile networks have “clearly have played a pivotal role in their ability to communicate, organize, and share their story with the outside world”, the company said.

Credits: Telegraphe.co.uk: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/7213538/Nokia-Siemens-instrumental-to-persecution-and-arrests-of-Iranian-dissidents-says-EU.html

Nokia burned by EU for assisting Iran with monitoring technology

Posted by Doug Hanchard @ February 11, 2010

Nokia has been helping the Iran government with surveillance technology to track mobile phone users since this issue became known by the media in June of 2009. A European Parliament resolution on Wednesday hits Nokia Siemens point blank:

In a resolution adopted on Wednesday, the MEPs said the hardware was instrumental in the “persecution and arrests of Iranian dissidents”.

Surveillance in Iran is especially worrisome because surveillance techniques, applications and devices could be used to violate human rights that the EU requires its signatory nations  — and corporations - to abide to.

Some Members of the European Parliament are considering harsher penalties against the company. In a BBC article posted today:

Nokia Siemens said the technology that it had installed was similar to that used “in all EU member states and the US”.

“When you set up a modern network - as an operator - if you want a licence to operate you have to have a standard surveillance capability in the network,” Christina Dinne, also of the firm, said.

Nokia Siemens told BBC News that it had provided “very basic surveillance” capabilities to Iran Telecom in 2008. The product is called Monitoring Centre and can be used to monitor local telephone calls.

“You can’t track keywords,” said Mrs Dinne.

The U.N. and EU have several issues to address, like sanctions that are already in place against Iran with technology being one of them. It’s not clear how or if Nokia has violated existing export of its surveillance products. According to Nokia it is in full compliance of the law. The European Parliament is set to bring a resolution forward banning the export of the technology.

The resolution “strongly criticizes international companies, and notably Nokia/Siemens, for providing the Iranian authorities with the necessary censorship and surveillance technology, thus being instrumental to persecution and arrests of Iranian dissidents”. Parliament called on the EU institutions immediately to “ban the export of surveillance technology by European companies to governments and countries such as Iran”.

Nokia responded back in June of 2009 in a press release;

Recent media reports have speculated about Nokia Siemens Networks’ role in providing monitoring capability to Iran. Nokia Siemens Networks has provided Lawful Intercept capability solely for the monitoring of local voice calls in Iran. Nokia Siemens Networks has not provided any deep packet inspection, web censorship or Internet filtering capability to Iran.

But DPI technology is not where the focus of surveillance resides, it’s the mobile phone users that the Iranian State Security is focusing on. Videos and text messages are leaking out real-time information and student demonstrations.  How Nokia Siemens deals with this issue has considerable impacts. The company  potentially faces a public backlash that could harm retail sales and further EU and U.S. government scrutiny. It also brings into question how surveillance products are sold in China and Venezuela, where Nokia has a significant presence and manufacturing facility. RIM, Motorola, Apple, Samsung, LG, HTC, and Google will need to pay close attention as this could blow up in their faces too.

Credits: D.Hanchard/ZDNet Govt.: http://government.zdnet.com/?p=7080&tag=nl.e620

Iran Nobel winner seeks Nokia Siemens sanctions

By Gwladys Fouche, Reuters, Feb 15, 2010

OSLO (Reuters) - Iranian Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi called on the West to impose sanctions on mobile systems maker Nokia Siemens Networks for providing technology that she says helped Tehran repress political opponents.

Western powers are discussing a fourth round of United Nations sanctions on Iran over its nuclear programme, which Tehran maintains is peaceful but the West fears is aimed at building atomic weapons.

The Iranian human rights lawyer, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2003, is against economic sanctions on Iran that she says would hurt the Iranian people.

"Last month the U.S. government imposed a heavy fine on a Swiss bank that was trading with Iran and thereby breaking the sanctions," Ebadi said, referring to a $536 million fine on Credit Suisse Group AG.

"My question to America is this: why don't you impose the same kind of heavy punishment on corporations that provide Iran with equipment that can be used to suppress the people?

