Al-Arabia – Iran’s anti-aircraft forces fired shots at a drone in central Tehran on Monday, the governor of Tehran Province was quoted as saying by Tansim news agency, but he said the unmanned aircraft was not military. “It has not been a military drone. It entered the no-fly zone…We do not know where it belonged to,” Isa Farhadi said. Fars …

Iran Human Rights – In the last few days, at least 26 people, including two women, were reportedly executed in various Iranian prisons.   14 PRISONERS EXECUTED According to close sources, at least 14 prisoners were reportedly hanged at Karaj Central Prison on Saturday January 14 on drug related charges. Iran Human Rights has obtained the names of ten of these …

Iranhumanrights.org – The lawyer of political prisoner Saeed Shirzad, who was hospitalized on January 12, 2017 after more than one month on hunger strike with his lips sewn shut, has warned that his client won’t give up until his demands are met. “Saeed Shirzad is in a dangerous and worrying condition,” Amirsalar Davoodi told the Campaign for Human Rights in …

VOA – Iranian police have arrested two women for riding a motorcycle in a western city – an incident that went viral when images appeared online and sparked a social-media backlash against the country’s political and religious authorities. Two Iranian women riding a motorcycle in Dezful. (source: video posted on Iranian investigative journalist Masih Alinejad’s Facebook) State news agency IRNA said the two …

IOPHR -After the meeting between members of international organisation to preserve human rights (IOPHR) with MEPs Tunne KELAM, and Lars ADAKTUSSON the following press release was issued by the two MEPs within eppgroup  demanding the immediate release of human rights activists Arash Sadeghi and Ali Shariati.: Following the current reports on the critical condition of Arash Sadeghi and Ali Shariati, two Iranian …

RFL/RE – U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for secretary of state says he supports a “full review” of the nuclear deal between Iran and world powers, which the incoming president has previously pledged to renegotiate or scrap altogether. Former ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson said during a January 11 confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that he would recommend …

VOA – At Tuesday’s funeral in Tehran of Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a key figure in the 1979 Islamic Revolution who later pushed for reconciliation with the West, reformist mourners not only chanted for the release of hunger-striking rights activists held in Iranian jails but also called for an end to their country’s burgeoning alliance with Moscow. Video clips posted on …

HRANA News Agency – Jailed dissident cleric, who had been transferred to an anonymous medical center in Tehran, was transferred to his house, as a medical leave. According to the report of Human Rights Activists News Agency in Iran (HRANA), Mohammad Reza Nekounam was transferred from hospital to his house, on November 27. The cleric critical had been transferred to …

Al-monitor – It has been three days since Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani passed away, but Iranian media is still buzzing with coverage of the former two-time president. If anything, the wave of reactions to the death of the Expediency Council chairman doesn’t seem to be subsiding. AUTHOR Rohollah Faghihi On Jan. 11, one day after Rafsanjani’s funeral — which saw at least …

PayvandNews – The Iranian administration has allocated some 10 trillion rials (nearly $250 million) to Lake Urmia restoration program. Lake Urmia (map) The lake which used to be a natural habitat for migratory birds, and a tourist attraction is facing a dramatic decline for years now. The decline is generally blamed on a combination of drought, damming of the rivers that …