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

RFL/RE – Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has expressed support for the Guardians Council’s disqualification of prominent moderate candidates seeking to run in the country’s June 18 presidential election.He also called on Iranians to vote in the election, which comes amid discontent over the economy crippled by U.S. sanctions and calls to boycott the vote due to tough vetting …

Iranwire – The years 1988 to 1994 witnessed the stratospheric rise of Ebrahim Raeesi from middling to senior member of the Iranian judiciary. His membership on Ayatollah Khomenei’s death panel, which sent thousands of political prisoner to their deaths in 1988, effectively turbo-charged the now-presidential frontrunner’s career. It appears, however, that Raeesi himself is conflicted about his decisive role in the massacre. The …

Iranwire – Sixteen political and civil activists who had previously been held in solitary confinement in prison have filed a lawsuit against Islamic Republic officials responsible for their treatment, the Center for Human Rights Defenders reported on Thursday, May 27. The case emphasizes that holding people in solitary confinement for prolonged periods is considered to be torture under international law, and …

Al-Monitor – “It is a targeted practice. The interrogators are given special training to systematically break the morale of jailed women,” stated Iranian rights advocate Narges Mohammadi. She was recounting details of how dissident women are subject to various forms of mistreatment during interrogation by Iran’s Intelligence Ministry and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Addressing a meeting on the social media …

AL-Arabia – Lebanon will never regain true sovereignty or regain its strength until Iran-backed Hezbollah is prevented from acquiring weapons and it changes its destabilizing behavior, the former number three diplomat at the US State Department said Wednesday. “The state of Lebanon will never regain strength or achieve true sovereignty, so long as one faction can accumulate dangerous weapons and undertake smuggling and other …