Al-Arabia – When mass anti-government protests took over downtown Beirut on October 17, many participants felt that they were reclaiming a space that had long been sterile and off-limits. Now, new concrete blast walls have reemerged to keep protesters out of previously reoccupied space. “At the start, the whole downtown area, was not for the people,” said Roula Abdo, one of …

Iran-HRM – Two murder convicts including an 81-year-old man were hanged in Chaharmahal Bakhtiari Province at dawn on Monday, January 27. The state-run ROKNA news agency reported the executions but it did not specify in which prison the executions took place. ROKNA cited Public and Revolutionary Prosecutor of Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari Province as sayig, “One of the prisoners with Kh. Gh. …

Iran-HRM – Wounded Iranian protesters have lost their lives due to infection of their wounds in the absence of medical treatment at hospitals. At least two protesters wounded in the November 2019 uprising in Iran, have been announced dead. Amir Ojani, father of four, had been wounded by security forces during Iran protests in November 2019. He lost his life …

RFL/RE – The U.S. military has for the third time raised the number of U.S. service members who suffered traumatic brain injuries in Iran’s missile strike on an Iraqi air base earlier this month, AP reported citing a Pentagon spokesman. U.S. soldiers on January 13 walk past the site of where Iran bombed the Ain Al-Asad air base in Iraq. …

Radiozamaneh – According to several reports on social media, the National Identification Card in Iran is now only issued for the followers of one of the four recognized religions in Iran. The recent change in the options of applying for Iranian digital National ID Card (NID) only allows Muslim, Christian, Jewish, and Zoroastrian citizens to register. This leaves Iranian minorities …

Iran Human Rights (IHR) – On Tuesday, January 28, at least 10 death-row prisoners were transferred to the solitary confinement of Rajai-Shahr Prison for execution. According to IHR sources, on Tuesday, January 28, at least 10 prisoners were transferred to the solitary confinement of Rajai-Shahr prison in the Iranian city of Karaj.  Prisoners Behnam Gharadaghi, Nima Dashtyarpour, Mehdi Fotovvat, Sajjad …

CHRI – For the first time, the complete text of Iran’s “Law to Protect the Rights of the Disabled” is available in English. A translation of the Persian-language law by the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) is accessible below this introduction. Ratified by the Iranian Parliament in March 2018 and published in May of that year, the law remained …

Al-Monitor – Hundreds of Iranian airline passengers experienced extreme panic in a series of back-to-back flight incidents in recent days, fortunately escaping what could have otherwise turned into deadly tragedies. On Jan. 27, a narrow-body MD-83 operated by Iran’s Caspian Airlines skidded off the runway upon landing in the southwestern port city of Mahshahr. After the tires failed to descend upon landing, the aircraft ended up …

RFL/RE – Iranian rapper Amir Tataloo, an underground musician unauthorized by the Islamic republic’s Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, has been arrested in Istanbul following a request by Iran, Tehran authorities said on January 28. Police spokesman Ahmad Nourian was quoted by Iranian news agencies as saying that Tataloo, whose real name is Amir Hossein Maghsoodloo, was arrested by …

Radiofarda – An Iranian news outlet affiliated with the Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) has revealed for the first time that the Islamic Republic police forces helped to suppress protests in the early days of demonstrations against the Syrian strongman, Bashar al-Assad. Iran’s police chief with his Syrian counterpart Hassan Ma’arouf. Undated. The IRGC-linked Fars news agency, disclosed on January 25 that …