(Reuters) - A Chinese businessman indicted in the United States over sales of missile parts to Iran is still making millions of dollars from the trade, say security officials who monitor compliance with Western and U.N. sanctions.
These officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the businessman, Li Fangwei, has earned at least $10 million from illegal sales to Iran since his indictment by the New York County District Attorney in 2009.
Trade sanctions are at the heart of international efforts to curb Iran's nuclear program for fear it is for military ends - a suspicion Iran rejects. Li's alleged activities may point to Iran's resourcefulness in circumventing those sanctions and turn a spotlight on China's ability to police its own export restrictions.
It is hard to quantify the contribution of foreign firms and individuals to Iran's nuclear and missile programs, but analysts believe some vital components are all but impossible for Tehran to produce at home
Colombia coffee growers denied Saturday having reached a deal with the government. Instead they announced to continue their strike and the blocking of roads to demand government aid for one of Colombia's most iconic economic sectors.
In a press release published on Facebook, the striking coffee growers said the announcement of President Juan Manuel Santos earlier in the day was a "pharce" and "has nothing to do with the people on strike."
Tens of thousands of growers have been on strike throughout the country since Monday to demand more government support. According to the strikers and Colombia's coffee growers federation Fedecafe, inflated coffee prices and an expensive peso is forcing the coffee producers to sell their beans below production cost.
Santos had vowed an increase in financial aid for the sector, but according to the coffee growers "the announced measure is insufficient taking the magnitude of the problem in account."
Additionally, the coffee growers say the government "unilaterally broke off the talks with the movement's spokespersons en let them wait in vain for a second meeting on [Friday] March 1."
While the growers and their federation agree current government assistance for the sector is insufficient, there have been tensions between Fedecafe and its striking members over how to approach a solution to what they agree is a lack of government support.
New Delhi: The two siblings, whose decomposed bodies were found near Pragati Maidan in Delhi yesterday, had been killed on February 26 itself, the day they were kidnapped from their school in Mandawli in East Delhi. The Delhi Police today arrested three men, including an uncle of the children, who revealed to them the gruesome details of the killings.
Police says Amit Singh, the maternal uncle of the children, was the mastermind in the case. Jobless, he wanted to try his hand in the real estate business and had fixed a deal for a flat for Rs. 13 lakhs. The owners of the flat wanted Rs. 6 lakh as advance, which led Amit Singh to plot a conspiracy, along with two of his friends, to kidnap the children. Amit Singh was under the perception that the children's parents had a lot of money.
Last Tuesday, Amit Singh's friends locked the door of the children's house so that their mother could not reach the school. Amit Singh then went to the school and picked up the children himself.
Thinking it would be tough to keep the children with them as they were insisting on getting back home, the accused decided to kill the children. They took the children near Pragati Maidan, first killed the girl and then the boy by strangling them, and then crushed their bodies with a rock. The bodies were left to be eaten by stray dogs.
The kidnappers had called the parents a few times and demanded Rs. 30 lakh as ransom. They also informed the parents about the place they wanted them to come to with the desired money and fixed the time for meeting twice. The kidnappers had planned to flee once the ransom was delivered, the police said.
The parents, however, did not go to pay the amount hoping the police would nab the culprits.
"We knew that some relative was involved, our prime objective was to recuse the kids but it's unfortunate that we couldn't," the police said in a press conference today.
"After analysing the calls, we realised that the kidnappers were insiders. We wanted to save the children. Hence we did not take any drastic action. We knew that Amit Singh had recently rented a flat behind the family. We picked him up first and he confessed," the police said.
They said that the accused will be charged with kidnapping, murder and destruction of evidence.
Speaking on the tragic killings, Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit today said that law and order could be a problem, but one could blame it only to an extent. "There might be a lack of law and order. But it only goes so far. We're also responsible for seeing how such instances can be curbed," she said.
NCRI - The Iranian regime henchmen have killed Amir Mousaei, a 38 years old man, under torture in southern city of Borazjan’s prison on Friday, February 1.
Amir, a father of a three year old son, and a respected athletic among his friends and residents of southern city of Shiraz, was being chased for a long time by the agents of Iranian regime’s Ministry of Intelligence and Ministry and Revolutionary Guards (IRGC).
He was in his father’s house in Genaveh in mid January when Revolutionary Guards raided the house, arrested him and transferred to Genaveh prison. He was tortured in Genaveh prison for two days and then transferred to Borazjan city prison.
In Borazjan prison he was transferred to solitary confinement after 12 days of torture.
Three days later while he was quite ill and his body deeply infected because of the wounds, he was transferred to the hospital and his family was told that they could visit him in hospital in Borazjan.
