Radiozamaneh – A legal dispute between an Ivy League university and a foundation in New York has endangered the future of one of the most important academic projects on Iranian Civilization: Encyclopedia Iranica. The project is an encyclopedia that has been assembled and published at  Columbia University for decades. Encyclopaedia Iranica Columbia University in the City of New York,, the …

CHRI – Three prisoners were recently executed in Iran, two in the central prison in Zahedan, capital of Iran’s Sistan and Baluchistan Province, and one in the central prison in Dozap, also in the province, all of whom were accused of membership in militant Sunni Muslim groups. The increase in the application of the death penalty in political cases in …

Al-Monitor – Families who lost loved ones aboard Ukraine Airlines flight 752 after it was downed by Iranian forces in January said they would reject any compensation from the Iranian government and plan only to seek justice for the victims. An association of the families issued a strongly worded statement addressing the Iranian government ahead of the anniversary of the tragedy. “The murderer …

Iran’s headline-grabbing stories in the past several weeks about the assassination of a top nuclear scientist, the raging coronavirus pandemic and soaring prices have overshadowed the shocking scene of an isolated shanty house being razed to the ground before the eyes of its poverty-stricken dwellers. On Nov. 19, municipal workers of the city of Bandar Abbas demolished the tiny shelter of 35-year-old Tayyebeh amid desperate pleas among …

(AP) — Deep in the lush valleys of northern Iran, where the Alborz Mountains crumble toward the sea, Ali Rahimi takes up his grisly work. Day in and day out, Rahimi, a 53-year-old volunteer cleric in the city of Ghaemshahr, puts on his hazmat suit and receives the deceased; disinfecting, washing and shrouding the dead bodies in white cloth. The …

shabtabnews – On the one year anniversary of death of Dr Noor Ali Tabendeh IOPHR put out a statement commemorating the human right’s record of Dr Tabandeh. Dr. Tabandeh was a prominent Jurist, an expert in Islam, a freedom fighter, a mystic and the spiritual leader of eight million Gonabadi Sufis in Iran and around the world. He is widely …

Radiofarda – Since the Islamic Revolution in 1979, Iran’s clerical establishment has used religious organizations to expand its clout abroad.Key among them is the Al-Mustafa International University, a network of religious seminaries based in the Shi’ite holy city of Qom that has branches in some 50 countries.The university claims to teach Shi’ite Muslim theology, Islamic science, and Iran’s national language, Persian, …

VOA – Iran has taken another punitive action against the outspoken family of a protester killed by security forces who crushed nationwide anti-government demonstrations last year, handing the protester’s uncle a suspended prison sentence for criticizing the nation’s Islamist rulers. In a Monday interview with VOA Persian from Iran, an informed source said Mehrdad Bakhtiari, uncle of slain activist Pouya …

Iran-HRM – Prison guards raided Ward 5 of the Great Tehran Penitentiary, confiscating personal belongings of inmates. Sunday, December 20, 2020, prison guards raided Ward 5 of the Great Tehran Penitentiary and confiscated personal belongings of inmates, including their samovar, curtains, chairs, clocks and sports shoes, an informed source said. The raid on Ward 5 of the Great Tehran Penitentiary …

HRW – We, the undersigned human rights and humanitarian organizations, call on all stakeholders to ensure people in Iran have swift, unencumbered, and equitable access to safe, effective, and affordable Covid-19 vaccines. We particularly call on the government of the United States to provide assurances to financial institutions that they will not be subject to US sanctions for facilitating transfers …