Iran Human Rights –  Three more executions reported in Urmia’s central prison for drug related charges. Iran Human Rights had reported on the executions of two prisoners by the names of Mashallah Siyadnavin and Mohammad Reza Sadeghi According to a report by the human rights news site, Maf News, three prisoners were hanged on drug charges at this prison on Friday …

CHRI—The Iranian judiciary’s sentencing of American academic researcher Xiyue Wang to 10 years in prison on unspecified espionage charges reflects the continued ability of security and intelligence agencies to dictate unlawful and arbitrary judicial prosecutions of Western nationals, the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) said in a statement today. “Over and over again we’re seeing foreigners who were …

Al-monitor – As various international peace initiatives have sought a political solution to the Syrian crisis, the most recent tangible breakthrough came from someplace new. On July 9, the long-awaited meeting between the presidents of Russia and the United States took place on the sidelines of the G-20 summit in Hamburg, Germany, where the two sides reaffirmed a recently reached cease-fire for southern Syria. Author Hamidreza …

Al-monitor – When the arrest of Hossein Fereydoun, President Hassan Rouhani’s brother, was announced July 16 at a live recording for a video channel associated with conservative Fars News, the audience erupted in applause. Conservatives have long sought his arrest, and so it was natural they would be elated by this news. While questions remain about the charges, the arrest sends a political …

PayvandNews – President Rouhani has issued a statement praising Iranian math genius Maryam Mirzakhani, the first woman to win mathematics’ fields medal, who died at 40 on Saturday. Maryam Mirzakhani artwork by Firoozeh Mozaffari “The unparalleled brilliance of this creative scientist and yet humble person which made the name of Iran resonate in the world’s scientific community was a milestone in …

CHRI – The growing number of women refusing to cover their hair while driving in Iran, especially during the hot summer months, has resulted in renewed threats of arrests for violations of the country’s mandatory hijab law. A woman stopped for not observing proper hijab while driving (file photo) However, the hijab-the head-to-toe Islamic dress code that women in Iran …

PayavdNews – An audio version of the Shahnameh, the epic masterpiece of Persian poet Ferdowsi, has been released in English with an introduction by U.S. filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola in the United States. American voice actor Marc Thompson has narrated the stories based on the latest translation by Ahmad Sadri published by Quantuck Lane Press in 2013, Kingorama, the U.S.-based …

RFL/RE – Iran has sent thousands of Afghan Shi’a to the battlefields of Syria, catapulting them to the front lines of President Bashar al-Assad and his allies’ brutal six-year war against armed rebels, some of them foreign-backed, and Islamist extremists. As the first line of attack, the poorly trained proxy force made up of mainly Afghan migrants and refugees known as …

RFL/RE – Iran has identified the U.S. national sentenced to 10 years for spying as Xiyue Wang, a 37-year-old researcher at Princeton University. Mizanonline, the official news agency of Iran’s judiciary,said on July 16 that Wang, who was born in China, was arrested on August 8, 2016, while trying to leave Iran. The report said the man was part of “an …

Iran Human Rights -Seven prisoners were reportedly executed in prisons located in the Sistan & Baluchestan province. Most of the prisoners were executed on drug related charges. In the past few days, seven prisoners, including two Pakistani citizens, were reportedly hanged at Zahedan Central and Iranshahr prisons. On the morning of Thursday July 13, a prisoner by the name of …