"I am talking about Siemens and Nokia because they provided Iran with equipment with which it can monitor the Iranian nation," Ebadi told Reuters in an interview in Oslo, where she is attending a conference on human rights.

"That would be a lesson to other corporations not to dare sell to the Iranian government such equipment that can be used to suppress the people," said Ebadi, who won the Peace Prize for her work for women's and children's rights in Iran.

Nokia Siemens Networks, a joint venture between Germany's Siemens and Finland's Nokia, said it provided to Iran mobile networks with an in-built capability for law enforcement agencies to listen in on conversations, in line with international standards. [...]

Credits: Reuters: http://in.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idINIndia-46184820100215?pageNumber=1&virtualBrandChannel=0

Nobel laureate Ebadi calls for sanctions on Iran

GENEVA (Reuters) - Nobel Peace laureate Shirin Ebadi urged countries on Friday to impose political sanctions on Iran by downgrading diplomatic ties and denying visas to officials, but rejected economic sanctions as hurting the Iranian people.

Ebadi said the rights situation was deteriorating rapidly and accused security forces of violently suppressing peaceful protests against what the opposition says was the fraudulent re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad last year.

"I am against economic sanctions and military attacks. However, if the Iranian government continues to violate human rights and ignore people's demands, then I start thinking about political sanctions," Ebadi told a human rights forum on Iran.

"Do not sell weapons to the Iranian government," she added.

Ebadi, speaking to Reuters afterwards, made clear that political sanctions should be imposed "the sooner the better, because human rights violations in Iran are growing every day."

"I don't mean cutting ties off totally with the Iranian government. What I mean is downgrading ties with the Iranian government, for example recalling respective ambassadors from Iran, downgrading diplomatic relations from the ambassador level to the charge d'affaires or consular level.

"In that way, it is not a total severing of ties but you manage to demonstrate to the Iranian people that human rights is respected and considered (as being) of the utmost importance by you," she said through an interpreter.

"Do not give visas to any government officials or any delegations representing the government," she told Reuters.

The Islamic state is facing growing Western calls for a fourth round of targeted U.N. sanctions after it stepped up enrichment of uranium the West suspects is intended for nuclear weapons. Tehran says it plans only civilian uses.

CIRCUMVENTING SANCTIONS

Ebadi said existing economic sanctions hurt ordinary Iranians rather than the elite. "Sadly, thanks to the support of China and Russia, the Iranian government has a way of circumventing these sanctions. Therefore such economic sanctions will only affect the people.

"Wider economic sanctions only hurt innocent people and we are against that," she said.

Iranian authorities say last year's presidential poll was fair. Hundreds of thousands of government supporters turned out on Thursday to mark the anniversary of the Islamic revolution.

Human rights defenders, journalists and lawyers have been arrested during eight months of protests and more than 50 people from the minority Baha'i faith are in prison, Ebadi said.

The Iranian government controls Internet and phone access and jams western broadcasts to cut off activists, said Iran's most famous human rights lawyer, whose influence in the country of 70 million is seen as limited.

Ebadi disclosed she had urged U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay to find a solution "before Iran becomes another Zimbabwe."

Ebadi was addressing a preliminary forum for Monday's U.N. Human Rights Council session, when Iran will be in the dock in a periodic examination of member states' records.

Amnesty International said on Friday at least 5,000 activists and their families had been arrested in the political turmoil. Many had been subjected to torture or ill-treatment.

"Security forces, especially the Basij militia, beat protesters, use tear gas in confined space and use live ammunition. All this is done with impunity," said Esteban Beltran of Amnesty.

He denounced "flogging, blinding, and amputations" of prisoners and executions of people who had committed crimes as juveniles.

U.S. and other Western diplomats queued overnight on Thursday to reserve a spot to address the U.N. forum, fearing Iran's allies would book up places first thing on Friday morning, diplomats said. In all, 60 delegations will speak.

"We expect it to be a fairly heated debate. Everything will depend on how Iran reacts," one Western diplomat told Reuters.

(Editing by Andrew Roche)

Credits: Reuters: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE61B3JY20100212