Radiofarda – Branch 28 of Tehran’s Revolutionary Court has sentenced a civic activist and a labor activist to five-year prison terms each. Revolutionary courts do not abide by Iran’s civil code and often issue arbitrary decisions. The court is headed by notorious hardliner judge Mohammad Maghiseh who often handles cases related to dissent or activism in Iran’s capital. Rezvaneh Mohammadi …

Radiofarda – Iran’s Judiciary on Thursday summoned another signatory of a 77-signature opposition statement condemning the bloody suppression of November protests for “Propaganda Against the Islamic Republic”. The family of Isa Saharkhiz, a reformist journalist, published an image of the court order today on social media platforms. Saharkhiz who has five days to appear in court has previously been imprisoned …

Radiofarda – Spokesman of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps’ (IRGC), Brigadier General Ramazan Sharif, has accused the media of misquoting recent remarks made by a veteran IRGC General, threatening to reduce Tel Aviv to ashes from the Lebanese territory. Earlier on Tuesday, December 10, Mizan, a conservative website in Iran had cited the IRGC General Morteza Qorbani as saying, “If …

RFL/RE – U.S. Secretary of Defense and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley testified about the Department of Defense activities in Syria and the Middle East. While the hearing chaired by Representative Adam Hill closely focused on the recent pullout of U.S. troops from Syria and the Turkish incursion, questions about the DoD’s activities about Iran …

Radiofarda – Iran’s security chief Ali Shamkhani has claimed that “85 percent of protesters shot to death in the Tehran County during the mid-November anti-government protest had nothing to do with protest gatherings.” Shamkhani, who according to the Iranian administration’s spokesperson Ali Rabiei, has prevented the releasing of the protest casualty toll, however, claimed that the victims have “shot each …

Al-Arabia – Iraq’s top Shi’a cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani on Friday condemned recent killings and kidnappings of protesters, urging the state to assert control over the widespread use of weapons. He also called on the armed forces to remain professional, loyal to the state and free from foreign influence, a representative of al-Sistani said during a sermon on Friday …

Iran-HRM – The Iranian regime executed a couple in the Central Prison of Mashhad, the state-run media reported on December 11. A woman identified as Maryam, 32, was hanged along with her husband, Mehdi R. in the Central Prison of Mashhad. The executions were reported by several state-run media. (The state-run ROKNA news agency – December 11, 2019) The woman …

RFL/RE – Use of a single word deemed offensive by Iranian religious officials resulted in a six-year jail sentence for journalist Pouyan Khoshhal. In an article published in October 2018 in the daily Ebtekar, Khoshhal used the word “death” instead of “martyrdom” in a reference to Imam Husayn, a grandson of the Prophet Muhammad who is revered under Iran’s official religion, Shi’ite …

VOA – The recent U.S. seizure of suspected Iranian guided missile parts headed to rebels in Yemen highlights Iran’s continued far-reaching involvement in the war-torn country, experts say.   U.S. officials said earlier this month that a U.S. Navy and U.S. Coast Guard boarding team seized a small boat in the northern Arabian Sea that was carrying sophisticated weapons to Iranian-backed rebels in Yemen.   Iran …

Radiozamaneh – The ninth bimonthly Labor Rights Newsletter of Zamaneh Media has been published in both Persian and English. This issue covers labor news and workers’ issues in the approximate range of October and November 2019. Iran Nov 2019 Protests over gasoline price hike. The focus of this bi-monthly report is the gasoline protests in Iran that started on 14 Nov 2019, contractual …