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☆ Iranian dissident rapper Toomaj Salehi rearrested less than two weeks after release from prison
▼ + stars: | 2023-12-01 | by ( Artemis Moshtaghian | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —Iranian dissident rapper Toomaj Salehi was rearrested in northern Iran on Thursday, less than two weeks after his release from prison, according to his official social media channel. A group of armed men suddenly approached Salehi and his friends and, without identifying themselves, started attacking the group, witnesses said. When nationwide protests started in mid-September last year, Salehi called for Iranians to protest against the government. “I was tortured a lot during my detention,” Salehi says in the video, posted on social media. Sources close to Salehi told CNN the rapper had recently started treatment and therapy for the injuries he sustained while in prison and was scheduled to undergo surgery in the coming days.

Persons: Toomaj Salehi, Salehi, Mahsa, ”, Shargh, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, “, ” Salehi, “ It’s, Mizan Organizations: CNN, Isfahan’s Locations: Iranian, Iran, Babol, Isfahan

☆ Explainer: What has changed in Iran one year since Mahsa Amini protests erupted?
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-16 | by ( Parisa Hafezi | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

A photo of Mahsa Amini is pictured at a condolence meeting organised by students and activists from Delhi University in support of anti-regime protests in Iran following the death of Mahsa Amini, in New Delhi, India, September 26, 2022. Protests began soon after the Sept. 16 death of Kurdish Iranian woman Mahsa Amini, 22, who had been arrested by morality police three days earlier for allegedly violating Iran's mandatory Islamic dress code. But as the protests fizzled they returned to streets and surveillance cameras were installed to identify and penalise unveiled women. Outside Iran, Western countries imposed new sanctions on security forces and on dozens of Iranian officials over the protests, further straining already difficult ties. Journalists, lawyers, activists, students, academics, artists, public figures and family members of killed protesters, especially among ethnic minorities, have been targeted in recent weeks.

Persons: Mahsa, Anushree, Mahsa Amini, Saqez, Amini's, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Amini, penalise, Iran's, Parisa Hafezi, Angus McDowall, William Maclean Organizations: Delhi University, REUTERS, Rights, schoolgirls, Authorities, Security, Revolutionary Guards, Journalists, Thomson Locations: Iran, New Delhi, India, Rights DUBAI, Tehran ., Islamic Republic, Baluchis, U.S, Israel

☆ US, UK issue Iran sanctions ahead of anniversary of Mahsa Amini's death
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Demonstrators at a Freedom Rally for Iran, protesting in support of Iranian women and against the death of Mahsa (Zhina) Amini, outside City Hall in Los Angeles, California, U.S., October 1, 2022. Amini, 22, died on Sept. 16 last year after being arrested for allegedly flouting the Islamic Republic's mandatory dress code. Her death sparked months of anti-government protests that marked the biggest show of opposition to Iranian authorities in years. The U.S. States and Britain, along with the European Union, have announced multiple rounds of sanctions against Iran, citing the widespread and often violent crackdown on protests after the death of Amini. The sanctions target LEF spokesperson Saeed Montazerolmehdi, multiple LEF and IRGC commanders, and Iran’s Prisons Organization chief Gholamali Mohammadi.

Persons: Bing Guan, Mahsa Amini, Antony Blinken, Saeed Montazerolmehdi, Gholamali Mohammadi, Alireza Abedinejad, Brian Nelson, Rami Ayyub, Susan Heavey, Daphne Psaledakis, Chizu Nomiyama, Marguerita Choy Organizations: Hall, REUTERS, Rights, European Union, Iran, Police, U.S . Treasury Department, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Enforcement Forces, Iran's Prisons, Iran’s Prisons Organization, Douran Software, Press, Tasnim News Agency, Terrorism, Financial Intelligence, Thomson Locations: Iran, Los Angeles , California, U.S, Britain, States, Iran’s, Canada, Australia, Fars, United States, Tehran

☆ More repression, yet more resistance: Iran one year after the Mahsa Amini protests
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-15 | by ( Natasha Turak | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

A protester holds a portrait of Mahsa Amini during a demonstration in support of Amini, a young Iranian woman who died after being arrested in Tehran by the Islamic Republic's morality police, on Istiklal avenue in Istanbul on Sept. 20, 2022. Roughly one year ago, the death of a young Kurdish Iranian woman named Mahsa Amini in police custody lit the fuse that would set off months of protests that rocked Iran and its hardline government, creating the greatest challenge to its rule in decades. Amini, just 22 years old, was arrested for allegedly improperly wearing her hijab, the headscarf women are required to wear under Iran's highly conservative Islamic Republic. Iranian authorities claimed no wrongdoing and said Amini died of a heart attack; but her family, and masses of Iranians, accused the government of a cover-up. The protests spread across the country and evolved from being focused on women's rights to demanding the downfall of the entire Iranian regime.

