Social and Political

RFL/RE – Russian opposition politician Aleksei Navalny’s time as an Amnesty International “prisoner of conscience” was short-lived — but not because he was released from detention. Navalny received the designation on January 17 following his arrest at a Moscow airport by Russian authorities who said he had violated the terms of a suspended sentence stemming from a 2014 embezzlement conviction. …

Iranwire – Sisakht is a deprived city in Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad province. The people of the city are known for their hard work; they are people who have struggled with poverty and unemployment for years. Life was difficult even before the earthquake that shook the foundations of their homes on Wednesday, February 17, 2021. At 22:05, a 5.6-magnitude earthquake shook the city, and now, in …

Iranwire – Khuzestan province is still in a critical situation. Medics and provincial officials have petitioned the government for a two-week lockdown of the province, but they have not yet succeeded in convincing decision-makers that a total quarantine is desperately needed in this deprived part of Iran. In the past two weeks, the number of outpatients across the country has …

Iran-HRM – At least two Baluch protesters, including a 13-year-old child, were shot and killed today by the IRGC forces in the Qaleh Bid Base during protests in Zahedan, the capital of Sistan-Baluchistan Province. Hassan Mohammadzehi, 13 and Mohammad Saleh Motaghedi were shot and killed during the protests on Wednesday, two days after dozens of ‘fuel carriers’ were were killed …

Al-Monitor – The top commander of US military forces in the Middle East issued a subtle but unmistakable warning to Iran today over recent projectile attacks on Iraq’s Kurdistan region and Saudi Arabia. CENTCOM commander Gen. Kenneth “Frank” McKenzie said he considers it “very dangerous” for Iranian officials to assume that an uptick in such attacks in recent weeks “can …

Al-Monitor – CIA Director nominee William Burns said Iran cannot be overlooked, but advocated for a focus on China during his nomination hearing Wednesday. Burns, who was nominated for the top intelligence position by US President Joe Biden, went before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence on Wednesday. Burns is a longtime diplomat who served in top State Department positions …

Shabtabnews – Following the murder of a prisoner of conscience, Mr. Behnam Mahjoubi, at the Evin Prison Medical Centre through poisoning, the IOPHR in a statement expressed its deep concern in regards to the safety and health of political and non-political Sufi prisoners in Iran. As well as calling “on all governments, especially democratic governments, committed to human rights values, …

Shabtabnews – In the weekly USCIRF Roundtable IOPHR representative Hamid Gharagozloo’s gives a candid presentation on human rights issues in Iran and the particular case of poisoning and murder of Gonabadi Sufi, Behnam Mahjoubi. Below is the link to the transcript of Hamid Gharagozloo’s presentation at the USCIRF Weekly Roundtable with Gayle Manchin: IOPHR Representatives Weekly USCIRF Roundtable

FOX: Oberlin College is facing fresh criticism for continuing to give a platform to a so-called “professor of peace,” Mohammad Jafar Mahallati, who as Iranian ambassador to the United Nations urged the elimination of the Jewish state. A Fox News Digital investigation can reveal for the first time that Mahallati, a professor of Islamic Studies at the liberal arts college in Ohio, declared to the U.N. in 1988: “The adoption, …

ohchr.org – Iran committed multiple human rights violations in shooting down Ukraine International Airlines flight PS752 and in the aftermath of the deadly attack, two UN experts said today.* “The inconsistencies in the official explanations seem designed to create a maximum of confusion and a minimum of clarity. They seem contrived to mislead and bewilder,” Agnes Callamard, the Special Rapporteur …