Iranwire – The Raisi administration on Thursday announced price increases for four staple foodstuffs in Iran: chicken, eggs, cooking oil and dairy products. The news was met with near-instantaneous reports of shortages and people crowding into stores to stock up on the affected goods. The approved price for a kilogram of chicken has increased from 30,500 tomans (about a dollar: a significant …

Iran-HRM – Dozens of teachers were arrested during the nationwide gathering of teachers in Iran and there was a heavy presence of security forces in Tehran and several other cities. According to the Coordinating Council of the Iranian Cultural Teachers Associations, since the early hours of Thursday, May 12, security forces and plainclothes agents were stationed in Baharestan Street, near …

CHRI – Ongoing street protests in Iran could lead to more killings and arbitrary imprisonments by state security forces if the international community remains silent, the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) warned in a statement today. “The Iranian government has a documented pattern of using lethal force to crush protests while cutting off internet access to prevent the …

CHRI — A group of prominent civil rights activists in Iran has called on UN representative Alena Douhan, who will be visiting Iran shortly to assess the negative impact of sanctions on the country, to meet with them during her state-sanctioned trip this week. In the published open letter, the activists decried the refusal of the Islamic Republic to allow the special rapporteur on …

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO) – An unnamed man sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder, was executed in Sabzevar Prison. According to the local Asre Sabzevar website, a man was executed in Sabzevar Prison on May 10. The unnamed man was arrested for murder charges on 22 September 2018 and subsequently sentenced to qisas. Speaking about the details of the case, Sabzevar Prosecutor, Jafar …

Al-Monitor – Israel appeared to have been the main topic in a meeting between Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the visiting Qatari emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, in Tehran on May 12. “Wherever they set their feet on, the Zionists [Israel] cause corruption,” Khamenei declared, according to a report published by his official website. “The Arab world …

Al-Arabia – Qatar’s ruler, Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, has arrived in Iran, Iranian state media reported on Thursday, as the Gulf state tries to help end a row between Tehran and Washington over revival of the 2015 nuclear deal.While Iranian state media portrayed the visit as proof of Iran’s expansion of ties with regional countries, a source briefed …

RFL/RE – A group of Iranian archeologists have expressed concern over a bill in parliament that calls for measures to turn Iran into a regional hub for trading antiquities, fearing it will turn the country into a marketplace for illegal trade. In a letter addressed to parliament speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, 61 archeology professors called on parliament to scrap the …

Iranwire – According to reports in Iranian media this week, a number of female beauticians in Mashhad have received a notice forbidding them from providing core services such as tattooing, fake nails, Botox, silicone implants, or intimate hair removal. They have also been told not to wear “unconventional” outfits or play “prohibited music” at work. The notice came from Mashhad’s …

Iranwire – Iranian media outlets have reporrted the abrupt “disappearance” of 17-year-old athlete Yekta Jamali in Greece. Days after she won another silver medal at the Youth World Weightlifting Championships, Jamali apparently did not join her team returning home and her whereabouts remains unknown. Zahra Pouramin, acting vice president of the Iranian Women’s Weightlifting Federation, confirmed the situation to IRNA …