Social and Political

RFL/RE – Human Rights Watch (HRW) has accused Tehran of employing excessive repressive measures, including lethal force, against participants in weeks-long nationwide anti-government protests sparked by the death last month of a young woman arrested by Iran’s morality police. Mahsa Amini died on September 16, three days after being detained by morality police because of “improperly” wearing the hijab, a …

Iranwire – Angry protests have continued across Iran for an eighteenth day and have again been met by lethal force resulting in the death of many protestors and bystanders, including children. A source in Zahedan told IranWire that the Shirabad district has become a battlefield where repressive forces are present with full combat equipment. Human rights groups say at least …

Iranwire – Forty years of “dualization”, or in other words, polarization, by the Islamic Republic, and the elimination of critics and opponents since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, has led to the creation of a majority that opposes the ruling Shia clergy and a minority that supports them. Now tens of millions of people, including some who were once within the …

VOA – Concern grew on Wednesday over what caused the death of 16-year-old Nika Shahkarami who had joined the protests in Iran, even as the Iranian judiciary rejected accusations that she had been killed by security forces. Reports from Persian media based outside Iran have said that the grieving girl’s family were not allowed to bury her body in her …

Iran-HRM – Foad Ghadimi was a 40-year-old father from Divandarreh in Kurdistan Province. Foad had two sons aged 16 and 9. Foad was one of the first victims of the crackdown on nationwide protests in reaction to Mahsa Amini’s killing. Foad Ghadimi was killed by gunshots fired at him by the state security forces. Two bullets had hit him, one in the hand and …

Al-Monitor – As protests against Iran’s government continue over its treatment of women and civil liberties, Tehran may be signaling that it is closer to accepting the latest version of the Iranian nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).   There are several reasons to think a deal may be closer than it was less than …

RFL/RE – An Italian woman has been arrested in Iran amid a wave of protests triggered by the death in custody of a young woman detained by morality police for “improperly” wearing a mandatory headscarf, or hijab. Anger over the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini on September 16 has swept Iran, with demonstrations in cities across the country.Alessia Piperno’s parents told the Italian newspaper …

VOA – President Joe Biden said Tuesday the U.S. plans to “impose further costs” this week on Iran for assaulting protesters demonstrating against the government for the death of a young woman held in custody by the country’s morality police for failing to properly cover her hair with a hijab. Biden, in a Twitter post, did not elaborate on what …

VOA – Iran has recently sent new military reinforcements to its western borders close to the Kurdistan Region of Iraq and threatened to launch a cross-border ground invasion into Iraqi Kurdistan against Iranian Kurdish opposition groups, a senior Iraqi Kurdish official in Iraq who asked to remain anonymous told VOA. “Iran has gathered forces near Kurdistan Region and through a …

Baquer Namazi, a US citizen held in Iran on spying charges, has left the country, the country’s state news agency announced Wednesday.  The family’s lawyer, Jared Genser, confirmed his release by sharing a photo of him on the plane. Baquer #Namazi has finally left #Iran after 6.5 years as an illegal detainee! He will arrive in Muscat, Oman, and then will travel on to Abu Dhabi for urgent …