By Staff Writer, Iran Probe
Sunday, 13 March 2016
National Council of Resistance of Iran issued a statement on March 11, condemning the Australian government’s decision to deport Iranian refugees to Iran. The statement calls on Australianparliament and political parties, human rights defenders to prevent this shameful act, stating, ‘The Iranian Resistance expresses its deep abhorrence regarding collusion with the religious fascism ruling Iran against Iranian refugees in Australia for refoulement of thousands of these refugees and calls on the Australian government not to victimize the sacred right of asylum for petty and short term economic gains.
The Iranian Resistance calls on the international community, especially the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, the European Union and its member states, to condemn this treatment of Iranian refugees in Australia which is blatant violation of international conventions and covenants and further calls on Australian political parties and refugee rights and human rights organizations in Australia to rush to the aid of these refugees and to prevent pressures on them and their eviction to Iran.
Australian officials announced on March 9 that Iranian refugees in Australia would be returned back to Iran according to a new deal reached with the Iranian regime. According to the news reports, the Australian government will instead “grant various scholarships to Iranian students”; scholarships that would mostly go to the Revolutionary Guards and the regime’s paid hands.
The velayat-e faqih (clerical rule) system – which the Australian government so audaciously tramples human values to deal with – has turned Iran into a prison for all Iranian people, especially women. Acid attacks, flogging, stoning, gouging out of eyes, amputation of limbs, and piling up students, political and civil activists, intellectuals, lawyers and artists in its medieval prisons are but a part of the regime’s infamous record.’
The recent decision comes amid the blatant human rights abuse in Iran. UN Special Rapporteur released his latest report to the organization’s Human Rights Council on the human rights situation in Iran, saying that at least 966 people were put to death in the country last year.
The Freedom House released its annual report last week, rebuking the Iranian regime for its horrible violation of human rights as it stated: ‘Activists say they have been beaten during interrogation, forced into false confessions, and subjected to psychological pressure, including threats that their relatives will be arrested. In the past two years, the IRGC’s intelligence unit appears to have increased its involvement in political repression. The unit reportedly controls a section of Tehran’s Evin prison.’
