VOA – Iran has freed a prominent female dissident jailed since 2015, her husband and state media say, following a yearslong campaign by international rights activists demanding an end to what they described as her unjust and cruel detention. Journalist and human rights advocate Narges Mohammadi, 48, was released from a prison in the northwestern city of Zanjan early Thursday, …

VOA – The U.S. government imposed new sanctions on 18 Iranian banks as Washington turned up the pressure on Tehran by further isolating it from the global banking system and hindering the country’s attempts to build nuclear weapons. The steps, which were announced by the Treasury Department in a news release, hit 18 banks that have so far avoided previous U.S. …

Al-Monitor – The US government seized the domains of 92 websites allegedly operated by the Iranian government, the Department of Justice announced Wednesday. The websites were hosted by US companies and spread disinformation to American and international audiences, according to the department. “Iran cannot be allowed to hide behind fake news sites,” said David Anderson, the US attorney for the Northern District …

Al-Arabia – Iranian human rights activist and journalist Narges Mohammadi has been released from prison after her sentence was reduced, her husband and the judiciary said on Thursday. “Narges was released from Zanjan prison at 3 am (1130 GMT). Wishing freedom for all prisoners,” her husband Taghi Rahmani announced on Twitter. Mohammadi, 48, is a campaigner against the death penalty …

Shabtabnews – Washington, DC – The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) today released the following new report on ritual slaughter laws and the range of restrictions across Europe: Ritual Slaughter Factsheet – This factsheet shows the spectrum of restrictions on ritual slaughter in Europe, and provides information on the impact that such regulations have on religious freedom in select …

Radiofarda – The United States is preparing to impose fresh sanctions on Iran’s financial industry as soon as Thursday, a Republican congressional aide briefed on the matter said, as Washington ramps up pressure on Tehran weeks ahead of a key U.S. election. The move, which would effectively shut Iran out of the global financial sector, comes after the United States …

Radiofarda – Ten percent of Iran’s population is elderly, with the Gilan province home to the country’s oldest citizens, the head of Iran’s Elderly Health Department of the Ministry of Health disclosed on Tuesday. “Thirteen percent of the population in Gilan, bordering the Caspian Sea, north of Iran, is over sixty years old,” Mohsen Shati told the state-run Iran Labor …

VOA – An Iranian dissident has contracted the coronavirus at a prison in northern Iran, according to a knowledgeable source, highlighting what U.S. and U.N. officials say is a worsening pandemic threat facing Iran’s prisoners of conscience. In a message sent Tuesday to VOA Persian, an Iran-based source close to the family of dissident Farhad Meysami said Meysami tested positive …

Iran-HRM – The State Security Force agents have been parading young people in the streets of Iran over the past weeks, humiliating and torturing them psychologically in the open. This inhuman treatment aimed at terrorizing the public violates the international law and all principles of human rights. People have posted videos of such inhuman treatment of young people in the …

Iran-HRM – A group of relatives of political prisoners executed in the 1988 massacre and the 1990s in Iran protested concealing the role of the regime’s leaders in the executions, especially that of Mir Hossein Mousavi, who was Prime Minister at the time. The letter comes after supporters of Mousavi accused Amnesty International of “distorting” the facts. Responding to the …