Al-monitor  — Former two-time President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad appears to have his eyes set on a third term in office. He has been traveling across Iran lately, addressing his supporters. AUTHOR Rohollah Faghihi On July 29, in a speech in Mashhad, Ahmadinejad said, “They label me as a Freemason [a member of the secretive] Hojjatieh Society, anti–Guardianship of the Jurist [Iran’s …

Radiozamaneh – On 2 Aug 2016 a number of Sunni prisoners in Rejaishahr Prison in Karaj were hanged for charges ranging from acting against national security, propaganda against the regime, membership in Salafai groups, corruption on earth and enmity against God. The executions triggered Ehsan Mehrabi, Iranian journalist based in Germany, to recall his year in prison following the 2009 …

RFL/RE – In a new report, the U.S. State Department raises concerns over laws against blasphemy and apostasy in Islamic societies. “Such laws conflict with and undermine universally recognized human rights,” it says in its annual report on global religious freedom released on August 10. In Pakistan, blasphemy laws “have often been used as justification for mob justice,” the report …

RFL/RE – Danish police on August 10 arrested a 22-year-old Iranian asylum seeker who threatened to blow himself up on the roof of the building where he was staying. The police said in a statement the man had wanted to commit suicide over “a broken heart.” That statement suggested that the incident on the Danish island of Funen was related …

– Since January 2016, Iran has executed at least 230 people, that is at least one person a day on average. The number of executions has recently increased and Iran ranks first in the world, followed by China, when it comes to executions per capita. Iran executed approximately 1000 people in 2015. According to Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East and North …

Iranhr.net – Early morning Tuesday August 9: Iranian authorities executed at least six prisoners in the West Azerbaijan province, northwestern Iran. At least five prisoners, including political prisoner Mohammad Abdollahi, were executed at Darya, Urmia’s central prison, on Tuesday August 9. One other prisoner was executed on the same day at Miandoab Prison. Last week, Iran Human Rights had reported on the …

Amnesty – Iranian authorities have intensified their repression of women’s rights activists in the country in the first half of this year, carrying out a series of harsh interrogations and increasingly likening any collective initiative relating to women’s rights to criminal activity, Amnesty International said today. The organization’s research reveals that since January 2016 more than a dozen women’s rights …

Iranhumanrights.org – Marzieh Amiri: “I had kept silent only for the sake of my son.” The mother of Shahram Amiri, the Iranian nuclear scientist who allegedly spied for the U.S. and was executed in Iran on August 3, 2016 in a case shrouded in mystery, has provided details about her son’s last day and six years of life in an …

Al-monitor – With the presidential elections 10 months away and the likelihood that President Hassan Rouhani will come under more fierce criticism over his campaign promises and lack of tangible results in regard to the nuclear deal, members of the administration have signaled that they will soon take action against individuals who insult the president. AUTHOR Arash Karami In response …

Al-monitor — Iran’s geostrategic location, along with its historic role as a conduit for the exchange of goods — especially its position on the ancient Silk Road — has made the country one of the most active transportation hubs in the world. AUTHOR Maysam Bizær Through both its northern land borders and the Caspian Sea, Iran has access to Central …