CHRI – In the latest report by the UN’s top expert on Iran, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, Javaid Rehman, expressed “alarm” and “dismay” over a broad range of human rights violations by the government of the Islamic Republic. The Special Rapporteur (SR) focused particular attention in the report on the …

Al-Monitor – An Iranian fuel tanker bound for Venezuela showed up on radar on Friday as off the coast of South Africa. Iranian fuel deliveries continue to the South American country after recent US seizures, and the lengthy route around Africa could be to avoid the US military. The website MarineTraffic received a signal from the tanker, named Fortune, on Friday …

theconversation.com – Iran’s 1979 Islamic revolution was a defining event that changed how we think about the relationship between religion and modernity. Ayatollah Khomeini’s mass mobilisation of Islam showed that modernisation by no means implies a linear process of religious decline. Reliable large-scale data on Iranians’ post-revolutionary religious beliefs, however, has always been lacking. Over the years, research and waves of protests and …

Shabtabnews – USCIRF condemns the upholding of death sentences against 7 Sunni Muslims in #Iran yesterday on charges of “emnity against God.” Iran must cease its ruthless persecution of religious minorities & immediately release all religious prisoners of conscience. USCIRF condemns the upholding of death sentences against 7 Sunni Muslims in #Iran yesterday on charges of "emnity against God." Iran …

Radiofarda – An outspoken whistle-blowing journalist, Yashar Soltani, has challenged a preacher close to the Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to explain a suspicious purchase of land he made in 2012. A day earlier, Khamenei’s close ally, the mid-ranking clergyman Alireza Panahian, said in an interview that an apartment was presented to him as a friendly gift. Panahian, a …

RFL/RE – U.S. tech giant Microsoft says hackers linked to Russia, Iran, and China have targeted people and organizations tied to both U.S. President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden. The announcement on September 10 came at the same time that Biden’s main campaign advisory firm said it had been told by Microsoft it was being targeted by the …

Iran-HRM – In a letter to the Chief of Iranian Judiciary, the parents of champion wrestler Navid Afkari, urged him to allow their sons to be examined by the Coroner’s Office. In their letter to Ebrahim Raisi, Hossein Afkari and Bahieh Namjou, the parents of the Afkari brothers, noted that their sons had been brutalized in solitary confinement. This is …

VOA – Dual British-Iranian citizen Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, jailed for five years in Iran on spying charges, will face a new trial in the coming days. Her sentence was to expire next April but she has been hit with new charges that have not been made public. The charity worker and her young daughter were detained at Tehran’s airport in 2016 …

Iran Human Rights (IHR) – A prisoner sentenced to death on “drug-related” charges, was executed in Urmia Central Prison. According to Iran Human Rights, a male prisoner was executed in Urmia Centra Prison this morning, 10th September. His identity has been established as Khezr Ghavidel, a native of Herman village in Rabat City. An informed source told IHR: “ Khezr …

Al-Monitor – In an economy besieged by sanctions and handicapped by corruption, the Tehran Stock Exchange offered a rare opportunity for making profits and creating wealth. That opportunity, however, has proved to be a mirage. From a peak index of 2,065,114, the exchange — known as the TSE — fell to 1,631,941 last week, signaling a 20% drop, erasing millions of dollars of value …