VOA – Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has reacted to an upsurge in labor unrest by labeling it a plot backed by the country’s enemies, echoing his response to anti-government protests last month. In recent weeks, Iranian workers protesting labor conditions have gone on strike at a steel-making company in Ahvaz and at the Haft Tapeh sugar cane plantation …

Amnesty – A warning by Iranian police that women could be jailed for up to a decade for joining protests against compulsory veiling has put dozens at immediate risk of unjust imprisonment and represents an alarming escalation of the authorities’ violent crackdown on women’s rights, said Amnesty International. More than 35 women have been violently attacked and arrested in Tehran …

CHRI – Approximately 170 members of the Sufi Gonabadi Order known in Iran as the Gonabadi Dervishes have been hospitalized in Tehran following clashes with the police and security forces, the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) has learned. Two of them, Mohammad Labbaf and Nematollah Riahi, are in serious condition, the faith’s spokesman, Farhad Nouri, told CHRI on …

CHRI – A woman who was severely injured by a policeman in Tehran while she was peacefully protesting against Iran’s compulsory hijab law has been denied post-surgery medical care and access to a lawyer. “Given her physical condition, Maryam Shariatmadari needs urgent medical attention but the prison authorities are denying her,” tweeted journalists Jila Baniyaghoob on February 25, 2018. Baniyaghoob …

CHRI – Unnamed Boy Has Appealed His 15-Year Prison Sentence A 15-year-old boy is illegally being held in an Iranian prison for adults, the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) has learned.

CHRI – Domestic Search Engines Enable Officials to Censor and Manipulate Results In an interview broadcast on state-funded TV, Iranian Telecommunications Minister Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi stated that search engines on Iran’s state-controlled domestic internet, the National Information Network, can be manipulated according to the wishes of state officials.

Al-Monitor – Barely over a month after economic grievances, mainly among the working class, sparked deadly protests across the country, fluctuations in the value of the Iranian currency — the rial — have generated grave disappointment with another key constituency. This time, the grievance chiefly stems from the pillar of President Hassan Rouhani’s voter base — namely, the middle class, …

PayvandNews – A collection of woodworks created on the theme of acid attacks is currently on display during an exhibition in Tehran. The exhibition entitled “Identity” opened at Ashiane-ye Mehr Gallery (گالری آشیانه مهر) on Friday during a special ceremony, which was attended by the artists and several victims of acid attacks. “The exhibition is actually talking about an identity they lose and …

According to Shabtab News, the ruling regime in Iran, which has been seeking in recent months to dismantle the Sufis of the Nematollah Gonabadi order in Iran, has once again reinitiated its plan, which was previously defeated during its prior attempt, to destroy the Sufism in Iran. Following the clashes and crises that began in mid-February of 2018 against the …

RFL/RE – In a joint statement, five Iranian trade unions have lambasted the current monthly minimum wage as “not enough to cover a family’s living expenses for ten days,” and demanded an increase to 50 million rials (roughly $1,050), which they say is in line with internationally recognized cost of living calculations.