By Pooya Stone
Amnesty International has released a statement condemning the recent comments by a senior Iranian official defending the 1988 prison massacres and pointing out that the comments confirm that the regime has been breaking international human rights laws for over 30 years and give a sense of the sense of impunity those involved have been enjoying.
By Jubin Katiraie
Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) announced that it has “demolished” a network of all-female “western-style” parties in Hamadan, western Iran.
The IRGC forces in Hamadan, which is the ancient city of Ecbatana, did not divulge the exact location of the parties, the numbers of guests arrested, or what has happened to those still held in prison. They only said that 20 of the detainees were released after being disciplined, lectured, and guided to the “right path”. It is not known whether disciplined in this case refers to a warning or some sort of corporal punishment.
By Pooya Stone
The US has increased diplomatic pressure on Germany to join efforts to protect the Strait of Hormuz from Iranian threats after Iran seized a British oil tanker earlier this month.
US embassy spokeswoman Tamara Sternberg-Greller said in a statement: “We’ve formally asked Germany to join France and the UK to help secure the Strait of Hormuz and combat Iranian aggression. Members of the German government have been clear that freedom of navigation should be protected… Our question is, protected by whom?”
By Jubin Katiraie
Recently, an internal source in Iran disclosed a series of details about a mastermind, plotter, and operator of recent attacks against oil tankers in Gulf of Oman. Details explain that the IRGC’s forces shifted missiles widely in southern Iranian coasts to target foreign interests for lift the spirits of IRGC, after its blacklisting by the U.S.
By Pooya Stone
A former Royal Navy officer has criticised former Prime Minister Theresa May for an “appalling” response to the Iran tanker standoff, saying that it failed to convince the EU or the US to support the UK in retaliatory action.
Rear-Admiral Chris Parry also laid into former Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, saying that his “muddled thinking” of assuming the EU would support his plan without consulting the countries first, meant that the UK lost the support of Iran’s biggest enemy, the US.
By Jubin Katiraie
GitHub, the world’s largest host of source code, has abruptly blocked access to the private code repositories and paid accounts of developers or companies in Iran, Cuba, North Korea, Crimea, and Syria to comply with US trade sanctions, but this has caused an outcry from developers who unexpectedly lost their work.
By Pooya Stone
Hundreds of retired Iranian teachers gathered outside the Islamic Republic’s Majles (parliament) and offices of Plan and Budget Organization (PBO) in Tehran on Sunday, July 28, to protest their treatment and demand that their pensions be adjusted because of the current economic crisis.
The angry pensioners chanted: “Teachers Die, But Will Never Accept Abjection!” and “We Will Not Step Back, Until Receiving Our Bonuses!”
By Jubin Katiraie
Over 3,000 Iranians marched in London on Saturday to call on the UK to place a number of Iranian entities on the terror watch list, as tensions rise between the two nations over tanker seizures.
The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) organised the protest to urge Britain to impose sanctions against the Iranian regime, as well as list the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence (MOIS), and the Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei’s office as terrorist entities.
By Pooya Stone
The UK rejected the idea of a tanker swap with Iran on Monday, with Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab saying it’s not a “quid pro quo” situation.
He refused to release the Iranian oil tanker captured by British forces near Gibraltar, which was suspected of violating EU sanctions on Syria, in exchange for Iran releasing the British-flagged Stena Impero ship it seized in the Gulf and accused, without evidence, of breaking maritime law by turning off its navigation and hitting an Iranian fishing vessel.
By Jubin Katiraie
Political prisoner Peiman Mirzazadeh has begun a hunger strike in protest against the very poor treatment he has been subjected to.
Peiman Mirzazadeh was arrested in 2017 by security agents. He was charged with “spreading propaganda against the state” because he was heard singing songs that voice support for a dissident group. Mirzazadeh was not allowed to consult a lawyer and was eventually sentenced to 6 months imprisonment.
