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International Organizations: Concerns About Detainees in Iran

Protesters gather in front of the Iranian Embassy in London, supporting anti-government demonstrations in Iran. Photo: Ben Stansall/AFP
Protesters gather in front of the Iranian Embassy in London, supporting anti-government demonstrations in Iran. Photo: Ben Stansall/AFP
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International Organizations: Concerns About Detainees in Iran

Protesters gather in front of the Iranian Embassy in London, supporting anti-government demonstrations in Iran. Photo: Ben Stansall/AFP
Protesters gather in front of the Iranian Embassy in London, supporting anti-government demonstrations in Iran. Photo: Ben Stansall/AFP

Several international human rights organizations expressed their concern over the fate of arrested protesters in Iran, calling upon the UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in Iran Asma Jahangir to seriously follow up on the situation of detainees in Iranian prisons.

Several scientific figures also stated they are worried about the student that had been arrested during the protests, as Iran’s Education Minister announced that President Rouhani issued an order to release all detained students.

Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International issued separate statements asking the Iranian authorities to release the detainees. Both organizations also condemned the death of 23-year-old man in Evin prison in Tehran under “unknown circumstances”.

Meanwhile, Iran’s President Hasan Rouhani asked Minister of Interior Abdulreza Rahmani Fazli to prepare a detailed report on recent incidents and detained citizens.

“The main approach of the government in the budget bill of the year 1397 is boosting employment and eliminating poverty”, said Rouhani during the weekly ministerial meeting.

The President told the government that the current economic problems have not happened overnight.

Thirty-five members of the Iranian parliament submitted a request to the Intelligence Ministry asking to visit Evin prison, Islamic Consultative Assembly News Agency quoted Reformist Bloc spokesman Mohammed Reza Aref.

Chief of Staff for the Armed Forces of Iran Mohammad Bagheri denied reports claiming that Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, Basij and the police used violence and weapons against the protesters. He added that the laws of armed forces ban any member from carrying weapons on the streets.

Bagheri stated that no demonstrator had been shot. “All over the world, when a military group is attacked, it should defend itself,” added Bagheri according to Tasnim news agency, hinting that several citizens who tried to break into police stations were shot at.

Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence issued a statement on Wednesday announcing that a number of persons responsible for the protests had been arrested.

Meanwhile, Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi has strongly denounced a meddlesome resolution adopted by the US House of Representatives regarding the recent riots in Iran.

In a statement on Wednesday, Qassemi said: "The interventionist resolution passed by the US Congress is rejected, and is completely reprehensible and unacceptable.”

US House of Representatives passed a resolution Tuesday supporting the Iranian people's right to free expression and condemned the country's leadership for crackdowns on recent protests.

The resolution, which passed by 415 votes, reiterated the US support to Iranian people engaged in legitimate and peaceful protests against an oppressive, corrupt regime and condemned the government's "serious human rights abuses against the Iranian people.

The House resolution also called on US President Donald Trump's administration to issue new sanctions punishing human rights violators in Iran.

"In standing with the Iranian people, we must explain that they are not the target of our sanctions," House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce said.

"US sanctions target the oppressive, destabilizing regime, not the people of Iran," he was quoted by the Agence France-Presse.

New reports of deaths in detention in Iran raise grave concerns about the treatment of thousands of people arrested during the widespread protests by government forces, announced Human Rights Watch (HRW).

“Iranian authorities should ensure that all deaths in detention and allegations of ill-treatment are swiftly and independently investigated and that anyone responsible is brought to justice,” stated HRW.

HRW Middle East director Sarah Leah Whitson announced that reports of deaths make it critically important to investigate these cases immediately and to bring anyone responsible for ill-treatment to justice.

“The legacy of Kahrizak prison, where the 2009 protesters were tortured and killed, and persistent impunity for these crimes, casts a dark shadow on the situation for people arrested since these protests began,” she added.

Defenders of Human Rights Center in Iran, head by Shirin Ebadi, sent a letter to UN officials asking them to oblige Iranian officials to the laws and principles of human rights in any way possible that ensure the safety of the detainees.

Islamic Consultative Assembly News Agency stated that Tehran MP Mahmoud Sadeghi indicated the number of detained persons since the beginning of protests on December 28, 2017, had reached 3,700 citizens. Sadeghi reported that 90 students had been arrested in Tehran universities. Tehran university announced that 41 of its students had been detained, while other universities didn’t issue any statement concerning the matter.

