Radiofarda – The unconventional pronouncements of a Qom-based senior cleric, Kamal al-Haydari, about Shiite jurisprudence and jurists, have once again infuriated state-recognized “Ayatollahs” and traditional clergies close to the Iranian government. Born in Najaf, Iraq, the 64-year-old al-Haydari resides in Qom, the hub of the Twelver-Shi’ite seminary in Iran. By submitting the issue of “takfir” in seminaries, he has questioned …

Radiofarda – The Deputy Head of the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration, Mehrdad Jamal Arvanqi, says 200,000 tons of rice stored at Iranian customs and ports is currently rotting for lack of hard currencies. Arvanqi announced on Thursday that this amount of rice had been stored in the country’s customs and ports for months. “By not paying foreign currency …

Radiofarda – The life story of a man who built his entire life and world on dancing in women’s clothing is getting the cinematic treatment. Although it is not illegal to dance in Iran the vague laws around “indecent” acts can get a person into serious trouble. “Khoraman,” screened at this year’s Sheffield Documentary Film Festival as “Gracefully,” is a …

VOA – Some of the data Iran used to unleash a deluge of emails designed to intimidate U.S. voters just weeks before the country’s presidential election came directly from one state’s voter registration database. U.S. officials confirmed the finding late Friday in an alert issued by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), …

VOA – An Iranian teachers union leader, who has been jailed in Iran since 2016 and whose prison term was recently extended by a decade, is receiving inadequate medical treatment for severe pain, according to his wife. In a Tuesday interview with VOA Persian from her home in Tehran, the wife of Esmail Abdi said the dissident told her about …

Iran Human Rights (IHR) – Iranian media have reported the execution of a prisoner sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder in Rajai Shahr Prison in Karaj, without providing the exact date and identity of the prisoner. According to semi-official news website Javan Online, a prisoner sentenced to qisas for murder was executed in recent days. The report only identifies the executed …

Iran Human Rights (IHR) – Khosrow Besharat, a Sunni prisoner in Rajai Shahr Prison in Karaj, who was sentenced to death during an unfair judicial process and without the right to defend himself in court, is now awaiting the response for a retrial. According to Iran Human Rights, Khosrow Besharat, a Sunni prisoner arrested in February 2010 and sentenced to …

Al-Monitor – The United Kingdom summoned the Iranian ambassador on Thursday after new details emerged regarding a British aid work detained there. The news refers to Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a dual UK and Iranian citizen who has been imprisoned in Iran since 2016. She was convicted of plotting to overthrow the government, but denies the charges. She is serving a five-year sentence. …

Shabtabnews – According to reports and twitter statement by IOPHR , Behnam Mahjoubi Gonabadi #Sufi & prisoner of conscience is in critical health condition. #BehnamMahjoubi, a Gonabadi #Sufi & prisoner of conscience is in critical health condition. He has been forced to take unknown drugs & transferred to a psychiatric hospital. In a voice recording, he said “The regime is …

IranWire – He is constantly breathless, his tongue heavy in his mouth. His legs are numb and he has fallen several times. In prison, they don’t give him the medication he needs. In lieu of proper treatment he was transferred to Aminabad Psychiatric Hospital. There, they tortured him. Hospital staff tied him to the bed and urinated on him, injecting …