RFL/RE – Iran’s government is threatening to shut down several university student associations as part of a sweeping crackdown on dissent within academic circles less than a week ahead of the anniversary of the protests sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini in police custody in September 2022. The latest incident involves the Allameh University in Tehran, where authorities not only revoked …

Iran Human Rights – September 8, 2023: State media have reported the execution of a man only named as Saeed for murder charges in Tabriz Central Prison. According to Rokna, a man was executed in Tabriz Central Prison. The exact date of the execution has not been specified and his identity has only been reported as 34-year-old Saeed who was …

Iranwire – Her name has been a symbol of resistance for women and all Iranians in their fight against government oppression and violence under a religious dictatorship that has claimed many lives over the past four decades.  By Diako Alavi, a journalist from Saqqez and family friend of Mahsa Amini When they took the life of Mahsa Amini, a sudden …

Iranwire – A widely respected woman activist in Saqqez has been arrested amid an alarming surge in arrests targeting civil society in Mahsa Amini’s hometown ahead of the first anniversary of her death. Security agents violently apprehended Heroo Ghadimi on September 12 without presenting any arrest warrant.  The reason for her arrest is unclear. The activist has been active in …

Iranwire – On July 31, two young job seekers were holding a sit-in protest near the Aqdara gold mine in Iran’s West Azerbaijan province when the police arrived and asked for reinforcement.  The protest, which originally aimed to address unemployment in the area, escalated into violence in which three residents of the village of Aqdara-e-Vasati were injured.  During the night, …

Iranwire – A prominent activist in the western Kurdish city of Saqqez has been detained amid an alarming surge in arrests targeting civil society in Mahsa Amini’s hometown ahead of the first anniversary of her death. Security forces took Omid Moghadas into custody as he is still recovering from a recent heart surgery. Moghadas previously worked at a computer service …

Iranwire — Videos shared on social media suggest that troops are being deployed to Saqqez and other cities in Kurdistan province, four days ahead of the anniversary of Mahsa Amini’s death. One of the clips shows trucks carrying special forces on the road between Bijar and Diwandareh cities.  Their potential destination could be Diwandareh or Saqqez, where Amini is buried.  …

Iranwire – – The Islamic Republic’s security forces have violently arrested another athlete in the hometown of Mahsa Amini amid an intensifying crackdown ahead of the anniversary of her death later this week.  The kickboxer Taher Sultani was apprehended in the western Kurdish city of Saqqez in the early hours of September 12. The previous day, the head of the …

Iranwire – The United States has issued a sanctions waiver to allow some $6 billion in frozen Iranian assets to be transferred from South Korea to Qatar as part of a US-Iran prisoner swap, multiple news agencies reported. AP reported that Secretary of State Antony Blinken signed the blanket waiver for international banks to unfreeze the Iranian assets in South …

Iranwire – Atefeh Rangriz, a well-known writer and women’s rights activist in Iran, has been arrested amid an intensifying clampdown on civil society. Rangriz conveyed the news to her family on September 10 during a brief phone call from Semnan prison, some 200 kilometers from Tehran.  She did not provide any information about the charges against her or the circumstances …