May, 2021

• 8 May

  USCRIF : Religious Restrictions in Iran

  

  Shabtabnews – Since 1979 Iran’s government has shown a consistent disregard for the rights of religious minority communities who  run afoul of the government’s narrow interpretation of Shi’a Islam. Even the majority Shi’a Muslim population must adhere to the government’s religious doctrine of Leadership of the Jurist (vilayt e-faqih). Those with alternative or differing opinions have suffered harassment, surveillance, arrest, …

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• 8 May

  Three Jailed Iranian Journalists ‘Denied Appropriate Treatment’ For COVID

  

  RFL/RE – Reporters Without Borders (RSF) is urging Iranian authorities to release from prison three journalists who it said are being denied appropriate medical care after “almost certainly” catching COVID-19 while in detention. Baktash Abtin, Reza Khandan Mahabadi, and Kayvan Samimi Behbahani “must be freed at once,” the Paris-based media freedom watchdog said on May 7. Abtin and Mahabadi are members of the …

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• 8 May

  Sunni Extremists Terrorizing Residents in Iranian Kurdistan

  

  Iranwire – Iranian Kurds have long been subjected to injustice and discrimination by the Islamic Republic. Largely overlooked until recently, however, were the increasingly brazen violent acts committed against them by the Sunni jihadists unleashed in the region after the wars in Iraq and Syria. On May 1, extremists attacked a group of young people in a neighborhood in the …

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• 8 May

  Two New Coronavirus Variants Detected in Iran as Vaccines Delayed Again

  

  Iranwire – The fourth wave of coronavirus infections now appears to have subsided in most Iranian provinces. But the death toll remains high, at an officially-recorded 300 to 400 per day. Two other variants of SARS-CoV-2 first detected in India and South Africa have also reportedly entered Iran, with cases confirmed in the provinces of Hormozgan, Yazd, Bushehr and West …

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• 8 May

  Iran’s ‘Drug Terrorism’ Against Arabs

  

  gatestoneinstitute.org – While Israel is seeking to dissuade the Biden administration from rejoining the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran… Tehran’s mullahs and their Lebanese Hezbollah terror proxy are busy drowning the Arab countries with drugs. “Israel is far more honorable than the drug-dealers…. [The drug dealers’] ultimate goal is to destroy Saudi Arabia by every available means. They are smuggling …

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• 8 May

  No Ransom Payment for Iran

  

  newsweek.com – Iran’s state news agency reported a few days ago that the Biden administration has agreed to release $7 billion of frozen Iranian assets and four Iranian prisoners in exchange for four American prisoners falsely accused of espionage in Iran. While the Biden administration denied the report, Iranian security forces have reportedly already removed American prisoners from Evin Prison’s general ward …

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• 7 May

  Saudi official confirms talks with Iran, says too early to assess outcome

  

  Al-Arabia – A Saudi foreign ministry official said on Friday that talks between Saudi Arabia and Iran aim to reduce regional tensions but that it was too early to judge the outcome and Riyadh wanted to see “verifiable deeds”. For all the latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app. The comments by Ambassador Rayed Krimly, …

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• 7 May

  The Tragic Lives of Iranian Refugees in Turkey

  

  Iranwire – It has been more than a year since coronavirus spread around the world and since it was classified a pandemic. Although long-term quarantine policies to control the virus in some countries have reduced the spread of the virus and reduced the number of deaths, in many other countries, this is not the case. At the same time, governments and …

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• 7 May

  US Says Fate of Nuclear Pact Up to Iran as Talks Resume

  

  VOA – The Biden administration is signaling that Iran shouldn’t expect major new concessions from the United States as a new round of indirect nuclear talks is set to resume. A senior administration official told reporters Thursday that the U.S. has laid out the concessions it’s prepared to make in order to rejoin the landmark 2015 nuclear deal that former …

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• 7 May

  IRGC chief: Israel could be blown up in single operation

  

  Al-Monitor – “Israel could be blown up in a single operation,” said the commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Maj. Gen. Hossein Salami. Known for his harsh anti-Israeli rhetoric, Salami downplayed the Jewish state’s defenses as a security “bulb” that has been “burst” following a series of recent incidents. The Iranian commander enumerated Israel’s “vulnerabilities” in “domino-style” attacks, for which …

