Iran news in brief, June 12, 2019

Iran news in brief, June 12, 2019

Iran: Political Prisoner Murdered by Regime Affiliates

Political prisoner Alireza Shir-Mohammad-Ali was stabbed to death by two inmates in the notorious Greater Tehran Prison on Monday, June 10.

Twenty-one-year old Alireza was arrested in Tehran in July 2018. He had been sentenced to 8 years in prison for insulting Khomeini and Khamenei and for anti-regime propaganda.

Political prisoners Alireza Shir-Mohammad-Ali and Barzan Mohammadi were on hunger strike from March 14 to April 16, 2019, demanding they be separated from the dangerous prisoners’ ward. They also protested the dire living and health conditions in in prison.

According to an informed source, Alireza was viciously stabbed at least 40 times.

Woman Admits Scheme to Smuggle US Aircraft Parts to Iran

 A New Jersey woman has pleaded guilty to participating in a scheme to illegally smuggle aircraft parts to Iran.

Joyce Eliabachus faces up to five years in prison after pleading guilty Tuesday to helping smuggle more than $2 million in components. An alleged co-conspirator, Iranian resident Peyman Amiri Larijani, faces conspiracy and money laundering charges.

The U.S. attorney's office in Newark says the pair used a company run out of Eliabachus's Morristown home to ship parts through Turkey and the United Arab Emirates to Iran.

They allegedly shipped more than 23,000 parts in 49 shipments between May 2015 and October 2017, without required licenses.

Among the Iranian airlines buying the parts were several that have been officially designated by the U.S. as threats to national security or economic interests.

Haft-Tappeh Workers Appeal to International Labor Organization

A group of Haft-Tappeh Sugar Factory employees have sent an official complaint to the United Nation’s International Labor Organization about Iran’s ongoing crackdown against labor rights protesters.

They have asked the ILO to investigate and condemn the regime for its failure to allow independent labor unions and its heavy-handed response to peaceful demonstrations.

“In recent months, dozens of Haft-Tappeh workers have been arrested, summoned to court or threatened simply for holding rallies to express their work-related complaints,” said the letter, sent on June 5, whose signatories are anonymous to protect their security.

The letter also highlighted the arrest and mistreatment of journalists targeted for reporting about the protests.

Sanaz Allahyari Not Hospitalized Despite Deteriorating Health in Jail

Evin Prison authorities have been preventing the transfer of Sanaz Allahyari to hospital despite her deteriorating health conditions.

Sanaz, a member of the editorial board of a magazine called GAM, has been held in detention since five months ago. She has become extremely weak and ill during detention and her illness has not been diagnosed.

Despite the efforts of her family, prison officials have prevented her transfer to an outside hospital.

Ex-Prisoner Says He Was Subjected to Torture in Iran

Lebanese IT expert Nizar Zakka, who arrived in Beirut on Tuesday after being detained in Iran since 2015, told Al Arabiya that he was "subjected to all kinds of torture from the Iranians" when he was first arrested.

Zakka also said that it was the Revolutionary Guards that interrogated him.

U.S. Says Iran Is in Breach of Nuclear Deal

The United States said on Tuesday that the Iranian regime’s work with advanced centrifuges is a breach of the 2015 nuclear deal.

In a statement to a quarterly meeting of the U.N. nuclear watchdog’s Board of Governors, the U.S. also said Tehran’s acceleration of uranium enrichment would not lead to Washington backing down in its policy of trying to isolate the regime.

“Attempting to generate negotiating leverage 1 kg of uranium at a time will not bring sanctions relief,” U.S. Ambassador Jackie Wolcott said.