To his family’s surprise, Amir was unconscious and his body was mostly infected and covered by bruises.
As Amir became conscious for a short period, he revealed some of the tortures he went through during the 15 days of torture.
He said he was beaten in his head by batons and in his stomach by a metal rod.
He said the strikes were so severe that all his intestines had been damaged. In the last moments of his life in the hospital, he asked if he could see his son. The severances of the injuries were so much that he died before having the chance to see his son for the last time.
While in prison, his parents and relatives had tried so hard to obtain a temporary release for him by providing bonds, so they could take him to the hospital, but the efforts did not have any result. Instead, he got beaten and tortured more and more in the prison.
The news of killing of defenseless Amir angered people in Genaveh who gathered the next day at his father’s house cursing Khamenei and others for Amir’s death.
This is the fourth case of killing prisoners under torture which has surfaced in recent months. Prior to Amir, Sattar Beheshti, a blogger from Robat Karim located in the vicinity of Tehran; Keramatollah Zareian, a university student in Tehran; and Jalil Savidi, a plumber from city of Ahwaz had been killed under torture.
The clerical regime in Iran is taking more tolls as the silence and inaction by the International community with regards to these atrocities continues.
The Iranian regime’s dossier on severe and systematic human rights violation in Iran should be referred to the UN Security Council and the prosecution of Iranian regime’s leader for crime against humanity is a necessary step to end the cycle of crime and repression in Iran.
Shiva Nazar Ahari, imprisoned member of Committee of Human Rights Reporters, was nominated by Reporters Without Borders for the 2013 Netizen of the Year, which has been awarded on March 12th every year to commemorate World Day Against Cyber-Censorship. Since 2008, this prize has been awarded to journalists, bloggers and other netizens for their distinguished contribution to the advancement of freedom of expression on the Internet. Shiva Nazar Ahari is one of 9 netizens worldwide who has been nominated for this award in 2013.
Shiva Nazar Ahari is a human rights activist, blogger, journalist, women’s rights activist and member of Committee of Human Rights Reporters, the One Million Signature Campaign, Right to Education Campaign, and Society for Defending Street and Working Children.
Shiva was born on June 10, 1984 and attended Islamic Azad University with a B.A. in Civil Engineering. A determined advocate for the rights of child laborers and women’s rights, Shiva was prevented from attending graduate school for her M.A. after receiving her engineering license because she received a “star” from the regime for her humans rights work.
Shiva has been arrested several times because of her commitment to human rights and online reporting. She was first arrested at the young age of 18 on September 11, 2002 after she had lit candles across Tehran University with others to commemorate the victims of the 9/11 attacks. She was held in Evin prison’s Ward 240 and endured 40 days of solitary confinement before being released on bail.
Shiva was arrested again on August 17, 2004 while she was taking part in a peaceful protest in front on the United Nations office in Tehran. The protest was to bring attention to the plight of political prisoners and the group was distributing pamphlets regarding prison conditions. Shiva was released on bail after enduring 20 days behind bars in Evin prison’s ward 209 controlled by the Ministry of Intelligence and she was later sentenced to one year in prison.
With a passion for the welfare of minors, Shiva began her volunteer work with children’s rights years ago. She stood up for the rights of child laborers and was a soldier for immigrant children mostly from Afghanistan, who were abused and forgotten. Working in a hostile climate, she and her friends managed to keep the Society for Defending Working and Street Children open even after the country’s security apparatus shut it down.
On June 14, 2009, days after the contested presidential election results, Shiva was arrested again. She spent 36 days in solitary confinement in Evin’s ward 209 before being transferred to the general ward. She was released on bail on September 24th. While in prison, Shiva befriended Atefeh Nabavi, another student-activist who had taken part in demonstrations. After Shiva was released she characteristically organized a campaign for the release of her friends despite the dangers it posed to herself.
On December 20, 2009, Shiva was arrested again while she was on a bus with other activists intending to attend the funeral of the late dissident cleric Ayatollah Montazeri. Kouhyar Goudarzi, Mahboubeh Abbasgholizadeh and Saeed Haeri were also among the arrested. Shiva immediately launched a dry hunger strike to protest her incarceration and was transferred to the infirmary at Evin prison due to her deteriorating health. She endured 2 months of solitary confinement and was released on bail after 9 months of detention in September 2010.
She was later handed a 4-year prison sentence and 74 lashes on the charges of “moharebeh” (enmity with God), “propaganda against the regime,” and “illegal gathering with the intent of disturbing national security.” On September 8, 2012 Shiva turned herself in at Evin prison where she is now serving her prison term.
