Arseh Sevom – Over the years, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Basij have become increasingly active in the political sphere, interfering with the operation of free and fair elections with increasing prevalence. Under the guise of protecting the revolution, they have subverted electoral law with impunity. With each election, their meddling has become more brazen [...]
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In a bit of political drama, Saeed Mortazavi was arrested on February 7 and held for 24 hours. This came after Mahmoud Ahmadinejad played a tape recording of Ali Larijani’s (Speaker of Parliament) lesser known brother trying to use the status of his well-known family for financial gain. (You can read all about the encounter [...]
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In the wake of a crackdown on journalists in Iran combined with the harassment of their family and friends, no news is bad news. The Ministry of Intelligence promises there won’t be an end to the arrests until the entire network is revealed, claiming that those arrested are being arrested for collaborating with foreign forces rather than working as journalists. Exiled journalist Masih Alinejad bitterly jokes of babies begging their mothers not to give birth so that they can avoid detention. Saghi Laghaie warns people to not share any details about those arrested that could be used against them. “Avoid writing about your shared memories or dialogues as they might be used against them…”
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Declaring free elections without saying “free elections” The Supreme Leader of Iran, Ali Khamenei, shot himself in the foot last week when he called for an end to public demands for free elections, reported Radiofarda [en]. In response to comments made in recent weeks by figures such as former presidents Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and Mohammad [...]
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So Facebook is Halal all of a sudden?
Despite condemnation of social media, it appears that Ayatollah Khamenei now has his own Facebook page. Censorship is as active on Facebook as any other media in Iran — critical comments come down as fast as they go up. Read more to find out what kind of response there has been to the Supreme Leader’s new Facebook presence,
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Dr. Mohammad Maleki, former chancellor of the University of Tehran, is a long-time dissident. As the first post-revolution chancellor of the University of Tehran, he attempted to institute direct democratic management of the institution. Among other subjects, this letter refers to the destruction of that experiment, and his own imprisonment. While in prison during the 80s [...]
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Whose War is It? Supporting Palestinians is a foreign policy priority for Iran according to the spokesman for Iran’s Foreign Ministry, Ramin Mehmanparast. He added that it is the duty of Islamic countries to support Palestinians in Gaza and offer humanitarian aid. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrollah emphasized the point saying [fa], “Iran, Syria, and Hezbollah [...]
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The confetti has settled and the US elections are quickly fading into the background. Americans voted for President Obama on Tuesday the 6th November, sealing his re-election. In the most expensive election campaign in the history of United States, as the Center for Responsive Politics [en] reported, Obama won 332 electoral votes against 206 of [...]
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Arseh Sevom — Prominent lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh has been in prison in Iran since September 2010. Her defense of minors on death row as well as victims of human rights violations in Iran was repaid with loss of freedom and solitary confinement in Ward 209 of Evin Prison. Her charges included “activities against national security” [...]
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Arseh Sevom – The lives of six million patients in Iran are adversely affected due to shortages of medicine, as an immediate result of unprecedented sanctions. On top of the existing crippling sanctions, the European Union ministers agreed to a new set against Iran, on October 15, These new sanction ban the import of natural [...]
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More than 400 human rights defenders, civil society activists, journalists, and academics have written a letter to Ban Ki Moon asking him to visit Mir Hussein Mousavi when in Iran for the Non-Aligned Movement Summit. The text is published here in its entirety. Open Letter to Ban Ki Moon to meet with Mir Hussein Mousavi [...]
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