Al-Arabia – The Saudi Minister of Culture and Information Awwad al-Awwad has expressed the kingdom’s support of Egypt against the terrorists behind the el-Arish mosque massacre. The death toll in the Friday militant attack rose to 305 including 27 children, while at least 128 people were injured in the attack. Awwad stressed that Egypt will remain resistant to attempts aiming to …

VOA — Reza Zarrab, a Turkish-Iranian businessman charged with helping Iran circumvent U.S. sanctions, has pleaded guilty, according to U.S. prosecutors, agreeing to provide testimony that could potentially implicate senior Turkish officials in the sanctions-busting scheme and further inflame U.S.-Turkish relations. Zarrab’s agreement to cooperate, reached on Oct. 26 but announced by federal prosecutors in New York on Tuesday, raised questions …

CHRI – Three prisoners in Iran’s Rajaee Shahr Prison are facing new charges for participating in a mass protest at the prison in August 2017. In late October 2017, the Revolutionary Court in Evin Prison in Tehran charged Christian convert Ebrahim Firoozi, and political activists Saeed Shirzad and Amir Ghaziani with “disturbing order” and “insulting the supreme leader and other …

Iran Human Rights – Three prisoners were hanged at Tabriz Central Prison on murder charges while three other prisoners were hanged at the same prison on Wednesday November 22. According to a report by HRANA News Agency, on the morning of Sunday November 26, three prisoners were executed at Tabriz Central Prison (Northwestern Iran). The prisoners were sentenced to death …

PayvandNews – The Tehran Symphony Orchestra choir and Italy’s World Youth Orchestra will perform “Where Art Thou, Divine Martyrs” composed by Hushang Kamkar, at the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome on December 3.  The joint concert is scheduled to be repeated in Tehran on December 6, Iran’s Rudaki Foundation announced in a press release on Monday. Razmik Ohanian …

PayvandNews – The Quds Force commander has railed against the U.S. presence in the Middle East, saying the American troops’ fear is attributable to their “faithlessness”, emphasizing that unlike them “we do not fear death at all.”  General Qassem Soleimani made the remarks while addressing Syrian fighters in al-Bokmal city, in response to death threats against the resistance fighters, ISNA …

merinews – Throughout Iran, journalists, bloggers, and activists of all types are being hounded to give up their efforts to create real change within the country for the Iranian people. The regime is determined to maintain its source of power by whatever means necessary, including silencing all voices that might disagree with them or expose their actions, such as human …

RFL/RE – A wealthy Turkish-Iranian businessman who was the alleged mastermind in what U.S. prosecutors say was a high-level conspiracy to help Iran evade U.S. sanctions will not stand trial this week as scheduled, though the case is proceeding against his co-defendant. U.S. Judge Richard Berman announced on November 27 as jury selection got under way on the case that …

Al-Monitor – A powerful 7.3 magnitude earthquake struck an area straddling the Iran-Iraq border on Nov. 12. Iran’s western province of Kermanshah was the hardest hit with over 400 fatalities. Sympathies immediately began pouring in from across Iran, with many taking direct measures to help the victims. Many of these efforts, however, only created more difficulties in the delivery of …

Al-Monitor – Saeed Mortazavi, a former judge and prosecutor in Iran, has been sentenced to two years in prison for the deaths at a notorious detention facility during the 2009 postelection protests. An appellate court in Tehran upheld the sentence for Mortazavi for “accessory to murder” in the death of Mohsen Ruholamini, the son of a conservative politician who was …