RFL/RE – Baha’i poet Mahvash Sabet, who was jailed for nearly a decade in Iran, has been selected as the 2017 International Writer of Courage. Northern Ireland poet Michael Longley named Sabet at the PEN Pinter Prize ceremony at the British Library in London on October 10. Longley won the prize earlier this year. The award is shared with a writer who has …

VOA — President Donald Trump is expected to announce within days that he will no longer certify Iran’s compliance with the 2015 nuclear agreement, giving Congress 60 days to decide whether to reimpose sanctions on Tehran. By law, the president has until October 15 to decide, but White House sources said the action might come sooner. “The president has reached a …

CHRI – Iranian Telecommunications Minister Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi has vowed to block “anti-revolutionary channels” on the Telegram messaging application after the popular Amad News channel reported that a state official’s daughter was arrested for spying. “We are seriously seeking to derail channels that oppose the state,” said Jahromi, a former intelligence official, on October 8, 2017. Iranian officials often threaten to block access to Telegram channels that are critical of the …

Al-Monitor – In the wake of emerging reports that Washington is preparing to designate Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organization, Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and the commander of the Guard Corps have adopted a unitary position, warning the White House over the possible consequences of such a move. In a meeting on the coordination for holding the 40th anniversary of …

Al-Monitor – In the aftermath of the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, the country’s educational system all but collapsed. Illiteracy rates have exploded. Universities have turned into sectarian battlegrounds. Systemic violence — including beatings, rape and death threats — has forced students and faculty out of campuses. As state provision of higher education has receded, private donors have set up alternative …

PayvandNews – Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif says Tehran will take reciprocal measures against a potential “strategic mistake” by US President Donald Trump to designate the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organization.  “If American officials make such a strategic mistake, the Islamic Republic of Iran will take a reciprocal measure,” Zarif said on Monday, adding, “Some measures …

RFL/RE – A Zoroastrian city councilor in Iran has been suspended from his position, highlighting an emerging battle over the rights of the country’s religious minorities to run for office. Sepanta Niknam, a member of the city council in the central city of Yazd, was suspended temporarily by a branch of Iran’s Administrative Court of Justice, council chief Gholamali Sefid said …

VOA — As U.S. President Donald Trump threatens the Iran nuclear deal, those living in Tehran feel that an accord they have yet to benefit from may already be doomed, hardening their skepticism about America. Trump is set to deliver a speech on Iran this week in which he is expected to decline to certify Iran’s compliance in the landmark 2015 …

Iran Human Rights –  Since January 2017, at least 435 people, including 5 juvenile offenders, have been executed according to Iran by Iran Human Rights (IHR) Death Penalty Research Section. At least 219 people have been executed for drug offences so far in 2017. We celebrate this year’s “World Day Against the Death Penalty”, October 10, as the bill for the …

CHRI – Labor activist Mohammad Jarrahi has died from thyroid cancer that was left untreated while he was held as a political prisoner in Iran’s Tabriz Prison, his former lawyer, Naghi Mahmoudi, told the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI). “Judicial officials were negligent in preventing treatment for his thyroid cancer and caused it to get worse,” said Mahmoudi. “The …