Saudi Document Enumerates 58 Iranian Violations of International Law

Posted on January 20, 2016January 20, 2016 by Denise Simon

Via IMRA: The Saudi Foreign Ministry yesterday presented a document that it says includes Iranian violations of international laws and a record of acts committed by Tehran such as spreading sedition, unrest and turmoil in the region in order to undermine its security and stability since the beginning of the revolution in 1979.

The document mentioned the “Iranian regime’s record of supporting terrorism and extremism in the region and the world” which amounted to 58 Iranian violations of international laws and norms.

An official source at the Saudi Foreign Ministry said that the Kingdom has exercised a policy of constraint during this period despite it and other countries in the region suffering from Iran’s hostile policies.

The source explained that these Iranian policies are based on what is stated in the introduction of the Iranian constitution and the instructions of Khomeini upon which Iranian foreign policy is based; the principle of exporting the revolution in flagrant violation of the sovereignty of countries and interference in their internal affairs in the name of “supporting vulnerable and helpless people”.

The source added that Iran’s foreign policy depended on the recruitment of militias in Iraq, Lebanon, Syria and Yemen, and that it also depended on Iran’s support of terrorism through the provision of safe havens in its country, planting terrorist cells in a number of Arab countries and even being involved in terrorist bombings and the assassinations of opponents abroad. The source also enumerated “the continuing Iranian violations on diplomatic missions and attempts to assassinate foreign diplomats”.

****

Closing the Deal: Images from Iran Negotiations and Implementation Day

By: Glen Johnson, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry traveled to London, U.K., and Vienna, Austria, from January 14–16, 2016, as he worked to resolve final sticking points on the implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), a July 2015 multilateral agreement ensuring that Iran’s nuclear program remains exclusively peaceful.

At the same time, he was deeply involved in parallel negotiations to secure the release of Americans unjustly held in Iran.

After meeting in London with Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair about issues in the Middle East, the Secretary flew to Vienna on the morning of January 16 for a final round of talks with Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif and others involved in the conversations.

*Toting a shopping bag and a copy of his draft remarks, Secretary Kerry walked to his plane at London Stansted Airport*. (State Department Photo)

*En route to Vienna, Secretary Kerry called Swiss Foreign Minister Didier Burkhalter about the pending transfer by the Swiss Air Force of U.S. nationals who were being unjustly held in Iran.* (State Department Photo)

The first thing Secretary Kerry saw at Vienna International Airport as he emerged from his Air Force jet was an Iran Air jetliner parked across the tarmac. (State Department Photo)

Secretary Kerry drove directly to the Palais Coburg Hotel in Vienna, where the Iranian delegation was staying, and where the two sides held marathon negotiations in July that led to the JCPOA. The Secretary met first with Ambassador Stephen Mull, U.S. Lead Coordinator for Iran Nuclear Implementation, and other advisers from the State and Energy departments and the White House. (State Department Photo)

A half-hour later, Secretary Kerry and his team sat down with Foreign Minister Zarif in the Coburg’s Blue Salon, where the two sides did most of their negotiating last July. (State Department Photo)

Secretary Kerry and Ambassador Mull then called International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Yukiya Amano, to discuss the agency’s work in drafting a report examining whether Iran had met the requirements in the JCPOA to qualify for sanctions relief from the international community. (State Department Photo)

Over a late lunch of salad and spaghetti, Secretary Kerry joined State Department Chief of Staff Jon Finer as he participated in a call briefing reporters about the day’s developments. (State Department Photo)

Secretary Kerry also chatted with State Department Senior Adviser Marie Harf, who handled communications duties for the Iran talks, during a lull in the meetings. (State Department Photo)

Secretary Kerry and Foreign Minister Zarif occupied nearby rooms at the Palais Coburg, which meant that on different occasions, each man showed up at the other’s room, seeking an impromptu meeting. This occurred in Zarif’s quarters. (State Department Photo)

As Secretary Kerry returned a phone call, Chief of Staff Finer spoke with State Department Speechwriter Stephanie Epner, who worked through multiple drafts of the Secretary’s final comments as negotiations evolved. (State Department Photo)

