By Pooya Stone
Social media company Twitter has suspended several accounts belonging to Iranian news agencies for their alleged harassment of people who follow the Baha’i faith; a persecuted religious minority in Iran.
On Saturday, state-run news agencies IRNA and Mehr, as well as Young Journalists Club (YJC), run by state broadcaster IRIB, were just some of the Farsi-language accounts suspended on Saturday, while Fars agency and English-language Press TV remain active.
By Jubin Katiraie
British Prime Minister Theresa May will chair a meeting of the government’s emergency committee COBRA today following Iran’s seizure of a British-flagged tanker in the Gulf, where she will receive updates from ministers and officials, as well as discuss how to maintain the security of shipping in the area.
By Pooya Stone
Irish senator John Perry urged the Swedish government to distance itself from the regime in power in Iran by supporting the democratic alternative to the regime.
Mr. Perry was addressing a 5000 strong rally by Iranian expatriates in Stockholm in support of democratic change in Iran by the Iranian resistance movement.
By Jubin Katiraie
The situation for political prisoners in Iran is worsening. The Iranian authorities are under immense pressure – both on the international and domestic fronts – and it is trying desperately to keep a lid on the palpable discontent at home.
Political prisoners have been systematically mistreated over the course of the past four decades under the clerical authorities’ rule and despite international calls for prison regulations to be reformed, they are continuing to be tortured and assaulted in prison.
By Pooya Stone
In spite of the summer vacation, the Iranian diaspora in northern Europe is preparing for another show of solidarity with the social movement inside Iran.
A big demonstration is scheduled for tomorrow Saturday in Stockholm’s Kungstradgarden early in the afternoon. This is the fourth such event to take place during less than a month, with the last such big gathering in Berlin having grouped more than 15000 people on July 6. Although organizers in Stockholm admit not awaiting such a huge number of participants given the size of Iranian presence in Sweden compared to that in Germany, nonetheless they expect no less than 5000 people attending as the community is well mobilized in whole Scandinavia for the event.
By Pooya Stone
A state-run news agency in Iran has reported that a 17-year-old boy has been sentenced to 100 lashes for a crime he allegedly did not commit. The ROKNA news agency said that he was sentenced to the lashes on 15th July, accused of abusing an 11-year-old boy in the city of Tehran. But the boy’s parents had retracted the complaint against the boy, but the Iranian Judiciary refused to cancel the sentence.
By Jubin Katiraie
The UK is worried about a British-Iranian aid worker wrongfully jailed in Iran and recently transferred to the mental ward of a public hospital and called for her release on Wednesday.
Prime Minister Theresa May’s spokesman said: “We are extremely concerned about Nazanin [Zaghari-Ratcliffe]’s welfare and call for her immediate release. We urge Iran to allow family members to visit her and check on her care.”
By Pooya Stone
Iranian authorities have hanged ten prisoners in the past few days in the cities of Mahshahr, Nowshahr, Urmia, and Khandab, with two being hanged in public.
On Wednesday, Iran hanged one inmate in Bandar Mahshahr, southwest Iran, but his name is unknown. They also hanged two inmates convicted of drug charges – Moharam Nemati and Asgar Bartar – in Urmia prison in northwest Iran, who it’s believed were transferred to solitary confinement on Tuesday in preparation for their executions.
By Jubin Katiraie
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe is a British-Iranian dual citizen that was arrested and sent to prison in Iran in April 2016 where she has been detained since. The Iranian authorities have charged her with spying and attempting to topple the country’s government. Officials have said that she was in charge of a “foreign-linked hostile network”. Tehran’s prosecutor general said almost two years ago that Nazanin is being detained because she was running a journalism course with the purpose of spreading propaganda about the regime.
By Pooya Stone
Donald Trump said that Iran cannot test ballistic missiles after Iranian foreign minister Javad Zarif raised the idea of talks about his country’s missile program. This is because the US sees ballistic missiles as vehicles to carry nuclear bombs.
Trump said Tuesday: “We want to help them, we’ll be good to them, we’ll work with them, we’ll help them in any way we can, but they can’t have a nuclear weapon…. They can’t be testing ballistic missiles, which right now under that agreement [the 2015 Iran nuclear deal] … they would be able to do.”
