Shabtabnews – USCIRF Releases Report on the Anti-cult Movement and Religious Regulation in Russia and Central AsiaWashington, DC – The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) today released the following report:Religious Regulation Issue Update – This issue update explains the legacy of Soviet-era legislation as well as the substantial influence of the western anti-cult movement on contemporary religious regulation in …

Radiofarda – In an unprecedented move, the Islamic Republic intelligence agents have interrogated two detained university students in a public meeting, says Aida Younessi, the sister of one of the detainees. Ms. Younesi’s brother, Ali, and Amir Hossein Moradi were interrogated in a general meeting of prosecutors, intelligence officials and others on July 14, without having access to their attorneys. …

Al-Arabia – Iran has arrested about 30 people following the anti-government protests that broke out in the southwestern city of Behbahan on Thursday, the Iranian Human Rights Activists’ News Agency (HRANA) said on Friday. Protests broke out in Behbahan in the oil-rich Khuzestan province on Thursday with demonstrators demanding the overthrow of the regime, according to videos shared on social media. …

Al-Arabia – Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani said on Saturday that 25 million Iranians have been infected with the coronavirus and that another 35 million are at risk of acquiring it. For more coronavirus news, visit our dedicated page. The figures, which Rouhani said were based on a new Health Ministry report, are far higher Iran’s official toll of 269,440 infected. Rouhani …

RFL/RE – Iran says it has sent the black boxes of Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752, which crashed shortly after takeoff in Tehran on January 8 after being struck by two missiles, killing 176 people. “The black boxes were transferred to Paris yesterday by aviation officials and a judge, and their deciphering will start on Monday (July 20),” Foreign Ministry …

VOA- Iranians angered by their government’s handling of a faltering economy staged a rare protest in a southwestern city on Thursday, in defiance of security forces which dispersed attempted demonstrations in other parts of Iran. A review of images sent to VOA Persian appears to show Iranians chanting anti-government slogans in the streets of Behbahan in Iran’s Khuzestan province after …

Iran-HRM – The police chief in Behbahan, on Friday vowed to deal “decisively” with further protests, a day after security forces fired teargas to disperse protests in the southwestern city of Behbahan. The city’s police announced in an official statement on Friday that they will decisively deal with the protests. Speaking to the official news agency IRNA on Friday 17 July, Behbahan Police …

Iran Human Rights (IHR) – Mehdi Salimi, a writer and translator, who was arrested on July 7, at his parents’ house in Ahar, is facing charges of “propaganda against the Islamic Republic, blasphemy, inciting corruption and prostitution, and assembly and collusion against national security”. Over the past year, there has been an intensification in the state repression of writers, artists, …

gatestoneinstitute.org – On June 30, 2020, U.S. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo urged the United Nations Security Council to extend the arms embargo on Iran. The Security Council was reluctant to do so. The UN Security Council’s unwillingness seems yet another indication of why the United States, having pulled out of the Human Rights Council and threatening to pull out …

A televised address by Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to the country’s new parliament July 12 covered a wide range of topics from foreign policy and the domestic economy to the coronavirus pandemic. But what grabbed the most media attention was his rejection of a plan by some lawmakers to impeach President Hassan Rouhani. “The closing year of any administration is usually the …