As deliberations on final preparations for Implementation Day continued into the evening, Secretary Kerry and Foreign Minister Zarif walked down one floor for an unscheduled visit with European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs Federica Mogherini. They surprised an EU staffer by knocking on the door and asking to speak to her boss.
(State Department Photo)

Later in the evening, Secretary Kerry and Chief of Staff Finer split a pizza between calls. (State Department Photo)

At 8:51 p.m., the talks moved into their decisive phase: Secretary Kerry and Foreign Minister Zarif spoke in a quiet lobby, before returning to the Secretary’s room for a final huddle with other ministers. (State Department Photo)

At 8:54 p.m., High Representative Mogherini (in person, third from left) and French Foreign Minister Fabius (by phone) joined the meeting in Secretary Kerry’s room to work through final details. (State Department Photo)

Secretary Kerry spoke first, before placing the call on speakerphone so the other two ministers could speak with Foreign Minister Fabius. (State Department Photo)

High Representative Mogherini, representing the European Union, offered a wording suggestion as the ministers read through the final joint statement. At 9:22 p.m., the group reached agreement, setting in motion the final implementation of the JCPOA. (State Department Photo)

In return for Iran implementing a series of steps to constrain its nuclear program as outlined in the JCPOA, the United States agreed to lift nuclear-related sanctions. Secretary Kerry had to sign a series of waivers and certificates to provide for this sanction relief. (State Department Photo)

After finalizing the agreement and making good on the promise of sanctions relief, Secretary Kerry and Foreign Minister Zarif headed to the Vienna International Center, a U.N. complex where the international media awaited, for press statements about the day’s activities. But before they began speaking, the Secretary asked the foreign minister to personally intervene to resolve a miscommunication about whether the wife and mother of detained American Jason Rezaian, a Washington Post reporter, would be allowed to leave Tehran with their husband and son.
(State Department Photo)

Secretary Kerry paid a courtesy call on IAEA Director General Amano and his staff while visiting the Vienna International Center, thanking them for the Agency’s work in issuing their JCPOA compliance report, and encouraging them to uphold the strict inspection regime spelled out in the July 2015 agreement. (State Department Photo)

Secretary Kerry walked to the podium to deliver his statement to the international media. (State Department Photo)

Secretary Kerry delivering his statement. (State Department Photo)

Reporters listen as Secretary Kerry delivers his statement. (State Department Photo)

After rushing back the airport to avoid exceeding the allowable workday for his Air Force flight crew, Secretary Kerry placed one more call from his cabin to Foreign Minister Zarif to help resolve the situation related to Rezaian and his family members. (State Department Photo)

Following a nearly 10-hour flight, Secretary Kerry invited his traveling press corps back to his cabin after their plane landed at 3 a.m. at Andrews Air Force Base in Camp Springs, Maryland. He spent nearly a half-hour reflecting on and answering questions about the prior day’s developments. (State Department Photo)

All photos were taken by Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Strategic Communications Glen Johnson, Secretary Kerry’s traveling photographer, and are courtesy of the U.S. Department of State.

Obama is a Shia?

Posted on January 20, 2016January 20, 2016 by Denise Simon

While the world burns and there is a major war between the Shia and the Sunnis, given all the Obama love for Iran, I said to myself he must be a Shia or least a Shia loyalist. Low and behold this below…..What the heck?

Top Dubai Policeman Says Obama has “Shia Roots”: The Internet Laughs Back // Global Voices Online » Iran

Barack and Michelle Obama photoshopped in Islamic attire in front of the Imam Redha shrine, in Mashhad, Iran, a revered Shia site. The text, in Persian, reads “Very soon..” Image source unknown

The Internet has been in stitches ever since Dubai’s deputy chief of police Dhahi Khalfan announced on Twitter that US President Barack Obama has “Shia roots” and is likely to visit Shia religious centres in Iran soon.

The tweets, seen by many as reeking with Shia-phobia, were made following the lifting of sanctions imposed on Iran, agreed upon during the nuclear negotiations between Iran, the P5+1 and the United States in July.

