Al-Arabia – European Union foreign ministers are expected to agree further sanctions targeting members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) at their meeting in Brussels on Monday, a spokesperson for the German Foreign Office said on Friday. Asked at a regular government news conference in Berlin whether sanctions could hamper diplomatic efforts to prevent Tehran from developing nuclear weapons, …
Read More »Monthly Archives: January 2023
Rights Group Says Iranian Security Forces Closing Roads Around Zahedan To Preempt Protests
RFL/RE – A rights group says security forces have closed the roads leading to the southeastern Iranian city of Zahedan in an attempt to ward off demonstrations after Friday Prayers in the city on January 20. People in Sistan and Baluchistan province have been holding protest rallies every Friday since September 30, when a demonstration turned deadly as security forces of the …
Read More »Iranian Lawyers Warn Judiciary Over Defendant’s Rights Abuses
RFL/RE – A group of 45 Iranian lawyers and law professors has published an open letter objecting to the deprivation of fundamental rights for defendants amid a deadly government crackdown following months of unrest over the death of a young woman while in police custody for how she was wearing a head scarf. Signed by Mohsen Borhani, Houshang Pourbabaei, Soheila Rajabpour, Farideh …
Read More »Iranians Rally Behind Executed Poultry Worker, Kids’ Coach
RFL/RE – While Mohammad Hosseini’s execution was intended as a message from Tehran that involvement in ongoing antiestablishment protests will not be tolerated, his memory lives on as a victim of state repression. The 39-year-old poultry worker and community-minded coach had no support from those closest to him as he faced charges of killing a member of Iran’s paramilitary forces …
Read More »Fact Check: The Islamic Republic Really Empowered Iranian Women?
Iranwire – In a January 10 interview on Iranian state TV, Kazem Gharibabadi, deputy head of the judiciary for international affairs and secretary of the judiciary’s High Council for Human Rights, claimed, “The policy of the Islamic Republic is to enable women’s social and political participation.” To back his claim, he cited the following statistics: The literacy rate among Iranian women stands …
Read More »Dr. Jamaloddin Mostaghimi: A Baha’i Doctor and Educator and Iran’s “Father of Anatomy”
Iranwire – Health workers play a critical role in society, for example by serving at the frontlines in protecting people from the covid pandemic, and this has included hundreds of Iranian Baha’i doctors and nurses. But these Iranian healthcare workers are not in Iran; instead, they live in countries around the world, treating their patients, where they are admired and …
Read More »German Lawmakers Call For Release Of Baha’i Jailed In Iran
Iranwire – Two German lawmakers have joined together to politically sponsor a member of Iran’s persecuted Baha’i religious minority who has been imprisoned for nearly four months. “We have accepted political sponsorship for Arash Zamani, and call on the Iranian government to release him immediately and without any pre-condition,” said Hamburg parliament members Ali Simsek and Ekkehard Wysocki. Zamani is …
Read More »Blinding As A Weapon Of War
Iranwire – Hundreds of Iranians have sustained severe eye injuries after being hit by pellets, tear gas cannisters, paintball bullets or other projectiles used by security forces amid a bloody crackdown on four months of mainly peaceful anti-government demonstrations. The exact number of traumatic injuries to protesters’ eyes is unknow, but Iranian doctors are reportedly overwhelmed by the number of …
Read More »Tehran University Tries New Measure To Enforce Hijab Law
Iranwire – Tehran University vows to enforce new regulation that punishes women students who do not abide to the Islamic Republic’s strict dress code, amid four months of nationwide protests demanding more freedoms and women’s rights. All women in Iran must conceal their hair with a headscarf while in public and wear loose fitting trousers under their coats. But a …
Read More »Dublin Doing ‘Everything’ to Free French-Irish Citizen Held in Iran
VOA – Ireland’s foreign minister said Thursday the government was doing all it could to secure the release of a French-Irish citizen held in Iran after his family urged Dublin to intensify talks because of concerns for his health following a hunger strike. Micheal Martin told a news conference in Dublin that “we’re going to do everything we possibly can” …
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