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Iran-HRM – Mohammad Ashtiani has been denied medical treatment in the Central Prison of Karaj. Political prisoner Mohammad Ashtiani Araghi, 57, is in dire health conditions. He suffers from high blood pressure, Asthma, and hernia. He has been deprived of having access to his medications. This is particularly dangerous for his health considering the pandemic. Authorities of the prison’s clinic …

Amnesty – Abusive policing and excessive reliance on law enforcement to implement COVID-19 response measures have violated human rights and in some instances made the health crisis worse, Amnesty International said today.  In a new briefing, COVID-19 Crackdowns: Police Abuse and the Global Pandemic, the organization documented cases in 60 countries where law enforcement agencies committed human rights abuses in the name of tackling the virus. This includes cases where people were killed …

Al-Monitor – The Trump administration on Wednesday issued a new round of Iran-related sanctions, targeting four companies based in China and the United Arab Emirates accused of facilitating the export of Iranian petrochemical products.  According to the US Treasury Department, the blacklisted companies provided Hong Kong-based Triliance Petrochemical with shipping services or financial transactions. Triliance itself was designated in January …

Al-monitor – Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei promised to avenge the blood of his most favored military commander, Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani, who was killed in a US airstrike outside Baghdad’s international airport in January. Khamenei the revenge on those who ordered the assassination and executed it is “definite,” but he did not specify any timing. The Soleimani killing, directly ordered by President Donald Trump, pushed Iran …

AP – At the start, Iranian officials downplayed COVID-19 — denying the mounting toll of infections, refusing to close mosques, making half-hearted gestures at locking down businesses. That was then. This is now: Even Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has worn disposable gloves while planting a tree for state media, and he prayed in an empty mosque to mark the …