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• 7 May

  Major Sanctions Relief on Table for Iran, State Dept. Says

  

  freebeacon – The Biden administration is considering granting Iran significant economic sanctions relief, according to U.S. and Iranian officials, confirming that Iran is making headway in its demand that America unwind many of its most crippling measures. Negotiations with Iran in Vienna are centered around the scope and scale of sanctions relief, a State Department spokesman told the Washington Free Beacon, …

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• 6 May

  Baghdad residents celebrate removal of Iran’s Khomeini, Soleimani billboards

  

  Al-Arabia – Residents in Baghdad have been captured on camera cheering after billboards of Iran’s former and top leaders were torn down in the Iraqi capital, a Twitter video posted on Thursday showed. Protesters gathered in the Sunni-majority neighborhood of al-Adhmaya in Baghdad and chanted at the removal of large advertising structures featuring Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, former Supreme …

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• 6 May

  Iraqi President Confirms Several Rounds Of Iran-Saudi Talks

  

  RFL/RE – Iraqi President Barham Salih says his country has hosted multiple rounds of talks between Saudi and Iranian officials, confirming reports of diplomacy to defuse tensions between the Middle Eastern rivals. Talks were held “more than once,” Salih told an online discussion by the Beirut Institute think tank on May 5. He added the discussions were “important and significant,” …

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• 6 May

  Attacks on Houses of Worship and Religious Leaders in Burkina Faso

  

  Shabtabnews – USCIRF Releases New Report on Violent Islamist Groups in the Central Sahel Washington, DC – The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom today released the following new report on religious freedom violations committed by violent Islamist groups in the central Sahel region of west Africa: Central Sahel Factsheet (https://uscirf.us10.list-manage.com/track/click?u=4140491c2adff549668e45bcc&id=47fe45a552&e=bd32a99346)– Over the past half decade, violent Islamist groups …

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• 6 May

  Guardian Council Bypasses Parliament to Change Iran’s Election Rules

  

  Iranwire – With 44 days to go until the Iranian presidential election, the country’s powerful Guardian Council has abruptly intervened in proceedings in an act contrary to the Constitution. Without approving or notifying the Iranian parliament, the oversight body set new conditions on those who can stand as candidates. It communicated these apparent orders in a message to the Ministry of Interior, which manages the …

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• 6 May

  Khavaran: An Unmarked Graveyard Turned Battleground for Iran’s Future

  

  Iranwire – The name of Khavaran, a cemetery southwest of Tehran, has long been associated with the criminal history of the Islamic Republic. Many victims of the 1988 massacre of political prisoners, whose bodies were never identified or returned to their families, are buried here in unmarked, mass graves. The Iranian regime has tried time and again to wipe out any trace …

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• 6 May

  Report: Iran is One of the Biggest Non-US Sources of QAnon Conspiracy Theories

  

  Iranwire – The bizarre QAnon conspiracy theory flourished online throughout the pandemic, with proponents co-opting Covid-19 disinformation to fuel an ever-changing narrative. Followers of this baseless conspiracy theory believe a cabal of global elites are secretly running an international child trafficking ring. Adherents have been linked to a number of violent incidents including January’s deadly attack on the US capitol. …

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• 6 May

  Three ‘Suicides’ Force Punishing Treatment of Iranian Doctors into the Spotlight

  

  Iranwire – In recent days, news of the alleged suicides of three young doctors at Iran University of Medical Sciences tore through social media and horrified many observers. With the cases now being investigated, other medical students have spoken out about their experiences of constant strain, exploitation and isolation working under the Iranian Ministry of Health. IranWire spoke to three health workers …

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• 6 May

  Inmates left unattended amid spread of Coronavirus in Behbahan prison

  

  Iran-HRM – Dozens of inmates have contracted Covid-19 with the spread of the fourth wave of coronavirus in Behbahan Prison. An old prisoner died of Covid-19 in the prison. The prisoner, known as Abdullah Palang, died of shortness of breath in front of the prisoners at 5:00 AM. He was left unattended in prison and was cared for by his …

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• 6 May

  Two Brothers of Executed Iranian Wrestler Fear Same Fate

  

  CHRI – Eight months after an Iranian wrestler was unjustly executed in Shiraz, his brothers Vahid and Habib Afkari remain in prolonged solitary confinement in the same prison where they’ve also been tortured and threatened with execution, the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) has learned. “These brothers potentially witnessed the crimes committed against their brother and now they could also …

