Social and Political

(Reuters) – British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said it would be beyond the pale for Iranian-British aid worker Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe to be returned to detention in Iran at this time. He added that Britain was still enagaged in a process of paying back a debt it owns to Iran but that this was “not linked but in parallel” to the …

CHRI – “The regime…knows no legal, logical or religious bounds in denying the rights of dissidents” Prominent human rights activist Narges Mohammadi, imprisoned in Iran since 2015 for her peaceful defense of civil and political liberties, has written an impassioned letter from prison in which she speaks out against “not only the killing of protesters in the streets in recent years, …

Radiofarda – The presence of a cat in a play staged in Tehran by the prominent Iranian director Mohammad Rahmanian has unleashed the country’s censorship authorities to ban the production. The six-episode play, “Love in Days of Corona [virus],” starring Mahtab Nasirpour, Sima Tirandaz, and Behnoosh Tabataba’ei, was staged at the Bagh (Graden) Cafe in the Roudaki Complex. After just …

Radiofarda – The family lawyer of Mohsen Rouhalamini, a young man killed behind bars during mass demonstrations surrounding the 2009 Iranian presidential election, says the court of appeal has rejected Saeed Mortazavi’s statement of defense. A notorious hardline judge, Mortazavi was Tehran’s prosecutor at the time of the uprising. Based on his orders, hundreds were arrested and incarcerated in various …

Radiofarda – On Monday, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei praised the eight-year Iran-Iraq war as “one of the most rational events in Iran’s history” and described accepting the UN Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 598, which ended the war, as “the (one of) most rational decisions made.” UNSC Resolution 598 was adopted unanimously on July 20, 1987. It called for an …

Radiofarda – A member of the Iranian Majlis Parliament, Hossein Ali Haji Deligani, has confirmed that Iranian legislators receive “Dena Plus” luxury sedans. Deligani said a more appropriate move would be MPs receiving a “more conventional car,” while leaving its ownership to the parliament. Speaking to the state-run Iran Students News Agency (ISNA) on Monday, the ultraconservative legislator said that …

Radiofarda — U.S. President Donald Trump told the United Nations General Assembly that his administration was focused on achieving “peace through strength” in Afghanistan and Middle East. In a seven-minute-long prerecorded address from the White House on September 22, Trump listed what he saw as his foreign policy achievements — including sanctions against Iran, an economic cooperation deal between Kosovo …

Amnesty – Iranian Kurdish prisoner Heidar Ghorbani, 47, is at risk of execution for “armed rebellion against the state” (baghi), despite serious fair trial violations and the trial court confirming that he was never armed. His conviction is based on torture-tainted “confessions”, obtained while he was forcibly disappeared. The authorities must quash his sentence and grant him a fair retrial. …

Al-Monitor – Iran’s president told the UN General Assembly that any future administration must “surrender” to Iran.  In his address to the UN General Assembly, Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani said his country cannot be used as a “bargaining chip” as President Donald Trump seeks reelection this November.  “We are not a bargaining chip in US elections and domestic policy,” Rouhani told the virtual …

UN.Org – Iran is a nation often in the news, but for its people the real story of 2020 is the death of more than 20,000 that has made it one of 11 countries hit hardest by the pandemic. The economy – already affected badly by economic sanctions – further deteriorated after COVID-19 restrictions were imposed, leaving many people unemployed, …