VOA— Having survived popular protests across major cities in Iran, Iranian leaders are now turning to the tools that helped protesters organize and coordinate large-scale demonstrations against the government, which continued for more than a week before the government suppressed them.

CHRI – Police in Tehran have turned 29 people over to the judicial authorities for taking part in a growing campaign against forced hijab, the hardline Tasnim news agency reported on February 1, 2018. The detainees’ names have not been released.

CHRI – Family Meets Bail for Wife, but Judge Still Refuses to Release Her The judge presiding over the case of imprisoned Iranian-American gallery owners Karan Vafadari and his wife Afarin Neyssari has deliberately imposed an extraordinarily heavy bail to prevent them from being released pending their appeal, the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) has learned. 

CHRI- A few weeks after major protests erupted across Iran in December 2017, the majority of the country’s lawmakers signed a letter calling for a state ban on foreign social media apps to drive Iranians towards state-approved domestic alternatives. Their main focus: Telegram.

RFL/RE – Members of parliament in Iran have prepared a motion for “implementing” Article 27 of the Islamic Republic’s Constitution, on public gatherings, a legislator has reported.

RFL/RE – The United States has hit six individuals and seven businesses linked to Lebanon’s Shi’ite Hizballah militia with terrorism-related sanctions.

RFL/RE – Four UN human rights experts have called on Iran to ensure “a fair and transparent final hearing” for three Iranian Christians who are due to appear before the Revolutionary Court in Tehran this weekend.

RFL/RE – The United States has condemned the arrests in Iran of at least 29 individuals “for exercising their human rights and fundamental freedoms by standing up against the compulsory hijab.”

Al-Arabia – Iranian MP Ali Reza Rahimi said that local authorities have arrested nearly 5,000 demonstrators in recent protests which took place across 100 cities.

Amnesty – Responding to reports that at least six young human rights defenders, including Shima Babaei and her husband Dariush Zand, Saeed Eghbali, Leila Farjami, Mahmoud Masoumi and Behnam Mousivand have been detained in coordinated arrests across Iran on 1 February, Magdalena Mughrabi, Deputy Middle East and North Africa Director at Amnesty International said: