Iran Focus

Tehran, 16 Apr – Iran’s state-run media have published a rare acknowledgement of the severity of the poverty crisis that is rampant throughout Iran.

Deputy Interior Minister Morteza Mir-Bagheri was on 12 April quoted by the state-run Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA) as saying that the rate of unemployment has reached 70 percent in at least 1,200 Iranian towns.

Iran Focus

Tehran, 13 Apr – Shahindokht Molaverdi, Iran’s Vice President for Women and Family Affairs, has been summoned to the Prosecutor’s Office in order to explain remark she made about executions in the villages of Baluchistan and Sistan in the southeast of the country.

State-run news agency ISNA carried a statement from Gholam-Hossein Mohseni Eje’ii, a Judiciary spokesperson, which said: “Mrs. Molaverdi has been summoned and is due to report to the Prosecutor’s Office to explain about the file that has been opened”.

Iran Focus

London, 12 Apr – Photos from Iran show children suffering from Epidermolysis Bullosa (EB), also known as butterfly disease for its effect on the strength of the skin. The pictures have been published in several state-run websites since 5 April and highlight the lack of adequate healthcare in Iran.

Epidermolysis Bullosa is a group of connective tissue diseases that makes the skin incredibly fragile and susceptible to breaking from the slightest friction. The children in the pictures come from the south of Roudbar, south-eastern Iran. Five children, Zeinab, Yalda, Hamideh, Zahra, and Danial playing with toys or smiling with relatives feature in the series.

Iran Focus

Tehran, 12 Apr – A series of letters condemning the visit of Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi to Tehran have emerged from political prisoners of Iran. One letter, signed by political prisoners of Gohardasht Prison in Karaj, north west of Tehran, reminded the Italian delegation of the human rights violations perpetrated by the Iranian government and implored them to re-consider their engagement with what they called an “antihuman regime” with violent tendencies.

Iran Focus

London, 11 Apr – The opposition National Council of Resistance of Iran has called on the Italian Prime Minister, Matteo Renzi, to cancel his planned visit to Iran next Tuesday. The NCRI voiced concerns that human rights violations inside Iran were being ignored by Western and European leaders.

“The Iranian Resistance calls on Italian political parties, the Parliament, and human rights advocates to undertake urgent measures to encourage Prime Minister Renzi to condemn violations of human rights and export of terrorism by the Iranian regime and cancel his visit to Iran”, the NCRI said in a statement.

Iran Focus

Paris, 11 Apr – Maryam Rajavi, who heads the opposition coalition National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), has told French lawmakers that Iranian people seek regime change in Iran.

Addressing an event celebrating Nowruz, the Persian New Year, in the French National Assembly in Paris on Tuesday, 5 April, Rajavi wished the peoples of Iran and France a year of progress and advancements before setting out recommendations in the New Year for the Parliamentary Committee for a Democratic Iran.