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

Al-Arabia – Iranian dissident journalist Keyvan Samimi, imprisoned since December 2020, was released on Thursday, his family told AFP. Samimi, 74, had been sentenced to three years in prison for “plotting against national security.” “Samimi, who had been transferred last year to Semnan prison,” located nearly 200 kilometers (125 miles) east of Tehran, “was released this afternoon,” his family said. …

RFL/RE – The European Parliament on January 19 voted for Iran’s powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) to be added to the European Union’s list of terrorist organizations in “light of its terrorist activity, the repression of protesters, and its supplying of drones to Russia.” The vote was nonbinding, but it came amid calls by some European governments to blacklist …

RFL/RE – Iranian film producer Javad Norouzbeigi says a legal case has been filed against him due to the production of his banned prizewinning film, Leila’s Brothers. The semiofficial ISNA news agency quoted Javad Norouzbeigi as saying that he was summoned to the prosecutor’s office, “where the title of the accusation against me was the production of Leila’s Brothers.”Before its release last …

Iranwire – Abbas Dehghan, a member of Iran’s Gonabadi Dervish religious minority, was released after spending almost five years behind bars. Photos sent to IranWire show Dehghan’s relatives and a large group of Gonabadi dervishes, who are Sufi Muslims, welcoming him after his release from Tehran’s notorious Evin prison. Dehghan is a co-founder of Majzooban Noor, a website that covers …

Iranwire – IranWire recently reported that hundreds of Iranians have sustained severe eye injuries after being hit by pellets, tear gas cannisters, paintball bullets or other projectiles used by security forces amid a bloody crackdown on mainly peaceful anti-government demonstrations. The report concluded that such actions by the security forces could constitute a “crime against humanity,” as defined by Article 7 of …