Social and Political

Iranwire – An Iranian academic and prominent theater professional has provoked a backlash after he said people from the LGBTQ community “did not observe the cultural sanctity” of an Iranian theater in the capital and called for it to be cordoned off. Activists and artists soon rallied, releasing a joint statement on Petition condemning artist Ghotboddin Sadegh’s insults, accusing him of hate …

Iran-HRM – Jailed social media activist Zohreh Sarv was flogged 74 times on Monday, April 5, before temporary prison leave. The flogging was carried out while the sentence has already been converted into a fine and after paying the fine, this part of the case was declared closed. However, authorities at Gharchak Prison told the activist that she would not be allowed …

Iran-HRM – Three jailed political activists who were imprisoned in the Iranian city of Mashhad after signing an open letter calling on Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei to resign have been denied phone calls. Authorities in Vakilbad Prison have told Kamal Jafari and Mohammad Hossein Sepehri that they are not allowed to make phone calls for three months begining from March 31. The …

Amnesty – This is Amnesty International’s annual report on the state of human rights in Iran during 2020/21, subdivided by key human rights themes. It is part of Amnesty International’s annual 2020/21 Report on the State of the World’s Human Rights. https://www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/MDE1339642021ENGLISH.PDF

gatestoneinstitute.org – Companies are being pressured to scrub from their websites language about corporate policies on human rights, reverse decisions to stop buying cotton produced in Xinjian, and remove maps that depict Taiwan as an independent country. In October 2020, the Geneva-based Better Cotton Initiative (BCI), an influential non-profit group that promotes sustainable cotton production, suspended licensing of Xinjiang cotton, …

Al-Monitor – Despite reports of progress that came this week out of Iran nuclear deal talks in Vienna, Iran’s Press TV says a source tells it that Tehran is rejecting “segmentation” of US sanctions. This appears to mean that Iran, before it moves to again comply with the terms of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), wants a complete removal of the sanctions President Donald Trump …

Shabtabnews – In a statement IOPHR urged the need to immediately terminate the infamous agreement between the Iranian regime and the Chinese government. The statement declared: “that the lack of knowledge of the provisions of the agreement related to the fate of Iranian citizens is an obvious legal and undeniable right of the individual Iranian citizens, and this lack of …

RFL/RE – Iran has set a new daily record for new coronavirus infections amid a surge of cases following the Norouz holiday. The Health Ministry said on April 7 that in the previous 24 hours, 20,954 new cases had been reported, breaking the record set a day earlier of 17,430 infections. RFE/RL’s Coronavirus Coverage Features and analysis, videos, and infographics explore …

RFL/RE – An Iranian ship long anchored off Yemen and used by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) has reportedly been damaged by an explosion in the Red Sea. The hard-line Tasnim news agency, which is affiliated with the IRGC, reported late on April 6 that the vessel, a cargo-category ship identified as Iran Saviz or MV Saviz, was targeted …

 VOA – U.S. and Iranian officials are calling talks in Vienna productive as the two sides and the other signatories of a 2015 agreement on Iran’s nuclear program work to revive the deal.  U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price said there is no expectation of direct negotiations for now, but that the United States is “open to them because we …