Iran-HRM – A Kurdish man was hanged on February 28, 2018, in Central Prison of Ilam, in western Iran.

Iran-HRM – Javad Khamis-Abadi, a Dervish Gonabadi community member, producer, scriptwriter and documentary producer, has disappeared after being arrested by Iran’s State Security forces on February 19, 2018, in Tehran.   The Sufi group Gonabadi, known locally as Gonabadi dervishes, held a protest in February 19, 2018, in northern Tehran demanding the release of an adherent of their faith. Reports …

Al-Arabia – Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the last say on all state matters, on Thursday praised Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for his “resistance” after seven years of war.

VOA —Iran has blocked several dozen women from attending a major Tehran football match witnessed by the head of FIFA, the sport’s world governing body, prompting criticism from rights activists. Iranian state news agency ISNA said police “transferred” 35 women who had gone to Azadi Stadium on Thursday to try to watch the match between local rivals Esteghlal and Persepolis. …

CHRI – An Iranian woman who was arrested in Tehran for peacefully protesting against Iran’s compulsory hijab law has been formally charged, the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) has learned.   Maryam Shariatmadari, who is currently being held in Gharchak Prison in Varamin, south of Tehran, is facing the charges of “fostering bad hijab” and “acting against national …

CHRI – Oppression Has Failed to Break Our Commitment to Our Faith, Says Leader The Islamic Republic of Iran has failed to suppress Baha’is by putting their leaders behind bars and denying them rights as equal citizens, according to a former leader of the persecuted community released after serving a 10-year sentence in prison. “When I was preparing to get …

CHRI – Former Intelligence Minister Admits Iranian-Canadian Zahra Kazemi Was Killed in Evin Prison in 2003 Iran’s Parliamentary Committee for National Security and Foreign Policy is drafting a bill to separate the responsibilities of the Intelligence Ministry and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ (IRGC) Intelligence Organization.

CHRI – As people protesting against the Islamic Republic of Iran’s mandatory hijab law continue to be arrested, an increasing number of political and cultural personalities inside the country are expressing support for the peaceful movement. In late February 2018, prominent opposition figure Zahra Rahnavard, who has been under house arrest for more than seven years, said for the first …

CHRI -Wife and Son of Karan Vafadari Fear For His Life After Suspicious Deaths in Prison The son of Iranian-American Karan Vafadari, who is imprisoned in Tehran’s Evin Prison, said his stepmother, Afarin Neyssari, also imprisoned in Iran, fears for her husband’s life after officials claimed without any evidence that two previous detainee deaths in January 2018 were suicides.

Al-Monitor – According to Ali Akbar Velayati, an adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Russia’s veto of a United Nations draft resolution linking Iranian arms to Houthi militias in Yemen is a sign of improving ties between the two countries. Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a meeting with Syrian Minister of Religious Affairs Mohammed Abdul Sattar Feb. …