Iran ( Pastor released from prison - Banned from contact with Christians and cannot be a Pastor )

 Wednesday, 11 September 2013   

Initial trial of Iranian-Armenian pastor, Vruir Avanessian, was held behind closed doors in the Revolutionary Court in Tehran. Iranian authorities had arrested him last Christmas. This opens up a new chapter in Iranian regime's crackdown on Armenian Christian leaders.

According to Iranian Christian news agency, "Mohabat News", Pastor Avanessian's trial was held in the morning of September 7, 2013 in branch 26 of the Revolutionary Court in Tehran.

Accroding to the report, the initial trial was held behind closed doors.

It has been reported that his charges announced in the court session included "action against national security" and "proselytizing Farsi-speaking citizens".

The report adds that the court banned him from any form of contact with Christians or holding any worship services until the judge issues his final verdict in future court sessions.

Vruir Avanessian is an official Iranian-Armenian pastor. Plain-clothes Iranian security authorities had arrested him on December 27, 2012, in an organized raid on a Christmas celebration for worship held in a house in Tehran.

Also in this raid, 50 other Farsi-speaking Christian attendees had been arrested. They were all released after filling out some prepared forms.

Another Christian convert arrested that night was Mohammad-Hadi Mostafa Bordbar. On June 9, 2013, branch 26 of the Revolutionary Court sentenced him to ten years in prison for spreading Christian thoughts intended to undermine Islamic regime through underground Christian gatherings.

When Pastor Avanessian, who is 61 years old, was arrested he was in immediate need of medical attention. He was subjected to severe interrogation during the time of his detention. Also, he was transferred to hospital a few times in prison uniform, although his charges had not been proven. After Christian communities and Human Rights activists protested against Pastor Avanessian's arrest and the news had been spread by Farsi and English news services, he was temporarily released on bail. He remained under detention for 15 days.

He is now retired after having served 17 years as an official Pastor at Persian and Armenian churches. He is suffering from severe heart disease and has undergone several surgeries. Besides being a pastor he was also a Christian singer. However, high doses of medications has had negative effects on his vocal cords making him unable to continue singing Christian songs and preaching at church.

Before coming to faith in Jesus Christ, and in his younger years, Pastor Avanessian was a popular and widely known Armenian singer. He saw amazing miracles in his life through Jesus and consequently dedicated his life to the church. Being a talented young artist, he became a worship leader at the Central Assemblies of God Church in Tehran and used his art to glorify God ever since.

- Pressure on Armenian Christian Leaders

After the Islamic Revolution of 1979, Iranian-Armenian citizens were banned from taking most political and military positions and faced a growing restriction on their religious activities.

Recently Iranian authorities escalated pressure on Armenian Christians leaders to the same degree as Iranian Christian converts and arrested, threatened and restricted those Armenian Christian leaders who were actively evangelizing among Farsi-speaking Iranians. Arrest of several Armenian Pastors in recent months was a dark new chapter in the Islamic regime's crackdown on Christians. Pastor Robert Asseriyan, pastor of the Central AOG Church was among those arrested, and his arrest resulted in the closure of the largest Farsi-speaking church in Iran.

According to the received reports, in recent months, the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence summoned several Armenian pastors and Christian leaders asking them to either completely abandon their Christian activities, or quietly leave the country within three months.

As a result of restrictions imposed on Iranian-Armenian citizens since the Islamic Revolution, a great number of them have emigrated to other countries. From 200,000 to 250,000 Armenian population in Iran, only a small number of 60,000 are still in the country.

India ( Gang Rape suspects get death by Hanging - See suspects and story )

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An Indian court awarded 4 rapists death penalty.

A court in India has awarded death penalty to all four convicts in December 16, 2012 gangrape and murder of 23-year-old girl in a moving bus in Indian capital.

New Delhi, Sept 13/Nationalturk – In a significant judgement, a trial court in India has awarded death penalty to all the four convicts in December 16, 2012 gangrape and murder of 23-year-old girl in a moving bus in Indian capital.
All the four accused Akshay Thakur, Pawan Gupta, Vinay Sharma and Mukesh Singh were sentenced to death by hanging at a fast-track court in New Delhi today.
“It was the rarest of rare crimes and deserved the death sentence,” the judge observed.
The court found all the four guilty of “cold-blooded murder”.
The 23-year-old girl was brutally raped by six persons in a moving bus in Indian capital (New Delhi) on December 16. She was later beaten with iron roads and thrown out of the bus in a naked position.  The girl had sustained critical injuries and died in a hospital in Singapore two weeks after the attack. However, before her death she had given a detailed statement to the police, which helped convict her attackers.
All the six rapists were arrested and one of them was found hanging in his prison cell in Tihar jail in March this year. Another, who was 17 at the time of the attack, was convicted by a juvenile court last month and sentenced to three years in a reform centre.

