Middle East
Publisher: Tablet Mag
31 Dec 2014
How Iran Kept Its Jews
The fact that the Jewish community has shrunk to quarter of its original size speaks to the overall grim, mostly economic, realities of life not only for Jews or religious minorities, but for all Iranians who are not on the side of "them." ("They" and "them" are the insiders' reference to the regime.) The fact that the community, unlike most others in the region, did not vanish and continues to exist attests to a unique truth: Iranian Jews recognized that they had not been singled out to suffer in the aftermath of the fall of the Pahlavi dynasty in 1979. And, in many complex ways, they have sometimes fared better than, say, secular Iranians of Shiite descent, who stood in opposition to the regime.
Publisher: Iran Herald
27 Dec 2014
Iran expands ‘smart’ Internet censorship
Iran is to expand what it calls "smart filtering" of the Internet, a policy of censoring undesirable content on websites without banning them completely, as it used to, the government said on Friday. The Islamic Republic has some of the strictest controls on Internet access in the world, but its blocks on U.S.-based social media such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube are routinely bypassed by tech-savvy Iranians using virtual private networks (VPNs). Under the new scheme, Tehran could lift its blanket ban on those sites and, instead, filter their content.
Publisher: Business Insider
26 Dec 2014
Rouhani’s Facade Is Crumbling
Publisher: Iran Human Rights
23 Dec 2014
Baha’is Have No Citizenship Rights, Says Grand Ayatollah
A high-ranking cleric and Khomeini-era member of the Supreme Judicial Council has told Fars News Agency that Baha is are not entitled to citizenship rights. The statement was made only weeks after Mohammad Javad Larijani, Head of the Iranian Judiciary s Human Rights Council, denied the systematic denial of Baha is right to higher education.
Publisher: BBC
10 Dec 2014
Can Iran ‘control’ its cohabiting couples?
Publisher: American Thinker
6 Dec 2014
Iran’s Future will be Shaped by Women
The recent spike in discrimination against women by the regime and regime-backed forces betrays Tehran s fear of women, who are the driving force behind change in Iran and the fight against Islamic fundamentalism, the bedrock of the Iranian regime. After Hassan Rouhani assumed office as the Iranian regime s president in 2013, suppression and restrictions against women have been exacerbated, including in the fields of arts, sports, education, and work. The measures were aimed at driving women out of public affairs and circumenting challenges to the state.
Publisher: Persian2English
3 Dec 2014
People like Qasem Soleimani are one of the main reasons why ISIS came to be
The fact that Soleimani s photo is on the front cover of a credible publication seems to be enough for a number of us to feel honoured and proud, regardless of the fact that the policies of the Islamic Republic in the region - which have been carried out by individuals like Soleimani - are one of the main reasons why Syria is up in flames, more than a hundred thousand people have been killed, millions of people have been displaced, and ISIS came to be. Never mind that the misery of the people in Iran today is because of individuals like Soleimani.
Publisher: NYTimes
21 Nov 2014
Beyond Iran Nuclear Talks, Real Hurdles May Be in Tehran
Iran s hard-liners, powerful but largely unknown in the West, organized one of several recent meetings criticizing a potential agreement. The target of their worries, as they put it, were those advocating a deal. My brothers, we are in danger, one of the conference organizers, Ali Hassanzadeh, told an audience of conservative lawmakers, activists and hundreds of their most loyal supporters. A video was played portraying the moderate president, Hassan Rouhani, and his negotiators as gullible and conned by the United States. A bad deal will be unacceptable, Mr. Hassanzadeh concluded
Publisher: BBC
17 Nov 2014
Iran disbars ex-Tehran prosecutor Saeed Mortazavi
A hard-line former chief prosecutor of Tehran has been disbarred and banned for five years from all positions in the Iranian government. The Supreme Court upheld a lower court ruling which found that Saeed Mortazavi ordered the torture of at least three protesters who died in custody in 2009. He rejected the accusations. Until his trial last year, he was head of Iran's social welfare organisation. Mr Mortazavi, 46, has been fiercely criticised by reformists. He played a dominant role in the judiciary from 2003 when he was appointed chief prosecutor general Tehran until 2009, when the government put down student protests against the controversial re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
Publisher: The Times of Israel
17 Nov 2014
Iran TV airs cleric’s threats to raze Tel Aviv, target US bases
n a sermon carried on state TV, an Iranian cleric threatened that his country will raze Tel Aviv and Haifa to the ground and target US bases. Ayatollah Ali Movahedi-Kermani, whose Friday sermon was translated on Sunday by MEMRI, a US-based media watchdog group, spoke extensively about Iran s ballistic missile capabilities. Movahedi-Kermani claimed that Tehran would use Iranian-made Sejjil missiles against Israel as a defensive deterrent if Jerusalem ever decided to attack the Islamic Republic.
