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MEAN STREETS MEDIA

Monday, August 29, 2016

Iran: Five Christian citizens arrested in Firoozkooh

NCRI - Friday 23 August 2016 five converted Christians who had gone for sightseeing and fishing with their families were detained by the agents of Intelligence Ministry. The whereabouts and condition of them is unknown.
According to news sources from inside Iran, Ramil Bet Tamraz, Amin Naderafshar, Hadi Askari, M Dehnavi and Amirsina Dashti with their wifes and children went to the city of Boroujerd in the province of Tehran for fishing and picnics. Around half past one in the afternoon, they were attacked by security forces, men and women were separated and then Amin Nadrafshar who asked them to show the arrest warrant was severely beaten.
A source close to the families stated: “The security forces detained and transferred men to an undisclosed location, and families are unaware of their condition.”
Ramil Bet Tamraz, is the son of Victor Bet Tamraz the Assyrian priest who was arrested at his home on Christmas celebrations on 5 January 2014.
Rev. Victor was verbally accused of "illegal missionary activities, running a Christian house church, and publishing and distributing the Bible". He was released on bail on 10 March 2014. And is waiting a summons from the court to defend the charges related to his Christian activities.
It is feared that the intelligence agents coerce them to false confessions as is common in Iran prisons.

Iran - shots fired from .50-caliber machine gun in (Gulf )

Anyone concerned by a perceived warming of relations between the U.S. and Iran can rest somewhat assured as of this week: The two countries' interactions, particularly on the high seas, most definitely remain hostile.
An Iranian warship prepares to leave Irans waters at the Strait of Hormuz. U.S. Navy and Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps vessels have had multiple tense encounters during the past week.
Recent days have witnessed repeated incidents in which boats belonging to the navy of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps harassed and – according to the U.S. Navy – acted outright dangerously in close proximity to American ships in the Persian Gulf. It remains unclear specifically what Iran hoped to achieve with the encounters. But regardless of what prompted the provocations, the outcome the Iranians sought was all but certain.
'They knew they were going to provoke a response, they just went as far as they could,' says Anthony Cordesman, with the Center for Strategic and International Studies. 'The clear message is, 'We're here. We are a significant threat. We can demonstrate to everyone in the Gulf that we are capable of doing this and willing to do it.''
Iran could be airing continued grievances or sending a larger message to its adversaries on any one of a series of issues.
Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, for example, believes the U.S. has not followed through on commitments to the deal it struck with Tehran over its nuclear program. The U.S. continues a military build-up of sorts through massive arms deals with its traditional partners in the Middle East, which also happen to be Iran's sworn enemies.
Tehran also might feel empowered by its strengthened relationship with Moscow, as shown through Russia's temporarily deploying warplanes to an airbase in Iran for operations in Syria.
The U.N. General Assembly begins in New York a few weeks, where Iran will likely continue its traditional arguments for greater influence in world affairs. And, more generally, Iran is expected to continue its years long campaign to prove it can, and should, serve as the principal power in its neighborhood.
Whatever the reason behind this latest activity, it arguably achieved its goal.
'You do not necessarily need to turn this into a publicity issue because you don't have to. Is there any place that didn't get the news?' Cordesman says.
The encounters provoked sharp responses from the Department of Defense and the ships themselves, one of which fired warning shots in response. A U.S. Navy spokesman called it 'a dangerous, harassing situation that could have led to further escalation.'
On Tuesday, four high-speed IRGC vessels came within 300 yards of the U.S. destroyer Nitze while it was exiting the very narrow Strait of Hormuz. The ship exercised the U.S. Navy's typical escalation of warnings, from blasting its horn and sending radio warnings to firing flares.
On Wednesday, Iranian vessels approached the U.S. coastal patrol ships Tempest and Squall in the northern Gulf, and did not respond when hailed by the two ships' radios. The Tempest fired warning flares, and the vessels came close enough to the Squall for it to fire warning shots from its .50-caliber machine gun.
The Navy said the warning shots did not cause any damage.
'This situation presented a drastically increased risk of collision, and the Iranian vessel refused to safely maneuver in accordance with internationally recognized maritime rules of the road, despite several request and warnings via radio, and visual and audible warnings from both U.S. ships,' Navy Cmdr. Bill Urban, a spokesman for the Navy's 5th Fleet, told the U.S. Naval Institute. He said the Iranian ships' high rate of speed as they approached the U.S. ships in international waters, along with their bow crossings at short range and disregard of multiple warning attempts, 'created a dangerous, harassing situation that could have led to further escalation.'
The circumstances of these latest incidents, particularly the swarming effect the Iranian navy vessels hoped to achieve, remain a central concern of American Navy commanders whose ships represent high-profile targets in contentious parts of the world.
Experts in these kinds of military encounters say the U.S. Navy maintains the ability to defend its vessels from an attack like these, particularly if its ships were operating in a situation in which they didn't have to exercise an abundance of caution, as was the case this week.
'This just may be an IRGC decision to periodically test the U.S. Navy and its rules of engagement,' says Paul Hughes, an expert in international security in the Middle East and Africa with the U.S. Institutes of Peace. 'They're trying to do that in a very constrained way, and in a very constrained place, itself – the Straits of Hormuz.'
'It will continue,' Hughes adds. 'This is not a new phenomenon. They have been doing this for a long time, and it's just another test of the Navy, to see how the U.S. responds, and, 'Maybe if we're lucky we can scare the ship's captain to divert off its course and then we have a big propaganda victory there.''
Source: U.S. News & World Report, 27 Aug. 2016

