RFL/RE – Polls have opened across Iran on July 5 in a runoff presidential election after no candidate secured enough votes to be declared the outright winner of the June 28 vote, which saw a record-low turnout. The election, which was triggered by the death of Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash in May, has come down to a choice …

RFL/RE = Labor activist Sharifeh Mohammadi has been sentenced to death by the Revolutionary Court in the northern city of Rasht, rights groups told RFE/RL’s Radio Farda on July 4, a move her supporters have labeled “medieval and criminal.” The court said the woman been convicted on charges of “armed rebellion against the state” and included as evidence her membership in an …

RFL/RE – An Iranian-born Norwegian man was found guilty of terrorism on July 4 in a 2022 attack on an LGBT festival in Oslo and sentenced to 30 years in prison. Two people were killed and nine were seriously wounded in the shooting at three locations, chiefly outside the London Pub, a popular gay bar, on June 25, 2022. The …

RFL/RE – The wife of an Iranian-Swedish academic condemned to death in Iran says he has ended a hunger strike eight days after launching the protest at his being left out of a prisoner swap between Tehran and Stockholm. Vida Mehrannia told RFE/RL’s Radio Farda on July 5 that her husband, Ahmadreza Djalali, accepted calls to end his hunger strike as he …

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO) – At least 249 people, including ten women, were executed in the first six months of 2024. Amongst the executed are 35 Baluch minorities and 15 Afghan nationals. 147 of the recorded executions were for drug-related charges, a 30% decrease compared to the same period last year. While the number of executions has decreased in the …

iranintl – Iran has found itself importing gasoline since last year due to the government’s inability to expand oil refineries and exacerbated by the delivering of approximately one million new, low-efficiency domestic cars into the market. Gholamreza Dehghan Naserabadi, a member of parliament, in a statement made in June, highlighted Iran’s deepening energy imbalance and projected a $2 billion gasoline …

iranintl – As Iran’s presidential election runoffs approached this week, the government intensified its media crackdown to control the narrative amid historically low voter turnout in the first round on June 28. Tehran Prosecutor’s Office issued a “warning” to the management of the Tehran-based economic newspaper Jahane Sanat over “publishing an article about the election results,” according to a report …

iranintl – Iran’s exiled prince, Reza Pahlavi, has called on Iranians to stay away from ballot boxes Friday, when Iran’s next president will be determined in the runoff between Saeed Jalili and Masoud Pezeshkian. “Put aside the false hopes and fears and join the decisive majority who consciously and courageously said no to the Islamic Republic,” Pahlavi said in a …

iranintl – Canadian immigration authorities have initiated deportation proceedings against five suspected senior Iranian government officials residing in Canada. The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) has alleged that these individuals held senior positions in Iran’s government and has requested the Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB) to conduct hearings on these cases, as reported by Global News. This move is seen as …

Iranwire – The discussion was intense. Neda and her two friends were in the metro, trying to persuade each other to vote in the upcoming election on Friday. “The choice is between bad and worse,” Neda argued. “If we don’t vote, we’ll be stuck with Saeed Jalili, a president with Taliban-like ideas, for at least four years.” The presidential election …