Iranwire – In our “Did You Know?” series of articles, IranWire collects, analyses and compares reliable data to produce illuminating infographics on current events in Iran. *** Did you know that the government’s draft budget plan for the next Persian year starting in March allocates 1 1/2 time more resources to religious seminaries than to the Iranian Red Crescent Society? …

Iranwire – Imprisoned Iranian civil rights activist Farhad Meysami vowed to continue his hunger strike, a fellow activist says, days after pictures emerged on social media showing him emaciated, with his ribs protruding. The shocking photos triggered outrage and warnings that Meysami risks death. “In a phone call, he thanked those expressing concerns and urging him to end his strike …

VOA —Iran-based singer Shervin Hajipour’s Grammy Award for a song he produced last year in honor of Iran’s peaceful protest movement against Islamist rule has prompted an outpouring of positive reactions from Iranian social media users. U.S. first lady Jill Biden announced Hajipour’s win of the U.S. Recording Academy’s first-ever Song for Social Change Special Merit Award at Sunday’s annual …

RFL/RE – Russia and Iran are moving forward on plans to establish a factory in Russia aimed at producing some 6,000 Iran-designed drones of the type Moscow has used in the Ukraine war, according to The Wall Street Journal, which cited officials in a U.S.-aligned country. Moscow and Tehran seek to produce a faster drone to better challenge Ukrainian air defenses, …

RFL/RE – Iranian authorities have detained a journalist at a reformist publication, local media reported on February 5, as her sister, also a journalist, remains in custody after reporting on Mahsa Amini’s death. Elnaz Mohammadi, a reporter for reformist newspaper Hammihan, was detained at the Evin prosecutor’s office in Tehran after she had gone there “for an explanation,” reported Shargh, …

Iranwire – Iranian authorities are accusing four jailed members of the country’s Teachers Union of “acting against internal security,” “disturbing public order and peace” and “disobeying an officer while on duty,” as the Islamic Republic continues to clamp down on protests that have rocked the country for more than four months. The Revolutionary Court in the southern city of Bushehr …

Iranwire – Iranian singer Shervin Hajipour, who faces possible prison time for a song that has become an anthem to the protest movement that has swept his country for more than four months, has won a Grammy award. Addressing the Grammy ceremony in Los Angeles, Jill Biden, the wife of US President Joe Biden, announced that Hajipour won the Grammy’s …

Iranwire – Iranian authorities have sentenced journalist Masoud Kurdpour to 17 months in prison in an online court hearing, and detained another reporter, Elnaz Mohammadi, for unknown reasons. Dozens of journalists have been detained since nationwide protests against Iran’s clerical establishment erupted across the country in the middle of September 2022. Some of them have been released. Others have been summoned, …

Iranwire – As IranWire has reported, 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 mainly peaceful demonstrations. The report concluded that such actions by the security forces could constitute a “crime against humanity,” as defined by Article 7 of the …

VOA – Iran’s former President Mohammad Khatami and former Prime Minister Mir Hossein Mousavi have both called for political changes amid the protests triggered by the death in police custody of Mahsa Amini. As the 44th anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution approaches, one of the country’s main opposition figures, Mousavi, called Saturday for the “fundamental transformation” of a political …