CHRI – Three weeks after Iran banned the widely used Telegram messaging app, the telecommunications minister posted a chart online showing that the number of Iranian users had begun rising to pre-ban levels. The posting marks the first time an Iranian official has presented figures implicitly confirming the failure of state censorship policies. cartoon by Taravat Niki, Ghanoon daily On …

Radiofarda – After Russia said that foreign troops should leave Syria when the war ends, Tehran responded by saying no one can force Iran to do anything.

Radiofarda – An Iranian government panel has concluded there is no evidence against environmental activists rounded up on spying charges in recent months, the country’s environment chief says.

Radiofarda – Germany’s government will help German firms with business in Iran where it can, but cannot entirely shield them from the U.S. decision to quit the Iran nuclear deal and reimpose sanctions against Tehran, the economy minister told a newspaper.

Iran-HRM – The life of prisoner of conscience Shahnaz Kiani is in danger. She has been deprived of adequate medical treatment despite her critical health condition in Qarchak Prison of Varamin, west of Tehran.

Iran-HRM – Taymour Khaledian, a civil activist said on Saturday, May 19, 2018 that he has been “severely beaten and sexually tortured” at a NAJA base during his detention last winter, when he was arrested in protest gatherings. He explained that the agents used shocker, baton and fist to beat him and kicked him. He was so tortured that he …

Iran-HRM – Mohammad Ali Mansouri (Pirouz), political prisoner at Rajaie Shahr Prison who is currently serving his 11th year, is sentenced to an additional five years in a new case, charged with “gathering and collusion against the establishment.”

RFL/RE – Six Iranian ministers and two lawmakers, all members of the state committee in charge of blocking websites, have issued an open letter to the country’s prosecutor calling for the unblocking of Twitter. The letter was issued in response to “the growing public demands for unfiltering Twitter to allow the activity of the youth and media in [it],” the …

RFL/RE – More than 800 people have been poisoned after eating toxic wild mushrooms across western Iran, local media report.

Al-Arabia – The EU’s foreign policy chief warned Monday there was “no alternative” to the Iran nuclear deal, after US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo vowed unprecedented sanctions against Tehran following Washington’s withdrawal from the pact.