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• 6 May

  Iran’s president claims sanctions will soon be lifted

  

  Al-Monitor – Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said at a cabinet meeting today, “The sanctions have failed and if we remained united, the sanctions will soon be removed.” Iran and the members of the UN Security Council plus Germany are currently renegotiating the terms of the Iran nuclear deal known as Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. The United States exited the deal in 2018 and reapplied crippling …

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• 6 May

  The silence from powerful British Muslim organisations on Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and others is striking

  

  Inews – In 2016, British-Iranian charity worker Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was convicted of being a spy by an Iranian court. Until the Covid crisis, she was incarcerated in Tehran’s notorious Evin prison. She was then moved to her parents’ home with an ankle tag to complete her sentence. In April she was charged and convicted of “propaganda activities”. Her husband Richard Ratcliffe and his MP, Tulip …

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• 5 May

  I’m Not Sure When My Husband is Going to Die. But the Authorities Won’t Act

  

  Iranwire – United Nations human rights experts have called for the immediate release of documentary filmmaker and political activist Mohammad Nourizad, who is currently being held in Evin Prison. Stating that they feared for his life, the six special rapporteurs said in a statement published on May 4: “We strongly condemn the ill treatment of Mohammad Nourizad and the continuation of his …

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• 5 May

  Hassan Nasrallah ridiculed in social media video following Saudi drug bust

  

  Al-Arabia – Hezbollah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah was ridiculed on social media with a viral fake video depicting Nasrallah rolling a marijuana cigarette. The video emerged following news of a giant drug bust in Saudi Arabia of illicit narcotics traveling from Lebanon to the Kingdom. For all the latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app. Hezbollah, …

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• 5 May

  Iran made multiple attempts to bolster weapons of mass destruction program: Report

  

  Al-Arabia – Iran made several attempts to obtain technology in 2020 to bolster its weapons of mass destruction (WMD) program and consistently tried to develop atomic weapons, a new Dutch intelligence report found. For all the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app. The Netherlands ‘ General Intelligence and Security Service published a report in April which …

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• 5 May

  Arabs Warn West: Do Not Let Iran Fool You

  

  gatestoneinstitute.org – “Those who commit the same mistakes and expect different results are deceiving themselves.” — Abdullah bin Bajad Al-Otibi, Saudi writer and researcher, Alarabiya.net, April 19, 2021. After the deal expires in a few years…. Iran may build as many nuclear weapons as it wants. In that sense, the JCPOA deal was a runway to a full-blown nuclear weapons …

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• 5 May

  Habib Elghanian: Remembering a Jewish Leader and Iranian Patriot

  

  Iranwire – Karmel Melamed is an internationally published award-winning Iranian American journalist based in Southern California. In this article for IranWire, he examines the life and times of a Jewish Iranian entrepreneur and businessman whose contributions to all of Iran were brutally cut short after the Islamic Revolution. This Sunday, May 9 will mark the 42nd anniversary of the execution …

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• 5 May

  Terrorist Diplomat’s Sentence Finalized in Belgian Court

  

  Iranwire – The 20-year sentence of an Iranian diplomat for his part in a bomb plot in France has been finalised after his lawyers withdrew their appeal. Asadollah Asadi, who was formerly stationed at the Iranian embassy in Vienna, received the maximum jail sentence from a court in Antwerp, Belgium in February 2021 together with three other Iranian nationals for planning …

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• 5 May

  UN rights experts call on Iran to release jailed filmmaker

  

  Al-Monitor – A group of independent United Nations human rights experts on Tuesday called on Iran to release a jailed dissident filmmaker whose severe health complications put him at risk of death. “We are seriously concerned at the mistreatment of Mohammad Nourizad and his continued imprisonment for expressing his opinion,” the experts said, adding that his “case is emblematic of …

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• 5 May

  Executions in Iran: From Arrest to Proof of Guilt

  

  Iran Human Rights (IHR) – IHR’s Annual Report of the Death Penalty in Iran sets out the procedures in the issuance of death sentences by Iran’s judicial system. Read the full report (pdf) Access to lawyer Article 35 of the Iranian Constitution grants access to lawyers. The Criminal Procedure Code drafted in 2013 and the 2015 amendments address, among others, …

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