Iranwire – After the 1979 Islamic Revolution and the beginning of his rule, Ruhollah Khomeini, founder of the Islamic Republic, twice announced that he had written his last will and testament. The second time, in front of television cameras and in the presence of the heads of the three branches of government and the prime minister, he handed identical copies …

Iranwire – Branch 29 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court, presided over by Judge Seyyed Ali Mazloum, has sentenced six members of the Baha’i religious minority to a total of 32 years and 10 months in prison. The defendants, Arsalan Yazdani, Saeedaeh Khozouei, Iraj Shakur, Pedram Abhar, Samira Ebrahimi, and Saba Sefidi, were all charged with membership in groups antagonistic to …

Iranwire – The 37th branch of the Court of Appeal in Fars province has issued a verdict sentencing eight teachers’ union activists to a collective prison term of 37 years, accompanied by additional punitive measures. This ruling, disclosed to the board members of the Fars Teachers’ Association, not only encompasses prison sentences but also includes restrictions on their use of …

Iranwire – The home and school of Kokab Badaghi Pegah, a teacher and union activist in Izeh city, were simultaneously raided by plainclothes officers on an unusual inspection on October 25.  During the raid, some of her personal and electronic possessions were confiscated. The Coordinating Council of Iranian Educators reported the incident, stating that a group of plainclothes agents visited …

Iranwire – The Delpasand family in Türkiye is on a quest for an ordinary life – a fundamental human right unjustly denied to them in their homeland. The family’s odyssey began on a fateful night, November 15, 2022, when their car passed into the crosshairs of security forces on a Rasht city street. The streets of the central Golsar neighborhood …

Iranwire – In recent years, a rising trend has emerged in Iran’s healthcare landscape – a brain drain of nurses.  Reports from Iranian media paint a stark picture, revealing that approximately five to six nurses are leaving the country every day, amounting to around 150 nurses a month and a staggering 1,200 to 1,500 nurses each year. Mohammad Mirzabeigi, the …

Iranwire – Authorities in Iran’s notorious Evin Prison have transferred political prisoner Hossein Razzaq to the general ward, a day after violently beating him in Ward 209, used for political prisoners, and overseen by the Ministry of Intelligence.   Razzaq had suffered a severe beating at the hands of several intelligence agents, while his hands and feet were shackled behind …

RFL/RE – U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told the UN Security Council on October 24 that Washington does not seek conflict with Iran but warned that the United States would act swiftly and decisively if Iran or its proxies attack U.S. personnel anywhere. Blinken spoke to the council amid international fears the conflict between Israel and Iran-backed Hamas militants …

RFL/RE – Sources have told RFE/RL’s Radio Farda that Iran’s Intelligence Ministry in the central city of Isfahan has arrested 10 people who are adherents of the Baha’i faith, the country’s largest non-Muslim community. The sources, who spoke to Radio Farda on condition of anonymity, said that security agents armed with judicial orders detained Yeganeh Agahi, Negin Khademi, Arzoo Sabhanian, Yeganeh Rouhbakhsh, …

Iran-HRM – A 23-year-old Kurdish man named Vahed Ghaderi, a citizen of Saqqez, was killed as a result of a direct shooting by agents of the IRGC Intelligence in Saqqez-Marivan Road on Sunday, October 22, 2023. The IRGC intelligence agents chased the young man, who was a freelance merchant, at 3 a.m. on Sunday, October 22. Vahed Ghaderi was consequently …