Friday, August 26, 2016

Phoenix - man arrested for multiple cases of indecent exposure

Robert KeithA man was arrested Wednesday night after an investigation involving multiple cases of indecent exposure, Phoenix police said.
Robert Keith, 26, was detained on suspicion of indecent exposure. In an interview with officers, he confessed to several acts of sexual indecency and voyeurism, according to Sgt. Vince Lewis, Phoenix police spokesman.
As many as 20 counts of such acts dating to 2013 are being attributed to Keith, Lewis said in a statement.
According to police, Keith would approach a window and peer in while committing lewd acts. Keith also confessed to drug use at the time of these crimes, Lewis said.

Suspect sought in Gaines Twp. indecent exposure cases

GAINES TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WOOD) — Kent County authorities are investigating multiple indecent exposure incidents in Gaines Township.

A cellphone of the alleged suspect in an indecent exposure case on Aug. 10, 2016 in Gaines Township. (Courtesy Kent County Sheriff's Department)
The incidents happened on the Paul Henry Trail between Kalamazoo Avenue and S. Division Avenue in Gaines Township. The first incident happened on Aug. 10 and the second on Aug. 20, according to a news release from the Kent County Sheriff’s Department.
In one of the incidents, the victim was able to take a cellphone photo of the suspect.
Anyone with information is asked to call detective Hinds at 616.632.6140 or Silent Observer at 616.774.2345.

TEHRAN- Iran's Revolutionary Guard Targets 450 Social Media Users

TEHRAN, ABC News, Aug. 23, 2016 - The cyber-arm of Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard says it has summoned, detained and warned some 450 administrators of social media groups in recent weeks.
Social media users in Iran are targeted

The announcement Tuesday, carried on a website affiliated with the Guard's cyber arm, says those detained used social media like the messaging app Telegram, which is popular in Iran.
The announcement says those detained or summoned made posts that were considered immoral, were related to modeling, or which insulted religious beliefs. It says the Guard only took action after 'judicial procedures' were completed, without elaborating.
In May, authorities announced an operation targeting those involved on Instagram.
The arrests are part of a larger crackdown by hard-liners on youth and dissidents.
Sky News also reported that Iran has arrested or summoned about 450 social media users.
Users of apps such as Instagram, Telegram and WhatsApp have been targeted.
A similar report was run by the ISNA news agency.
Facebook and Twitter are banned in the Islamic republic, though software that provides access is easily available.
More than half of Iran's 80 million population is online.
Telegram, an instant messaging app, has more than 20 million users.
In May, a committee headed by President Hassan Rouhani is said to have set a one-year deadline for foreign social media to hand over data on their Iranian users.

Man urinates in women's bathroom (arrested)


On August 19, 2016 at approximately 10:30am a Transit Police officer assigned to the Central District was on patrol at the MBTA's Back Bay station. While there he was informed a male had just entered into the women's restroom. The officer immediately began to proceed in that direction and was ultimately directed to a male, later identified as
Taha Hamid, 28, of Dorchester who was observed exiting the women's bathroom. At this time the officer was approached and informed by a female victim of the following; while inside the women's bathroom Hamid entered and pulled down his pants fully exposing his genitals to the victim. After doing so Hamid then proceeded to urinate into the sink and stated " This is a man's bathroom now !".