Despite her many arrests and ceaseless harassment, Shiva never backed down from her conviction in standing up for human rights and her belief that no one should be discriminated against based on gender, ethnicity, religion or social class. She is a founding member of Committee of Human Rights Reporters formed in 2005 and later served as the group’s spokesperson. The organization was formed with the purpose of improving the human rights situation in Iran with a commitment to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The group seeks to through online reporting, inform the public of abuses and violations while demanding that human rights be granted in all aspects of daily life.
Today three members of CHRR - Shiva Nazar Ahari, Saeed Jalalifar, Saeed Haeri, and one former member of the group, Navid Khanjani, are serving prison terms. The former head of the group, twice-imprisoned Kouhyar Goudarzi was handed a 5-year prison sentence in exile.
In a letter to another prisoner Shiva who has been at the forefront of the struggle for justice in a democratic Iran, described her compassion and yearning for the good of all her fellow beings. “When your heart trembles for the rights of another human, that is when you begin to slip; that is when the interrogations begin. When your heart trembles for another prisoner, a woman, a child laborer - that is when you become the accused. When you find faith in people and believe in humanity and nothing else, that is when you commit your first crime.”
On March 11, 2011, Shiva Nazar Ahari was awarded the Theodor Haecker prize for "courageous internet reporting on human rights violations". The prize is named after Theodor Haecker, a philosopher, writer and anti-Nazi cultural critic. At age 28, Shiva Nazar Ahari is serving her 5-year prison sentence stemming from her human rights efforts, online journalism, and standing up for the rights of women, the under privileged, minorities and children.
Shiva Nazar Ahari is nominated for the 2013 Netizen award, which will be cast by the Internet public for the first time this year. Internet users can vote until March 5 on the RSF YouTube channel. The winner will be announced on March 7.
To cast your vote for Shiva please click on link below to Reporters Without Borders website, watch the video about Shiva and on the left hand side and click on “vote.”
NCRI - Workers from the Iranian regime's Roads and Urban Development Office staged a demonstration on Friday over non-payment of their salaries for seven months.
This is the second time in a month that the workers who are under extreme pressure due to the harsh economic conditions have staged demonstration for not receiving their wages.
More than 230 workers of the office have not received their wages for the past seven months.
Also in the city of Ahwaz the workers in the sugar processing factory have declared that they will stage their third demonstration in front of the municipal office this week.
One of the labor organizers said; “there has been no effort to solve our problems. It seems that there is no real effort to solve the workers issues.”
NCRI - An Iranian regime’s dhow seized in January off the Yemeni coast was carrying at least 10 sophisticated Chinese heat-seeking antiaircraft missiles.
The shipment, which US officials portray as an attempt to introduce sophisticated new antiaircraft systems into the Arabian Peninsula, has raised concerns in Saudi Arabia, Oman and Yemen, as the weapons would have posed escalated risks to civilian and military aircraft alike, The New York Times reported on Sunday.
The missiles were labeled QW-1M and bore stencils suggesting that they had been assembled at a factory represented by a state-owned corporation, sanctioned by the United States for transfers of missile technology to Iranian regime.
The analysis of the weapons’ markings and origins was based on photographs taken when Yemeni officials briefly displayed the weapons to journalists.
The latest discovery of Chinese weapons came after the United States Navy detected the dhow, the Jeehan 1, as it took on cargo in an Iranian regime military-controlled port. The vessel then embarked on a high-seas smuggling run, according to accounts by Yemeni and American officials.
The military cargo, which included many ammunition crates that had been painted over with white or black paint, was found in hidden compartments, American officials said.
That cargo also included 316,000 cartridges for Kalashnikov rifles, nearly 63,000 cartridges for PK machine guns or the Dragunov series of sniper rifles, more than 12,000 cartridges for 12.7-millimeter DShK machine guns and 95 RPG-7 launchers. The vessel also carried 10 SA-7 shoulder-fired antiaircraft missiles with two gripstocks for firing them, nearly 17,000 blocks of Iranian-made C-4 plastic explosives, 48 Russian PN-14K night vision goggles, and 10 LH80A laser range finders made, according to their placards, by the state-run Iran Electronics Industries, also under American sanction.
An American official called the shipment “deeply disturbing” and said it “clearly appeared to violate” Security Council resolutions prohibiting Iran from exporting arms, The Times report said.
(Reuters) - A Chinese businessman indicted in the United States over sales of missile parts to Iran is still making millions of dollars from the trade, say security officials who monitor compliance with Western and U.N. sanctions.
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NCRI - Workers from the Iranian regime's Roads and Urban Development Office staged a demonstration on Friday over non-payment of their salaries for seven months.
NCRI - An Iranian regime’s dhow seized in January off the Yemeni coast was carrying at least 10 sophisticated Chinese heat-seeking antiaircraft missiles.