‘Judge awarded death after looking at gravity of incident’

“The judge awarded death to all the accused after looking at the gravity of the incident and inhuman torture.  The death penalty has been awarded under Section 302 (murder) as the girl had died due to the injuries inflicted by the convicts,” a lawyer said.
On September 10, the court held Akshay Thakur, Vinay Sharma, Mukesh Singh and Pawan Gupta guilty on all counts including gangrape, murder, unnatural offence, dacoity, kidnapping and destruction of evidence on September 10.
While convicting the four rapists, the court had said that the injuries inflicted on the victim clearly show that their intention was not only to rape but also to kill the girl and their actions were premeditated.

We’re happy by verdict: Victim’s family

The father of the victim said he was happy that court has awarded death to the rapists of his daughter.
“We are happy. Justice has been delivered,” he told reporters outside the court.
The girl’s family members were present in the courtroom when the judge delivered the judgement.
The victims parents had been demanding awarding of death sentence to the rapists to prevent recurrence of such acts in future.
“We are happy but our fight is not over. We will always stand with the people in their fight against crimes against women,” said victim’s mother.
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Faiz Ahmad / NationalTurk India News

Pakistan ( A 5-year-old girl was gang raped in Pakistan triggering rage across the country )

Islamabad, Sept 14/Nationalturk- In a gruesome incident, a 5-year-old girl was gang raped in Pakistan, triggering rage across the country.
The doctors in Sir Ganga Ram hospital examined her and confirmed that she has been raped repeatedly for more than an hour.
Her condition suggested that her tormentors were more than one,” they said.
The doctors have referred the girl for surgical intervention due to some medical conditions of a serious nature she had developed during the forced rape.
A doctor attending on the girl in the hospital said the victim was facing a serious medical complication called ‘vaginal haemorrhage’.
“The girl was unable to pass stool and urine and we suspect that she might have been raped from both sides,” he said adding it would be premature to give any final decision as the patient was undergoing treatment.

Victim stable but battling mental, physical agony: Doctors

“The girl is stable but battling mental and physical agony. The doctors would carry out two more operations after two weeks keeping in view condition of the patient,” the doctors said today.
They said that there was no need to send the girl abroad for medical treatment as the hospital had all the medical facilities to cure the rape victim.
Meanwhile, police have registered a case and launched a massive manhunt to track down the attackers. However, no arrests have taken place yet. “Police was using all resources to apprehend the culprits,” a senior police officer said.
He said police is trying to identify the criminals in the case via CCTV video from the Ganga Ram Hospital.
The incident has triggered outrage in the country with people from cross section of society condemning the incident and demanding stern and exemplary punishment to the guilty persons.
Police said the girl was playing with her three-year-old cousin outside her Ghosia Colony, Mughalpura, residence in Lahore city of Pakistan’s Punjab province on Thursday evening when she went missing. “After raping the girl, the kidnappers threw her on the green belt outside the Sir Ganga Ram Hospital.”
“She was sexually abused by the kidnappers persons and later abandoned outside the hospital. A watchman found the girl in unconscious condition with blood stains on her clothes and moved her to Sir Ganga Ram Hospital,” police said.
 

Japan ( Death row inmate 73 yrs old hanged; 6th execution since Abe became PM )

Crime Sep. 12, 2013 - 03:50PM JST ( 54 )

Civic group members stage a rally against Japan's death penalty system in Tokyo.AFP

