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

RFL/RE – The ex-wife of an Iranian-Swedish dissident on trial in Iran says she’s worried he will not get a fair trial on terrorism charges that she believes are trumped up. Iranian authorities have accused Habib Chaab, a founder and former leader of the Arab Struggle Movement for the Liberation of Ahwaz (ASMLA) separatist group, of “managing and leading a …

RFL/RE – A court in Tehran has sentenced financial reporter Amir-Abbas Azarmvand to three years and seven months in prison after convicting him of “spreading propaganda against the system.” Azarmvand, who works for the state-run financial newspaper SMT, was also banned from leaving the country for two years. Azarmvand, was arrested in September over his reporting and held in Tehran’s Evin prison, …

Iranwire – The use of civilians, prisoners of war, medics and other protected individuals as “human shields” in military conflict has been forbidden under international law for almost 45 years. It refers to the deliberate placing of civilians between an attacker and a legitimate military target in order to deter attacks. Despite Iran’s existing commitments, the Islamic Republic has a …

Iranwire – A political prisoner who joined the seven-strong hunger strike protesting against the death of Baktash Abtin has sent IranWire an audio file from prison narrating what happened in the days before the poet’s transfer to hospital. He has also confirmed, as others suspected this week, that he and two other hunger strikers were not taken for medical treatment as the …

Iranwire – “Anwar Raslan is not wronged. He was tried for the crimes he committed. The verdict was just and I feel satisfied.” So says Ruwaida Kanaan, a former detainee at a notorious Damascus detention center known as Branch 251 in Damascus, after ex-Syrian regime intelligence official Anwar Raslan was jailed for life by a German court last week. On Thursday, January …