Radiofarda – An Iranian news agency has reported that despite the coronavirus epidemic, the reconstruction, development and restoration projects carried out by Iran in Iraq’s Shiite shrines have continued. Demolishing the buildings in the vicinity of the shrine of Imam Hossein to extend the grounds has continued with full consideration of health requirements, Rasa News reported on April 11. Part …

Radiofarda – Security forces in Iran have arrested a former popular Iranian TV presenter, for criticizing the Islamic Republic. Mahmoud Shahriari was arrested Wednesday morning, April 15, Young Journalists Club (YJC), a news agency run by the monopolized state-run Radio&TV network (IRIB) reported. Shahriari was detained for “disseminating false news about the novel coronavirus outbreak in Iran”, YJC maintained, without …

Radiofarda – Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Commander Major General Hossein Salami on Wednesday said the IRGC has invented a machine that can detect coronavirus within a radius of about 100 meters. The mask-wearing commander of the Guards who was accompanied by several other high-ranking officials announced the invention in a televised interview at the IRGC General Headquarters. Displaying the machine which …

Radiofarda – Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani has lashed out at the country’s Financial Controller’s Office for a report which says his administration has mishandled the country’s budget two years ago. The report by Iran’s Chief Auditor Adel Azar was published on Tuesday April 14 and charged that $4.8 billion of the budget has “disappeared.” Speaking on the Iranian state TV, an …

Iran-HRM -Hundreds of Iran’s security and IRGC Basij forces, attacked people Tuesday, when a crowd intervened to prevent them from destroying locals’ houses in west of the country. The incident occurred in Falakdin neighborhood of Khorramabad, capital of Lorestan Province, when hundreds of security forces along with IRGC Basij members and municipality agents headed by the city’s prosecutor started to demolish …

Iran-HRM – Water shutdown on the Central Prison of Zahedan is threatening the lives of prisoners. For more than a week, the whole prison compound does not have any water and all inmates are incarcerated under horrible conditions, especially in light of the vicious outbreak of the coronavirus and infection of inmates in this prison. Several inmates have reportedly died …

The U.S. Navy says 11 vessels of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) made “dangerous and harassing approaches” toward U.S. naval ships in the Persian Gulf.The U.S. ships were in international waters carrying out exercises at the time of the incidents on April 15, the U.S. 5th Fleet said on Twitter. One of the IRGC vessels came within about 10 …

CHRI – Physicians in Iran including university officials have been reprimanded including by way of prosecution for publicizing information about the country’s COVID-19 outbreak that contradicts officials’ statements, the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) has learned. Iran’s Health Ministry had reported 74,877 confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus COVID-19 and 4,683 deaths at the time of this writing …

Iran Human Rights (IHR)-  The 12th annual report on the death penalty by Iran Human Rights (IHR) and ECPM (Together Against the Death Penalty) provides an assessment and analysis of the death penalty trends in 2019 in the Islamic Republic of Iran. It sets out the number of executions in 2019, the trend compared to previous years, the legislative framework …

Al-Monitor – In a grim estimate, a prestigious Tehran-based research center found that up to 75% of the Iranian population could test positive for the coronavirus if isolation measures are not implemented. The assessment by the Iranian parliament’s research center, based on Health Ministry epidemiological models, says nearly 30,000 Iranians could die of the virus if only 10% of workable containment policies are in …