CHRI – The low number of female participants in Iranian elections is an indicator of inequality in the political, social and cultural fabric of the country, women’s rights advocate Nahid Tavasoli told the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI). Speaking from Tehran, the editor-in-chief of Nafe, an academic women’s periodical, said Iranian women are denied many rights as citizens …

Al-monitor — Iran’s presidential elections are perhaps among the most unpredictable worldwide. Except for the 2001 landslide re-election of Reformist President Mohammad Khatami, predicting the winner of the past five presidential polls has truly been a challenge. The May 19 vote is shaping up to be the most unpredictable yet. AUTHOR Saeid Jafari In a new development this election cycle, the Principlist movement …

Al-monitor – Iran’s Reformist Council for Policymaking announced March 12 that it would be supporting incumbent moderate President Hassan Rouhani — approximately two months before the country’s presidential election. Mohammad Reza Aref, parliamentarian and head of the council, said that in a meeting in which all the of members were present, they took a vote and agreed to support Rouhani for his second …

PayvandNews – The European Union’s trade with Iran amounted to 1.55 billion Euros in January 2017, a 171 percent rise compared to the first month of 2016, based on the latest figures released by the European Union’s statistics agency Eurostat.  The figure was 572 million Euros in January 2016, Tasnim news agency reported. Iran’s exports to the EU stood at …

PayvandNewss – Iran’s judiciary has blocked newly introduced call features on a highly popular messaging app called Telegram. It was not immediately clear whether the reason for the blocking of voice calls, introduced last week, was a political move ahead of the country’s May presidential election or an attempt to protect the commercial interests of Iranian telecom companies. Telegram CEO …

RFL/RE – Iranian parliament speaker Ali Larijani has dismissed a call by the head of the powerful Guardians Council to prevent members of religious minorities from running in city council elections in May, according to two lawmakers. Ghasem Mirzayi, a member of the board in charge of overseeing municipal elections, said on April 19 that Larijani had issued a “written …

Al-Arabia – US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said in a press conference in Washington on Wednesday that Iran continues to support the Houthi militia in Yemen and threatens naval navigation in the Arabian Gulf. Tillerson also noted that Iran funds insurgents in Syria as well as sends troops to fight in support of President Bashar al-Assad’s regime. He added …

VOA – Earlier in April he was spotted in the northern countryside of the central Syrian province of Hama, where the forces of President Bashar al-Assad have been battling a surprise rebel offensive and reportedly sustaining high casualties. On Monday, according to local news reports, General Qassem Soleimani, commander of Iran’s elite Quds Force, a special forces branch of the …

CHRI – Iranian media outlets have been ordered to stop reporting on former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s third presidential campaign for the country’s May 19, 2017 election. The Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) has learned that the order was issued by the Supreme National Security Council and Tehran Prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dowlatabadi. Media outlets are allowed to report on …

CHRI – The presidential bid of ultra-conservative cleric Ebrahim Raisi has been strongly criticized by supporters of human rights. In 1988, Raisi was appointed to a special commission that sent thousands of political prisoners to their deaths by execution.