Iranwire – A security guard at Allameh Tabatabai University’s Faculty of Management and Accounting in Tehran was caught on video violently assaulting a student, sparking a wave of public outcry. The footage, which went viral on social media platforms, shows the guard pushing the student while on the stairs, causing his head to hit the handrail. Iran’s Student Union Council …

Iranwire – On February 4, the Islamic Republic’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei issued a “great amnesty” and agreed with a request by the head of the judiciary to pardon “tens of thousands” of prisoners, including some arrested in nationwide protests sparked by the September 2022 death of Mahsa Amini in the custody of morality police. At the time, this amnesty …

Iranwire – One out of every 52 Iranians sought treatment – voluntarily or involuntarily – at an addiction rehabilitation center during the Persian year that ended in March 2022, according to Iran Open Data. According to data from the Anti-Narcotics Headquarters, more than 1.6 million people in Iran sought treatment for their addiction, the collaborative initiative said in a recent …

Iranwire – Security forces of the Islamic Republic have arrested the grandson of Molavi Abdolhamid amid mounting pressure on the outspoken Sunni cleric. Haalvsh, which covers developments in the south-eastern province of Sistan and Baluchistan, said on June 27 that Abdolnasir Shahbakhsh was “violently” arrested on the street Zahedan, the provincial capital, and taken to an unknown location. Previously, Shahbaksh …

Iranwire – Mahvash Seidali, an activist who was arrested a week ago for her activities on the social networking platform Clubhouse, has launched a hunger strike, her sister says. During a phone call, the 45-year-old activist told her family that she initiated a hunger strike while in solitary confinement to protest her “illegal” detention, her sister Narges Seidali said. “If …

Al-Monitor — Iranian officials have in the past week have cheered an Albanian police raid on the dissident Iranian group Mojahedin-e Khalq (MEK).   In the chaotic raid in a Tirana suburb last Tuesday, the MEK said that at least one of its members had died while scores more were injured after inhaling pepper spray. It slammed the police raid as a “criminal onslaught.”  …

Al-Monitor – Israel announced a major cryptocurrency seizure from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and Hezbollah on Tuesday, a potentially significant development in how states and armed groups use virtual assets. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said on Tuesday that Israel seized a few days ago millions of dollars in cryptocurrency from digital wallets used by the IRGC’s Quds Force and …

Iranwire – The Teachers’ Union of Iran urged the Iranian authorities to immediately stop summoning and imposing heavy sentences on its members, after eight protesting teachers were sentenced to a total of 34 years behind bars amid a government crackdown on dissent. The Shiraz Revolutionary Court sentenced Abdolrazaq Amiri and Zahra Esfandiari to two years in prison each. Iraj Rahnama, …

Iranwire – Fatemeh Sepehri, a prominent political activist imprisoned in Iran, accused the Islamic Republic of “capitalizing on the blood” of the victims of the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s. Sepehri, who lost her husband during the conflict, made the comments in a message posted on her brother’s Twitter account on June 26 after Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei met with …

Iranwire – More than half of the US House of Representatives urged President Joe Biden to take a more aggressive approach to the nuclear program pursued by the Islamic Republic of Iran. “The United States must increase its efforts to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons capability and to communicate to Iran, without any ambiguity, that any further progress in …