TOKYO —

Japan hanged a 73-year-old man on Thursday, bringing to six the number of inmates executed since the conservative government of Shinzo Abe came to power in December.
Justice Minister Sadakazu Tanigaki announced the execution of Tokuhisa Kumagai, who was convicted of shooting dead the owner of a Chinese restaurant in a May 2004 robbery, among other crimes.
The execution was the first since two gangsters were sent to the gallows in April and took place despite repeated protests from European governments and human rights groups.
Japan now has 132 inmates on death row, according to the justice ministry.
Tokyo did not execute anyone in 2011, the first full year in nearly two decades without an execution amid muted debate on the rights and wrongs of a policy that enjoys wide public support.
But in March last year it abruptly resumed its use of capital punishment, dispatching three multiple murderers.
Apart from the United States, Japan is the only major industrialised democracy to use capital punishment.
International advocacy groups say the system is cruel because inmates can wait for their executions for many years in solitary confinement and are only told of their impending death a few hours ahead of time.
Iwao Hakamada, 77, is believed to be the world’s longest-serving condemned inmate.
He was arrested in 1966, accused of the grisly murder of his boss and the man’s family. Supporters, who question his guilt, say the long wait has exacted a huge mental toll on him.
Hakamada ran out of avenues for appeal in 1980, when the Supreme Court upheld his sentence.

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Iran ( Human Rights bloggers Death sentence - commuted to 10 years )

13 September 2013

Abdolreza Ghanbari’s death sentence commuted to 10 years

Keywords : Political Prisoners

فارسى

Committee of Human Rights Reporters – The death sentence for Abolreza Ghanbari that had been commuted to 15 years in prison exile at Borazjan was reduced again at the Appellate Court Branch 54 to 10 years without exile.

According to CHRR, Abdolreza Ghanbari is among those arrested on December 27, 2009 (Ashura88) in his place of work after the massive street protests. He was subjected to severe torture during his interrogations and unexpectedly put on trial on January 30, 2010 without the knowledge of his family or lawyer. He was charged with “moharebeh” (enmity with God) stemming from alleged relations with MEK (Mujahedin party) and sentenced to death.

Abdolreza Ghanbari has 16 years of teaching experience in Persian literature and has written many research papers in this field. He has spent the last 3.5 years behind bars mostly on death row. Ghanbari is a resident of the poverty-stricken Pakdasht County where he was a teacher at a local school.

According to his sister during a phone call from her residence in Paris, Abdolreza Ghanbari who is father to a daughter and a son was first put on trial at Branch 15 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court presided by Judge Salavati and sentenced to death. He was accused of “participating in the street protests on Ashura,” and “contact with enemy groups.” During his short trial the evidence presented were “suspicious emails,” and “contact with a media outlet outside the country.” On May 10, 2011, Abdolreza Ghanbari’s death sentence was upheld by Branch 36 of Tehran Appeals Court presided by Judge Zargar and a request for a pardon was denied on February 28 2012. At that time there were fears of his imminent execution. After extensive efforts on the part of his family, in the past year the death sentence for Abdolreza Ghanbari was commuted to 15 years in exile at Barzjan prison. Branch 54 of the Appellate Court recently reduced his prison sentence to 10 year behind bars without exile. Abodoreza Ghanbari is serving his sentence at Evin prison.

Iran ( Human Rights Bloggers released from prison on bail )

13 September 2013

Reza and Taher Akvanian released from prison on bail

Keywords : Political Prisoners

فارسى

Committee of Human Rights Reporters - Reza and Taher Akvanian who were detained across the parliament building on August 13 were finally released from prison after heavy interrogations on September 8.

According to CHRR, Reza and Taher Akvanian were among a group who were staging a peaceful sit-in in front of the parliament building in protest of the controversial and offensive remarks that had been made by parliament member Mr. Bozorgvari. About 15 people were detained and transferred to Evin prison in a black van out of which all were soon released besides Reza Akvanian and his cousin Taher Akvanian. The cousins were finally released on 100 million Tomans bail after enduring heavy interrogations and pressure in prison.

Reza Akvanian is a writer for the blog “salhaye khoobe zendegi” (life’s good years) who was arrested earlier on February 1, 2010 by agents from the Ministry of Intelligence. Judge Tahmasabi presiding over Branch 1 of the Yasuj Revolutionary Court handed Akvanian a one-year prison sentence and a 5-year suspended term on the charges of “insulting the leader and the president in blog content” and “association with outsiders by sharing news reports.”

Security agents detained this human rights activist again on Sunday March 24, 2013 at approximately 3am at his residence. The agents violently raided his home and after conducting a massive search they confiscated Akvanian’s personal items such as his laptop computer, external drive, scanner, printer, mobile phone, and his writings. Akvanian was held incommunicado for the first 2 weeks while detained and his family had no knowledge of his condition or whereabouts. When his family was finally able to see him, they reported visible signs of bruising from interrogations on his body. He was released 17 days later on a 100 million Toman bail from the Central Prison of the city of Yasuj on Wednesday, April 10.