In his words, Khalfan tweets:

أوباما الذي يعود لأصول شيعية انتخب لتقريب وجهات النظر بين إيران وأمريكا لإيقاف برنامج إيران النووي العسكري.نجحت الخطة .

— ضاحي خلفان تميم (@Dhahi_Khalfan) January 19, 2016

Obama, who has Shia roots, was elected to bridge the gap between Iran and the US to stop Iran’s military nuclear programme. Mission accomplished.

In another tweet, he adds:

من المتوقع أن يزور أوباما قم ومشهد وكبرى الحسينيات في إيران. !!

— ضاحي خلفان تميم (@Dhahi_Khalfan) January 19, 2016

It is expected that Obama visits Qom, Mashhad and all the big Shia religious congregation halls

Many responded to Khalfan with mockery. AIfie shares this photograph with Khalfan:

Embedded image permalink

@Dhahi_Khalfan pic.twitter.com/QQOCao84fw

— Alfie (@AIfie_Twit) January 19, 2016

Faisal Alhbabi asks:

@Dhahi_Khalfan انت كيف صرت رئيس شرطة دبي وهذا فكرك

— FAISAl (@faisalalhbabi) January 19, 2016

How did you become chief of police when this is the level of your thinking?

And Abbas Zahri shares this photograph of a Photoshopped Obama performing Shia rituals mourning the death of one of their Imams:

Embedded image permalink

معك حق والدليل هذه الصورة @POTUS @BarackObama @Dhahi_Khalfan pic.twitter.com/WtPb8t7ZYE

— عباس زهري (@zahri_abbas) January 19, 2016

You are right and this is proof!

More photoshopped pictures follow. Ammar Ali shares another doctored photograph of the US president, this time performing in a Shia mourning ritual, associated with Ashura:

Embedded image permalink

صورة له و هو يقري لطمية ف حسينية @Dhahi_Khalfan pic.twitter.com/ZZfKd1BFkw

— عمّــــاار عليّ (@ammar_ali94) January 19, 2016

This is a photograph of him mourning in a Hussainiya

A Hussainiya is a Shia congregation centre, used for gatherings to mark Shia rituals.

Hussain M shares this photograph of Obama, saying its a leaked photograph from a religious learning centre in Qom, the epicentre of Shia learning in Iran:

Embedded image permalink

@Dhahi_Khalfan صور مسربة لاوباما عند تخرجه من حوزة قم في ايران . pic.twitter.com/fBgNy9NJJZ

— hossien m. (@69mansourM) January 20, 2016

Here’s a leaked photograph of Obama after his graduation from a Shia learning centre on Qom, Iran

Iranians have documented different reactions to Obama’s relationship with Shia Islam. One Iranian blogger posted a picture from a November 2015 anti-U.S. rally in Tehran. Here protesters carried pictures of Obama, where his likeness is compared to that of Shemr, a villainous figure in Shia Islam.

Embedded image permalink

#Obama depicted as Shemr, the most evil figure in history for #Shia followers today’s anti-US rallies pic.twitter.com/tGO8zPvkFb

— potkin azarmehr (@potkazar) November 4, 2015

Other Iranians who shared the news on their social media illustrated their amusement at such far fetched theories. One Iranian-American blogger, Holly Dagress, attached the news to the hashtag #ShiaScare.

Dubai’s ex-police chief says US President Barack #Obama is of Shia origin due to #IranDeal #ShiaScare https://t.co/TuZJ6DK9t5

— Holly Dagres (@hdagres) January 20, 2016

Mohsen Milani, an Iranian academic based in the United States shared the news with a laughing emoji.

Ex head of Dubai Police Khalfan:#Obama is of #Shia origin elected to bring #Iran & US closer. https://t.co/TZQEwkBdGB via @DrAbbasKadhim

— Mohsen Milani (@MohsenMilani) January 20, 2016

Various conspiracy theories have circulated about Obama’s Shia background in the past. During the 2008 elections, Iran’s state run newspapers ran unsubstantiated claims about Obama’s Shia past and connections to southwestern Iran. In June 2015, Iraqi member of parliament Taha al-Lahibi released a YouTube video explaining Obama’s Shia background to be part of the conspiracy of Iran’s Shia forces fighting the Islamic State in Iraq, alongside the evolving nuclear negotiations between Iran and the United States.

