VOA – Shima Shahrabi, a journalist for the website IranWire, said Wednesday she was concerned about the physical condition of her brother after Iranian authorities arrested him more than three weeks ago. Shahrabi tweeted that her brother, Sajjad Shahrabi, was arrested because of her own media activities and that phone contact with her brother has been cut off for a …

Al-Monitor – Iran announced on Tuesday the appointment of seasoned diplomat Alireza Enayati as the country’s new ambassador to Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, making him the country’s first ambassador to the kingdom in seven years.   The announcement is in line with the China-brokered Iran and Saudi Arabia’s agreement last March to resume diplomatic relations between the archrivals. Enayati is someone familiar …

Al-Monitor – Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi said Tehran and Jakarta have decided to stop using the dollar in their bilateral trade as he visited the southeast Asian Muslim nation on Tuesday, his website reported.  Standing next to his Indonesian counterpart Joko Widodo at a televised presser in Jakarta, Raisi declared that the two sides were now set to use the Iranian national …

Iranwire – The family of Mahsa Amini have blamed Iran’s security forces for vandalizing the grave of the young woman whose death while in police custody in September 2022 ignited nationwide protests that have turned into one of the biggest threats to the Islamic republic’s leadership since it took power in 1979. The Amini family’s attorney, Saleh Nikbakht, told journalists that early …

Iranwire – Iranian students held rallies in several universities across Iran on May 22 to demand the cancellation of rulings issued by disciplinary committees in connection with recent protests. Students from the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences at Tehran University staged a sit-in on the university campus amid heavy presence of security forces, after a student, Ali Hajian, was …

Iranwire – As IranWire has reported, hundreds of Iranians have sustained severe eye injuries after being hit by pellets, tear gas canisters, paintball bullets or other projectiles used by security forces amid a bloody crackdown on mainly peaceful demonstrations. Doctors say that, as of now, at least 580 protesters have lost one or both eyes in Tehran and in Kurdistan alone. …

Iranwire – Every year since 1979, the Islamic Republic marks on 22 Bahman, the 11th month in the Persian calendar, the anniversary of the revolution that overthrew the monarchy. Marches are held through major streets and squares are decorated with flags, balloons and placards with revolutionary and religious slogans. Government media outlets claimed that as many as 21 million Iranians …

Iranwire – A group of women political prisoners staged a protest in the courtyard of Tehran’s Evin prison following the execution of three protesters last week.  The gathering, which took place on the evening of May 20, brought together prominent activists such as Narges Mohammadi, Faezeh Hashemi, Bahareh Hedayat, Golrokh Iraei, Vida Rabbani and Sepideh Qolian. In her speech, Mohammadi …

VOA – Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi will meet his Indonesian counterpart, Joko Widodo, on Tuesday during a two-day trip aiming to strengthen economic ties between the Muslim-majority nations amid heightened global geopolitical tensions. Indonesia’s Foreign Affairs Ministry said Raisi is visiting at Widodo’s invitation as Indonesia aims to speed up its post-pandemic recovery by increasing its exports. The visit is …

Amnesty – At least eight individuals in Iran are under sentence of death in connection with nationwide protests, while dozens of others are at risk of being sentenced to death. The authorities have violated their fair trial rights and subjected many to torture and other ill-treatment, including floggings, electric shocks, death threats and sexual violence. Amid a spike in executions …