Publisher: Economist
1 Nov 2014
The Revolution is over
Changes in Iran make a nuclear deal more likely - not this month, perhaps, but eventually. Much that Iran does is wrong. It finances terrorists and militias in Lebanon and the Palestinian territories and backs the murderous regime of Bashar Assad in Syria. Its politicians routinely deny Israel s right to exist. They treat opponents at home with cruelty and injustice. However Iran is not a straightforward dictatorship. The supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has the last word. But his role is to adjudicate between the claims of an elite made up of thousands of politicians, clerics, generals, academics and business people.
Publisher: UT SanDiego
Author: David Ignatius
31 Oct 2014
A new voice in Iranian nuclear talks
An intriguing new figure is gaining prominence in the Iranian government just as regional conflicts in Iraq and Syria intensify and nuclear talks with the West move toward a Nov. 24 deadline. The newly prominent official is Ali Shamkhani, the head of Iran's national security council. "In contrast to Iranian foreign ministry officials, Shamkhani is a former Revolutionary Guard [IRGC] commander who has the clout to challenge his former comrades," argues Karim Sadjadpour, a leading Iran expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. A European intelligence official agrees that Shamkhani may be "an honest broker" between Rouhani and Khamenei.
Publisher: Free Beacon
27 Oct 2014
Iran Amputating Limbs, Burning Political Opponents
Iran executed a record-shattering 411 citizens in the first half of 2014 and a total of 852 people in the last 15 months, including at least eight juveniles, according to a new United Nations report that will be introduced to the organization's General Assembly Tuesday. In addition to a surge in state-sanctioned killings that a U.N. official referred to as "shocking," Iran continues to torture imprisoned individuals using techniques such as amputation, electroshock, flogging, and burnings, according to the report, which details human rights in the Islamic Republic.
Publisher: Al Jazeera
25 Oct 2014
Iran hangs woman despite international uproar
Iran has executed a 26-year-old woman convicted for killing a man whom she said tried to sexually abuse her. Reyhaneh Jabbari was arrested in 2007 for the murder of Morteza Abdolali Sarbandi, a former employee of Iran s Ministry of Intelligence. She was hanged at dawn on Saturday, the official IRNA news agency quoted the Tehran prosecutor's office as saying
Publisher: Iran News Update
20 Oct 2014
Despite Evidence, Iran Denies Human Rights Abuses and Regional Inteference
On Friday, Turkish Weekly reported that Mohammad Javad Larijani, the secretary of Iran s High Council for Human Rights, had taken to Iranian television to deny the country s various human rights abuses. This came shortly after Iran denied entry into the country for Ahmed Shaheed, the UN s Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran.
Publisher: BBC
20 Oct 2014
Four arrests over acid attacks against women in Iran
Iranian police have arrested four men suspected of involvement in multiple acid attacks against women last week. Reports suggest there have been at least four such attacks in Isfahan, Iran's third-largest city. Others place the figure as high as 11. Hardliners within Iran's conservative-dominated parliament have been trying for the past few months to pass a bill that would protect vigilantes trying to enforce Islamic law.
