RFL/RE – Three Iranian women have been arrested after arguing with another woman who was attempting to enforce rules on wearing a head scarf in the central city of Yazd. According to a report published by the Asr Iran news website, the three women were visiting a tourist site in the city of Yazd on March 21, the first day of the …

Iranwire – Thousands of Iranian protesters returned to the streets of Zahedan on March 24, as the southeastern city’s Sunni Friday prayer leader reiterated his call on the country’s Shia establishment to heed the “legitimate demands of the majority of the people.” Each week, Zahedan residents have been holding protest rallies after Friday prayers led by Molavi Abdolhamid, Iran’s most …

Iranwire – The Iranian judiciary has confirmed the 18-year prison sentence handed down to a political activist who had signed a letter in 2019 calling for the resignation of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Fatemeh Sepehri’s lawyer made the announcement on March 23 in a statement published on her brother’s (Asghar Sepehri) Twitter account. The lawyer, Gholamhossein Dostali, said the first …

VOA – A war monitor says the death toll has risen from the retaliatory strikes the U.S. launched after a suspected Iranian-backed attack in Syria. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Saturday the U.S. attack left 19 people dead, up from the 14 the Observatory initially reported had died. U.S. President Joe Biden said the United States would …

gatestoneinstitute.org – The deal grants China significant rights over the Iran’s resources and help to Iran in increasing its oil and gas production. Leaked information revealed that one of the terms is that China will be investing nearly $400 billion in Iran’s oil, gas and petrochemicals industries. In return, China will get priority to bid on any new project in …

Iranwire – Five Iranians — four men and one woman — in the northwestern Iranian city of Urmia have been sentenced by a court to death for allegedly engaging in intelligence cooperation and espionage activities that benefited Israel. Hengaw, a Norway-based group that monitors rights violations in Iran’s Kurdish regions, said one of those sentenced to death is Mansur Rasuli, whose interrogation by Mossad …

Iranwire – After the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague issued an arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei declared that the Islamic Republic has had no participation in the war in Ukraine. Khamenei’s remarks during his March 21 address marking Nowruz, the Persian New Year, suggest he fears of the consequences of Tehran’s involvement in …

Iranwire – The activist HRANA news agency says around 500 people arrested during nationwide protests are facing poor living conditions in an overcrowded ward of Great Tehran Penitentiary. Inmates in the prison’s Ward 3 suffer from “unhealthy drinking water, inadequate sanitation, and insufficient food portions,” it said on March 23. “This ward has about 250 beds, and more than half …

Iranwire – The Sunni Friday prayer leader of Zahedan, Molavi Abdolhamid, has been a key dissenting voice inside Iran since the eruption of months-long nationwide protests against the Islamic Republic. Iran’s top Sunni cleric routinely uses his Friday sermons to denounce the deadly government crackdown on the protest movement and to criticize the policies of the country’s Shia clerical rulers, …

Iranwire – An Iranian protester who fell into a coma after being thrown from a window by security forces has died in hospital, activists say. The opposition activist collective 1500tasvir said that Hossein Al-Ali remained in a coma for a week before passing away on March 21. Al-Ali was rushed to hospital a week ago after security forces stormed the …