These theories are typically commented on by Iranians on social media with ridicule. In response to the al-Lahibi conspiracy, one Iranian Twitter user @sobhan348 sarcastically exclaims the nuclear negotiations were turning Obama into a Shia.

مذاکره با ایران اوباما را شیعه کرد! +فیلم http://t.co/T7XUdNPjJS

— علمی مذهبی کوثر (@sobhan348) June 10, 2015

Nuclear negotiations with Iran have made Obama into a Shia! +film

Dubai’s deputy chief of police’s statements come after the United Arab Emirates backed Saudi Arabia in the recent conflict with Iran that led the two nations to end diplomatic ties. In reaction, the Emirates downgraded their relationship by reducing the number of diplomats in Iran and recalling its ambassador. They have not severed ties however, due to a long history of trade with Iran.

Written by Amira Al HussainiWritten by Mahsa Alimardani

Obama is of Shi’ite origin: Dubai former police chief

EgyptIndependent: US President Barack Obama is of Shi’ite origin, according to former Dubai police chief and current head of the General Security for the Emirate of Dubai, Dahi Khalfan, who is known for his controversial tweets.

“Obama, who has a Shi’ite origin, was elected to converge between the points of views of Iran and the US to stop the Iranian nuclear military project. The plan succeeded,” Khalfan wrote in a series of tweets on his account Tuesday.

He added: “The US elections are led by undercover hands that achieve Israel’s security in the first place. Bravo sons of Zion!”

“In Anthroposophy, people study how to ward off danger, and this is what the sons of Zion did after studying the nature of Iranians. They brought them someone of a Shi’ite Kenyan origin. Bravo!”

Khalfan continued: “Will Obama visit Iran before leaving presidency?” “(Hassan) Rouhani could invite Obama to visit Iran”.

Khalfan pointed out that he was expecting Obama’s moves toward the Iranian nuclear project since the first day he was sworn in.

Khalfan was Dubai’s police chief until late 2013. He has 1.24 million followers on Twitter and over 65,000 tweets.

He caused diplomatic tensions between Egypt and the UAE back in 2013 when he attacked toppled President Mohamed Morsi on Twitter, after which Egypt’s Foreign Ministry summoned the ambassador of the UAE to demand a “clarification from the United Arab Emirates about statements that do not go along with the nature of the special relationship between the two countries,” according to Reuters.

Khalfan wrote on Twitter after Morsi won the presidential bid: “An unfortunate choice. The repercussions of this choice will not be light for poor ordinary people.”

Khalfan also said that Morsi would “come to the UAE crawling to request pardon and forgiveness,” adding that the UAE would not receive him on a red carpet. He accused Morsi of winning the presidential elections with the aid of Iran.

In July 2013, he accused the Muslim Brotherhood of posing a greater threat to Arabs than Israel.

Snapshot: U.S. Terror Report

Posted on January 20, 2016January 20, 2016 by Denise Simon

Last year saw the deadliest Islamist jihad attacks in America since 9/11 and in Europe since 2004, according to the January Terror Threat Snapshot released by House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-Texas).

“The heinous ISIS-linked attack on a policeman in Philadelphia [earlier this month] is a grim reminder of the Islamist terror threat we face today,” McCaul said in releasing this month’s terror snapshot. “ISIS and al Qaeda terrorists are expanding their networks and carving out sanctuaries abroad, while their supporters and operatives have been plotting terror attacks in the West.”

McCaul said Obama’s “strategy to defeat ISIS and other Islamist extremists … is out of touch with reality …”

According to the Snapshot, “Islamist terrorists have been attempting to infiltrate the United States as authorities have uncovered jihadists who were resettled in America through the refugee resettlement program. Two refugees from Iraq resettled in the US were recently arrested on terror-related charges linked to ISIS.”