Persons: Mahsa, Amini, Behnam ben Taleblu Organizations: Islamic, Foundation for Defense, Democracies, CNBC Locations: Iranian, Tehran, Istanbul, Kurdish Iranian, Iran, Islamic Republic

☆ Thousands march in Brussels on anniversary of Mahsa Amini's death
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/3] People hold a placard with pictures of, as Iranian call them, martyrs, during a rally of Iranian diaspora in Europe, on the eve of the first anniversary of the death of Mahsa Amini, which prompted protests across their country, in Brussels, Belgium September 15, 2023. REUTERS/Yves Herman Acquire Licensing RightsBRUSSELS, Sept 15 (Reuters) - Iranian emigres marched in Brussels on Friday, the eve of the first anniversary of the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish Iranian woman whose death in the custody of Iran's morality police sparked months of anti-government protests. Thousands of demonstrators, holding up pictures of Amini and many others killed in the protests, called for the overthrow of Iran's theocracy and the establishment of a democratic republic. Organisers said they had also demanded a unified European Union policy to hold Iran's Shi'ite clerical rulers accountable for abuses. Over 500 people including 71 minors were killed, hundreds injured and thousands arrested, rights groups say, in unrest that was eventually crushed by security forces.

Persons: Mahsa, Yves Herman Acquire, Amini, Yves Herman, Kevin Liffey Organizations: REUTERS, Rights, European Union, GV, Thomson Locations: Europe, Brussels, Belgium, Rights BRUSSELS, European, Tehran, United States, Israel, Iran

☆ Opinion: Iranian women know which battles to fight. They’ve been doing it for decades
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-12 | by ( Mahnaz Afkhami | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

Editor’s note: Mahnaz Afkhami was the minister of women’s affairs in Iran’s government before the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Her most recent book is “The Other Side of Silence: A Memoir of Exile, Iran, and the Global Women’s Movement,” published by the University of North Carolina Press. Iranian women have been deprived of the rights that they know and for which they have worked. This may be the first women-led counterrevolution in history — and it’s one in which men and women have participated together. Join us on Twitter and FacebookIn every area of endeavor that does not need government engagement, the women of Iran have succeeded.

Persons: Mahnaz Afkhami, ”, CNN —, Mahsa, Mahnaz, Mahsa Amini, Ruhollah Khomeini, “, Mohammad Khatami’s, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Organizations: Women’s Learning, Foundation, Iranian Studies, Global, University of North Carolina Press, CNN, Getty, Green Movement, Protesters, Twitter, Facebook, Islamic Locations: Iran, Kurdish Iranian, Islamic Republic, Tehran, Qom

☆ What has changed in Iran one year since Mahsa Amini protests erupted?
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-11 | by ( Parisa Hafezi | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Persons: Mahsa, Anushree, Mahsa Amini, Saqez, Amini's, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Amini, penalise, Parisa Hafezi, Angus McDowall, William Maclean Organizations: Delhi University, REUTERS, Rights, schoolgirls, Authorities, Security, Revolutionary Guards, Journalists, Thomson Locations: Iran, New Delhi, India, Rights DUBAI, Tehran ., Islamic Republic, Baluchis, U.S, Israel

CNN —Dissident Iranian rapper Toomaj Salehi, arrested last October for supporting the protest movement in Iran last year, has been sentenced to six years and three months in prison, his official Twitter page said Monday. “Toomaj Salehi was sentenced to 6 years and 3 months in prison, and after 252 days of solitary confinement, transferred to the general section of the prison,” the tweet said. Salehi was arrested in October last year during protests triggered by the death of Mahsa Amini. Toomaj/Youtube“Your Toomaj, Iran’s Toomaj, the world’s Toomaj, and our Toomaj was unjustly imprisoned for six and a half years. When nationwide protests started in mid-September last year, Salehi called for Iranians to protest against the government.

