RFL/RE – Iran has begun construction on a new nuclear power plant in the country’s southwest, Iranian state TV announced, amid tensions with the United States over sweeping sanctions imposed after Washington pulled out of the Islamic republic’s nuclear deal with world powers. The new 300-megawatt plant, known as Karoon, will take eight years to build and cost around $2 …

RFL/RE – Popular Iranian film and television actress Mitra Hajjar has been arrested, the IRNA news agency reported on December 3. Mehdi Kohian, a member of a group that monitors artists’ arrests, has confirmed Hajjar’s detention. The reason for the arrest of Hajjar, who is also an environmental activist, was not immediately clear. Last month, Hajjar was one of the …

Iranwire – The Office for Sunnis has published a statement announcing that it has identified the individuals who “infiltrated” Friday Prayers in Zahedan. The statement claims that during and following Friday Prayers on December 2, some infiltrators “resorted to destruction” in an attempt to interrupt the words of prominent Sunni clergyman Sheikh ol-Eslam Molavi Abdolhamid. The Maki Mosque’s security headquarters has since …

Iranwire – Mizan news agency reported on Sunday that four prisoners have been executed on the charge of “collaboration with Israel”. This comes amid reports of protesters facing heavy sentences as mass anti-government protests continue across Iran. Four citizens, named Hossein Ordukhanzadeh, Shahin Imani Mahmudabad, Milad Ashrafi Atbatan and Manochehr Shahbandi Bejondi, were arrested in June of this year, charged with “intelligence …

Iranwire – The heads of the Iranian legislative and executive branches of government have spoken against any change to the constitution, amid weeks of nationwide popular protests calling for more freedoms and women’s rights. Iran has been gripped by anti-government demonstrations since a 22-year-old woman died in custody on September 16 after her arrest by Tehran’s morality police for an …

Iranwire – A prominent Iranian human rights activist incarcerated in Tehran’s Evin Prison has published a letter urging the UN special rapporteur for human rights in Iran to investigate sexual assaults on women detainees. “Assaulting women during detention and in detention centers is part of the government’s suppression program against women protesters and fighters”, Narges Mohammadi wrote in the letter, …

Iranwire – Medical staff in the northern Iranian province of Alborz who refused flowers and sweets distributed by security forces last week are now under pressure from the authorities, IranWire has learnt. The incident occurred as Iran was marking Nurse’s Day on November 30 amid a wave of nationwide protests calling for more freedoms and women’s rights that has rocked …

gatestoneinstitute.org – A new book published in Tehran and praised by officials as a “major philosophical treatise” may suggest yes as an answer. The book by Islamic academic Jalal Sobhani, and titled From the Day Before Yesterday to the Day After Tomorrow, is marketed as “a journey in the political thoughts of Ahmad Fardid.” Fardid, who died in 1994, aged 85, …

Iran-HRM – Major violations of Human Rights in Iran included in this monthly are focused on continued protests that emerged throughout the country since September 16, 2022. The Iranian authorities are the least transparent regarding publication of statistics. They also operate in secrecy; therefore, it is very difficult to provide accurate figures on the violations of human rights. This report …

Al-Arabia – More than 200 people have been killed in Iran during anti-regime protests sparked by the death in police custody of Mahsa Amini in mid-September, authorities said on Saturday. The toll, provided by the interior ministry’s state security council, included security forces, ordinary citizens, “rioters” and armed anti-regime militants, according to a statement carried by state news agency IRNA. This is …