FFL/RE – Human Rights Watch (HRW) has condemned a new prison sentence handed to prominent Iranian human rights defender Narges Mohammadi and called on Tehran to “immediately and unconditionally” release her. “Iranian authorities’ cruel detention and prosecution of Narges Mohmmadi only one year after she was released from an earlier prison term and then piling on more unfair prison sentences …

Iranwire – Iran has qualified for the FIFA World Cup competitions in Qatar with a 1-0 victory over Iraq at home on Thursday, January 27. With the requisite number points secured, Team Melli’s upcoming games against the UAE, South Korea and Lebanon will now be mere formalities and the team is bound for Qatar. Even after a fantastic season for Iran, …

Iranwire – Iranian state TV was subjected to a rare disruption by hackers on Thursday in a strike attributed to opposition group the People’s Mojahedin Organization [MEK]. For about 10 seconds, broadcasts on the IRIB’s Channel 1 and Quran Channel were interrupted and replaced with pictures of the MEK’s co-leaders Massoud and Maryam Rajavi. A crossed-out image of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei …

Iranwire — Sociology professor Mohammad Fazeli was widely reported in Iranian media this week to have been dismissed from his post at Shahid Beheshti University. Fazeli himself has since clarified that he lost his job in September 2021: the same month that Azad University philosopher Bijan Abdolkarimi was also fired for alleged pro-monarchy sentiments. Then this week, Arash Abazari, a professor of …

Iranwire – The verdict in a massive corruption case involving the Iran Petrochemical Commercial Company (PCC) was announced on September 5, 2021. But nearly three years after proceedings first got under way, the details remained shrouded in mystery. We were told at the time that 15 named defendants had been sentenced to a total of 180 years in prison, linked to the …

fdd.org – The Treasury Department on January 6 issued a special license to authorize the South Korean government to pay $63 million that it owed to the Entekhab Group, an Iranian consumer electronics company. However, a closer look at the Iranian counterparty shows potential connections to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), a military force that Washington has sanctioned due to its …

Al-Monitor – A group of former United Nations officials and experts have penned an open letter urging the United Nations human rights office to investigate Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi‘s involvement in the mass killing of political prisoners. “We believe it’s long overdue for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet to investigate the 1988 massacre,” read the …

AL-Monitor – Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Ali Shamkhani has said he will “never endorse direct negotiations with the United States,” according to the hard-line daily Kayhan. The paper reported Jan. 27 that the official had contacted its office to “explain” a controversial tweet he had posted on Tuesday. “Any exchange with the Americans, if needed, will be done through …

treasury.gov— Today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is designating 15 actors across three countries in connection with serious human rights abuse and repressive acts targeting innocent civilians, political opponents, and peaceful protestors. As part of a whole-of-government commitment to democracy, Treasury is taking a number of actions aimed at promoting accountability for those …

RFL/RE – Mohammad Fazeli, a prominent Iranian sociologist, had taught at Tehran’s Shahid Beheshti university for seven years before he was dismissed in September. Fazeli’s dismissal only became public in recent days when reports emerged of two other academics being fired.The firings have raised fears of a new purge of dissenting academics in Iran, where the clerical establishment has dismissed …