Persons: Toomaj Salehi, “ Toomaj Salehi, IRNA, Reza Etemad Ansari, “, ” Ansari, Shargh, ” Salehi’s, Iqbal Iqbali, Salehi, Mahsa, Iran’s Toomaj, ” Iqbali, ” Salehi, ”, jang Organizations: CNN, Dissident, Twitter, Iranian, Kurd Locations: Iran, Sistani

CNN —Iran on Saturday executed two men it accused of carrying out a deadly attack on a shrine in Shiraz in October 2022, according to state-run news agency IRNA. Iran’s Supreme Court had rejected an appeal filed for the two men, Mohammed Ramez Rashidi and Sayed Naeem Hashemi Qatali, IRNA quoted Fars Province Chief Prosecutor as saying. Thirteen people were killed, and 40 others injured in the attack that took place at Shahcheragh Shrine in the city of Shiraz in southern Iran on October 26, 2022, according to IRNA. The attack took place on a Wednesday evening, one of the busiest times for the shrine. Protests swept through the Islamic Republic following the death of the 22-year-old Kurdish Iranian woman.

Persons: Mohammed Ramez Rashidi, Sayed Naeem Hashemi Qatali, IRNA, “, Mahsa Amini Organizations: CNN, ISIS Locations: Iran, Shiraz, Iran’s, Fars Province, Shahcheragh, Islamic Republic

☆ India leads world in cutting internet access for 5th year in a row, watchdog says
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( Kanishka Singh | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Feb 28 (Reuters) - India imposed by far the highest number of internet shutdowns in the world in 2022, internet advocacy watchdog Access Now said on Tuesday, as the country topped the list for the fifth successive year. Out of 187 internet shutdowns globally recorded by Access Now, 84 took place in India, including 49 in Indian- administered Kashmir, the New York-based digital rights advocacy group said in a report published on Tuesday. Although India once again led the world in internet shutdowns, 2022 marked the first time since 2017 that there were fewer than 100 shutdowns in the country, the watchdog said. "During Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Russian military cut internet access at least 22 times, engaging in cyberattacks and deliberately destroying telecommunications infrastructure," the watchdog said in its report. Ukraine was followed on the list by Iran where authorities imposed 18 internet shutdowns in 2022 in response to demonstrations against the government.

☆ Iran's currency slides to record low as savers buy dollars
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-25 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

DUBAI, Feb 25 (Reuters) - Iran's rial currency sank to a record low against the U.S. dollar on Saturday despite central bank measures aimed at cooling demand for foreign currency from savers worried about inflation and the country's economic prospects. The rial was trading at 575,000 on the unofficial free market against the dollar, compared to 540,000 on Friday, according to foreign exchange site Bonbast.com. With annual inflation running at more than 50%, Iranians have been trying to protect the value of their savings by buying foreign currency or gold. Last week, it opened an exchange centre to allow ordinary Iranians to purchase foreign currency, but some market analysts said the move had yet to dampen appetite for greenbacks. The reimposition of U.S. sanctions in 2018 by then President Donald Trump have harmed Iran's economy by limiting Tehran's oil exports and access to foreign currency.

☆ Canada to support Iranian temporary residents, citing crackdown on Iran protests
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-23 | by ( Kanishka Singh | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Feb 23 (Reuters) - The Canadian government on Thursday announced support for Iranian temporary residents in Canada looking to extend their stay, citing the Iranian government's crackdown on recent protests. Nationwide protests erupted in Iran last fall after the death of 22-year-old Kurdish Iranian woman Mahsa Amini in police custody on Sept. 16 last year. Many Western states, including Canada, have imposed sanctions following a harsh state crackdown on protests. The Canadian government said an open work permit pathway will be made available for Iranians already in Canada, adding that applications from Iranians in Canada will also be processed on a priority basis. Canada also said it was waiving certain processing fees for Iranians who wish to extend their stay in Canada, and will also waive passport and permanent resident travel document fees for citizens and permanent residents of Canada in Iran who wish to leave.

☆ Overnight protests rock Tehran, other Iranian cities, videos show
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Videos on Friday showed demonstrations in several neighbourhoods in Tehran as well as in the cities of Karaj, Isfahan, Qazvin, Rasht, Arak, Mashhad, Sanandaj, Qorveh, and Izeh in Khuzestan province. Reuters was able to confirm three of the videos on the protests in Zahedan and one of those in Tehran. Other videos showed large protests on Friday in Zahedan, capital of southeastern Sistan-Baluchistan province, home to Iran's Baluchi minority. [1/5] People take part in a protest in Zahedan, Iran in this screen grab taken from a social media video released February 17, 2023 and obtained by Reuters. In recent weeks Iranian media have reported closures of several businesses, restaurants and cafes for failure to observe the hijab rules.

