Social and Political

RFL/RE – Israel’s defense chief has warned that his country will seek to “destroy any Iranian military presence” in Syria, where Tehran has intervened to prop up its ally President Bashar al-Assad in a war that has lasted more than seven-years.

HRW – This time of year in Iran, graduate school applicants learn if they’ve been accepted into the programs they’ve strived for based on their national exam rank. But over the past decade, authorities have been quietly barring student activists from furthering their education, marking their application status with a “star” that indicates their application is “missing documents.”

Amnesty – Ahead of the presidential summit which is set to take place in Tehran on Friday 7 September between Russia, Turkey and Iran to discuss the conflict in Syria, Samah Hadid, Amnesty International’s Middle East Director of Campaigns, said:

Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) – HRANA reports that ex-member of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Arsalan Khodkam received news last week that he is to be sentenced to death on charges of spying for a Kurdish opposition party. Khodkam, who served the IRGC of the West Azerbaijan Province, has appealed the sentence.

Iran Human Rights – Reza Khandan, a civil activist, was arrested yesterday, September 4, in Tehran. Several lawyers and civil activists have been arrested over the past two months indicating Iranian authorities’ intensification of the civil society crackdown.

CHRI – Seven Lawyers Now Behind Bars with More Summoned or Banned from Work

CHRI – Fears for Ramin Hossein Panahi Grow Despite Torture and Due Process Violation Concerns   The execution of a Kurdish death-row prisoner has become more likely, despite credible questions regarding violations of due process in his case, torture and other rights violations.

Al-Monitor – Iran’s high-living aghazadehs — a satirical moniker for the offsprings of the Iranian ruling class — have an outspoken critic in a young cleric from Qom who uses their favorite medium — Instagram — to name and shame those who flaunt their luxurious lifestyles or land cushy jobs.

PayvandNews – U.S. President Donald Trump will chair a UN Security Council meeting on Iran this month during the annual gathering of world leaders in New York, to spotlight his grievances against Tehran.

Radiofarda – A study conducted by the Research Center of the Iranian Parliament says that the current unemployment figures in Iran are alarming.