Secrets of the 1983 Beirut Bombings: The role of Iran’s IRGC Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not reflect the viewpoint of Al Arabiya English. The 1983 double bombing in Beirut, the capital of Lebanon, left 241 American service members, 58 French military personnel and six civilians killed, alongside hundreds of others injured. 21 years later in 2004 Iran’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) unveiled a “monument” in “honor” of that terrorist attack. This “memorial” column, installed in a section dubbed “Martyrs of the Islamic World” in Tehran’s Behesht-e Zahra Cemetery, carried a very vivid message: Iran’s  IRGC  was behind the 1983 blast targeting the peacekeeping force in Beirut. 34 years have passed since that attack and today the IRGC has been designated a terrorist organization by the US Treasury Department. Such a measure deserves praise, yet is long overdue. On October 23 of that year a suicide bomber ...

Iran: Female prisoner says prisoners kept for prolonged time in solitary confinement Political prisoner Narges Mohammadi, who is detained in Evin Prison, wrote a letter to Majlis requesting an investigation into the conditions of solitary confinement. In her letter, she stressed that 15 female prisoners who have been kept in solitary were detained with her in Evin Prison. They have been detained for about 140 months overall in solitary confinement and security sections. This letter reads in part: “You are certainly familiar with the phenomenon of “solitary confinement” and know that civil activists, political prisoners and prisoners of conscience are held in solitary confinement upon their arrest and under the pretext of ongoing preliminary investigations, for days, months, and even years, and this method has become common practice in the Islamic Republic of Iran. You know that it is unlawful to keep prisoners in solitary confinement and that security and judicial institutions, ...