NEWS)))))))

“The hunger strike of political prisoners (in Gohardasht Prison in Karaj, Iran) is not for prisoners alone. For more than three weeks, families have been somehow involved in this strike. In a way, all of us accompany them in this strike,” said Maryam Massouri, sister of political prisoner Saeed Massouri, in an interview. She said, “Everyone is very thin and weak. Believe me, they did not even have the energy to speak. We are very worried about them and nobody accepts any responsibility for this strike.” Saeed Massouri is a political prisoner who started his hunger strike after being displaced from Hall 12, Ward 4 of Gohardasht Prison to Hall 10, which is strictly under control of security forces 24 hours a day and prisoners are monitored via closed circuit cameras even in the bathroom. The displacement took place on July 30, 2017, and a large number of political prisoners have been on hunger strike since. Saeed Massouri has been in prison for the past 17 years without a single day of temporary release.

******

Atena Daemi, Golrokh Ebrahimi Iraee and Maryam Akbari Monfared, detained in the women's ward of Evin Prison, published an open letter on August 19, calling on conscientious people to speak out against the difficult conditions of political prisoners in Gohardasht Prison who are on hunger strike in protest to the extremely repressive conditions in that prison. A number of other political prisoners such as Arash Sadeghi, stood in solidarity with the prisoners of Gohardasht prison. Also the political prisoners of Central prison of Ardebil in an open letter to Asma Jahangir UN reportuar on human rights situation announced their hunger strike from Aug. 24 till Aug 30th. Political prisoners Arzhang Davoodi and Mehdi Farahi Shandiz too have gone on a solidarity hunger strike with the Gohardasht political prisoners. Arzhang Davoodi is on medicine strike as well. The Gohardasht political prisoners have been on hunger strike since July 30, 2017

******

Yesterday Aug. 26, in Ottawa, In line with the Iranian people's Justice Movement and following demonstrations of the supporters of the Iranian resistance in different countries, Iranian-Canadians gathered once more in front of the Parliament and across from PM office stressing their support for the political prisoners on hunger strike in Gohardasht prison in Iran. The demonstrators called for the regime's leaders to be prosecuted for Crime Against Humanity. Specifically the 1988 mass executions of 30,000 political prisoners in Iran. The organizers said that they will hold another demonstration at the Parliament Hill on Thursday Aug. 31st from 11am.

******

Women nurses in Boushehr, southern Iran, launched a rally on Thursday, August 24, in protest to non-payment of their wages past due for eight months. Nurses staged their nationwide protest on August 6 of this year, including in Tehran, Shiraz, Isfahan, Ahwaz and Bandar Abbas.




******

Sara Rostami, 28 from Sanandaj, was arrested Monday night, August 21, by Iranian regime's security forces in Baneh. She was beaten at the time of arrest. The arrest was made without a court warrant. She is allegedly charged with collaborating with Kurdish parties.




******

The Ministry of Education in Iran has issued a humiliating directive on the terms and conditions for employment of teachers. According to state-run Fars news agency Aug. 23, the directive contains a long list of chronic and persistent diseases including dental, renal, and women’s gynecological problems, which disqualify teachers who apply for employment. Article 17 of the directive lists a series of common diseases of women including menstrual irregularity, excess facial hair, uterus surgery, sterility, ovarian cysts, endometriosis, breast and ovarian cancer, etc. as disqualifies for employment of women as teachers.

******

"The bill on combating violence against women (in Iran) has been drafted from a merely sexual perspective." Making this comment on August 24, legal deputy to the Judiciary, Zabihollah Khoda'ian, expressed his opposition to the adoption of the VAW bill. He justified his view by the fact that 70 out of 100 articles of the bill are “criminalizing”, "setting prison sentences for even the slightest tensions between couples."According to the Women's Committee of the Iranian Resistance if adopted, the VAW bill is going to be named "provision of security for women against violence", and it mostly focuses on domestic violence overlooking pervasive violence committed against Iranian women every day at the workplace, in the streets and public places, and in prisons by the law enforcement and plainclothes agents, Revolutionary Guards and Bassij, as well as government and private sector employers and employees. According to Hossein Ashtari, Commander of the State Security Force, an average of 2000 women are forcibly and violently arrested every day across Iran and mistreated and humiliated in detention centers for not fully observing the compulsory veil.

