Afghan woman lynched by mob becomes rights symbol

KABUL, Afghanistan - Poets, musicians, actors and activists packed an empty shop in a Kabul mall to commemorate the short life and violent death of a woman who has become a symbol for justice and women's rights in a country that historically elevates warlords and battlefield heroes to national icons.

 

The name of Farkhunda, beaten to death by a frenzied mob apparently in the mistaken belief that she had burned a Quran, has become a rallying cry for Afghans hoping the shocking incident will lead to profound changes in Afghanistan.

Gun attack on Turkish football team bus

Iraqi agents prevent transfer of Iranian refugee to hospital to undergo surgery

NCRI - Mr. Safer Zakery, an Iranian resident of Camp Liberty who is being held illegally in Baghdad’s Ameriya police headquarters for the third week on the pretext of a suspicious car accident, is being prevented from going to a hospital to undergo medical surgery that had been scheduled two months ago.

Mr. Zakery who was not at all guilty in the car accident as testified by traffic police, is practically being taken hostage at the behest of the Iranian regime by the Iraqi agents under the command of Faleh Fayyad.

Mr. Zakery, suffering from BPH, was scheduled to undergo surgery at the hospital today (Sunday) for which he had been waiting for three years. In the verdict that extended his detention, the investigative judge had specified that he should go to the hospital to undergo his surgery.

On Saturday, April 4, in a deceitful measure to prevent Mr. Zakery from undergoing the surgery, police in Ameriya took Mr. Zakery for a medical test at the hospital in Baghdad and then in a fictitious report prepared for the judge stated that the patient has no need for a surgery.

This is despite the fact that the appointment for Mr. Zakery’s BPH surgery on April 5 had been set by the urologist physician in the hospital who visited him on 18 February 2015, after Mr. Zakery had waited a long time have the necessary medical tests done.

The documents relating to his illness, the advice of the specialist physician, and the appointment for surgery have all been provided to the UNHCR, UNAMI, the U.S. officials, and the investigative judge by a representative of Camp Liberty residents.

This anti-human measure, three weeks into the illegal arrest of Mr. Safar Zakery, leaves no doubt that the Iranian regime’s terrorist Qods Force and the mullahs’ regime embassy in Baghdad are behind the hostage taking of Mr. Zakery.

Once again, the Iranian Resistance emphasizes that the illegal detention of Mr. Zakery is a blatant breach of the Memorandum of Understanding signed on 25 December 2011 by the Government of Iraq and the United Nations, as well as a violation of international refugee law.

Considering the fact that obstructing medical treatment is a crime against humanity, whose perpetrators must be prosecuted and put on trial, the Iranian Resistance also calls on the U.S. government, UNAMI and UNHCR that have repeatedly committed themselves to the wellbeing and security of the residents, to act immediately to end the hostage taking, secure the freedom of Mr. Zakery, and transfer him to hospital to undergo the surgery he needs.

Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
April 5, 2015

IRAN: Anti-regime protests held in Ahvaz

NCRI - Residents of the Iranian city of Ahvaz expressed their rage and loathing against the suppressive and discriminatory policies of the clerical regime in the southern province of Khuzestan by chanting anti-regime slogans following a soccer match in the city on Friday (3 April 2015).

the courageous people and youth in Ahvaz staged a demonstration inside and outside the stadium, as well as in the Ahwaz-Khorramshahr intersection in the city, after the soccer match between Foulad of Khuzestan and Tehran’s Estqbal teams.

The Iranian regime’s suppressive forces engaged with the protesting people around government institutions. The sound of shots being fired could be heard in these places from a distance.

Similarly, on March 17, following the soccer match between the Foulad of Khuzestan and Al-Helal of Saudi Arabia, people staged a large demonstration and expressed their loathing for the regime’s criminal and oppressive measures against the people of Khuzestan.

The angry crowd staged a large protest carrying signs reading “We are all Youness” to express their solidarity with Youness Asakereh, a petty seller who set himself on fire on March 13, 2015 in Ahvaz in protest against repressive measures by regime agents who had obstructed his toil.

Youness Asakereh later died on March 22 due to severe burns. His burial ceremony turned into another scene of protest and an expression of anger toward the clerical regime with a large number of people from various cities of Khuzestan participating in the event.

