VOA- Iraqi security forces used live ammunition against mostly unarmed demonstrators Thursday, killing at least 40 people in one of the bloodiest days since anti-government protests began last month, security and medical officials said.  At least 25 people were killed and more than 200 wounded when security forces opened fire on protesters who had blocked key roads and bridges in the …

VOA – Iran on Thursday condemned the burning of its consulate in southern Iraq hours earlier, which came amid an escalation in Iraq’s anti-government protests that erupted nearly two months ago.                    Violence across southern Iraq had continued throughout the night, with security forces killing 16 protesters and wounded 90 since Wednesday. Protesters closed roads while a large number of …

Iran Human Rights (IHR) –  The Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe (CCBE) on Thursday, November 29, 2019, announced that its human rights award for 2019 goes to the four Iranian lawyers Abdolfattah Soltani, Amirsalar Davoudi, Mohammad Najafi and Nasrin Sotoudeh. Lawyers Nasrin Sotudeh, Mohammad Najafi and Amirsalar Davoudi are imprisoned in Iran solely for expressing their opinion …

Al-Monitor – Iran is taking another step toward expanding its nuclear program by officially starting construction of the second unit of the Bushehr nuclear power plant. Tehran showed it is determined to continue this program by announcing Nov. 10 it has begun expanding the commercial reactor site. On Nov. 5, it had announced it would begin enriching uranium at its Fordow …

Radio Farda- has interviewed the father of a young man whose son was killed by security forces on during recent anti-government protests in Iran. “For five years, I fought in the battlefield to push back the enemy from our homeland, and now they have killed my son merely for protesting an increase in gasoline prices”, says an Iran-Iraq war (1980-88), …

Radiofarda – Minnesota congresswoman Ilhan Omar has denied being a Qatari asset and passing sensitive information through intermediaries to Iran, her office told The Jerusalem Post on Tuesday. According to the Israeli newspaper a court in Florida was told by a witness that the Somali-born congresswoman had been recruited by a foreign government, received funding from a foreign government, and passed sensitive …

Radiofarda – Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani has tried to distance himself from a controversial move of raising gasoline prices that led to days of widespread protests in Iran and the death of more than 140 protesters. He claimed on Wednesday that he did not know when and how the price of gasoline would be increased, while on November 15 when …

Al-Arabia – Iranian security agents arrested at least eight people linked to the US Central Intelligence Agency during last week’s unrest over gasoline price hikes, the official news agency IRNA reported on Wednesday.“These elements had received CIA-funded training in various countries under the cover of becoming citizen-journalists,” IRNA quoted the Intelligence Ministry as saying. “Six were arrested while attending the riots …

Al-Arabia – Protesters blocked roads with burning tires in southern Iraq and clashed with police in Baghdad on Wednesday, aiming to use economic disruption as leverage to push the government from power and root out state corruption.Security forces shot dead two people in Karbala overnight and two in Baghdad on Wednesday, while a fifth person died from gunfire by security …

RFL/RE – Iraqi protesters have set fire to Iran’s Consulate in the southern city of Najaf, according to reports. Demonstrators gather as flames start consuming Iran’s consulate in the southern Iraqi city of Najaf on November 27. The protesters stormed the consulate late on November 27 and set fire to the entire building, police and civil defense source were quoted …