Publisher: The Guardian
10 Oct 2014
Iran blocks Instagram account of ‘rich kids’ showing off wealth in Tehran
Hafte-Sobh newspaper took aim at "a class of young people who stubbornly and with the backup of their wealth, are having fun and live their own special way of life, and the Iranian system cannot touch them." Taadol newspaper poured scorn on "a class of nouveau riche who cropped up like mushrooms" during the 2005-2013 presidency of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Publisher: The Guardian
10 Oct 2014
Iran blocks Instagram account of ‘rich kids’ showing off wealth in Tehran
Hafte-Sobh newspaper took aim at "a class of young people who stubbornly and with the backup of their wealth, are having fun and live their own special way of life, and the Iranian system cannot touch them." Taadol newspaper poured scorn on "a class of nouveau riche who cropped up like mushrooms" during the 2005-2013 presidency of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Publisher: Business Insider
6 Oct 2014
Supreme Leader’s Health Raises Questions About Iranian Succession
Images of Iran s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei appearing frail and in bed have raised questions about the seriousness of his condition, and who might eventually succeed him. In early September, Khamenei made a surprise announcement that he was having surgery and asked people to pray for his health. What followed was unprecedented in the 35-year history of the Islamic Republic.
Publisher: The Times of Israel
6 Oct 2014
The immodest Rich Kids of Tehran
You may have heard about the Rich Kids of Instagram, an infamous group of ultra-wealthy youth who post pictures of the fabulous cars, glamorous yachts, and watches their parents have purchased for them. It is notable that these young Iranians appear to be flaunting their wealthy and obviously-Western-influenced lifestyle to the world without fear of repercussions from Iran's government, which is known to crack down on citizens engaging in what the regime deems subversive activities. Recently, seven Iranians were sentenced to prison sentences (since suspended) for uploading a video of themselves dancing to Pharell s music video "Happy."
Publisher: National Post
30 Sep 2014
Israel didn’t assassinate Iranian physicist in 2007 – Revolutionary Guard did, sister says
When Iranian nuclear physicist Ardeshir Hosseinpour was gassed to death in 2007, the finger of suspicion was immediately pointed at Israel. Now, his sister claims he was murdered by Iran s Revolutionary Guard (IRI) because he would not cooperate with its efforts to divert nuclear work from peaceful purposes to building an atomic bomb. If Mahboobeh Hosseinpour s account can be confirmed, it could affect the next round of nuclear negotiations between Iran and the P5+1, the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany
Publisher: The Economic Times
28 Sep 2014
Iran builds surface-to-surface missile
Publisher: Fars News
22 Sep 2014
Judiciary Spokesman: UN Chief’s Report on Human Rights Conditions in Iran “Ridiculous”
Ban Ki-moon's annual report on human rights in Iran expressed concern at executions in the country and what it called the limitations imposed on the press. In response Iranian officials blasted Ban Ki-moon's report to the UN General Assembly as "unjust" and "biased". Secretary of Iran's Human Rights Council Mohammad Javad Larijani strongly criticized the UN chief for presenting an insulting report on the human rights conditions in Iran. "One of the West's tactics for inducing the wrong ideas against those countries that are not conforming to its interests is repeating the same lie in different shapes and by different means," Larijani said, addressing a forum of Iran's Human Rights Council in Tehran last week.
Publisher: Payvand
22 Sep 2014
Water Shortage Arrives In Tehran Khamenei Authorizes Use of 10 Billion Dollars
While water shortage is not a new phenomenon in Iran, some specialists have said that this issue has a 17 year history. A report last week indicated that this shortage is not confined to Tehran but to a total of 12 large cities in the country. During the last few months a number of reports had warned that various Iranian cities faced a water shortage and were struggling with its consequences. Social networks in Iran had launched a virtual campaign to educate people to conserve on their water usage to avoid an extensive crisis.
Publisher: Iran Liberty
20 Sep 2014
17 prisoners executed in one day, 5 in public
On Thursday, September 17, 2014, at least 17 prisoners were hanged in cities across Iran, including five in public. The executions were carried out in cities of Shiraz, Marvdasht, Kerman and Bandar Abbas. A group of four prisoners were hanged in public in Shiraz while another group of eight sent to gallows in Shabab Prison in city of Kerman. The Thursday s executions followed reports of more executions that had been carried out in other cities in Iran. A group of seven young men, mostly in their 20s, were executed on September 10 in cities of Karaj and Hamadan.
