Social and Political

VOA – A senior Iranian environmental official whose activism and Western connections drew strong criticism from conservatives has revealed that he has left his post and departed the country.

VOA – Iranians say prices of foreign pharmaceuticals have surged in recent weeks because of the strengthening U.S. dollar, causing hardship for the sick and inciting anger toward people seen as profiting from the situation. In Tuesday’s edition of VOA Persian’s Straight Talk call-in show, callers from inside Iran accused the government of failing to deal with the problem. The …

CHRI – At Least 100 People Remain Detained After March 2018 Protests Lawmakers in Iran’s mostly Arab-populated Khuzestan Province have demanded a meeting with the head of the state-run Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) organization and its board of supervisors “regarding insults against Iran’s honorable ethnic peoples, namely the honorable Arabs of Khuzestan.”

CHRI – Education Ministry Bans Telegram on Campuses On the same day the secretary of Iran’s Supreme Cyberspace Council told a radio program that the widely used Telegram app could be blocked “at any moment,” the Education Ministry banned the app on campuses nationwide. “I use Telegram as well as Instagram but based on the commitment I have to domestic …

Al-Monitor — There seems to be no end in sight to the standoff between former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on the one hand and the hard-line judiciary as well as the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ (IRGC) Intelligence Organization on the other. Last month was particularly challenging for Ahmadinejad. He saw his former Vice President Hamid Baghaei sent to prison March …

Al-Monitor – The young deputy head of Iran’s Department of Environment, Kaveh Madani, has decided to resign and leave the country following increasing pressure from hard-liners. Before moving back to Iran, Madani — who has been described by Iranian media as a “genius” — was an environmental management lecturer at Imperial College London in the United Kingdom. He was named …

Radiofarda – One week after the Rouhani administration announced the government-imposed rate of 42,000 rials against every US dollar, chaos and ambiguity in Iran’s foreign exchange market continue. In an attempt to control the free fall, the Rouhani administration announced an imposed rate of 42,000 rials to the U.S. dollar April 10, in addition to other protective measures. Some street …

Iran-HRM – According to reports, a Tehran appeals court sentenced three men identified as Alireza Tavakoli, Mohammad Mehdi Zamanzadeh and Mohammad Mohajer for expressing their beliefs on Facebook and Telegram to five years of prison on charges of acting against national security and blasphemy. A source close to these three internet activists said that they had been detained in Evin …

Iran-HRM – At around 3 am, on Sunday April 15, agents of the Intelligence Agency raided farmers’ home in Khorasgan in Isfahan and detained a number of them. Reports indicate that 10 farmers were detained during the raid. According to a source a number of those arrested were identified by the police for only being present in the Khorasgan area …

Iran-HRM – Reports indicate that a Baluch man identified as Nasir Jat who had filmed security force trying to take a bribe from a gasoline tanker driver was arrested on Tuesday April 10. The man had also filmed the violent arrest of the driver by the police.