RFL/RE – A Canadian court has awarded $84 million to the families of six people who died when Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) downed a Ukraine International Airlines (UIA) plane two years ago.All 176 people onboard were killed when the IRGC shot down the airliner in January 2020 shortly after takeoff from Tehran’s airport. More than 130 of the …

Iranwire – In October 2020, a Tehran University archaeology graduate named Keyvan Emamverdi was arrested in the Iranian capital. According to the Tehran police chief, Emamverdi later confessed to raping “more than 300” women over 10 years. The arrest took place after some 30 alleged victims had made complaints against him. On November 14, 2021, Emamverdi’s trial opened at Branch 28 of …

Iran-HRM – Political prisoner Mehran Gharahbaghi has been charged in Iran with corruption on earth and national security crimes punishable by death. By the orders of the Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS), on Tuesday, December 21, 2021, the regime’s judiciary filed new charges against the political prisoner Mehran Gharahbaghi, including “corruption on earth,” “propaganda against the state,” and “membership …

CHRI – News of an imprisoned political prisoner dying after going on hunger strike in Iran, and a writer struggling to survive in a Tehran hospital after contracting COVID-19 in jail highlights the dire situation of all prisoners in the country, the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) said in a statement today. “Judiciary Chief Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Eje’i is responsible for the …

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO) – An unnamed man on death row for rape, was executed in Yasuj Central Prison just a year after his arrest. According to state-run ISNA, a man was executed in Yasuj Central Prison on the morning of 30 December 2021. The man who has not been named was sentenced to death for rape. Seyed Ali Malek-Hosseini, …

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO) – Moghaddam Alizadeh, Hamdollah Ghanbari, Feiz Allahmoradi and Hossein Abbaszadeh, who were all sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder, have been executed in Urmia Central Prison. According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, four men were executed in Urmia Central Prison on 31 December 2021. Sentenced to qisas for murder, their identities have been established as Moghaddam Alizadeh, Hamdollah …

Al-Monitor – Iranian officials and media outlets have been paying tribute to the former head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds Force, Qasem Soleimani, who was assassinated by a US drone strike two years ago. Speaking at an event in Tehran commemorating Soleimani’s death, President Ebrahim Raisi said that Soleimani was “not just an individual, but a doctrine, and that …

Al-Monitor – Iran is not ready to formally recognize the Taliban government in Afghanistan, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Monday, citing the importance of an inclusive Afghan government.  “Today, we are basically not at the point of recognizing,” Saeed Khatibzadeh said at a news conference. “We hope that the governing body of Afghanistan will move, through its actions, in a …

RFL/RE – Two armed drones were shot down as they approached a military facility hosting American forces at Baghdad’s international airport, security sources said on January 3, amid heightened regional tensions on the second anniversary of the killing of a top Iranian general in a U.S. drone strike. A counterrocket system at a compound used by the U.S.-led coalition fighting …

VOA – Negotiations resume Monday in Vienna about restoring the 2015 international agreement that limited Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief, after the parties took a break for the new year. A spokesperson for Iran’s Foreign Ministry said Monday the talks are “entering an in-depth phase.” Though Iran and the United States have cited some progress, Iran has …