Publisher: weekly standard
Author: Stephen Schwartz
16 Sep 2014
More arbitary Repression in Iran
The Islamic Republic of Iran remains the worst global example of capricious interference by Muslim theocrats in the personal and spiritual lives of its citizens. On September 9, as reported by the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran (ICHRI), seven young Iranians went on trial. Their supposed crime? Producing a dance video of the Pharrell Williams s pop hit "Happy" and uploading it to YouTube.
Publisher: Economist
14 Sep 2014
Jon Stewart and Iran: Highlighting the lot of journalists
Jon Stewart's movie Rosewater tells the story of Maziar Bahari, Iranina Candaian Journalist imprisoned in the aftermath of the 2009 disputed elections. The country's clerical rulers say the protests in the poll's aftermath were an attempt at sedition led by America and Israel. Hundreds of activists remain in jail.
Publisher: aawsat
12 Sep 2014
Radical group gears up to begin morality patrols
Publisher: Frontpage Mag
9 Sep 2014
Iran’s Quiet Military Build Up
Iran s covert activities appear to be continuing unabated in countries such as Syria and Iraq. Despite Iran s public denials, for example, other information suggests Iran is increasingly involved, along with Lebanese Hizballah, in the Syria conflict. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force (IRGC-QF) remains a key tool of Iran s foreign policy and power projection, in Syria and beyond. IRGC-QF has continued efforts to improve its access within foreign countries and its ability to conduct terrorist attacks.
Publisher: Iran Human Rights
4 Sep 2014
Gender Segregation Gains Momentum in Iran: Women Prohibited from More Jobs
The accelerated efforts to restrict women s access to jobs, professions, and public venues continue in Iran. In the latest announcement, Colonel Khalil Helali, Head of the Public Buildings Office of the Iranian Police, said on August 30, 2014, that henceforth women are not allowed employment in coffee shops, coffee houses, and traditional Iranian restaurants. No laws or reasons were cited as the basis for the decision to bar women from having such jobs.
Publisher: FT
21 Aug 2014
Dried out
Poor planning, populist policies and drought have contributed to a critical water shortage. The water that disappeared - a result largely of mismanagement and overuse rather than drought - is stored at the Zayandeh Roud dam and diverted for domestic and industrial consumption, leaving the city s 11 river bridges standing as symbols of what is missing
Publisher: The Iran Project
7 Aug 2014
Iran Policeman Gets 3 Years Over Death of Blogger
ISNA said the policeman was sentenced to three years in jail, 74 lashes and two years of internal exile in the remote southern town of Borazjan. The prison time was for assaulting Beheshti and the lashes were for insulting and cursing the blogger. ISNA quoted Giti Pourfazel, a lawyer hired by Beheshti's mother, as saying the sentence was too light considering the nature of the crime. "While journalists are sentenced to six years in this country, it's surprising that a murderer is sentenced to three years in jail," the lawyer was quoted by ISNA as saying.
Publisher: Middle East Eye
4 Aug 2014
Iran: one year under Rouhani
"Prices are still high and girls are being bothered again about their veils," she said, referring to Iran's morality police who have taken to the streets in the sweltering summer heat to ensure women comply with clothing regulations. - Meanwhile, international human rights organisations have decried the rise in executions since Rouhani took office, while the sentencing of journalists and activists who were apprehended during the Ahmadinejad era for political reasons continue under Rouhani s watch. Domestic news media has become more openly critical of the government, but a number of reformist-minded journalists have been detained in recent months.
