RFL/RE- The teachers’ union in Iran’s Fars Province has warned that the health of jailed teacher activist Mohammad Ali Zahmatkesh is deteriorating due to a hunger strike. Referring to significant weight loss and a severe drop in blood pressure after 12 days on hunger strike, the union warned that the life of the retired teacher, who has been under arrest since May …

gatestoneinstitute.org – The Arabs are also saying that they want Biden to understand that, over the years, the Gulf states have changed for the better, and that if he wants to maintain America’s strategic partnership with its Arab allies and friends, it is important in this culture that he show respect. The Arabs are telling Biden: Stay away from the …

Iranwire – As is often the case in Iran, the country is in the grip of a series of events that are both shocking, and somehow not entirely surprising. Since Friday, July 8, at least 11 well-known public figures have been arrested. They include Mostafa Tajzadeh, a former deputy interior minister and trenchant critic of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei; six of …

Iranwire – In recent days, internet security experts, who are also members of the Baha’i community, have warned that hackers affiliated with the Islamic Republic have been using an app called Ahl-e Baha (“People of Baha”) to spy on Baha’is and to steal their personal information. The Islamic Republic’s policy towards Iranian Baha’is has, since 1979, been to silence them …

Iranwire – On Saturday a judge in Tehran convicted and handed the death sentence to Keyvan Emamverdi, a literature student accused of drug-raping dozens of women. The sex attacker was not, however, convicted of rape or “violent adultery” – the term used in the Islamic Penal Code – but of corruption, which in Iranian law is punishable by death. In …

Iranwire – Mehdi Taj has caused a sensation by registering in the Iranian Football Federation’s presidential election – for a second time. Formerly president of the Federation from 2016 to 2019, Tahj is one of the most divisive figures in the history of Iranian sports. His would-be vice presidents were named as Mehdi Mohammadnabi and Mansour Ghanbarzadeh. In a past …

Iranwire – More than 120 women’s and LGBT+ rights activists have signed a damning statement ahead of the new “Hijab and Chastity Day” being imposed on Iranians by the government tomorrow. Entitled “No Means No“, it laid out the damage done to society by 43 years of enforced veiling in Iran. Among the signatories are prominent figures including the journalist Asieh …

CHRI – Less than a month after the intelligence chief of the Iranian military’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) was replaced, a crackdown on dissent is being ramped up in the country. “The new intelligence chief is clenching the state’s iron fist to crush the increasing attempts we’ve been observing at opposing repressive state policies and holding Iranian officials accountable,” said Hadi Ghaemi, …

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO)- Official sources have reported the confirmation of Iman Sabzikar’s public execution for the murder of Ali Akbar Ranjbar, a police officer, by the Supreme Court. According to Rokna quoting the Supreme Court’s public relations, Branch 9 of the Supreme Court has upheld the death sentence of Iman Sabzikar who was sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) on 2 February 2022 …

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO) – State media have reported the execution of an unnamed man for murder in Jolfa Prison, East Azerbaijan Prison. According to Rokna, a man was executed at an unspecified date in Jolfa Prison. The unnamed man sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder. The report states that the executed man had set fire to a house with two other …