Iranian 'Moderate' regime judiciary chief: “Opposition to death sentence is opposition to Islam”

Iranian 'Moderate' regime judiciary chief: “Opposition to death sentence is opposition to Islam” .(NCRI).

Iran: Twenty-two executions in three group hangings

NCRI - Wave of executions continues unabated in Iran. On Wednesday, December 11, Khamenei’s henchmen group-hanged seven prisoners in Gohardasht prison. On December 5, in two other group executions, 15 prisoners were hanged in Diesel-Abad Prison of Kermanshah and the central prison of Ilam.
Three Kurdish prisoners were executed in prisons of Kerman and the central prison of Urumiyeh on December 7, 10 and 12.

Meanwhile, transfer of prisoners to solitary confinement in preparation for carrying out the barbaric punishment of death continues, including two political prisoners who are Arab compatriots of Ahwaz and on December 8 they were transferred to an undisclosed location and face execution.

On December 11, mullahs’ Head of Judiciary, head henchman Sadeq Larijani, called reports by the international community on dire condition of human rights in Iran as fabricated and biased.

He said: “Opposition to the death sentence is opposition to Islam”. 

Speaking on the anti-human and anti-Islamic law, he noted, “It is inconsiderate of them to expect us to refrain from implementing Quran’s substance for the sake of an adopted resolution. Without paying heed to protests, judiciary shall decisively continue its work”.

Mullahs use Islam is a pseudonym for their religious dictatorship and therefore consider opposition to the death sentence as opposition to the very rule of the Velayat-e faqih system that the Iranian people want to topple.

Unceasing waves of execution that have taken much added dimension since Hassan Rouhani has taken office, on the one hand betray regime’s horror of the explosive state of the society and threat of a widespread uprising and on the other hand demonstrate that casting a mirage of moderation and tolerance by this regime only adds fuel to mullahs’ machine of execution, torture and massacre.

Planned visit to Iran by a few members of the European parliament while all of Iran is traversed by arbitrary and mass executions is a betrayal to human rights and justice and encourages clerical regime to continue with more execution.

The visit by MEPs who are well-known for their support for Iranian mullahs has met extensive opposition in the European parliament.

The largest parliamentary group at the European Parliament, Group of the European People’s Party (EPP), has announced that non of their members will take part in visit.

The EPP Group Coordinator on Foreign Affairs Jose Ignacio Salafranca said: “The EPP Group regrets that the number of executions in Iran has increased since the arrival of the new administration… one of the essential elements of interparliamentary dialogue should include human rights, as well as NGOs and representatives of the opposition".

The leader of the Group of European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR Group), MEP Martin Callanan , also declared that no one from the group would be part of the visiting delegation.

He added, “Iran’s human rights record is showing no sign of improvement under Rouhani, and the MEPs should not be making the visit until there is a clear change of attitude on questions surrounding human rights, support for terror, and clear action regarding nuclear proliferation.”

Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
December 12, 2013

Cuban Regime on Obama Handshake: "may this image be the beginning of the end of the US aggressions against Cuba."

Cuban Regime on Obama Handshake: "may this image be the beginning of the end of the US aggressions against Cuba."(HD).

US President Barack Obama's surprise handshake Tuesday with Cuban President Raul Castro at a memorial for the late Nelson Mandela in South Africa was saluted in Havana as a hopeful sign.

The government website Cubadebate.cu ran a photograph of the moment with the caption: "Obama greets Raul: may this image be the beginning of the end of the US aggressions against Cuba." It was only the second time since diplomatic ties were broken in 1961 that leaders of the two Cold War antagonists have greeted each other -- and the first time the greeting took place in public.

Cuban leader Fidel Castro and Bill Clinton exchanged greetings in 2000 during the Millennium summit in New York. There was no picture of the encounter.

While the White House eventually said at the time a handshake had taken place, Castro said only words had been exchanged.

"I couldn't run out to avoid greeting him," the elder of the Castro brothers said at the time, adding that the encounter lasted 20 seconds. "It would have been extravagant and rude to do anything else." Fidel Castro came to power in the Cuban revolution in 1959.

Washington has maintained a trade embargo against Cuba for half a century, and the fate of the communist state is a bitter issue in US domestic politics.

Analyst Jorge Gomez Barata, in a comment sent to AFP, said the Obama-Castro handshake was a result of "Mandela diplomacy." "Mandela did not know that such a meeting was going to occur... But he most certainly cleared a path that allowed for the avoidance of confrontation and created the basis for such an important meeting."

Meanwhile Sen McCain had this to say: 

After images surfaced of President Obama shaking hands with Raul Castro of Cuba, Senator John McCain responded by saying, “it gives Raul some propaganda to continue to prop up his dictatorial, brutal regime … Why should you shake hands with somebody keeping Americans in prison?”

McCain then went on to say, “Neville Chamberlain shook hands with Hitler.”

The Republican senator was not the only lawmaker to criticize the handshake. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida, who fled Cuba as a child, told Fox News “it is nauseating.” 

White House Furiously Tries To Downplay Obama’s Handshake With 'Comrade' Raul Castro.

