Iran-HRM – Three of the student activists detained during the January 2018 protests were sentenced to prison for taking part in Dec/Jan demonstrations.

The US administration taking significant measures to re-impose sanctions on Iran’s regime aims to reach a variety of objectives. Crippling sanctions are being implemented on Tehran and there are methods to pinpoint these efforts against the regime and in fact support the Iranian people’s strive for freedom and democracy. One very effective initiative is severing all access for Iranian banks …

RFL/RE – Powerful Shi’ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr has announced an unexpected political alliance with pro-Iranian militia chief Hadi al-Amiri in a bid to lead Iraq over the next four years.

RFL/RE – Foruzan Faghiri was 3 years old when her family fled war in Afghanistan for neighboring Iran.

VOA – Iranian President Hassan Rouhani says it will be difficult for Tehran to stay in the 2015 nuclear accord it signed with world powers if it cannot benefit from the agreement. Rouhani told French President Emmanuel Macron in a phone call Tuesday that the remaining co-signers to the treaty — France, Britain, Germany, Russia and China — will have …

Iran Human Rights – Prominent lawyer human rights defender, Nasrin Sotoudeh, was arrested at her home on Wednesday, June 13. She was previously imprisoned for her professional and HR activities. 

CHRI – Iran’s judiciary has not released the names of the 20 state-approved lawyers exclusively allowed to represent detainees held on politically motivated charges in Iran. But some potential lawyers have dark human rights records.

CHRI – Sepideh Jandaghi is a professional singer who’s unable to perform solo in Iran because she’s a woman. The Islamic Republic’s laws and customs also makes it extremely difficult for her to produce and promote albums or concerts. But Sepideh remains hopeful about the future. “Women’s voices in Iran are silent voices. I hope that one day these silent …

Al-Monitor – In an apparent reaction to the policies of US President Donald Trump, Iran appears to be in the grip of rising nationalism amid signs of an effort to forge internal political reconciliation. Rather than solely seeking to topple the Islamic Republic, the United States and its regional allies are now perceived as pursuing the dismemberment of Iran.

Al-Monitor – In the wake of the nationwide protests that gripped Iran at the turn of 2018, leading to over two dozen deaths and putting hundreds behind bars, President Hassan Rouhani was among the few within the ruling elite to express the need for “authorized protest sites.” After a few months, the idea now seems closer to being translated into …