******

Amnesty International issued an urgent action statement on Aug. 25, expressing concern about the situation of Zeynab Jalalian, political prisoner in Khoy Prison, in northwestern Iran. AI wrote, “Iranian Kurdish woman Zeynab Jalalian, serving a life sentence, is severely ill and requires specialized medical care outside prison. However, the authorities have persistently refused to transfer her to a hospital, apparently to punish her and extract forced ‘confessions’. In protest, she has been refusing all medications since March 2017. The denial of access to medical care in these circumstances amounts to torture.”

******

The female students volunteering to train as dental assistant held a protest outside the Ministry of Health Saturday morning, August 26. They objected the introduction of national books on dentistry as the source used for designing the Dental Assistant Exam. Dental students also demanded that the date of this exam as well as the sources for it to be fixed, reported state-run Mehr news agency, August 26.

******

Women and children's rights activist, Farzaneh Jalali, has been repeatedly summoned to the Intelligence Department of Kermanshah, western Iran, to be interrogated. Jalali's lawyer, Mostafa Ahmadian said, “The verbal summoning of his client has been illegal and the interrogations have made her upset.”
Ahmadian asserted, “Unfortunately, my client has cooperated (so far), but I have asked her to ignore such calls until she receives written summon or emails based on legal standards.”
Farzaneh Jalali a women's rights activist from Kermanshah was deprived of college education for her activities. On February 24, 2017, she was arrested by security forces and taken to the detention center at Naft Square of Kermanshah.

******

According to a video clip from Iran published on the internet, a young woman was violently arrested in Tehran’s Haghani Metro Station for not covering her hair. The clip shows two female agents of the Guidance Patrol pushing a young woman on the street and forcing her into their van. The young woman is crying out and demanding them to let her go.
In an act of rebellion against the compulsory veil imposed by the clerical regime on Iranian women since 1979, more and more women have been daring to go out in public without wearing the veil on their head, something that has turned into a major predicament for the regime.


******

The head of the Clothing Union, Abolghassem Shirazi, declared
that they would be dealing with shops selling see-through jackets or manteaux without buttons that are open in the front. According to the state-run Tasnim news agency Aug. 21, the manufacturers and suppliers of “unconventional” clothing for women will be dealt with, with the help of the State Security Force.
Shirazi said, “Ripped pants are not suitable for Iranians. We don’t care about the world’s fashion.” He vowed to collect all unconventional clothes from across the city, including ripped, tight, and short clothing and open front manteaux. He said, “These types of unconventional clothes have no place in our culture and will be collected with the help of the SSF if they are detected in any shop.”

******

The Commander of the State Security Force in Shahroud, north central Iran, stressed that the SSF will deal with women dropping their veils in their cars. “The number of cars impounded last month amounts to 16.” Mojtaba Ashrafi said the SSF was tasked with giving verbal warnings to improperly veiled women on the streets and in their cars. “The SSF gave 877 verbal warnings (to women) in public places,” he added. (The state-run Tasnim news agency – August 22, 2017)


******

The state-run Ilna news agency reported on Aug. 22 that retired female teachers staged a protest rally outside the Iranian parliament building in Tehran Tuesday morning, August 22. They said, “Our main demands are increasing the retirement pensions, implementing the law to uniform all salaries, and improving insurance services.”



******

The Honourable Ahmed Hussen, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, announced on Thursday that the Government of Canada will be working to implement an “X” gender designation in Canadian passports, as well as other documents issued by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) to support LGBTQ2 rights and advance the Government’s agenda on gender equality, diversity and inclusion. An “X” will make it easier for people who do not identify as female (“F”) or male (“M”) to acquire passports and other government-issued documents that better reflect their gender identity.
Starting August 31, 2017, IRCC will be the first Government of Canada department to introduce interim measures, which include allowing individuals to add an observation to their passport stating their sex should be identified as “X,” indicating that it is unspecified. Interim measures will be available until IRCC is able to print documents with an “X.”