Crumbs of human rights

The race for reaching a complex nuclear deal with the West is still the biggest determining factor in Iranian politics. In recent weeks President Rouhani has come under pressure over the talks , with members of parliament pushing for laws that would block the interim deal completely. As Shahir Shahid-Saless, an Iranian political analyst said: “Any compromise on the nuclear issue will be attacked by hardliners.” But about a month ago, talking to hundreds of Iranian economists and business leaders at a conference, President Rouhani said that he might start putting important issues to referendums . The president underlined that under the constitution, Iranians are entitled to have important economic, political, social and cultural issues put to a referendum instead of having the parliament decide. “On a crucial matter that affects all of us and our livelihoods, let's ask people's opinion directly, just for once,” he said, without specifically stressing the subject of the propos...

Iran managed to find a new envoy as permanent representative to the United Nations in New York, 10 months after the US refused to accept its first choice. The new candidate, Gholamali Khoshru is a career diplomat who previously served as Iran's ambassador to the UN. He is a moderate with close ties to the reformist camp of former President Mohammad Khatami. Mr Khoshru served as Iran's deputy foreign minister from 2002 to 2005 and he is currently Iran's ambassador to Switzerland. Last year, Iran’s UN nominee, Hamid Aboutalebi, was denied a US visa for his supposed role in the Tehran hostage crisis in 1979. Allegedly, Hamid Aboutalebi acted as translator during the hostage crisis. But according to the Iranian regime, by not granting visa to its nominee, the US had violated the treaty it signed in 1947, when New York became the headquarters of the United Nations. That treaty binds Washington to grant visas to diplomats from UN member states. However, the US has mad...

In a rare occasion to reach out to the West without pure condemnation, Iran’s Supreme Leader sent an important message to the American and European youth . The aim of the letter was to stress that the Islam they know is based on a forged concept and doesn’t reflect the reality. Therefore, Ayatollah Khamenei encouraged the younger generation in the West to do research and get firsthand information on the religion. www.wsj.com In his letter, Mr Khamenei asks youngsters whether they “ have directly read the Qur’an of the Muslims .” He goes on by questioning: “Have you ever received the message of Islam from any sources other than the media?” Moreover, the Iranian leader calls on the youth to ask themselves “why the old policy of spreading ‘phobia’ and hatred has targeted Islam and Muslims with an unprecedented intensity. [..] What concepts and values in Islam disturb the programs of the super powers and what interests are safeguarded in the shadow of distorting the image of Islam...

A week flies by very quickly in our twenties, especially for someone who is awaiting his execution. Saman Naseem has only a few days left. This young Kurdish man was sentenced to death for taking part in a gun battle between Iran’s most powerful security and military organisation (the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps - IRGC) and the armed opposition group (Party For Free Life of Kurdistan), when he was just 17 years old. Those armed activities led to the death of a member of the IRGC. Saman Naseem, now 22 years old, is awaiting execution for events that occurred when he was a child.  He was tortured by authorities to obtain a ‘confession’ before his trial, sentenced to death first two years ago and then again in April 2013 - after a lower court reviewed the case. His lawyer has also been stopped from pursuing his case for the past six months. Saman’s conviction and death sentence go against Iran’s international commitments on the use of the death penalty against ...