Additionally, the Snapshot stated, “The United States faces an unprecedented terror threat level at home due to the continued failure to destroy ISIS. Law enforcement authorities have arrested nearly 80 individuals in ISIS-related cases in the United States since 2014 – 62 in 2015 alone. There have been 21 ISIS-linked plots to launch attacks in the homeland. Over 80 percent of the post-9/11 homegrown Islamist extremist cases in the United States have occurred or been disrupted since 2009.”

Islamist terrorists returning to the West from Syria are also “a surging threat,” the snapshot added, noting legislation recently signed into law “will enhance the security of the Visa Waiver Program in order to prevent terrorists from entering the United States.”

The Full SnapShot Report from the Homeland Security Congressional Committee is here.

Recent Developments

• January 7: ISIS supporter Edward Archer ambushed and fired 13 shots at a Philadelphia police officer using s stolen police firearm before being arrested. Archer pledged allegiance to ISIS.

• January 7: Sacramento, California-based Islamist extremist Aws Mohammed Younis al Jayab was arrested after lying to authorities about traveling to Syria and fighting alongside terrorist organizations between November 2013 and January 2014. Al Jayab, an Iraqi refugee of Palestinian descent who was resettled in the U.S. from Syria in October 2012, communicated his intention to join terror organizations in Syria over social media. He said he had joined the ranks of Ansar al Islam, a foreign terrorist organization and had communications with an ISIS supporter.

• January 6: Houston, Texas-based ISIS supporter Omar Faraj Saeed al Hardan was arrested for attempting to support ISIS. Hardan, an Iraqi refugee of Palestinian descent who was resettled in the U.S. from Iraq in November 2009, lied to authorities regarding his automatic machine gun training and had associated with ISIS since 2014 and with al Qaeda’s Syrian affiliate Jabhat al Nusra in 2013 and 2014.

• December 30: Rochester, New York-based ISIS supporter Emanuel Lutchman planned to attack a restaurant on New Year’s Eve before being arrested. Lutchman said he received direction from an ISIS operative overseas and also expressed his desire to travel to join ISIS. He recorded a video pledging allegiance to ISIS leader Abu Bakr al Baghdadi and claiming responsibility for the planned attack.

• December 17: Harrisburg, Pennsylvania-based ISIS supporter Jalil Ibn Ameer Aziz was arrested for advocating for violence against Americans through social media and facilitating the travel of ISIS recruits overseas. Aziz was storing high-capacity weapon magazines and ammunition in his residence. He used at least 57 Twitter accounts in support of ISIS’s messaging and reposted a list of the names and personal information of 100 American service members with the intent of inciting attacks against them.

• December 11: Edgewood, Maryland-based ISIS supporter Mohamed Elshinawy was arrested after communicating electronically with ISIS operatives based overseas and accepting funds he believed were from ISIS for the purpose of launching an attack inside the United States. Elshinawy pledged allegiance to ISIS leader al Baghdadi in February 2015 and received $8,700 he believed was sent from ISIS operatives through Western Union and PayPal.

• December 11: Minneapolis, Minnesota-based ISIS supporter Khaalid Adam Abdulkadir was arrested when he threatened law enforcement authorities after the FBI publically announced the arrest of ISIS recruit Abdirizak Warsame near Minnesota. Abdulkadir had previously communicated with at least two other ISIS-linked recruiters and former Minnesota-area residents.

• December 9: Eagan, Minnesota-based ISIS supporter Abdirizak Mohamed Warsame was arrested after plotting to join ISIS overseas and facilitating the travel of other individuals in a broader ISIS recruitment network operating from Minnesota. The network began watching Islamist extremist propaganda in 2014 after which it began plotting to send members to join ISIS overseas.

• December 2: Two ISIS-linked terrorists, U.S.-born Syed Rizwan Farook and Pakistani national Tashfeen Malik, attacked a holiday party for local government workers at the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino, California, killing 14 people. Farook’s friend, Enrique Marquez Jr., was later arrested for purchasing the rifles used in the attack and for conspiring with Farook to plot an attack in 2011-2012. The attackers posted a pledge of allegiance to ISIS’s leader on Facebook.