'Old Comrades in Arms' - A pitty they were not playing 'the internationale'

White House Furiously Tries To Downplay Obama’s Handshake With 'Comrade' Raul Castro.(Nationalreview).

American presidents should avoid shaking the hand of dictators, especially those that have American blood on theirs.

One example of many: Raul Castro was Minister of Defense in 1996 when Cuban Air Force Mig’s, cold-bloodedly and over international airspace destroyed two civilian U.S. airplanes with four American rescue workers on board.

President Clinton rightly condemned the attack as cowardly, while Raul Castro decorated his pilots for bravery.

That incident alone illustrates the difference between the two systems that are embodied in the two leaders. 

President Obama seems unaware of the importance of his office or of the mantle of honor he wears as the leader of the world’s oldest democracy and the liberator of nations.

On his way to the rostrum, Obama also shook the hand of Robert Mugabe, the strongman ruler of Zimbabwe, and hugged Dilma Rousseff, the president of Brazil, who has stridently opposed spying by the National Security Agency and criticized the U.S. government.

There is no moral equivalence between the leader of the free world and the leader of a morally bankrupt military dictatorship that holds power only by force.

Obama - Mandela......Birds of a Feather ?

Iran's first VP to attend Mandela’s funeral procession tomorrow.

Iran's first VP to attend Mandela’s funeral procession tomorrow.(Taz).

Iranian Vice-President for Executive Affairs Mohammad Shariatmadari is slated to take part in the funeral ceremony of former South African President and anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela on Tuesday, Farsnews reported.

Shariatmadari will head a high-ranking delegation in Mandela's funeral ceremony scheduled to be held in Soto city near Johannesburg tomorrow.

Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif was initially planned to attend Mandela's funeral on behalf of the Islamic Republic, but he had to cancel the trip to host his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov who is due to arrive in Tehran tomorrow.

In a statement on South African national TV, President Jacob Zuma said that Mandela died "peacefully" and surrounded by his family at his Johannesburg home on Thursday evening.

"This is our moment of deepest sorrow, our nation has lost its greatest son," said Zuma, describing the anti-apartheid icon as a "father" to the nation. South Africans would "mourn the one person who, more than any other, came to embody their sense of common nationhood".

The South African government announced that 59 world leaders will attend Mandela's funeral procession in Johannesburg. His body will be laid to rest in his birthplace next Sunday.

Mandela led South Africa's transition from white-minority rule in the 1990s, after 27 years in prison.
Over the course of his life, anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela provided many memorable speeches and soundbites.

In the dock at the 1964 Rivonia Trial facing the gallows for acts of sabotage against the apartheid government, he told the court, "I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die."

Hmmmm.....Rouhani got no ticket from Khamenei.....'i'll keep my enemies close'.

Mandela funeral could trap 'peacedove' Rouhani, might run in to 'Great Satan' Obama.

Mandela funeral could trap 'peacedove' Rouhani, might run in to 'Great Satan' Obama.(HD).

The funeral service of Nelson Mandela could be a "trap" for Iranian President Hassan Rouhani because he could run into US President Barack Obama, a hardline Iranian daily warned Sunday.

The Islamic republic has yet to announce who will travel to South Africa for Tuesday's memorial service and next Sunday's funeral for the late president and Nobel laureate.

Hardline newspaper Kayhan warned in an editorial that if Rouhani attends it could bring him face to face with Obama, "head of the Great Satan government".

"Some domestic and foreign media outlets are using the funeral ceremony as a pretext to push Rouhani towards a meeting with the head of the Great Satan government," Kayhan said.

Rouhani, a moderate, defeated a pool of conservatives in a June presidential election after vowing to engage with the West.

Since then there has been a thaw in ties between Iran and world powers.

The most remarkable development was a 15-minute telephone call between Obama and Rouhani in September, as the Iranian president was ending a visit to the US for the UN General Assembly.

The call was the first contact between leaders of the two nations since diplomatic ties were severed more than three decades ago over the hostage-taking at the US embassy in Tehran.

The Kayhan editorial, headlined "Satan lays a trap, this time in Johannesburg", recalled comments by supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei after Rouhani's September trip to New York.

"Some of what happened in the New York trip was not appropriate," Khamenei said at the time, without elaborating.

Iranian hardliners and conservatives took that as indicating the supreme leader was unhappy the telephone chat had taken place.

Since that conversation, Iran has struck a landmark nuclear deal with six world powers including the United States in another sign of a thawing of ties.

The interim agreement reached last month following a decade of gridlock would freeze parts of Iran's controversial nuclear programme while easing some of the crippling international sanctions against it.

It is not clear if Rouhani will attend services for Mandela, but he sent a message of condolences following the death of the iconic South African.

Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has also tweeted a message saying: "We in Iran join the people of South Africa in mourning the death of Nelson Mandela, who inspired humanity with his courage&compassion." Mandela, who died late on Thursday at the age of 95, had visited Iran in 1992 and again in 1999.Hmmmm.....If anything this is the 'Superbowl' for Al-Shabaab, White Widow and consorts!