PayvandNews – Twenty-one Asiatic cheetahs have been observed in the north-central province of Semnan since the beginning of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21), Amir Abdous, head of the provincial department of environment (DOE), has announced.  Emphasizing that the plan to preserve the cheetahs in Iran is to protect it in its natural habitat, he said that the success …

Shabtabnews – In a statment today “IOPHR condemned the Iranian regime’s human rights violations and for not giving a fair and just trial for 27 year old Navid Afkari and to use torture to force him to confess to crimes he has not committed.” In the statement IOPHR stated that “Navid Afkari, a 27 year old Iranian wrestler, is in …

Radiofarda – The lawyer of Navid Afkari, a 27-year-old man who received two death sentences for allegedly killing a security agent during the 2018 protests in Isfahan, says the footage that the court is using against the defendant was filmed “an hour before the incident.” Navid was originally arrested alongside his two brothers Vahid and Habib in August 2018, and …

Radiofarda – FIFA, the international governing body of soccer, has demanded an explanation for Iranian judicial authorities’ prosecution of the country’s football federation board. The Iranian Football Federation is facing a potential suspension for the country’s potential legal actions against the federation’s board of directors, as well as numerous financial issues, deceptions in translating its charter into English and banning …

Radiofarda – Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Hossein Zolfaqari, the Security Deputy of Iran’s Interior Ministry, said that “social tensions” in the first five months of the current Iranian calendar year have increased by 227 percent compared to the same period last year. According to Mehr News Agency, Zolfaqari said that authorities have tracked 1,702 online calls for protest since …

RFL/RE – Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has called the United Arab Emirates’ (U.A.E.) historic deal with Israel to normalize relations a “betrayal” that “won’t last for long.” The “treachery” was committed against “the Islamic world or Arab nations, regional countries, and Palestine,” Khamenei said in a speech on September 1, according to state media, as a joint, high-level …

Radiofarda – In an open letter, sixty political prisoners warned on Sunday about a COVID-19 breakout in several wards of Fashafuyeh Prison of Tehran. In their letter, addressed to the Prosecutor of Tehran, the signatories said that the coronavirus has spread through several wards of one of the prison halls, and that the threat of illness is causing great anxiety …

Radiofarda – A hardliner Iranian newspaper linked to the office of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is criticizing Iranian politicians of advanced age who insist on holding official positions past the age of 80. Referring to the recent resignation of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, the Jomhouri Eslami [Islamic Republic] published a commentary on Monday, August 31 claiming that some …

Radiofarda – Mohsen Haji-Mirzai, Iran’s Minister of Education, said on Monday that students will start school in all areas around the nation except for those designated as “red zones” as recently as Saturday. Currently, 12 out of 31 provinces of the country are considered COVID-19 hotspots and categorized as red zones. In a press conference, Haji-Mirzai also pointed out that …

VOA – A jailed Iranian lawyer and human rights defender has suffered a significant decline in her health on the 21st day of a hunger strike to protest Iran’s treatment of political prisoners, according to her husband.   Speaking to VOA Persian by phone from Tehran, Reza Khandan said he learned of his wife’s worsening health in a phone call that authorities …