Social and Political

VOA – A top dissident Iranian Sunni cleric on Friday denounced as un-Islamic Iran’s alleged use of forced confessions to convict detained protesters, as weekly demonstrations continued in the county’s southeast. Meanwhile, the authorities’ crackdown following nationwide protests continued with arrests, including that of a celebrity chef and a prominent journalist. Anti-government marches have been held on Fridays in the …

gatestoneinstitute.org – “Initially, my colleagues and I thought these were embassy employees, though we noticed their car number plates didn’t belong to any embassy. We don’t know what they are transferring… Because they won’t let us examine closely. We just know that in past weeks, every day there are three to four flights to Venezuela.” — Unnamed source at Tehran’s …

Al-Monitor — The United States issued new sanctions Friday over the supply of drones used in Russian attacks on civilian infrastructure across Ukraine. The Treasury Department announced designations on six executives and board members at Qods Aviation Industries (QAI), a previously sanctioned Iranian defense manufacturer also known as Light Airplanes Design and Manufacturing Industries. QAI has reportedly worked with Iran’s Defense Ministry and Islamic Revolutionary …

RFL/RE – An Iranian female teacher who was dismissed after appearing in a video online while not wearing the mandatory hijab has slammed the Education Ministry as a “misanthropic institution.” In a message published by the Coordinating Council of Teachers Syndicates (CCTS) on Telegram, Atekeh Rajabi wrote that while the ministry considers her dismissed, she said she looks at the situation the …

RFL/RE – Fifteen Iranian women incarcerated in the Kachoui prison near Tehran have gone on a hunger strike to protest the conditions of their imprisonment and the lack of medical attention at the facility. Among those on the hunger strike is 22-year-old Armita Abbasi, who was arrested on October 10 in Karaj by security forces amid nationwide protests triggered by …

Iranwire – Iran’s most prominent Sunni cleric has been under intense pressure from the country’s security forces to stop using his Friday sermons to criticize the Islamic Republic, human rights activists say. “By putting pressure on Molavi Abdolhamid, the security and military institutions have asked him to end the Friday protests in Baluchistan and to stop delivering critical sermons. He …

Iranwire – In the early years of the 2000s, several Iranian footballers who played for Pas FC claimed they had been forced to sign up with the club after being arrested in police raids on parties and other gatherings. At that time, the club’s chairman, Mostafa Ajorlou, who serves as a commander in the elite Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), …

Al-Monitor – Iraq’s Supreme Judicial Council again brought up an arrest warrant for former US President Donald Trump on Thursday in connection to the 2020 assassination of the Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani and the leader of the Iraqi militia.  The council’s president, Faiq Zidan, said that Trump is wanted for his “crime” in relation to the assassination of the “leaders of …

Al-Arabia – Iran has sentenced another man to death over involvement in anti-regime protests sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini, state media reported on Thursday. A man identified as Arshia Takdastan was sentenced to death after being convicted of the capital charges of “corruption on earth” and “waging war against God,” the semi-official ISNA news agency reported. ISNA described …

Al-Arabia – Over a dozen US and western-made parts were found in an Iranian drone that was downed in Ukraine, a Ukrainian intelligence report revealed. Forty of the 52 components Ukraine removed from the Iran-made Shahed-136 drone appear to have been manufactured by 13 different American companies, the assessment showed. The other 12 components were manufactured by companies in Canada, …