Iranwire – Twenty-one individuals have been sentenced to three years in prison – one of them posthumously – in connection with the collapse of the Metropol building in Abadan. The announcement was made by Masoud Satayshi, a spokesman for the judiciary, at a press conference on Tuesday. Among those convicted, he said, were the city’s current mayor and two former …

Iranwire – The highest level of study at Shia seminaries is known as Kharij-e Fiqh, “Beyond Fiqh”. If successfully understood, it qualifies a person in the eyes of his religious peers to formulate his own independent opinion on Islamic matters. To become a marja, or “source of emulation”, one has to have taught Kharij-e Fiqh for a considerable amount of time, published a collection …

Iranwire – The secretary of Iran’s Headquarters for Promoting Virtue and Preventing Vice has confirmed that proposals are on the table to use subway cameras to track and identify women wearing “bad hijab”. Mohammad Saleh Golpaygani said in an interview released on Tuesday that as part of the regime’s so-called “Hijab and Chastity Project”, CCTV cameras on the Tehran Metro and subway systems …

gatestoneinstitute.org – In the ankang—”peace and health”—system, detainees are strapped onto beds, pumped full of drugs, receive electric-shock therapy, and left to lie in their own excrement. Researchers Chi Yin and Jerome Cohen, writing on the Diplomat site, report that some Chinese are confined for their lifetimes. The system also appears to be grounded in the Chinese Communist Party’s optimistic totalitarian …

VOA — Negotiators from Iran and six world powers reportedly are close to agreeing on a revival of the 2015 nuclear deal, known as the JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action), which saw the U.S. and Europe roll back sanctions on Iran in return for limits on Tehran’s nuclear program. Then-President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from the deal in …

Amnesty – This report reveals how Turkish and Iranian security forces have unlawfully returned Afghan men, women and children to their country, despite the general situation in Afghanistan and the real risk of serious human rights violations there. Iranian and Turkish authorities have also denied Afghans the opportunity to lodge claims for international protection and have unlawfully used firearms as …

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO) – Rahim Ghanbarzehi, a Baluch man and Mojtaba Khademinejad, an Afghan national, both sentenced to death for drug-related offences, were executed in Shiraz Central Prison. According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, a Baluch man was executed in Shiraz Central Prison on August 28. His identity has been established as 40-year-old Rahim Ghanbarzehi (pictured), who was better …

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO) – Saeed Sabaki, a Baluch man sentenced to death for drug-related offences, was executed in Bandar Abbas Prison on August 28 along with Esmail Golrizan. According to the Hal Vash, a Baluch man was executed in Bandar Abbas Prison on August 28. His identity has been reported as Saeed Sabaki, a 27-year-old father of three. Saeed Sabaki …

Al-Monitor – The crew of a ship affiliated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) attached a cable to a US Navy unmanned maritime drone in the Persian Gulf on Monday night and attempted to tow it away, the US military said. The IRGC Navy support ship Shahid Baziar later released the Saildrone after the US Navy coastal patrol ship …

Al-Monitor – Iran’s trade with Turkmenistan during the first half of the year has already surpassed the entirety of bilateral trade last year.  Iranian Ambassador to Turkmenistan Gholam Abbas Arbab Khales told the official Islamic Republic News Agency yesterday that trade between the two countries during the first six months of 2022 amounted to $233 million. By comparison, trade during all of …