Publisher: The Guardian
31 Jul 2014
Six judges accused of leading role in Iranian crackdown on free speech
The six judges are accused of losing their judicial impartiality and overseeing miscarriages of justice in trials in which scores of journalists, lawyers, political activists and members of Iran's ethnic and religious minorities have been condemned to lengthy prison terms, lashes and even execution. Those accused are judges Abolghassem Salavati and Mohammad Moghiseh, former justices Yahya Pirabbasi and Hassan Zareh Dehnavi (known as judge Haddad), and appeal judges Hassan Babaee and Ahmad Zargar.
Publisher: Iran Human Rights
28 Jun 2014
Mass execution of 11 prisoners in Ghezelhesar Prison of Iran
Publisher: Persian2English
11 Jun 2014
Execution and Extortion
Iranian authorities have reportedly asked for money in exchange for the bodies of two executed prisoners. In May 2014 two brothers, Abdol Jamal Zehi, 26, and Hamid Jamal Zehi, 22, were reportedly hanged to death in Chabahar Prison in southern Iran on drug trafficking charges. Iranian authorities reportedly refused to hand over the bodies of these two young men until their family paid 11 million Tomans (approximately $4,000).
Publisher: International Campaign for Human Rights
29 May 2014
New Details Emerge on Coercion of “Happy” Youths During Detention
The morality police pressured the participants in the "Happy in Tehran" video during their detention to implicate Reyhaneh Taravati and Sassan Soleimani and file complaints against them, the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran has learned. "They threatened them with a gun. They put a gun to the head of one of the detainees and told him if they did not cooperate they would kill them and get rid of their bodies so that no one would find them."
Publisher: Persian2English
22 May 2014
Propaganda Activist for Iran’s Dictatorship: Men have the right to rape unveiled women
Attempting to spread fear among Iranian civil society, *Tasnim, a state-run news agency in Iran controlled and operated by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corp (IRGC), interviewed Hadi Sharifi, a "media activist" (I.e. Regime propaganda activist), who attempted to send the message to campaign supporters: stop, or else.
Publisher: Huffington Post
21 May 2014
Young Iranians Arrested For Dancing In ‘Happy’ Pharrell Video
Sources report that seven to eight young Iranians have been arrested in Tehran, for the simple crime of being "Happy." Three men and three women danced unveiled to Pharrell Williams' smash hit in a video that was widely shared on social media, garnering over 30,000 views before it was taken down. Copies have been quickly re-uploaded as news of the arrest has broken, sparking the hashtag #FreeHappyIranians.
Publisher: Rooz Online
13 May 2014
The Smell of Blood Was Everywhere
We all know that many men and women have been the victims of the excesses of the first decade of the life of the Islamic republic in the 1980s. They learned of the regime and its nature through the horrendous and frightful excesses and transgressions of people like Evin Prison s butcher Lajevardi and "brother Hamid." And despite the passage of two decades, these victims continue to suffer from the pain that was inflicted on them and their soul then. This pain manifests itself and even explodes with the slightest trigger. It oozes out pain and suffering, and in some cases throws itself on the walls of Ward 350 of Evin Prison today. This is the place where torture, beatings and violence of all forms rules. The perpetrators of this violence are the "brothers" and pseudo religious men who have not been quenched even after their thirty plus years of blood sucking.
Publisher: The Washington Post
12 May 2014
Women addicted to drugs in Iran begin seeking treatment despite taboo
The bulk of Afghan opium passes through Iran before it hits the global market, and that access has long contributed to addiction rates that are among the highest in the world. Now they are dramatically rising, particularly among women. Government agencies and international bodies provide conflicting statistics, but Iran s Drug Control Headquarters estimates that 3 million of Iran s 76 million citizens are addicts, more than 700,000 of them women - double the number two years ago.
Publisher: Trend.Az
14 Apr 2014
Suicide rate increase among youth in Iran
Every day in Iran 11 people committed suicide, according to news portal alef.ir citing official statistics. Around 3,125 people committed suicide in Iran fist nine month of the year (the year ends on March 21), among them 982 women and 2,143 men. Most suicides occurred in the provinces of Tehran, Gilan and Kirmanshah, least of all - in the provinces of South Khorasan, North Khorasan, Kohgiluya and Boyer-Ahmad.
