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

Iranwire – The Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance of the Islamic Republic has announced plans for a large-scale shake up within the ministry.  “After two years of earnest efforts, 400 Hezbollah youth are set to join this ministry by the end of summer with the aim of bringing significant transformations to the ministry,” said Mohammad Mehdi Esmaili, referring to …

Iranwire – Women and girls in Iran continue to defy mandatory headscarf laws during the traditional mourning month of Muharram, despite an intensifying clampdown on violations of the Islamic Republic’s strict dress code for women. Muharram will culminate in Ashura on July 28, the holiest day on the Shia calendar, when worshipers traditionally gather for large demonstrations of high-scale mourning …

VOA – Yalda Moaiery has traveled to some of the most dangerous countries in the world in her 23-year career. She photographed the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and has covered conflict and natural disasters from Pakistan to Somalia. But it was while photographing protests in her home country of Iran last September that Moaiery was arrested, beaten and sent …

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO) – Mohammad Seifzadeh, a veteran lawyer and one of the founders of the Centre for the Defence of Human Rights in Iran, has been sentenced to a year behind bars for a letter he signed to António Guterres, the UN Secretary-General, calling for a reaction against the Islamic Republic’s execution machine. Judicial and security authorities started the extrajudicial …

Al-Monitor – A Kuwaiti oil official said on Thursday that the Gulf state will begin drilling in al-Durra disputed gas field, further complicating the dispute with Iran that also involves Saudi Arabia. Oil Minister Saad Al Barrak told Sky News Arabia that Kuwait will start drilling and begin production in the Durra field without waiting for the demarcation of its maritime border …