Social and Political

IHR- UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, Javaid Rehman, and UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Agnes Callamard, condemned the execution of Juvenile offender Shayan Saeedpoour by the Islamic Republic of Iran earlier today.  Full text here: GENEVA (21 April 2020) – Two UN human rights experts today expressed their dismay that …

Radiofarda – Outspoken Iranian lawmaker Mahmoud Sadeqi (Sadeghi) on Tuesday confirmed that a court has sentenced him for charges brought against him by a high-ranking official appointed by the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. On Tuesday a news agency linked with the Revolutionary Guard reported that Sadeqi has been sentenced to 21 months in prison and fifty million rials of cash …

Radiofarda – A council overseeing Friday Prayer Imams in the Islamic Republic of Iran has accepted the resignation of Iranshahr’s prayer leader, Shojauddin Abtahi, Hawza (seminary) news agency reports. On Saturday, April 18, a video was published on social media showing the mid-ranking clergy, Abtahi, sitting in a car, and distributing cash among people seeking a daily job in the …

Radiofarda – An official of the Iranian Agriculture Ministry on Monday said a huge new wave of locusts is expected to invade the southern provinces of Iran in two weeks. In late February and early March massive swarms of desert locusts (Schistocerca gregaria) invaded the southern regions of Iran. The locusts that destroy all crops along their way have been …

Radiofarda – Iran’s Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli has reiterated Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s responsibility in increasing the price of gasoline in mid-November 2019 when Iranian security forces are said to have killed around 1,500 protesters during unrest in reaction to a gasoline price hike. According to official news agency IRNA, Rahmani Fazli who was speaking via video teleconference in …

RFL/RE – Suspected Israeli warplanes targeted Iranian and Iran-backed fighters in eastern Syria near the historic town of Palmyra. Syrian state media SANA said late on April 20 that air defenses “confronted an Israeli missile aggression” and “shot down a number of the hostile missiles before reaching their targets.” The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a U.K.-based war monitor, said …

Iran Human Rights (IHR) – Juvenile offender Shayan Saeedpour was executed this morning at the prison of Saqqez city, Kurdistan province.  IHR strongly condemns Shayan Saeedpour’s execution and calls for a strong international reaction. IHR director, Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, said: “Execution of juvenile offenders is an international crime and must be condemned by the international community, especially the European governments. The …

Radiofarda – Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman on Monday said despite President Donald Trump’s claims, Iran will not engage in any negotiations with the United States as long as economic pressures and sanctions continue. “They are probably figuring they can wait and maybe it will be Biden and they will own America if Biden gets in and they know with me …

Radiofarda – President Hassan Rouhani’s Chief of Staff Mahmoud Vaezi has joined voices with other members of the cabinet to slam Iran’s Supreme Audit Court (SAC) for a report last week that said $4.8 billion provided to importers disappeared. In a new response to SAC’s annual report, Vaezi lambasted the court for keeping mum about the financial activities of other …

An Iranian man calling himself an Islamic prophetic medicine healer has prescribed drinking camel urine to prevent and cure COVID-19. In a video now widely shared on social media Mehdi Sabili who is also the chairman of prophetic medicine society treats himself to camel urine and says it must be taken “fresh and warm”. There has been a strong reaction …