☆ Iran issues pardon for 'tens of thousands' of prisoners
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

DUBAI, Feb 5 (Reuters) - Iran's Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei pardoned "tens of thousands" of prisoners, including many arrested in recent anti-government protests over security-related charges, state media reported on Sunday. "Prisoners not facing charges of spying for foreign agencies, having direct contact with foreign agents, committing intentional murder and injury, committing destruction and arson of state property, or not having a private plaintiff in their case will be pardoned," state media said. The pardons were announced in honour of the anniversary of the 1979 Islamic revolution. According to the HRANA activist news agency, about 20,000 people have been arrested over anti-government protests sparked by the death in police custody of Mahsa Amini, a young Kurdish Iranian woman, in September. Reporting by Dubai Newsroom; Editing by Toby ChopraOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Analysis: Iraqi PM walks diplomatic tightrope in crackdown on dollars smuggled to Iran
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-23 | by ( Ahmed Rasheed | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

The New York Federal Reserve introduced tighter controls on international dollar transactions by commercial Iraqi banks in November. "Americans are using the dollar transfer rigid restrictions as warning messages to Prime Minister Sudani to stay tuned with the American interests. The new system has slowed down dollar transactions, said Nabil al-Marsoumi, economics professor at Basra University. Meanwhile the price of consumer goods has increased and the Iraqi currency has taken a beating. The Iraqi prime minister replaced the central bank governor after the slide in the dinar, the state news agency said on Monday.

☆ Iranian currency falls to record low amid isolation and sanctions
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

DUBAI, Jan 21 (Reuters) - Iran's troubled currency fell to a record low against the U.S. dollar on Saturday amid the country's increasing isolation and possible Europe Union sanctions against Tehran's Revolutionary Guards or some of its members. Ties between the EU and Tehran have deteriorated in recent months as efforts to revive nuclear talks have stalled. The EU is discussing a fourth round of sanctions against Iran and diplomatic sources have said members of the Revolutionary Guards will be added to the bloc's sanctions list next week. But some EU member states want to go further and classify the Guards as a whole as a terrorist organisation. The European Parliament called on Wednesday for the EU to list Iran's Guards as a terrorist group, blaming the powerful force for the repression of protesters and the supply of drones to Russia.

☆ Iran warns EU not to list Revolutionary Guards as terrorist entity
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

"We have repeatedly said the Revolutionary Guards are a formal and sovereign organisation whose role is central for guaranteeing Iran's security. Steps taken by the European Parliament to list the organisation as terrorist are in a way a shot in the foot of Europe itself," Iran's foreign minister said. On Wednesday the European Parliament called for the EU to list the Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organisation, blaming it for the repression of domestic protesters and the supply of drones to Russia's military engaged in Ukraine. The European Parliament condemned the crackdown on protesters by Iran's security forces, which include the powerful Revolutionary Guard Corps, as "brutal". In any case of a terrorist listing, Iran will take reciprocal measures," Amirabdollahian said.

☆ EU Parliament calls for more sanctions against Iranian regime
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BRUSSELS, Jan 19 (Reuters) - European lawmakers adopted a resolution on Thursday calling for more sanctions against all Iranian individuals and entities responsible for human right violations and also voted for the Revolutionary Guard Corps to be designated as a terrorist entity. "Iranian authorities must end crackdown on their own citizens (...) Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and President Ebrahim Raisi should be added to the sanctions list," the European Parliament said in a statement. Iran warned earlier that the European Union would "shoot itself in the foot" if it designated the Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist entity. On Wednesday, the European Parliament called for the EU to list the Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organisation, blaming it for the repression of domestic protesters and the supply of drones to Russia's military for use in Ukraine. Reporting by Andrew Gray and Benoit Van Overstraeten; Editing by Angus MacSwanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Actress Zar Amir Ebrahimi channelled own experience of Iran in thriller 'Holy Spider'
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( Marie-Louise Gumuchian | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/4] The 75th Cannes Film Festival - News conference for the film "Holy Spider" in competition - Cannes, France, May 23, 2022. REUTERS/Sarah Meyssonnier/File PhotoLONDON, Jan 18 (Reuters) - Iranian actress Zar Amir Ebrahimi, who fled her home country in 2008 in fear after a private video was leaked, says she channelled her own experience in the thriller "Holy Spider", a dark tale of a serial killer in the holy city Mashhad. Amir Ebrahimi plays journalist Rahimi, who is trying to find him and suspects corruption is preventing his arrest. I'm maybe not that victim but I've been in the centre of a society judged by many people," Amir Ebrahimi said. "Holy Spider", selected as Denmark's submission for best international feature for the Oscars, won Amir Ebrahimi the best actress award at Cannes.