Ilna news agency indicated that 16 students have been released, and the remaining are expected to be released in the coming few days.

Minister of Science, Research, and Technology Mansour Gholami said on Wednesday that President Rouhani ordered the release of all students arrested during the protests last week.

In related news, Center to Combat Racism in Iran issued a statement stating that citizens held several marches against economic corruption and dictatorship. The statement mentioned that over 1,300 protesters had been arrested, two-thirds of which are from the Arab and Kurdish minorities.

The center added that authorities held 6,000 citizens in Shiaban prison while its capacity is 2000, and Karoon prison had been re-opened after it had been closed for months.

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World

Army Chief Says Switzerland Can’t Defend Itself from Full-Scale Attack

Lieutenant General Thomas Suessli, Chief of the Armed Forces of the Swiss Army, attends a news conference on the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Bern, Switzerland, March 16, 2020. Picture taken March 16, 2020. (Reuters)
Lieutenant General Thomas Suessli, Chief of the Armed Forces of the Swiss Army, attends a news conference on the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Bern, Switzerland, March 16, 2020. Picture taken March 16, 2020. (Reuters)
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Army Chief Says Switzerland Can’t Defend Itself from Full-Scale Attack

Lieutenant General Thomas Suessli, Chief of the Armed Forces of the Swiss Army, attends a news conference on the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Bern, Switzerland, March 16, 2020. Picture taken March 16, 2020. (Reuters)
Lieutenant General Thomas Suessli, Chief of the Armed Forces of the Swiss Army, attends a news conference on the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Bern, Switzerland, March 16, 2020. Picture taken March 16, 2020. (Reuters)

Switzerland cannot defend itself against a full-scale attack and must boost military spending given rising risks from Russia, the head of its armed forces said.

The country is prepared for attacks by "non-state actors" on critical infrastructure and for cyber attacks, but its military still faces major equipment gaps, Thomas Suessli told the NZZ newspaper.

"What we cannot do is defend against threats from a distance or even a full-scale ‌attack on ‌our country," said Suessli, who is ‌stepping ⁠down at ‌the end of the year.

"It's burdensome to know that in a real emergency, only a third of all soldiers would be fully equipped," he said in an interview published on Saturday.

Switzerland is increasing defense spending, modernizing artillery and ground systems ⁠and replacing ageing fighter jets with Lockheed Martin F-35As.

But the ‌plan faces cost overruns, while ‍critics question spending on artillery ‍and munitions amid tight federal finances.

Suessli said ‍attitudes towards the military had not shifted despite the war in Ukraine and Russian efforts to destabilize Europe.

He blamed Switzerland's distance from the conflict, its lack of recent war experience and the false belief that neutrality offered protection.

"But that's historically ⁠inaccurate. There are several neutral countries that were unarmed and were drawn into war. Neutrality only has value if it can be defended with weapons," he said.

Switzerland has pledged to gradually raise defense spending to about 1% of GDP by around 2032, up from roughly 0.7% now – far below the 5% level agreed by NATO countries.

At that pace, the Swiss military would only be ‌fully ready by around 2050.

"That is too long given the threat," Suessli said.

World

Another 131 Migrants Rescued off Southern Crete

A dinghy transporting dozens of refugees and migrants is pulled towards Greece's Lesbos island after being rescued by a war ship during their sea crossing between Türkiye and Greece on February 29, 2020. Aris Messinis, AFP/File picture
A dinghy transporting dozens of refugees and migrants is pulled towards Greece's Lesbos island after being rescued by a war ship during their sea crossing between Türkiye and Greece on February 29, 2020. Aris Messinis, AFP/File picture
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Another 131 Migrants Rescued off Southern Crete

A dinghy transporting dozens of refugees and migrants is pulled towards Greece's Lesbos island after being rescued by a war ship during their sea crossing between Türkiye and Greece on February 29, 2020. Aris Messinis, AFP/File picture
A dinghy transporting dozens of refugees and migrants is pulled towards Greece's Lesbos island after being rescued by a war ship during their sea crossing between Türkiye and Greece on February 29, 2020. Aris Messinis, AFP/File picture

The Greek coast guard Saturday rescued 131 would-be migrants off Crete, bringing the number of people brought out of the sea in the area over the past five days to 840, a police spokesperson said.

The migrants rescued Saturday morning were aboard a fishing boat some 14 nautical miles south of Gavdos, a small island south of Crete.

The passengers, whose nationality was not revealed, were all taken to Gavdos.

Many people attempting to reach Crete from Libya drown during the risky crossing.

