Human Rights Activist News Agency (HRANA) – State-run news agencies in Iran have yet to confirm the executions of three prisoners this morning, October 2nd, in Urmia: Salman Khan Alilou, Hassan Hajilou, and Zeinab Sekaanvand. Sekaanvand was executed for a crime she had allegedly committed as a minor.

CHRI – Iranians have taken to social media to call for the freedom of Mehdi Hajati, a member of the Shiraz City Council who was arrested on September 27, 2018, two days after tweeting about his efforts to free two detained members of the Baha’i faith.

Al-Monitor – After months of steep falls in value, the Iranian rial enjoyed a massive rebound Oct. 1-2, rallying 30% against foreign currencies. The open market rate of the US dollar, which had jumped up to around 190,000 rials last week, settled as low as 130,000 rials on Oct. 2.

Al-Monitor – Bilateral relations between Hamas and Iran have been getting closer since the election of the movement’s current leadership in February 2017. Hamas has made repeated visits to Iran and numerous statements about how strong the relationship has grown.

PayvandNews – We are very pleased to announce the recipient of the 11th Bita Prize for Persian Arts is the acclaimed singer Parissa, for a life dedicated to preserving the best of Iranian classical music and elevating the role of women in this tradition.

PayvandNews – A three-month old leopard cub was seized from the smugglers on Wednesday and transferred to Pardisan Park rehabilitation center, Mehr news agency reported on Friday.

Amnesty – Responding to the horrific news that 24-year-old Iranian Kurdish woman Zeinab Sekaanvand was executed early this morning in Urumieh central prison, West Azerbaijan province, Philip Luther, Amnesty International’s Research and Advocacy Director for the Middle East and North Africa, said:

Radiofarda – Despite reports that the value of the Iranian rial is rising, fifty Iranian economists have called on the government to shut down “the secondary forex market,” an arrangement the economists say has “pushed millions of Iranians below the poverty line.”

Radiofarda – Two prominent pro-reform activists and former political prisoners say Velayate-e Faqih or the Governance of the Supreme Leader in Iran is not compatible with a republican system.

Al-Arabia – Two prominent Iranian reformists, Abu al-Fadl Quidani, and Reza Rajai, who were imprisoned in recent years, issued a statement stressing that the Wilayat al-Faqih (Guardianship of the Jurist) ideology contradicts the concept of a republic. They highlight the importance of embracing the principal of a republic in Iran.