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

HRW – Imprisoned human rights defender Behnam Mousivand has been hospitalized at Taleghani hospital in Tehran since April 29, the Human Rights Activists News Agency (Hrana) reported. According to Hrana, Mousivand was on a hunger strike from April 19 to May 5 to protest his detention conditions. On the day Mousivand began his hunger strike, Rajai Shahr prison officials reportedly beat …

Al-monitor – Clashes between Iraqi security forces and a Yazidi militia known as the Shingal Resistance Units (YBS) may represent one of several new fronts in escalating tensions between Iran and Turkey in Iraq.  Turkey expands anti-PKK operations in Iraq and Syria  Turkey has intensified air, drone and artillery attacks against Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) targets beyond the remote, northern …

RFL/RE – Ali Shahvari grew up in a traditional and religious Muslim family in Iran. He was devoted to his country to the extent that he twice volunteered to fight on the front lines in the devastating Iran-Iraq War. But after one of his brothers was killed and another wounded in the 1980-88 conflict, he turned to drugs. Two decades …

Iranwire – At the end of April the US State Department published a report by Congress that revealed the net worth, as American officials understand it, of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and eight of his family members. The report estimated the Assad family net worth to be US$1 to 2 billion. The report remains incomplete because the State Department believes Al-Assad and …

Iranwire – Schools, universities, government offices and banks have closed their doors in the southwestern province of Khuzestan due to intense pollution and the air being thick with dust. According to observers, the level of particle pollution in the cities of Ahvaz and Shush currently has recently stood at 25 times the safe level. At the same time, a Ministry …