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Iranhumanrights.org  – Iranian authorities must immediately put a halt to the execution of Kurdish political prisoners and prisoners of conscience, 22 human rights organizations stated. These organizations also urged for an immediate moratorium on the death penalty and a right to due process and fair and public retrials for all prisoners sentenced to death. Since the beginning of August 2016 …

RFL/RE – The Russian military has conducted air strikes in Syria using warplanes based in Iran for the first time, Russian state media are reporting. Russia’s Defense Ministry said the August 16 air strikes were carried out by Tu-22M3 long-range bombers and Su-34 strike fighters that took off from the Hamadan air field in Iran. The ministry claimed the strikes successfully …

RFL/RE – Iranian security forces claim they have killed three purported Sunni militants in western Iran. Police reported that the men were killed in a shoot-out on August 16 in the city of Kermanshah, about 500 kilometers southwest of Tehran and about 100 kilometers from the border with Iraq. They said an automatic rifle and a suicide vest were confiscated after …

MNA – Statistical Center of Iran (SCI) has reported that the country’s GDP, excluding oil, reached 4.4 per cent in the first quarter of the current Iranian year (began March 20). CSI announced on Sunday that Iran’s constant-price Gross Domestic Product (GDP) stood at about 6.7 billion dollars including oil and 5.4 billion dollars excluding oil. The figures indicate a …

BBC – The husband of a British mother detained in Iran has said the idea she could be involved in trying to overthrow the regime is “absurd”. Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, 37, is due on trial on as yet unspecified charges after being arrested in April. Speaking to the BBC on the couple’s seventh wedding anniversary, Richard Ratcliffe, from north London, said …

TIME – A series of fires and explosions in recent weeks has killed one and caused major damage After weeks of speculation on the cause of an unprecedented string of fires and explosions in major Iranian oil and gas facilities, Iran’s Supreme National Cyberspace Council has said that it is looking into cyber-attacks as a possible cause. “Special teams will …

thehill.com – Following Iran’s nuclear agreement, the thinking was the country would begin to wind down its human rights violations, especially the use of executions. However, recent reports indicate 33 people were sent to the gallows on Aug. 2. Congress should dismiss any call for appeasement in relation to Iran, and continue pursuing and holding firm its sanctions against those in …

Kurdistan24 – Political prisoner Mohammad Abdullahi and five other Kurds were executed in Urmia Central Prison on Tuesday, the Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) reported. Abdullahi, 35, married, from the city of Bokan, Kurdistan Province, northwest of Iran, was charged with “Moharebeh” for belonging to a Kurdish opposition party. Moharebeh, an Arabic term meaning “enmity against God,” is a crime …

Iranhumanrights.org – Hangings Follow Twenty Prisoners Executed Last Week Five prisoners were hanged inside Iran’s Orumiyeh Central Prison in West Azerbaijan Province on the morning of August 8, 2016, in what appears to be an accelerating pace of executions in the Islamic Republic. Last week 20 Sunni prisoners were killed in another mass execution in the city of Karaj in …

Al-monitor  — Former two-time President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad appears to have his eyes set on a third term in office. He has been traveling across Iran lately, addressing his supporters. AUTHOR Rohollah Faghihi On July 29, in a speech in Mashhad, Ahmadinejad said, “They label me as a Freemason [a member of the secretive] Hojjatieh Society, anti–Guardianship of the Jurist [Iran’s …