☆ EU lawmakers want Iran's Guards branded terrorist group
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BRUSSELS, Jan 18 (Reuters) - The European Parliament called on Wednesday for the EU to list Iran's Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist organisation, blaming the powerful force for the repression of protesters and the supply of drones to Russia. Ties between the European Union (EU) member states and Tehran have deteriorated in recent months as efforts to revive nuclear talks have stalled. Tehran has detained several European nationals and the bloc has become increasingly critical of a continuing violent crackdown on protesters, including executions. The text called for the EU and its member states to include the IRGC on the bloc's terrorist list "in the light of its terrorist activity, the repression of protesters andits supplying of drones to Russia". The European Parliament has no power to compel the EU to add the IRGC to its list.

☆ DAVOS 2023: EU's Von der Leyen backs listing Iran's Guards as terrorist group
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

DAVOS, Switzerland, Jan 17 (Reuters) - European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Tuesday she backed listing Iran's Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) as a terrorist organisation to respond to the "trampling" of "fundamental human rights" in the country. Ties between the EU member states and Tehran have deteriorated in recent months as efforts to revive nuclear talks have stalled. The European Union is discussing a fourth round of sanctions against Tehran over the crackdown and Iran's supply of weapons to Russia. "We are looking indeed at a new round of sanctions and I would support also listing the Revolutionary Guards. I have heard several ministers asking for that and I think they are right," Von der Leyen said.

☆ Iran's 'death committee' president unyielding in defence of clerical rule
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-17 | by ( Parisa Hafezi | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

Raisi, then deputy prosecutor general for Tehran, was a member of the capital's death committee, according to Amnesty. In 2016, another member of the Tehran "death committee" said, "We are proud to have carried out God's order,” state media reported. "Raisi has been brought up as president for a few reasons, including his brutality, loyalty, and lack of conscience. SANCTIONED BY U.S.Raisi was born in 1960 to a religious family in Iran's northeastern Shi'ite Muslim city of Mashhad. Khamenei, not the president, has the final say on all major policy under Iran's dual political system split between the Shi'ite clerical establishment and the government.

☆ Analysis: Iran executions quash protests, push dissent underground
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-10 | by ( Parisa Hafezi | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

They argue the resort to deadly state violence is merely pushing dissent underground, while deepening anger felt by ordinary Iranians about the clerical establishment that has ruled them for four decades. Executive Director at the Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, Hadi Ghaemi said the establishment's main focus was to intimidate the population into submission by any means. People are either in prison or they have gone underground because they are determined to find a way to keep fighting," he said. Defying public fury and international criticism, Iran has handed down dozens of death sentences to intimidate Iranians enraged by the death of Iranian-Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini, 22. Ghaemi said the main officials pushing for the executions today were deeply involved in the 1980s killings of prisoners.

☆ Meta's Oversight Board tells company to allow 'death to Khamenei' posts
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-09 | by ( Katie Paul | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Jan 9 (Reuters) - Meta's (META.O) Oversight Board on Monday overturned the company's decision to remove a Facebook post that used the slogan "death to Khamenei" to criticize the Iranian leader, saying it did not violate a rule barring violent threats. It also urged the company to develop better ways of factoring such context into its content policies and outline clearly when rhetorical threats against heads of state were permitted. It is a rhetorical, political slogan, not a credible threat," the board wrote. The unrest created a now-familiar conundrum for Meta, which has wavered repeatedly in its treatment of violent political rhetoric on its platforms. The Oversight Board said in its ruling that "death to Khamenei" statements differed from threats posted around Jan. 6, as politicians were then "clearly at risk" in the U.S. context and "death to" was not a rhetorical statement in English.

☆ Rapper who became the voice of the Iranian revolt is in danger of execution
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-07 | by ( Sanam Mahoozi | Sanam Mahoozi Is A Freelance Writer Based In London. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +7 min

Fear for his safety have also grown after Salehi’s official Twitter account posted Friday that despite being in danger of losing his eyesight, he was being repeatedly beaten. Iranian mourners march towards Aichi cemetery in Saqez in Iranian Kurdistan to mark 40 days since Mahsa Amini's death on Oct. 26, 2022. ESN / AFP - Getty ImagesUsing his voice and lyrics, Salehi came out in support of the anti-government protesters from the beginning. At the heart of the protests, and Salehi’s lyrics, is the conviction that the government must go. “This is Toomaj Salehi,” he wrote, reposting a Salehi video supportive of the protesters.

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