Social and Political

Iranwire – Twenty Iranian women incarcerated with eight environmental activists in Tehran’s Evin Prison have issued a joint statement calling the release of their fellow inmates, saying they have been subjected to numerous human rights violations and abuse. The statement released on February 27 said the environmentalists who worked at the Parsian Wildlife Institute to preserve the Asiatic cheetah and …

Iranwire – Pictures of the Swiss ambassador to Tehran during a visit to the Shrine of Masoumeh in the central city of Qom last week was splashed in media outlets affiliated with the Islamic Republic, with captions and titles emphasizing that the European envoy was wearing a head-to-toe black outfit. The images of a smiling Nadine Olivieri Lozano next to …

Iranwire – Women’s right to education is still not fully recognized in Iran, where Shia fundamentalists continue to try and prevent girls from attending school, possibly by poisoning them. Hundreds of Iranian schoolgirls have fallen sick and scores have been hospitalized in the religious city of Qom over the past three months, triggering growing suspicion they had been poisoned. On …

VOA – Iran has handed the Afghan embassy in Tehran over to the Taliban, becoming the latest country to accept Taliban-appointed diplomats without recognizing their 18-month-old government in Kabul.The Taliban foreign ministry said Monday that it had dispatched a seven-member team of “experienced diplomats, led by a newly appointed chargé d’affaires” to the Iranian capital to formally assume the charge …

Al-Monitor – The top Shiite religious authority in the holy city of Najaf has remained silent despite increasing friction reported among Iraq’s Shiite political parties. Najaf has long avoided direct involvement in politics, but it is unprecedented for religious leaders to remain silent during a period of dangerous uncertainty.  Background Iraq has been experiencing political and societal division since the …

RFL/RE – An Iranian academic group says dozens of female students have been forced to participate in “mandatory counseling sessions” for failing to “properly” observe the country’s mandatory hijab law. Anger over the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini on September 16 while in police custody for allegedly wearing a head scarf improperly has prompted thousands of Iranians to take to the streets …

RFL/RE – The Canadian government has imposed sanctions on 12 senior officials from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and Law Enforcement Forces (LEF) for “gross violations of human rights” in a deadly crackdown on protesters angered by the death of a young woman while in police custody for allegedly wearing a head scarf improperly. Canada’s Foreign Affairs Ministry said …

RFL/RE – Iran says the head of the UN’s nuclear watchdog agency, Rafael Grossi, will visit Tehran “in the coming days” amid a dispute over uranium enrichment levels in the Islamic republic. The Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said earlier this month that it was in discussions with Tehran after Bloomberg News reported that the watchdog’s inspectors in Iran …

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO) – Ebrahim Rigi, a Baluch protester recently released on bail, has died in the custody of the 12th District police in Zahedan. Meanwhile, authorities have claimed Ebrahim Rigi had died after being arbitrarily arrested by “private claimants” and “without police presence.” Recalling the Islamic Republic’s history of propaganda and misleading news, staging and obtaining torture-tainted forced …

Al-Arabia – Iran has released a Spanish woman who had been detained in the country since November 2022, Spain’s foreign minister said Sunday. “She was freed yesterday, but we didn’t want to announce it publicly before her plane had taken off from Iran,” said the minister, Jose Manuel Albares. “I was able to speak with her… she is well,” he said, …