Iran-HRM – Political prisoner Akbar Bagheri was harassed and tortured after undergoing surgery in a hospital with handcuffs.Since being returned to the Greater Tehran Penitentiary, he has been kept in a filthy place called ‘quarantine’. After two years of enduring pain and being denied medical treatment in prison, Akbar Bagheri was transferred to Loghman Hospital in Tehran on February 20, …

CHRI – In a 45-page official letter to the government of Iran by Agnès Callamard, UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, and Javaid Rehman, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran on the shooting down of Ukraine International Airlines flight PS752 by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in January 2020, the two UN …

Amnesty – Iran’s Revolutionary Guards unlawfully used lethal force against unarmed fuel porters near the city of Saravan, in Sistan and Baluchestan province, on 22 February, flagrantly violating the absolute prohibition on the arbitrary deprivation of the right to life under international law, said Amnesty International today. Testimony from eyewitnesses and victims’ families, coupled with video footage geolocated and verified …

AL- monitor – Spokesperson for the Iranian government Ali Rabiee has said the “time is not ripe” for the United States to join meetings over the Iran nuclear deal, also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). At a virtual briefing in Tehran March 2, Rabiee referred to recent diplomatic gestures and proposals from the European signatories to the JCPOA as well as Washington’s declared …

Al-Monitor – The United States has announced sanctions on two military leaders of Yemen’s Houthi rebel movement following a spate of attacks on neighboring Saudi Arabia. Mansur al-Saadi, the head of the Houthis’ naval forces, and Ahmad Ali Ahsan al-Hamzi, head of the rebels’ air force, were sanctioned on Tuesday for “procur[ing] weapons from Iran and oversee[ing] attacks threatening civilians and maritime infrastructure,” …

Iranwire – On Sunday night, a group of Lebanese Hezbollah supporters marched on a southern suburb of Beirut to show their rejection of a speech made by the Maronite Patriarch Bechara Al-Rahi, head of the Maronite Church in Lebanon. A video clip has been circulated on social media showing Hezbollah supporters raising Iranian and Hezbollah flags in the city, chanting slogans …

Iranwire – The Iranian Presidential Center for StrategicStudies, a thinktank attached to President Rouhani’s office, has published a detailed report stressing the necessity for the regime to use cryptocurrencies to generate extra income. Extracting cryptocurrencies, the report states, could provide economic benefits to several different sectors of the country’s economy. It claims that if the government intervenes seriously it could generate US$2 million a day and …

RFL/RE – Iran’s suspension from international judo tournaments for refusing to allow its athletes to compete against Israeli opponents was overturned by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) on March 1.The case was prompted by former world champion Saeid Mollaei leaving the Iranian team in August 2019.Mollaei walked off the Iranian team in Tokyo in protest, saying he was …

VOA – U.S. President Joe Biden’s quick January repeal of his predecessor’s travel ban on Iran has not yet revived Iranian arrivals to the United States, but it has reignited a debate about which Iranians the U.S. should allow to enter and whether existing methods for vetting them are effective.  Biden repealed former President Donald Trump’s travel ban on Iran and 12 …

Iran-HRM – Iranian authorities on Sunday executed four political prisoners from Iran’s Ahvazi Arab minority. The political prisoners, Naser Khafajian, Ali Khasraji, Hossein Silawi and Jasem Heidary were executed at Sepidar prison of Ahvaz, capital of Khuzestan Province. Ahvaz Intelligence Ministry agents contacted the families, instructing them to the Ahvaz’s Chaharshir Square. Intelligence agents blindfolded the families and transferred them …