Environment

HRW – Activists Face Prolonged Detention, Threat of Torture

Al-Monitor – Iran’s Caspian Sea regions have always had abundant water resources, but they face a new threat as drought forces residents in the interior of the country to move north.

Radiofarda – Residents of the southern Iranian city of Borazjan have blocked the main road leading into the city as part of a protest over water shortages, state-run Iran Labor News Agency (ILNA) reports.

Radiofarda – The small group of Iranian farmers gathered around their tractors — long idle, parked at the town entrance next to a canal that once irrigated their fields but has been dry for years — and they protested, pleading for help from the government. “We are the people,” shouted Mostafa Benvidi. “Help the people. At night they go to …

Al-Monitor – Iran has been gripped with drought for over a decade, and the country’s precipitation has dropped to its lowest level in the past half-century. According to the latest recorded figures by Iran’s Ministry of Energy, there have been 166 millimeters (6.5 inches) of rainfall across Iran in the current water year (from the beginning of October 2017), which …

Iran-HRM – On Wednesday July 11, 2018, a crowd of angry people in Abadan gathered in protest to the lack of drinking water in front of the city’s water administration and the governor’s office. Environmental activists say that the IRGC has been exporting Karun’s water to Basra to consolidate Iran’s regional influence in the Middle Eastern countries.

CHRI – Police in the Iranian city of Kazeroon have admitted killing a farmer at a local protest against water resources in the region.

Radiofarda – July temperatures in Iran have reached a whopping 52-53 degrees Celsius (125-127 F) in some spots, as residents struggle with a lack of water and now a looming danger to the electricity network.

Iran-HRM -The drought in Sistan and Baluchistan has intensified, and the residents of this southeastern province of Iran are not just facing lack of water. They are also facing sand and dust storms, fire, hunger, and tuberculosis.

Amnesty – Iranian authorities must carry out an impartial and thorough investigation into reports that security forces used unnecessary and excessive force, possibly including firearms, against generally peaceful protesters during the recent protests in Khuzestan province where people have been demanding clean and safe drinking water. They must ensure that anyone detained solely for peacefully exercising their right to peaceful …