Children As Young As 16 In Iran Sell Kidneys Amid Poverty

Federal Judge Cynthia Bashant ruled on Tuesday that the bank did not violate US civil rights law by freezing and closing the accounts of Abdollah-Nia, a postdoctoral fellow in San Diego with permanent-resident status, nor the accounts of thousands of others.

Bank of America defended its actions by arguing that Nia failed to provide sufficient documentation to prove residency outside of Iran, a necessary step to comply with complex US sanctions regulations.

It argued that the US Treasury is “very unforgiving of banks whose deficient sanctions compliance programs lead to violations.”

Judge Cynthia Bashant rejected class-action status for the suit, stating that the bank acted within its rights in freezing and subsequently closing Nia’s account in 2019.

The lawsuit, which sought class-action status, alleged that Bank of America had unfairly restricted or closed the accounts of up to 15,000 Iranian Americans.

Furthermore, the judge ruled that Bank of America did not violate California laws, although she permitted Nia to pursue a claim under the US Equal Credit Opportunity Act regarding notification of the account closure.

While denying Nia’s motion to certify the case as a class action on discrimination grounds, Judge Bashant provided him with the opportunity to refile within 30 days if he chooses to pursue the matter solely on the grounds of ECOA notification.

Both the attorney representing Nia and a spokesman for Bank of America declined to comment on the ruling.

Ahmad Shirani, the head of the Traffic Information and Control Center of the Traffic Police, disclosed to state news on Friday that the death toll from accidents during this year's Norouz festivities has risen to 585 so far, stemming from 484 separate incidents. 

Last year, the holiday period saw 1,168 fatalities, up from 1,146 in 2022, with one person dying in a road accident every half hour during the year in Iran according to local media.

“Provinces such as Kerman, Fars, Sistan and Baluchestan, Isfahan (Esfahan), Khorasan Razavi, and Khuzestan have been identified as hotspots for fatal road accidents,” he said.

Teymoor Hosseini, the head of the Traffic Police, revealed that fines will see a fivefold increase on average, with the highest hike reserved for driving under the influence, skyrocketing by sevenfold.

Law enforcement authorities, including Siavash Mohebbi, the deputy head of the Traffic Police, have pointed fingers at drivers with vehicle confiscations on the rise.

The blame game extends beyond drivers, with Iranian authorities consistently attributing accidents to factors such as inability to control vehicles, and driver fatigue. Reports have also surfaced regarding the substandard quality of Iranian-made vehicles and poor road conditions.

However, critics argue that the government's focus on penalizing drivers overlooks systemic issues such as the lack of measures to enhance the quality of car production and address the country's dangerous roads.

The incident in Gonbad-e Kavus, was reported by the IRGC-affiliated Fars News. Citing Islamic principles, the Iranian regime has systematically oppressed and discriminated against queer people since the establishment of the clerical dictatorship.

Iranian authorities have resorted to derogatory labels and stigmatization when addressing LGBTQ citizens, referring to them as “deviant” and “sick.”

In July, Iran’s president Ebrahim Raisi called homosexuality the “dirtiest” phenomena in human history.

“Western countries try to identify homosexuality as an index of civilization, while this is one of the dirtiest things which have been done in human history,” said Raisi, also a Shiite cleric.

Hengaw Organization for Human Rights reported in 2022 that the Islamic Republic sentenced two LGBTQ activists to death on charges of “corruption on earth through the promotion of homosexuality.”

Despite the many challenges faced by LGBTQ individuals in Iran, they continue to confront dangers, including the risk of execution and other forms of punishment under the laws of the Islamic Republic.

On International Women’s Day in 2023, the Iranian Queer Liberation Front vowed to continue the fight against sexual and gender apartheid in Iran.

The bipartisan Mahsa Amini Human rights and Security Accountability Act (MAHSA Act) passed the House of Representatives with overwhelming majority in September 2023, but has not yet been moved forward for a vote in the Senate.