ISIS TERROR ATTACK PLOTS AGAINST THE WEST

ISIS dramatically expanded its war with a concerted campaign to target the West in 2015.

By the numbers

• There have been 72 ISIS-linked plots to attack Western targets, including 20 inside in the United States, since 2014.3 The number of ISIS-linked attack plots grew by nearly three times from 2014 (20) to 2015 (50).4

Recent Developments

• January 7: ISIS supporter Edward Archer ambushed and fired 13 shots at a Philadelphia police officer using s stolen police firearm before being arrested. Archer pledged allegiance to ISIS.

• January 7: An attacker wielding a meat cleaver was shot after attempting to storm a Paris police station. The man was carrying a reproduction of ISIS’s flag and a claim of responsibility for the planned attack.

Russian Testimony on Executions

Posted on January 20, 2016January 20, 2016 by Denise Simon

Former Commander Of Pro-Russian Separatists Says He Executed People Based On Stalin-Era Laws

RFE: For most of his 42-minute appearance on a radio talk show, former Russia-backed separatist commander Igor Girkin sounded like nothing more than a fanatic discussing a dream now widely dismissed as fantasy.

He spoke of hopes for the creation of a “Novorossia” — a New Russia stretching across much of Ukraine, from Kharkiv to Odesa, and one day joining a Russian empire including all of Belarus and Ukraine.

It wasn’t until the last minute that the interview with Girkin went from surreal to chilling.

Referring to his time commanding separatists in the eastern Ukrainian city of Slovyansk in 2014, a host asks him how he stopped the rampant looting.

“With executions,” Girkin said matter-of-factly.

According to Girkin, separatist “authorities” installed a military court and introduced 1941 military laws implemented by Soviet dictator Josef Stalin.

“Under this legislation we tried people and executed the convicted,” Girkin said.

“While I was in Slovyansk four people were executed. Two among the military for looting, one local for looting, and one for killing a serviceman,” he said on the Radio Komsomolskaya Pravda, which is affiliated with a leading pro-Kremlin Russian tabloid.

One of the people killed was an “ideological” supporter of the Ukrainian nationalist group Right Sector, he said.

Key Separatist Commander

Girkin, also known as Igor Strelkov, was a key commander in the Russia-backed separatist forces in the early stages of the war against Ukrainian government troops that has killed more than 9,000 civilians and combatants since April 2014.

Ukraine’s government has called Girkin a Russian agent and accused him of war crimes. He resigned as a rebel commander in August 2014 amid reports that he had been wounded in battle.

Later that year, he told an interviewer that he was a colonel in the Russian FSB, or Federal Security Service — a statement that was edited out of the interview published by state-run Rossia Segodnya.

In October 2015, the Brussels-based International Partnership for Human Rights provided the International Criminal Court with more than 300 testimonies about alleged military crimes and crimes against humanity that it said had been committed by Russian-backed separatists and Ukrainian forces in Eastern Ukraine.

It said that “while crimes committed by both sides of the conflict have been documented, the collected evidence primarily concerns crimes committed by separatists because of security issues related to accessing separatists-controlled territories of Ukraine.”

In the radio appearance, Girkin said he was not concerned about the possibility of international prosecution.

“I am not at all bothered by international law, because it’s a tool in the hands of winners,” he said. “If we are defeated, well then, the norms of these laws will be applied to me.”

Fighting has lessened since a February 2015 deal on a cease-fire and steps toward peace, but the Russia-backed separatists still hold large parts of Ukraine’s Donetsk and Luhansk provinces.

Girkin, a former military reenactor, appeared to have the support of both the hosts and those calling in.

“God forbid,” one host said, referring to the possibility of Girkin being sent to an international court for prosecution on war crimes charges.

As for his feelings about Stalin, Girkin said he dislikes the dictator as he was in his younger days, but believes that he was a great statesman at the end of his life.

