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

Al-Arabia – Iran appointed a new police chief for Tehran on Friday following an armed attack on the Azerbaijani embassy in the capital, though it was unclear if the appointment was influenced by the attack. Abbas-Ali Mohammadian has been named as the new police commander of Tehran, replacing Hossein Rahimi, who will now head a police department tasked with countering “economic crimes,” …

RFL/RE – A gathering of the families of drug-related prisoners sentenced to death in Iran has turned violent as law enforcement and security officers tried to break up the demonstration in front of the Ghezel Hesar prison near the capital, Tehran. The U.S.-based activist group HRANA reported that the families, holding placards with the slogan “No To Execution,” demanded a reduction in …

RFL/RE – Iranian political activist Arash Sadeghi, who is already in prison serving a 19-year sentence despite being diagnosed with cancer, has been handed another sentence of more than five years for his participation in protests over the death of a young woman in police custody. Ramin Safarnia, Sadeghi’s lawyer, said on Twitter on January 25 that his client was also banned from living …

Iranwire – Iranian security forces have set up fortified security posts and dug trenches across the south-eastern Iranian city of Zahedan in an apparent attempt to prevent residents from holding protests after Friday Prayers on January 27, the opposition activist collective 1500tasvir reports. Each week on Fridays, hundreds of people are taking to the streets of Zahedan and other cities …

Iranwire – Tehran was again the scene of anti-government rallies on Thursday night as Iran’s ruling clerics intensify their crackdown against opposition voices and ongoing nationwide protests. Following a widespread power outage in Parand, southwest of Tehran, residents came to the streets and chanted slogans against the government. People in several nerigborhoods in Tehran itself, including Ponak, Bagh-e-Faiz, Tehran Pars …