Persian TVs Abroad Air TV Film On Final Days Of Jailed Poet

The article titled "Why Can't We Win the Trust of Iranian Expatriates?", appeared in Ensaf news and elaborated on reasons why the Islamic Republic has failed in its efforts to convince Iranians living abroad to return to their country.

"Despite all enthusiasm shown by various administrations to attract Iranian expats and use their huge political, scientific & economic capacities, none of them has achieved any success. On the contrary, Iranian expats have given the Raisi administration and its warm invitations the cold shoulder,” Namazi wrote.

News emerged from various sources on Thursday that the US and Iran have been holding talks parallel with nuclear negotiations in Vienna over the faith of Westerners held in on trumped-up charges.

After Siamak Namazi's arrest, his elderly father traveled to Iran in 2016 to help him but he was also detained on vague accusations, like his son who was accused of collaboration with a foreign country.

"Iranian officials have rather increased the mistrust. For instance, the Rouhani administration implemented plans to improve its ties with expatriates, but certain security forces interpreted it in a very negative way. And the heavy price was finally paid by dual nationals and their families."

Namazi added that expats will not simply trust officials who claim all barriers for their return have been removed, while they fail to recognize existing risks.

The source said that exchanging prisoners is not part of the final text of the agreement but is part of the ongoing negotiations, in parallel with nuclear talks.

Earlier, Reuters reported some details about a draft agreement being completed in Vienna and quoting diplomatic sources who said that release of Western prisoners held in Iran was one of the first steps in case a deal is finalized.

Russia’s chief envoy, Mikhail Ulyanov, however, told Iran International that exchanging prisoners is not part of the JCPOA negotiations. The new information received is a confirmation that a prisoner exchange is part of the overall talks, but as Ulyanov indicated, not part of the official draft text charting a return to the JCPOA.

Iran has detained several Westerners and dual nationals on spurious charges, in what human rights organizations have called 'hostage taking'. In the past Iran has traded such prisoners for money or to free Iranians jailed in the West for sanctions violations.

A resolution published on Thursday notes that since Ebrahim Raisi took office as President of Iran in August 2021, there has been a significant rise in the number of executions, including of women.

It also points out that the death penalty in Iran is disproportionally applied to ethnic, religious and other minorities, notably the Baluch, Kurds, Arabs and Baha’is as well as LGBTIQ persons.

In addition, Parliament urges the authorities in Iran to urgently amend Article 91 of the country’s Islamic Penal Code to explicitly prohibit the use of the death penalty for crimes committed by persons below 18 years of age, under all circumstances.

The report highlights that Iran has the world’s highest number of executions per capita. According to the United Nations, between 1 January and 1 December 2021 at least 275 people were executed in Iran, including at least two child offenders and 10 women. Parliament’s resolution also states that 85 juvenile offenders were on death row in the country in January 2022.

The resolution also highlights the case of Swedish-Iranian Dr. Ahmadreza Djalali, a scholar who was sentenced to death on spurious espionage charges in October 2017 following a grossly unfair trial based on a confession extracted under torture.

The text was adopted by 617 votes in favor, 8 against and 59 abstentions.

Israel’s Channel 12 News reported on Wednesday that during his rare visit the Iranians told him they expect Hezbollah to respond militarily in case of a possible Israeli strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities.

The report, which did not cite sources, described Nasrallah’s trip from his secure, secret location in Beirut to Tehran as “definitely unusual”, noting that the Islamic Republic informed the Hezbollah chief that it is time that the Shiite group returns years of Iran’s investment.

The Israeli site did not say what the outcome of the meeting was or what Nasrallah agreed to with the Iranians.

In an interview with Iran’s Arabic-language al-Alam news network earlier in February, Nasrallah said Hezbollah would not necessarily become involved if Israel hits Iran’s nuclear sites but noted he didn’t think Israel was serious about attacking.

In a televised speech to followers earlier on Wednesday, Nasrallah said for the first time, that it can convert thousands of rockets into precision missiles within Lebanon.

"We have been producing drones in Lebanon for a long time, and whoever wants to buy them, submit an order," he said.

Hezbollah and Israel fought a month-long war in 2006 and have at times in the years since traded fire across Lebanon's southern border.

In a video speech on Thursday, the Supreme Leader defended the commanders implicated in the scandal and said that the enemy spends billions of dollars in their think tanks for slander and lies against the Islamic Republic.

Khamenei said that the enemy’s smear campaign targets “the foundations of the revolution”, adding that “one day they slander the parliament, one day they slander the Guardian Council, and today it is the turn of the IRGC and martyr (Qasem) Soleimani”.

The 50-minute audio-file includes a conversation between the former Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) Commander Mohammad-Ali Jafari and his Economic Affairs Deputy Sadegh Zolghadr in 2018 about corruption involving IRGC's Qods Force, Tehran municipality and Parliament Speaker Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf, a former IRGC commander himself, who was Mayor of Tehran from 2005-2017. The $3 billion embezzlement took place during Ghalibaf’s tenure as mayor.

In the recording, Zolghadr tells Jafari that Ghalibaf suggested the IRGC and Tehran Municipality sign a false contract for the same amount to justify the disappearance of the money.

Jafari tells Zolghadr that Soleimani was aware of the embezzlement, which prevented the funds from reaching the Qods Force and had spoken to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei about it.