Social and Political

Al-Monitor – The Iranian president’s order for action came in response to fast-growing defiance from a new generation of women challenging the strict dress code, which has been a fundamental pillar of the ruling theocracy.  Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi said violation of his country’s mandatory hijab was an “enemy conspiracy” and called for legal action against women found to be in breach …

RFL/RE – The fate of Iranian rapper Toomaj Salehi, who was arrested during the recent nationwide protests, hangs in the balance as a court considers a verdict and a possible death sentence after holding a closed-door trial on charges widely seen as politically motivated. Salehi, considered by many as the voice of the unrest that has rocked Iran’s Islamic leadership …

Iranwire – Belgium’s invitation to Alireza Zakani, Tehran’s mayor and the former chief of the paramilitary Student Basij Organization, to attend a mayors’ conference in June triggered a political controversy in Belgium that led to the resignation of the Brussels’ state secretary for urbanism and to calls for the Belgian foreign minister to step down for issuing a visa to …

Iranwire – Faezeh Hashemi, a political activist currently imprisoned in Tehran’s Evin prison, has urged reformists in Iran and all those “dedicated to preserving the system” not to participate in elections.  When “authoritarians justify their existence and function by changing, distorting and interpreting words, they render laws and institutions ineffective and they reinforce lies; dictatorships are dressed in the glorious …

VOA – Iran’s foreign ministry lambasted France on Monday for hosting a meeting of an exiled Iranian opposition group that Tehran considers a “terrorist” organization. On Saturday, the Albania-based People’s Mujahedin of Iran, or Mujahedeen-e-Khalq (MEK), held a meeting outside Paris as thousands of the group’s supporters held a rally in the center of the French capital. Former U.S. Vice …

Al-Monitor – The dispute between Kuwait and Iran over an offshore gas field that also involves Saudi Arabia escalated on Monday as Kuwait condemned purported Iranian drilling plans for the field. Kuwaiti Oil Minister Saad Al-Barrak said that the Gulf state “rejects” Iran’s planned drilling in the Dorra gas field. “We categorically and totally reject Iran’s planned activities around the premises of …

Al-Monitor – Three journalists are set to go on trial in Iran on Monday, leading to condemnation from an international human rights watchdog. Journalists Saeideh Shafiei, Mehrnoush Zarei Henzaki and Nasim Sultan Beigi face up to 10 years in prison on “vague” national security and propaganda charges under articles 500 and 610 of Iran’s penal code, according to Human Rights Watch. Shafiei, …

RFL/RE – Iranian authorities have stepped up their monitoring of commercial and recreational venues, shutting dozens of cafes, restaurants, and other businesses across the country they say were failing to comply with the mandatory head-scarf law. Anger over the hijab law has boiled over since the death of Mahsa Amini in September 2022 in police custody over an alleged hijab …

Iranwire – Renowned Iranian painter and actor Khosro Hassanzadeh passed away on July 2 after drinking bootleg alcohol, amid a recent surge in cases of fatal alcohol poisoning in the country. Hassanzadeh was born in Tehran in 1963 to a working class family. He studied painting at the Faculty of Art and Persian Literature of Tehran’s Azad University, while being …

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO – At least 354 people including six women were executed in the first six months of 2023. 20% of all executions were Baluch minorities. 206 people were executed for drug-related charges, a 126% rise compared to the same period last year. Underlining the accelerated speed of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s execution machine, Iran Human Rights …