In December, Iranian-American activists said the Chairman of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee Senator Ben Cardin (D-MD) was refusing to advance the motion. According to the Committee's website, the markup session will be held on Tuesday, April 16.

The MAHSA Act – which has 68 Republican and 60 Democrat cosponsors – and is supported by the National Union for Democracy in Iran (NUFDI), United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), was first introduced by Representatives Jim Banks (R-IN) and Eric Swalwell (D-CA) during the 117th Congress in January 2023, about four months into pro-democracy and anti-regime protests following the death of 22-year-old Iranian-Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini at the hands of Iran's hijab police. Her death sparked country-wide protests, better known as the Women Life Freedom movement, which challenged the regime and its religious authority like never before.

Essentially similar and a companion to the one passed in the House committee, the MAHSA Act will potentially commit the administration to report to Congress in 90 days after the date of the enactment and periodically thereafter, making determinations about whether certain existing sanctions apply to specified persons and impose the applicable sanctions.

The bipartisan bicameral move requires the executive branch to impose applicable sanctions on Ali Khamenei, his office and his appointees, along with President Ebrahim Raisi and his cabinet officials, as well as foundations and other entities affiliated with the Supreme Leader.

The body of the 20-year-old woman was found in her father’s house in the Iranian capital Tehran on Sunday.

According to the report, Tabrizi was subjected in the last weeks of her life to severe psychological pressure by the security agents of the Iranian government and was summoned to Iran’s infamous Ministry of Intelligence just one day before her death.

On November 16, Tabrizi was detained by security forces at Tehran’s International Airport, along with another citizen, while on her way to England. She was sent to Ward 29 of the Evin prison, belonging to the Ministry of Intelligence. After around ten days of interrogation, she was released on a bail of 10 billion rials ($20,000).

According to the information received by Iran International, Tabrizi was forced to spend the first three days of her detention in solitary confinement, a challenging period for her which led to severe anxiety, high blood pressure and high heart rate. She was later transferred to a three-person cell in Evin Prison.

“Sara was threatened by the interrogators that if she fails to cooperate with them, she will be sent back to solitary confinement and that the private content of her cell phone would be made public so that it would reach her family,” a source close to Tabrizi’s family revealed to Iran International.

Tabrizi was once again summoned and detained on January 8, this time released on a bail of 20 billion rials ($40,000).

Subsequently tried by notorious Judge Iman Afshari in Tehran’s Revolutionary Court, she was sentenced to suspended imprisonment over such charges as “insulting Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, and using fake documents and someone else’s passport.”

In an official report submitted to Tabrizi’s family in the presence of security agents, Iran’s Legal Medicine Organization announced “taking pills” as the cause of her death.

Referring to people dying suspiciously in prisons or shortly after release, the Iranian regime often claims they have committed suicide, though it is now widely disregarded as propaganda.

“Her family found no empty pill box near her corpse. They do not know whether she committed suicide, had a stroke or was killed by the agents themselves,” the source told Iran International.

Last week, Alireza Khari, another former political prisoner, committed suicide under continuous psychological pressure and torture, even after release from prison. He was arrested during the nationwide uprising triggered by the death in morality-police custody of Mahsa Amini in 2022.

Judiciary officials who have always refused to allow international investigations into Iranian prisons, claim conditions at these facilities are suitable. The experience of many prisoners, however, proves that prisons and detention centers run by security forces have become “killing grounds” for prisoners, especially dissidents.

In the past month alone, several political prisoners attempted or committed suicide. These include Mosayeb Yeganeh who was returned to Tehran’s Evin prison from hospital before the completion of his treatment. Shahin Gallehdari, a Kurdish political prisoner was another victim who died at the ultra-security ward of the Central Prison of Orumieh in northwestern Iran, and Hasan Omarpour, another Kurdish prisoner self-immolated at the same prison.