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#Iran — Ssshh…People are Dying Here
Arseh Sevom- This week’s review is unfortunately focused on the treatment of political prisoners in Iran. Events of the past months demand this. The season marking the anniversary of the taking of the American Embassy seems to endanger Iran’s homegrown activis
#Iran — Executions and Ideological Struggles
Arseh Sevom — The ideological struggle between reform and restriction is being played out in many arenas in Iran. Last week, hardliners hung billboards opposing negotiation with the West, this week they were taken down and replaced with less combative messages
#Iran: Let’s Make a (Nuclear) Deal
Arseh Sevom — Nuclear negotiations are eclipsing other news in Iran. There are hopes that an agreement can be reached and that at least some of the sanctions will be relaxed. Attention to foreign relations seems to have left the Rouhani administration with lit
Azerbaijan: Rebuilding Culture from the Ruins
Arseh Sevom — In the first of a two-part article documenting his conversation with Azeri opposition member “O.”, Arturo Desimone uncovers a movement struggling to reclaim its heritage of critical thinking. It does this through education, translations, and soci
#Iran — Has the Time Come for a Thaw in Relations with Its Own People?
Pay no attention to the executions behind the curtainArseh Sevom — In this week’s overview, we learn that the short term political aims of sanctions have long term effects on the most vulnerable. Improved relations may actually lead to some ease in US sanction
Taking Witness Testimony
Gissou Nia, the director of the Iran Human Rights Documentation Center, talked to Arseh Sevom about best practices for interviewing to document human rights violations. This post presents a brief overview of the key points. This does not cover all the points m
Event: Does the #CyrusCylinder Still Speak to Us Today
On October 10, 2013 Hirad Abtahi, first legal adviser of the Presidency of the International Criminal Court, will be speaking to The World Affairs Council of Orange County as part of the panel discussion “Light from the Ancient Past: Does the Cyrus Cylinder St
#Iran — Is Rouhani The One
Arseh Sevom—Could Hassan Rouhani be The One? Since Rouhani’s inauguration, a number of prisoners of conscience have been released, a more than thirty year freeze in relations between the US and Iran defrosting, and hopes raised. Some of the sanctions have been
#Iran — The Smell of Change
Arseh Sevom — As we were getting ready to post this week’s review, we heard the good news that Nassrin Sotoudeh and eight other political prisoners had been released from prison. Author Pejman Majidzadeh’s nose must really be filled with the smell of change no