CHRI – Tens of thousands of President Hassan Rouhani’s supporters took to social media to express their outrage after he was surrounded by an angry mob loyal to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and forced to flee a rally in Tehran on June 23.  In a short time, their # I-Support-Rouhani (�#حامی_روحانى_ام�) Twitter storm in Farsi exploded to the top of …

CHRI – A few weeks after being elected for a second term as president, Hassan Rouhani had to be whisked away from a rally in Tehran on June 23 by his security forces after being encircled by angry chanting protestors. President Rohani under attack Source: Ghanoon daily Read relates articles (in Persian) by Iranian dailies: Ghanoon | Shahrvand | Shargh The mob shouted slogans comparing Rouhani …

RFL/RE – Qatar on June 24 labelled as “unreasonable” demands made by four Arab states to shutter the Al-Jazeera network, cut most ties with Iran, and close Turkey’s air base as the price of ending a regional boycott of the small Persian Gulf state. The demands were included in a 13-point list presented to Doha as an ultimatum by Saudi …

RFL/RE – Iranian authorities have arrested at least 50 people suspected of links to “terrorist” groups in a Western province, a prosecutor said on June 25. The arrests come following the deadly twin attacks in the Iranian capital on June 7. cartoon by Taravat Niki, Iranian daily Ghanoon The attacks on the Iranian parliament and the mausoleum of the Islamic republic’s …

RFL/RE – Hundreds of thousands of people have taken to the streets of Tehran and other Iranian cities to take part in state-sponsored anti-Israeli rallies marking the annual Quds Day, state media report. Some protesters set Israeli and U.S. flags on fire, reports said on June 23, while others chanted “Death to America” and “Death to Israel.” The demonstrators also …

RFL/RE – Four Arab countries led by Saudi Arabia have issued a list of demands for ending their boycott of Qatar, including requiring Doha to shut down the Al-Jazeera network and cut most ties with Iran. The demands were presented to Qatar by Kuwait on June 22. The Associated Press reported that the list included 13 items, including demands that …

CHRI – Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s recent declaration that security forces should “fire at will” against presumed enemies of the state is an established policy of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Nobel Peace laureate Shirin Ebadi told the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI). “Iran’s leader spoke about firing at will only recently, but as a matter of fact, …

CHRI – Husband Pressured to Confess to Espionage Formerly imprisoned photojournalist Asal Esmailzadeh was “suddenly” arrested without charge while accompanying her husband to the Culture and Media Court in Tehran on June 19, 2017, Saeed Seif told the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI). Seif, the editor-in-chief of the Didban reformist news website, told CHRI that he does not …

CHRI – The killing, by border guards, of another kulbar—the Persian word for the border-crossing couriers who transport illegally imported goods into Iran—has prompted 250 Iranian civil rights activists to demand that Parliament implement measures to protect the downtrodden laborers. “Shared widely on social media, images of an innocent young man’s body on the ground next to his load of cigarette …

Al-monitor – Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) President Massoud Barzani on June 7 announced an agreement among Iraqi Kurdish groups to hold a binding vote in September that could pave the way for an independent Kurdistan, free of control by the central government in Baghdad. An independent Kurdistan, which would border Iran along a province with a large Kurdish population, poses many challenges for the Islamic …