In early December, 17 people -- mostly Sudanese or Egyptian -- were found dead after their boat sank off the coast of Crete, and 15 others were reported missing. Only two people survived.

According to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, more than 16,770 people trying to get to Europe have arrived in Crete since the beginning of the year, more than on any other Greek island.

In July, the conservative government suspended the processing of asylum applications for three months, particularly those of people arriving from Libya, saying the measure as "absolutely necessary" in the face of the increasing flow of migrants.

World

Thailand and Cambodia Sign New Ceasefire Agreement to End Border Fighting

A handout photo made available by the Defense Ministry of Thailand shows Cambodian Defense Minister Tea Seiha (L) and Thai Defense Minister Natthaphon Narkphanit attending a General Border Committee Meeting in Ban Pak Kard, Chanthaburi Province, Thailand, 27 December 2025. (EPA/Defense Ministry of Thailand/Handout)
A handout photo made available by the Defense Ministry of Thailand shows Cambodian Defense Minister Tea Seiha (L) and Thai Defense Minister Natthaphon Narkphanit attending a General Border Committee Meeting in Ban Pak Kard, Chanthaburi Province, Thailand, 27 December 2025. (EPA/Defense Ministry of Thailand/Handout)
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Thailand and Cambodia Sign New Ceasefire Agreement to End Border Fighting

A handout photo made available by the Defense Ministry of Thailand shows Cambodian Defense Minister Tea Seiha (L) and Thai Defense Minister Natthaphon Narkphanit attending a General Border Committee Meeting in Ban Pak Kard, Chanthaburi Province, Thailand, 27 December 2025. (EPA/Defense Ministry of Thailand/Handout)
A handout photo made available by the Defense Ministry of Thailand shows Cambodian Defense Minister Tea Seiha (L) and Thai Defense Minister Natthaphon Narkphanit attending a General Border Committee Meeting in Ban Pak Kard, Chanthaburi Province, Thailand, 27 December 2025. (EPA/Defense Ministry of Thailand/Handout)

Thailand and Cambodia on Saturday signed a ceasefire agreement to end weeks of armed combat along their border over competing claims to territory. It took effect at noon local time.

In addition to ending fighting, the agreement calls for no further military movements by either side and no violations of either side’s airspace for military purposes.

Only Thailand employed airstrikes in the fighting, hitting sites in Cambodia as recently as Saturday morning, according to the Cambodian defense ministry.

The deal also calls for Thailand, after the ceasefire has held for 72 hours, to repatriate 18 Cambodian soldiers it has held as prisoners since earlier fighting in July. Their release has been a major demand of the Cambodian side.

The agreement was signed by the two countries’ defense ministers, Cambodia’s Tea Seiha and Thailand’s Nattaphon Narkphanit, at a checkpoint on their border after lower-level talks by military officials met for three days as part of the already-established General Border Committee.

The agreement declares that the two sides are committed to an earlier ceasefire that ended five days of fighting in July and follow-up agreements and includes commitments to 16 de-escalation measures.

The original July ceasefire was brokered by Malaysia and pushed through by pressure from US President Donald Trump, who threatened to withhold trade privileges unless Thailand and Cambodia agreed. It was formalized in more detail in October at a regional meeting in Malaysia that Trump attended.

Despite those deals, the two countries carried on a bitter propaganda war and minor cross-border violence continued, escalating in early December to widespread heavy fighting.

Thailand has lost 26 soldiers and one civilian as a direct result of the combat since Dec. 7, according to officials. Thailand has also reported 44 civilian deaths from collateral effects of the situation.

Cambodia hasn’t issued an official figure on military casualties, but says that 30 civilians have been killed and 90 injured. Hundreds of thousands of people have been evacuated from affected areas on both sides of the border.

Each side blamed the other for initiating the fighting and claimed to be acting in self-defense.

The agreement also calls on both sides to adhere to international agreements against deploying land mines, a major concern of Thailand. Thai soldiers along the border have been wounded in at least nine incidents this year by what they said were newly planted Cambodian mines. Cambodia says the mines were left over from decades of civil war that ended in the late 1990s.

Another clause says the two sides “agree to refrain from disseminating false information or fake news.”

The agreement also says previously established measures to demarcate the border will be resumed and the two sides also agree to cooperate on an effort to suppress transnational crimes.

That is primarily a reference to online scams perpetrated by organized crime that have bilked victims around the world of billions of dollars each year. Cambodia is a center for such criminal enterprises.