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

gatestoneinstitute.org – Since 1979, when the mullahs seized power, Iran has topped the list of countries hit by “brain drain”. However, what was a sectoral hemorrhage may now become a general bleeding affecting other sectors of the population. The study shows that the desire to flee Iran isn’t caused by economic hardship, unemployment or inflation. It is not the poor …

VOA – A loud explosion at a military plant in Iran’s central city of Isfahan was caused by an “unsuccessful” drone attack, Iranian state media reported Sunday, citing the defense ministry. “One of (the drones) was hit by the … air defense and the other two were caught in defense traps and blew up. Fortunately, this unsuccessful attack did not …

VOA – Iranian Olympic skier Atefeh Ahmadi has quit her home country and applied for asylum in Germany, a Persian-language media outlet outside Iran reported Saturday, publishing an emotional interview with the athlete. Ahmadi, in her early 20s, was the only Iranian woman to qualify for last year’s Beijing Winter Games. “I left Iran to reach my goal, but my …

Amnesty – The Iranian authorities must immediately quash the unjust convictions and death sentences of three young protesters who were subjected to gruesome torture including floggings, electric shocks, being hung upside down and death threats at gunpoint, Amnesty International said today. The organization learned that Revolutionary Guards agents raped one of them and sexually tortured another by placing ice on …

Iranwire – Iran’s leading Sunni cleric has spoken against the Islamic Republic’s extensive use of capital punishment, saying that the Iranian people are “against the death penalty.” “The Iranian nation condemns executions and doesn’t want executions anywhere in Iran or in the world,” Molavi Abdolhamid said in his Friday prayer sermon on January 27, amid a bloody crackdown by the …