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

wjla – A classified study of the origin of SARS-CoV-2 conducted a year ago by scientists at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, the Department of Energy’s premier biodefense research institution, concluded the novel coronavirus at the heart of the current pandemic may have originated in a laboratory in China, Sinclair has learned. Researchers at Livermore’s “Z Division,” the lab’s intelligence …

RFL/RE – Long persecuted by Iran’s Islamic regime, followers of the Baha’i faith in Tehran have now been told they must bury their dead upon the mass graves of political prisoners. The Baha’i community in the Iranian capital has for years buried its dead in a special section of Tehran’s Khavaran cemetery, near the resting place for hundreds or even …

Iranwire – Within minutes of being rebuked by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei over the contents of an interview leaked last weekend, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif humbly apologized for his controversial remarks. In an Instagram post, he expressed particular regret for his seemingly disparaging comments about General Ghasem Soleimani, the former commander of the Revolutionary Guards’ Quds Force who was killed by an …

Iranwire – US and UK authorities have denied Iranian state media reports that the US and the UK are to pay Iran money the country claims it is owed in exchange for the release of hostages. On Sunday, state TV and other outlets including Mehr News Agency reported on Sunday that Britain will pay Iran £400m related to the non-delivery of Chieftain tanks ordered …

Iran Human Rights (IHR) – According to the Annual Report of the Death Penalty in Iran, at least four juvenile offenders have been executed in Iran in 2020.  Read the full report (pdf) Juvenile executions: Trends and legislative reforms Iran is one of the last remaining countries to sentence juvenile offenders to death and executes more juvenile offenders than any …