Shabtabnews In this dark night, I have lost my way – Arise from a corner, oh you the star of guidance.

RFL/RE – Thousands of Iranians attended a funeral procession in Tehran for prominent poet Houshang Ebtehaj, whose life and work spans many of Iran’s political, cultural, and literary upheavals. Born in 1928, Ebtehaj, considered by many as the last living old-school Iranian poet, died on August 10 in Germany. According to his daughter Yalda Ebtahaj, the cause of death was kidney failure. …

IranWire – In the afternoon of Thursday, August 25, the people of Hamedan took to the streets for the third consecutive day to protest severe water shortages in the city and surrounding area. Videos of these protests received by IranWire showed an extensive deployment of riot police in response. The first two nights saw rallies held in front of the tomb of Avicenna. …

Iranwire – A young kolbar or border courier has been killed by security forces while crossing between Iran and Iraq, the human rights observatory Hengaw reports. Ribwvr Rashidi, 30, was reportedly killed in the early hours of Friday morning after being directly shot at by officers at the Haftash base, by the Barvish Kani border crossing. Rashidi was from one …

Iranwire – A fourth German citizen was arrested in Iran around 40 days ago, the country’s foreign ministry belatedly confirmed on Friday. The 66-year-old man is understood to be a tourist who was accused of “taking photos of prohibited areas”. According to Radio Farda, he had been making his way from city to city by motorcycle. The man is said …

Iranwire – Under pressure from FIFA, yesterday the Iranian Football Federation partially relented on its decades-old policy of excluding Iranian women from football stadiums. A small number of female fans were allowed into Azadi Stadium to watch the match between Esteghlal and Mes Kerman, which ended with a 1-0 victory for Esteghlal. On the eve of the World Cup, Mirshad …