The people of Khuzestan province are suffering from poverty, unemployment and hunger while the province is one of the most productive and wealthy regions in Iran.

However, the enormous wealth of the Iranian people is being spent on suppression, export of terrorism, warmongering in the region, and ominous nuclear projects or is being plundered by the leaders of the clerical regime.

Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
April 4, 2015

Hillary Clinton Sets Up Campaign Headquarters in Brooklyn

Hillary Clinton Sets Up Campaign Headquarters in Brooklyn

NEW YORK – Former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has chosen the New York borough of Brooklyn as the place to set up campaign headquarters for her 2016 run for president, the daily Politico reported Friday.

According to the daily, which quotes people close to the campaign, the Clinton team has signed a contract to lease offices at 1 Pierrepont Plaza in the Brooklyn Heights neighborhood.

Clinton’s campaign headquarters will occupy two floors of this office building in one of the Brooklyn areas best served for public transport. The investment brokerage Morgan Stanley has a branch office in the same building, while the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York is just across the street.

It is currently accepted as a fact that the former first lady of the United States (1993-2001) will officially announce her candidacy for the 2016 presidential election in the coming weeks.

According to Politico, signing the contract is proof that Clinton will take that step very soon, since Federal Election Commission rules stipulate that no more than 15 days may pass between the first campaign activities and registering the candidacy with the authorities.

However, it is not yet known whether the signing was done under the name of the Clinton campaign or of another entity or individual.

The ex-secretary of state has lived several years in the New York suburb of Chappaqua, and the foundation she heads with her husband and daughter is based in the Big Apple neighborhood of Harlem.

Brooklyn, the most populous borough of the five that make up New York City, has seen a major transformation in recent years, becoming for many one of the nation’s great symbols of modernity.

Colombian Police Seize Almost a Ton of Cocaine in Cartagena

CARTAGENA, Colombia – Colombian anti-drug police at the port of Cartagena seized 985 kilograms of cocaine hidden in eight containers destined for the Dominican Republic, authorities said Thursday.

The director of the Colombian Anti-narcotics Police, Gen. Ricardo Restrepo Londoño, told Efe that the drugs “were hidden in the floor. The girders supporting the structure of the containers had been modified and inside they had tried to hide the packages of cocaine...”

Restrepo said that “we’ve been able to prove that the shipment is linked to Colombian drug traffickers, associated with drug traffickers in Central American countries.”

According to Restrepo, the shipment had certain very special characteristics, given that the packets are not the “almost square ones of 1 kg that normally have been found but rectangular ones weighing about a pound.”

The drug packets, he said, were marked with the word “Rasta,” adding that this seizure was able to be linked with another one made recently in the nearby city of Barranquilla, capital of Atlantico province, where 522 kg of cocaine packed in a similar way were found.

“The only thing they modified was the final destination. The Barranquilla shipment was going to Belgium and this one to the Dominican Republic,” Restrepo said.

He also said that the find was made thanks to the authorities’ monitoring of a front company located in the southwestern port of Buenaventura from which it was known that exports were pending via one of the Cartagena ports.

According to Anti-narcotics Police figures, so far this year, nine tons of cocaine have been seized in Colombia’s Caribbean region and 39.2 tons nationwide.

Restrepo said that as a result of these figures and those provided by the SIMCI system to monitor illicit crops, estimates are that yearly cocaine production in Colombia stands at “approximately 290 tons.”

Iran - Mine workers protest and get " flogging and prison " ???

NCRI - A so-called court in Iran sentenced five protesting mine workers to one year in prison and lashes for ‘disturbing public order’ during last year’s massive protests against layoffs.

Over the past two years over a thousand workers at Chadormalu iron ore mine, located in the central province of Yazd, held a series of gatherings and sit-ins protesting against layoffs and low wages.

Dozens of workers were either arrested or summoned to courts at the request of the employers. A group of 38 workers were arrested in February 2014 but released a few days later. Another group of 31 workers were summoned to a court last year. The recent court ruling was issued following members of this group of which five were sentenced to flogging and imprisonment for ‘disturbing pubic order’.

The employers at the mine company introduced the five workers as leaders of the protests and had demanded that they be dealt with harshly.

Another court in Iran sentenced four petrochemical workers last year to fifty lashes and six months in prison.