Al-Monitor – Iran was ousted on Wednesday from a women’s rights agency at the United Nations following a successful US push to reprimand Tehran over its brutal treatment of women.  The Islamic Republic’s four-year term on the 45-member Commission on the Status of Women came to an end following a vote on a resolution introduced by the United States. The UN body is …

Al-Arabia – UN nuclear watchdog officials will visit Iran in the coming days, Tehran’s nuclear chief Mohammad Eslami said on Wednesday, to try to end an impasse over traces of uranium found at Iranian undeclared sites. “We hope the visit of the International Atomic Energy officials to Tehran in the coming days can help resolving issues with the agency,” Eslami …

Al-Arabia – Iranian authorities have imposed a 28-year sentence on jailed Belgian aid worker Olivier Vandecasteele, a spokesman for his family said Wednesday. The 41-year-old was arrested in Iran at the end of February and was at one point being held in Tehran’s notorious Evin prison, reportedly suspected of spying. Belgium and Vandecasteele’s family insist he is innocent, effectively held …

RFL/RE – The father of Mohammad Mehdi Karami, an imprisoned Iranian protester, says his son has informed him by phone that he has been handed a death sentence by Iranian judicial authorities. “He said, ‘Dad, my sentence is death.’ He was crying and asking me not to tell his mother,” Mashallah Karami told the Tehran-based Etemad newspaper in an interview as he …

RFL/RE – Iran appears set to be ousted from a UN women’s commission on December 14 for policies contrary to the rights of women and girls, but several countries are expected to abstain from the vote requested by the United States, diplomats said. The 54-member UN Economic and Social Council will vote on a U.S.-drafted resolution to “remove with immediate …

RFL/RE – Female political prisoners incarcerated in Iran’s notorious Evin prison have published a letter expressing concern about the issuance and execution of death sentences for those arrested during the recent anti-government protests. Signed by Narges Mohammadi, Bahareh Hedayat, Saba Kordafshari, Sepideh Gholian, Fariba Asadi, Gelareh Abbasi, and other prisoners, the letter, published on December 12, emphasizes concerns over a sharp rise …

Iranwire – An Iranian sentenced to death for allegedly damaging public property during protests in Tehran has gone on hunger strike. Sahand Noor Mohammadzadeh was arrested on October 4 and sentenced to death two months later on the charge of “waging war against God” for allegedly attempting to break the guardrail of a highway and setting fire to a rubbish …

Iranwire – Human rights activists in Iran are raising concern over the imminent execution of two brothers, days after the clerical regime hanged two young men involved in the ongoing wave of nationwide protests. The Islamic Republic planned to execute the two Kurds, Farhad and Farzad Tahazadeh, on December 14, according to human rights defender Atena Daemi. The family was …

Iranwire – The Iranian authorities’ ruthless crackdown on nationwide protests has left at least 62 journalists behind bars as of December 1, making the Islamic Republic the world’s worst jailer of journalists, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). The New York-based media freedom watchdog said on December 14 that the figure would have been even higher had another …

Iranwire – More than 18,000 Iranians have been detained in the state crackdown on nationwide protests that erupted nearly three months ago, according to the Committee for Follow-Up on the Status of Detainees. Only 3,500 of those detained have been identified. Some of them were handed long prison sentences and others were released on bail, but thousands continue to languish …