“You can discuss for a long time how much blood and where Stalin spilled it, but at least you can confidently say that he did it not for himself but for the sake of an idea,” he said.

Meanwhile, what happened to these people and why?

Russian generals who died mysteriously: hanged, shot themselves, jumped out of windows, died in car accidents.. …

Obama/Kerry’s New Friend Iran, a Normal Middle East Power?

Posted on January 20, 2016January 20, 2016 by Denise Simon

With all the many months of negotiations between the P5+1 members with Iran, a verbal deal was reached on the Iranian nuclear program. John Kerry and State Department representatives were asked often why was a condition to Iran to release the Americans in prison part of the talks, the response was always, those talks are underway and separate from the JPOA talks. Now we find that was never the truth. Furthermore, a designation Swiss delegation was heading the prisoner swaps but did the Iran Foreign Minister, the Swiss or anyone else involved bother to ask questions about the conditions by which the Americans were held in prison? Additionally, with what you will read below, you must ask yourself how could the United States be the grand marshal for a country, placing Iran on the world stage as a legitimate power and encourage foreign investment?

There is no bigger shame, than that of Barack Obama, John Kerry and the rest who willfully chosen to ally with Iran.

Family: The ‘Inhumane’ Conditions Amir Hekmati Survived in Iranian Prison

ABCNews: When ex-Marine Amir Hekmati addressed reporters Tuesday for the first time after being released from an Iranian prison, he said that he stayed strong through “very inhumane and unjust” “pressures” in detention because he “didn’t want to let any of my fellow Marines down.”

The happy and now-healthy-looking 32-year-old Hekmati did not get into what exactly he meant by the “pressures” that had been put on him, but a post on a website managed by the Hekmati family in March 2015 paints a grim picture of the trials Hekmati allegedly suffered while in Iran’s infamous Evin Prison. Hekmati had been arrested in August 2011 and accused of espionage. He was convicted in a secret court and sentenced to death. Though that ruling was later overturned, he stayed in prison.

The list of alleged abuses during his time in detention, “gathered from accounts by [Hekmati’s] family in Michigan, his extended family in Iran and from Amir himself,” includes what the family described as “torture, abuse and mistreatment” at the hands of prison officials.

Solitary Confinement, Sleep Deprivation, Forced Drugging, Electric Shocks

On their website, the Hekmati family alleges that for the first four months of his detention, Hekmati was held in a cell that was just three feet by three feet. His hands and feet were “constantly shackled.”

For more than a year, they claim, Hekmati was kept in solitary confinement – so long that he developed “severely limited vision.” He was also placed in “stress positions for extended periods” and cold water was poured in his cell to keep him from sleeping, the family wrote.

“Amir was forcibly given drugs, such as lithium, by prison officials. Officials would intentionally and abruptly stop this medication to induce a painful withdrawal response,” they wrote.

Hekmati was also interrogated by Iranian officials and subjected to electric shocks to his kidneys, whips to his feet and the young man “endured mental torture through threats, insults and humiliations.” The family said he was told at least once, falsely, that his mother had been killed in a car wreck.

‘It Breaks Our Heart’

The conditions became so bad as the years dragged on that Hekmati twice went on hunger strike.

“It breaks our hears to know our brother has suffered through torture, abuse, and mistreatment for committing no crime,” the family wrote in a May 2015 post. “It hurts us even more knowing that he is risking solitary confinement for choosing to starve himself in hope that action will finally be taken and his case will finally move forward and he will be one day closer to coming home and being reunited with our family.”

An official at the Interests Section of the Islamic Republic of Iran in the Pakistani Embassy in Washington, D.C. declined to comment beyond saying, “as you said, these are all allegations made by his family member[s].” A representative from Iran’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Hekmati was freed over the weekend along with four other Americans held in Iranian prisons. In return, the U.S. released seven Iranians either in American prisons or awaiting trial for sanctions violations and withdrew its campaign to extradite and try 14 other Iranians abroad. Iran also promised in the deal to help locate and return former FBI agent Robert Levinson, who disappeared from Iran’s Kish Island in March 2007.