Shabtabnews – In a twitter statement the US Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom: Promoting #ReligiousFreedom worldwide, Sam Brownback expressed his gratitude for the 28 participant countries in the first annual International Religious Freedom or Belief Alliance Ministers’ Forum. Grateful for the 28 participant countries in the first annual International Religious Freedom or Belief Alliance Ministers’ Forum. A global …

RFL/RE – The UN’s atomic watchdog says Iran has again breached its nuclear deal with major powers by firing up advanced uranium-enriching centrifuges installed underground at its Natanz site. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director-General Rafael Grossi told a press conference on November 18 that centrifuges in a buried part of the Natanz site, which the agency revealed in …

VOA- An Iranian court has sentenced three activists to long prison terms four years after they were arrested for celebrating the birthday of an ancient Persian ruler at a public gathering criticized by Iran’s Islamist rulers, according to a knowledgeable source. In a Nov. 12 interview with VOA Persian from Iran, the source said the Revolutionary Court in the northeastern …

iranwire.com – Civil activist Somayeh Ramooz has been arrested in Turkey while trying to leave for a safer country, according to reports received by IranWire. The 37-year-old from Bushehr province was detained in Iran on May 9, 2020, apparently over her social media activities. A constitutional monarchist, Ramooz had previously run Instagram pages and published articles in support of the Pahlavi …

iranwire.com – A juvenile found guilty of robbery is due to have the fingers of his right hand cut off after the Supreme Court upheld the sentence against him. Hadi Rostami, who is being held in Urmia Prison, was handed down the sentence for four counts of robbery along with three others. He is reported to have been pressured and intimidated by …

iranwire.com – Petty crime rates have increased in many parts of Iran in line with rising unemployment and poverty, especially since the outbreak of coronavirus. While the government has yet to take any meaningful action to prevent more families from sliding into hardship, police and the Revolutionary Guards have adopted an enforcement-based approach. Over the summer, the Iranian Armed Forces-linked …

Iran-HRM – A Kurdish man was arbitrarily shot dead by the State Security forces in a Kurdish village on Tuesday night, November 17, 2020. The victim was Saadi Rostamzadeh from Uraman Takht village in the Iranian Kurdistan Province, western Iran. Security forces were engaged in hit and run battles with Kurdish retailers and businessmen when they opened fire on unarmed …

IRAN-HRM – The Department of Islamic Culture and Guidance in the city of Ramhormoz issued a directive banning reporters and journalists in this city from covering news of suicides. The measure comes in the wake of suicides of six high school students in Ramhormoz, in Iran’s Khuzestan Province in a short period of time. After a 15-year-old student took his …

Iran Human Rights Organization- A prisoner sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder during a mass family fight involving 50 people, has been executed in Mashhad Central Prison. According to Rokna, on the morning of Tuesday, November 17, a male prisoner was executed at Mashhad Central Prison. The identity of the prisoner has only been established as 34-year-old Ghassem. Gh. He …

Iran Human Rights (IHR)- Zeinab Jalalian, a Kurdish political prisoner sentenced to life imprisonment, has been transferred from the women’s ward of Kermanshah Prison to Yazd Prison. According to Iran Human Rights, Zeinab Jalalian was transferred from Kermanshah Central Prison to Yazd Central Prison on Monday, 9 November 2020. In a phone call, she told her family that she had …