Publisher: Rooz Online
10 Apr 2014
IRGC and Ministry of Intelligence told Kidnappers to Kill the Guards
The kidnapping of five Iranian border guards by Jeish al-Adl, the execution of one of them the release of the remaining four because of the efforts of cleric Molavi AbdolHamid, the Sunni Friday prayer leader of the border town of Zahedan and other local clerics made me pursue an interview with Abdol Raoof Righi, the spokesman of the group. He said that the group released the remaining guards without its demands because of the stature that AbdolHamid and other Sunni clerics enjoyed among the locals.
Publisher: VOA
7 Apr 2014
Iran’s Water Crisis Threatens its Future
A looming water crisis in Iran has officials warning of water rationing for the capital Tehran. The Mehr news agency quotes Khosro Erteghaei, the head of Tehran s regional water company as saying water levels at the four reservoirs that serve Tehran are at a critical level. He warns that if residents of Tehran and nearby provinces do not reduce their consumption "we will have a problem."
Publisher: Reuters
5 Apr 2014
Spike in Iran executions seen politically motivated
Since president Hassan Rouhani, a relative moderate in Iran, took office last August, there has been a surge in executions: at least 537 people have been executed in the past eight months, nearly 200 of them since the beginning of this year, according to figures compiled by the Iran Human Rights Documentation Center. That compares with a total for 2013 of 624, according to data gathered by the United Nations. Some human rights activists and others fear that those who oppose Rouhani and his negotiations with Western powers over the country s nuclear programme are pushing the executions to weaken him.
Publisher: International Campaign for Human Rights
19 Mar 2014
Left Behind By Iranian Delegation in Geneva, Larijani Attacks the UN from Tehran
Mohammad Javad Larijani, Head of the Iranian Judiciary s Human Rights Council, told reporters in Iran that the consecutive reports issued by the UN regarding the Islamic Republic s human rights records are propaganda tools used by the country s enemies. The UN Human Rights Council in Geneva is preparing to vote on whether to extend the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran late next week.
Publisher: NYTimes
1 Feb 2014
Its Great Lake Shriveled, Iran Confronts Crisis of Water Supply
After driving for 15 minutes over the bottom of what was once Iran s largest lake, a local environmental official stepped out of his truck, pushed his hands deep into his pockets and silently wandered into the great dry plain, as if searching for water he knew he would never find. Experts cite climate change, wasteful irrigation practices and the depletion of groundwater supplies as leading factors in the growing water shortage. In the case of Lake Urmia, they add the completion of a series of dams that choked off a major supply of fresh water flowing from the mountains that tower on either side of the lake.
Publisher: Reuters
31 Jan 2014
Arrest of Billionaire Highlights Political Divisions in Iran
Under the conservative presidency of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the 39-year-old Zanjani was good enough at his work to amass a fortune of $10 billion - along with debts of a similar scale, he told Aseman - until he was arrested late last month. He is being held in Tehran's notorious Evin prison, accused of owing the government, under moderate new President Hassan Rouhani since August, more than $2.7 billion for oil sold on behalf of the oil ministry.
Publisher: Huffington Post
24 Jan 2014
Organization That Seizes Properties Of Ordinary Iranians Key To Ayatollah Khamenei’s Power
The organization that has hounded was founded by Khomeini "Setad Ejraiye Farmane Hazrate Emam" - Headquarters for Executing the Order of the Imam - to manage and sell properties abandoned in the chaotic years after the 1979 Islamic Revolution. has become one of the most powerful organizations in Iran, though many Iranians, and the wider world, know very little about it. In the past six years, it has morphed into a business juggernaut that now holds stakes in nearly every sector of Iranian industry, including finance, oil, telecommunications, the production of birth-control pills and even ostrich farming. The organization's total worth is difficult to pinpoint because of the secrecy of its accounts. But Setad's holdings of real estate, corporate stakes and other assets total about $95 billion, Reuters has calculated. That estimate is based on an analysis of statements by Setad officials, data from the Tehran Stock Exchange and company websites, and information from the U.S. Treasury Department.