Radiofarda – To crack down on teachers’ nationwide protests in Iran, the clerical regime has been arresting and convicting activist teachers. One of such activist teachers is Eskandar Lotfi who has been sentenced to two years in prison by the Penal Court of Sanandaj. The court examining Eskandar Lotfi’s charges convened on January 27, 2020. Mr. Lotfi is an activist …

Iran-HRM – Two prisoners were hanged on Wednesday morning, February 12, 2020 in Adelabad Prison of Shiraz. The two prisoners had been convicted in a common case of murder and rape. Hadi Mahi and Sadeq Akbarpour were arrested in 2016 and subsequently sentenced to death. They were detained all the time in Adelabad Prison. The news of the hangings of …

RFL/RE – The weeklong campaigning for Iran’s parliamentary elections kicked off with more than 7,000 candidates vying for the 290 seats in the legislature, state TV reported on February 13.The February 21 elections are widely seen as a contest between hard-liners and conservatives after most pro-reform and moderate candidates were disqualified.The vote will also be a test of the popularity …

RFL/RE – Rising anti-government fervor, a biting economic crisis, and the absence of free and fair elections are likely to dampen voter turnout in Iran’s upcoming parliamentary elections.Fearing a low turnout in the February 21 vote would harm the legitimacy of the country’s theocratic system, Iranian officials are pulling out all the stops to get the vote out.‘I Beg You’President …

RFL/RE – The United States has granted a 45-day waiver to allow Iraq to continue to buy gas and electricity from Iran, despite sanctions imposed by Washington targeting Tehran’s energy sector. The U.S. State Department on February 12 said the waiver, which sets tough conditions, “ensures that Iraq is able to meet its short-term energy needs while it takes steps …

RFL/RE – Social-media giant Facebook on February 12 removed two unconnected networks of accounts, pages, and groups “engaging in foreign or government interference,” one originating in Russia and the other one in Iran, both of which have alleged ties to intelligence services.Calling the behavior “coordinated” and “inauthentic,” Facebook’s head of security policy, Nathaniel Gleicher, said both operations were acting on “behalf …

gatestoneinstitute.org – Esmail Ghaani, Soleimani’s successor as head of the Quds Force, has promised: “to continue martyr Soleimani’s path with the same force and the only compensation for us would be us would be to remove America from the region.” So much terrorism has come from Tehran…. as distant as Latin America. One might also ask why has the United …

gatestoneinstitute.org – Now, with the humanitarian crisis reaching a critical juncture with an estimated 80% of Yemen’s 24 million population in need of assistance, aid organisations are finally waking up to the central role the Iranian-backed Houthis have played in creating the disaster. As humanitarian officials prepare to meet in Brussels this week — Thursday — to discuss the Yemeni …

Al-Monitor – The Iranian government dismissed the latest in a series of reports that President Hassan Rouhani is resigning from his post. Government spokesman and presidential aide Ali Rabiee dismissed the “rumors” in an interview with reporters after a cabinet meeting in Tehran Feb. 12. “As I have written before, Rouhani will stay with the nation to the end of his tenure,” Rabiee declared, …

Shabtabnews – The International Organisation to Preserve Human Rights(IOPHR) in a new statement called on the democratic governments, human rights organisations, international organisations and unions, and the freedom-seeking people of the world to put pressure on the leaders of the Islamic Republic of Iran to undertake responsible behaviours, and comply with international laws and standards. Also stop the suppression of …