Iranhumanrights.org – Fifteen Baha’i Students Expelled in December and January At least 15 Baha’i students were expelled from Iranian universities between December 2016 and January 2017, with university officials trying to eliminate any trace of the ongoing discriminatory policy, which follows governmental policy. One of the six Baha’i students who were expelled from the Islamic Azad University of Roudehen, east …

Al-monitor – Iran is in the grip of heated debate on whether homeless women who are addicted to drugs should be sterilized. The controversy began Dec. 27 after Shahrvand daily published images of homeless men and women sleeping in open graves in a cemetery near Shahriar, a small town in Tehran province. The story sent shockwaves across Iran and led …

Al-monitor – Various news outlets reported on Jan. 25 that US President Donald Trump plans to sign executive orders to restrict immigration and also suspend visas for citizens of Iran and six other Middle Eastern and African countries — at least temporarily. AUTHOR Rohollah Faghihi In response, prominent Iranian actress Taraneh Alidoosti has announced that she has decided to boycott …

PayvandNews – NIAC Action issued the following statement based on language of a reported Executive Order that President Donald Trump plans to sign. “Trump’s Muslim ban is real and even more draconian than many anticipated. Visa holders, dual nationals, and even green card holders from Muslim-majority countries may be barred indefinitely from the United States. Based on our analysis of …

Al-Arabia – Iranian website Jamaran published on Wednesday an interview with Ghoulam-Ali Rajai, former chairman and advisor to Iran’s former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who died two weeks ago at the age of 82. In the interview, Rajai accused former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad quoting Rafsanjani of obstructing the agreement with Saudi Arabia. According to Rajai, Rafsanjani stressed, saying to …

Iran Human Rights –  On the mornings of Monday January 23 and Wednesday January 25, four prisoners were hanged in two different prisons on drug related charges. According to close sources, at least two prisoners were hanged at Karaj’s Ghezel Hesar Prison on January 25 on drug related charges. The prisoners have been identified as Majid Askari and Rahman Nourian. …

Iran Human Rights – Two prisoners were reportedly hanged at Khorammabad’s Parsilon Prison (western Iran) on drug related charges. According to the human rights news agency HRANA, the executions were carried out on the morning of Friday January 20. HRANA has identified the prisoners as Jahangir Beiravand and Adel Beiravand. “Adel Beiravand was innocent, but he was executed based on …

Iranhumanrights.org – Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s Husband Writes Direct Plea to Rouhani The Iranian Judiciary’s recent upholding of the indefensible five-year prison sentence against Iranian-British citizen Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, issued at a secret trial by a Revolutionary Court, reaffirms the collusion between the Judiciary and the country’s security and intelligence agencies that is undermining justice in Iran. The Campaign for Human Rights in …

Iranhumanrights.org – Less than three months into his new post as culture and Islamic guidance minister, Reza Salehi Amiri boasted about banning ten films from entering the Tehran Fajr International Film Festival, “in line with the policies of the supreme leader,” on January 19, 2017. “For the first time, we cut out films with feminist and inappropriate themes and supported 30 films …

Al-Arabia – When former Iranian President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani died Jan. 8, much was made of the absence of a message of condolence from Saudi Arabia. This was especially stark since Rafsanjani personally enjoyed good relations with many Arab leaders and had played a key role in the Saudi-Iranian rapprochement in the years after the end of the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq War. Indeed, rulers …