By Jubin Katiraie
In the 1980s, the Iranian authorities arrested the parents of human rights activist Ehsan Qaraee and, following a fatwa by then-supreme leader Ruhollah Khomeini, murdered his father.
Qaraee is now raising awareness of the 1988 massacre of 30,000 political prisoners, which Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have branded “crimes against humanity”, in order to get justice.
By Pooya Stone
Javaid Rehman, the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Iran, has said that there are increased restrictions on the rights to freedom of expression, liberty, and a fair trial in Iran, in a report entitled Situation of Human Rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, which was circulated to the UN General Assembly on August 16.
By Jubin Katiraie
For decades, Iranian women have been banned from entering sports stadiums because of the mullahs’ sexist laws, which have turned them into a key and visible battleground for the women of Iran against the misogynist mullahs.
Now, the World Football Federation (FIFA) has given the Iranian Federation until August 31 to determine whether women are to be allowed into sports stadiums. Dariush Mostafavi, head of the Football Federation’s Professional Licensing Appeals Committee, said that FIFA is “serious” that women should be able to enter sports stadiums in league games. This violation of FIFA’s non-discrimination principle could mean that the Iranian Federation is suspended and expelled from FIFA.
By Pooya Stone
A supposedly “reformist” political analyst said in Iran said that the ‘regime’ is at complete political dead end because the Iranian people “no longer cared about reformists and principlists”.
Sadegh Zibakalam, who was speaking on Tuesday at an event covered by the state-run IRNA News Agency, cited a chant denouncing both regime factions that became widespread at the start of the nationwide anti-government protests in December 2017 and told the crowd he was not at all happy about this outcome.
By Jubin Katiraie
The United Arab Emirates said that the Tuesday visit by the Yemeni Houthis to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei is yet more proof of the terror cell’s allegiance to the mullahs.
UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Anwar Gargash, tweeted: “Houthi relations with Iran, for long in search for proper designation, is clearer following their leadership’s meeting with Ayatollah Khamenei. Stated in black and white in their statement of fealty the Houthis are a proxy and that is the correct terminology.”
By Jubin Katiraie
On Tuesday, August 13, a young Iranian Ahvazi youth named Saeed Ebadi, from the Malachi area south of Ahvaz, hanged himself from a tree because of poverty and unemployment and dropping out of school.
According to other news, two young sisters in Tehran committed suicide three days later due to poverty and unemployment and severe economic pressure that forced even their 75-year-old father to work.
By Pooya Stone
In the first three months of the current Iranian year, the price of potatoes and onions has increased by more than 500 percent compared to the same period last year.
Statistics on the average price of crops and the cost of agricultural services during this spring shows that prices of onions, potatoes and tomatoes had the highest increase compared to the previous year, according to the state-run ISNA news agency, which quoted a report by the Iran’s statistic center. It said the average price of potatoes are about 36120 rials and onions 37130 rials, and tomatoes 22240 rials, which increased by 527.9, 539.2, and 221.6 percent respectively, compared to the same season last year.
By Jubin Katiraie
Amnesty International is urging people all over the world to protest the torture of a critically ill cancer patient and political prisoner being held in Iran’s Raja’i Shahr prison.
Arash Sadeghi, a human right defender, is being tortured by the Iranian authorities because they are purposefully denying him access to cancer treatment and causing severe pain and suffering. His right arm has become swollen, paralysed, and lost all sensation because of a serious post-operation infection that the authorities left untreated. He is also being denied critical bone marrow tests to see if his cancer has spread. In short, his life is being put at risk.
By Pooya Stone
Iran’s enriched uranium stockpile reached 370 kilograms on Tuesday, according to a statement by Behrouz Kamalvandi, spokesperson of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI).
Speaking on the sidelines of a ceremony to mark the construction of a research centre on separation and development of the applications of stable isotopes at Fordow nuclear facility in Qom, Kamalvandi said: “We are producing [enriched uranium] with a good capacity and our stockpile is 60 to 70 kilograms above the 300 kg [JCPOA limit] and this amount is growing fast.”
