Social and Political

RFL/RE – Nasrin Sotoudeh, an Iranian human rights lawyer who was temporarily released from prison last week, has tested positive for the coronavirus, her husband has said. Reza Khandan wrote on Facebook on November 11 that his wife contracted the virus at the Gharchak women’s prison in Tehran, where she was transferred last month. The conditions at the prison were …

Al-Arabia – Saudi Arabia’s Deputy Minister of Defense Prince Khalid bin Salman met with the United States Special Envoy to Iran Elliot Abrams to discuss regional cooperation between the two countries, the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported on Wednesday. The two discussed bilateral relations, including how to enhance the stability of the region, as well as how to handle ongoing …

iranwire.com- The International Chess Federation has threatened Iran with suspension because of its continuing refusal to allow Iranian chess players to compete with Israelis. Nigel Short, vice president of the International Chess Federation (FIDE) and the most accomplished British chess player of the twentieth century, has said that following the non-compliance of the Iranian Chess Federation with the commitments and statutes …

Iran-HRM – Branch 28 of Iran’s Supreme Court has rejected a request for a retrial by political prisoner Saba Kord Afshari’s lawyers. She received a 15-year prison sentence, which was first reduced in the Court of Appeals but then again added to her prison term in May 2020. Saba Kord Afshari was arrested on June 1, 2019 and was handed …

Iran-HRM – Seventy-one Iranian men and women were summoned to Behbahan’s Public and Revolution Court on November 7, for “investigations” into their participation in July protests. The 71 citizens must appear in court within the next 5 days in Behbahan, a city in the southeastern Khuzestan Province.The men and women were charged with “insulting the Supreme Leader, disrupting public order …

gatestoneinstitute.org – At the beginning, U.S. President Donald J. Trump pulled the US out of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), commonly known as the Iran nuclear deal, which Iran never signed and which paves the way for Iran to have nuclear weapons. Tehran’s diminishing resources have also caused Iranian leaders to cut funds to the Palestinian terror group …

Radiofarda – In an exclusive interview with Radio Farda, a young Iranian actress revealed that Iranian intelligence agents have threatened her with possible arrest and extradition 22-year-old Reyhaneh Parsa, a rising star in Iranian cinema, theater, and television in the past two years, left her homeland and currently lives in Turkey. Speaking to Radio Farda’s Babak Ghaffouri-Azar, the young actress …

RFL/RE – Iran has called for dialogue with neighboring countries now that Donald Trump has lost the U.S. presidential election. “Trump’s gone in 70 days. But we’ll remain here forever,” Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif tweeted on November 9, after Democrat Joe Biden clinched the presidency following the November 3 vote. Biden will be inaugurated in January. A sincere …

VOA- An Iranian Kurdish husband and wife involved in local activism in western Iran have defied a court summons to face trial for alleged national security offenses for which they made forced confessions, according to a knowledgeable source.   In a November 2 interview with VOA Persian from Iran, the source said Sirous Abbasi and his wife, Farideh Veysi, boycotted the second session of their …

iranwire.com – Khamenei.com is a review of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s 31-year record as Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic. Khamenei is one of the world’s most secretive and unknown leaders. Details on his personal life are scant and, except for his son Mojtaba, whose name has been in Iran’s news only in recent years, media outlets have seldom published any reports …