Iranwire – The lead protagonists in this film are Kurdistan and the kolbars of Kurdistan. In one of Iran’s most remote, deprived and little-understood regions, every day hundreds of people – from 12-year-old boys to men in their 70s – strap up to 50 kilos’ worth of goods to their backs and set out on foot, singing, on the days-long …

Iranwire – Massoud Kordpour, a human rights activist and editor-in-chief of Mokrian News Agency, describes new IranWire documentary They Shoot Kulbars, Don’t They? as a short but clever account of the history of poverty, deprivation, and discrimination in Kurdistan. *** Massoud Kordpour lives in Iran and currently resides in Bukan, in West Azerbaijan province. The new documentary They Shoot Kolbars, Don’t They? reminded him, he tells …

Iranwire – They Shoot Kolbars, Don’t They? is a new documentary shedding light on decades of poverty and discrimination in one of Iran’s most remote and little-understood regions. Directed by Jamshid Bahrami and produced by IranWire’s Maziar Bahari, the film tells the stories of Iranian kolbars or border couriers, in their own words. Bahrami is an Iranian Kurd who was born in 1981 …

VOA – The White House is clarifying its position on Iran after President Joe Biden gave an interview in which he indicated that the United States would not lift sanctions until Tehran stops enriching uranium. “Just to be very clear, the president never said that exactly,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters on Monday. Biden, in a television interview …

Iran Human Rights (IHR) – A male and a female prisoner sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder, have been executed in Ardabil Central Prison. There is reason to believe that the female prisoner may have been a juvenile offender. According to Iran Human Rights, a female and a male prisoner sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder, were executed at Ardabil Central Prison …

screendaily.com – Iranian director Keywan Karimi hasn’t had much luck when it comes to attending film festivals. When his feature Drum was screening at Venice and elsewhere in 2016, he was locked up in Tehran’s Evin Prison, serving a sentence for “propaganda against the State.” This stemmed from his 2013 documentary, Written On The City, about political graffiti in Tehran. He was finally …

Iranwire – The latest report from the Iran Statistics Center, on poverty and the incomes, says at least 70 percent of Iranians are living below the poverty line and are experiencing financial hardship. Etemad newspaper has quoted an informed source in Iran’s forensic medicine organization as saying that, from March 2020 to the end of November, an average of 15 …

RFL/RE – Iran and the United States have deepened their standoff over Tehran’s nuclear deal with world powers as the leaders of both countries demanded the other side act first.U.S. President Joe Biden reiterated he will not lift sanctions to get Iran back to the negotiating table, saying Tehran must first adhere to its commitments under the 2015 nuclear deal.Asked …

Amnesty – Prisoner of conscience Hamed Gharehoghlani is suffering from symptoms that precede dangerous epileptic seizures due to the authorities’ persistent refusal to provide him with specialized health care and medication. He appealed his sentence of 14 years and one month’s imprisonment to the Supreme Court on 24 January 2021. He must be released immediately and unconditionally. View report in …

VOA – U.S. President Joe Biden says he will not lift economic sanctions against Iran unless Tehran first cuts its uranium enrichment back to the level it agreed to in the 2015 international treaty aimed at restraining its development of nuclear weapons.   Biden has said he wants the U.S. to rejoin the nuclear treaty with Iran that former President …