Social and Political

Ppyvand.com – About 70 percent of prisoners in Iran are directly and indirectly involved in drug-related crimes, Eskandar Momeni, the director of headquarters for the fight against narcotics, has said.  Some 40 percent of the inmates in prisons are convicted of drug smuggling directly and 30 percent indirectly, he stated. According to Momeni, many social harms such as divorce, violent …

Al-Arabia – Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Tuesday that the result of the US presidential election will not in any way impact Tehran’s policy toward the US. “Our policy toward the US is clear and calculated and does not change with the movement of individuals. Who becomes president has no effect on our politics,” Khamenei said in …

Radiofarda – Reza Zarrab, the Turkey-based ringleader of Iran’s sanctions-evasion network who laundered over $20 billion in the biggest sanctions-evasion scheme in recent history, continues to make headlines.A series of deeply researched exposés published in September by a global network of investigative journalists showthat Tehran’s Turkish operations “started earlier, lasted longer, extended further, and involved more people and countries” than previously known. Zarrab, …

Radiofarda – Following the resignation of Mohammad Yazdi from the powerful Guardian Council, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei replaced him with another member of the clergy, Ahmad Khatami, on Sunday. Yazdi had earlier stepped down for “old age and physical complications.” In his decree, Khamenei praised Yazdi’s service as “valuable,” reiterating that he resigned from his influential position for …

Radiozamaneh – About 1,000 Zamaneh Media audience members took part in a poll, expressing their views on the upcoming United States presidential election as it relates to Iranian domestic and foreign policies. Despite the Trump administration’s maximum pressure campaign, which has systematic corruption and mismanagement, leading to a recession in Iran, most of the respondents to this Zamaneh Media poll …

Radiozamaneh.com – Maïmouna Doucouré won the 2020 Directing Award at the Sundance film festival for her debut feature “Cuties” (2020). Ironically, the movie has been reviled for what it is criticizing: the hypersexualization of children. The lead character Amy is a pre-adolescent Senegalese girl who joins a slightly deviant clique that is eroticizing their outfits and moves to win a …

Al-Monitor – Iranian hackers who sent a barrage of threatening emails to US voters last month were successful in accessing voter data from at least one state, according to a joint statement issued late last Friday by the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). Although the state was not identified, alleged personal details of Alaska voters were briefly …

theguardian.com – Coup 53 was heralded by critics this summer as a “powerful and authoritative” documentary “as gripping as any thriller”, and judged by historians as crucial to understanding Britain’s relationship with the Middle East. Made over 10 years by Walter Murch, the celebrated editor of Apocalypse Now and The English Patient, in collaboration with the Anglo-Iranian director Taghi Amirani, it tells the story of …

CBC.ca – More than 850 sign petition for Tirgan to cut ties with Aydin Aghdashloo after allegations of sexual assault Shanifa Nasser · CBC News · Posted: Nov 02, 2020 4:00 AM ET | Last Updated: November 2 Last month, The New York Times released a report detailing multiple allegations of sexual harassment, assault and misconduct against prominent 80-year-old Iranian contemporary painter Aydin Aghdashloo. (Dave …

Radiofarda – Iran’s air force began an annual drill Monday, state television reported, with its aging fleet of U.S.- and Russian-made jet fighters taking part alongside locally made drones and other aircraft. The drill will see forces from eight air bases take part over two days in exercises that include missile firing and mid-air refueling. This is the second drill …