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☆ A harrowing video shows decomposing babies in a Gaza hospital after they had to be abandoned amid Israeli attacks, say reports
▼ + stars: | 2023-12-03 | by ( Alia Shoaib | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

A video shows abandoned dead babies inside a Gaza hospital's pediatric ICU unit. Al-Nasr Children's Hospital was evacuated several weeks ago amid Israeli attacks. AdvertisementA harrowing video shows abandoned dead babies inside a Gaza hospital's pediatric ICU unit weeks after it was evacuated due to Israeli attacks. In the video, journalist Mohammed Baalousha, with the Emirati TV channel Al-Mashhad, gained access to Al-Nasr Children's Hospital in Gaza City. AdvertisementThe video was filmed about two weeks after the hospital was evacuated amid the ground invasion of Gaza by Israeli forces.

Persons: Nasr Children's, —, Mohammed Baalousha, Nasr, Baalousha, Dr, Mustafa Al, Kahlot, Al Organizations: Service, Nasr Children's, NBC News, NBC, Nasr Children's Hospital Locations: Gaza, Mashhad, Gaza City, Al, Nasr, Israel

☆ Fact Check: Black flag raised by Iranian shrine for mourning occasions
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-23 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Posts on Facebook and messaging platform X, formerly known as Twitter, featured a photo of the black flag atop the shrine’s dome. Many wrote that the black flag was raised over the shrine for the “first time in history”. However, the Imam Reza shrine has raised the black flag before and routinely does so as a sign of mourning. “The shrine in Mashhad also does it more generally to mark mourning.”Reuters contacted the Imam Reza Holy Shrine for comment. The Imam Reza Holy Shrine said it raised a black flag on Oct. 18, 2023 to mourn deaths in the Gaza hospital strike.

Persons: Reza Holy, …, Israel ”, Reza, Imam Hussein, Prophet Mohammad, Imam Ali, ”, Sajjad Rizvi, Imam Reza Holy Shrine, Read Organizations: Facebook, Islamic Republic News Agency, University of Exeter’s Institute of Arab, Islamic, ” Reuters, Reuters, Thomson Locations: Mashhad, Iran, Gaza, U.S, Islam

☆ Iran's security forces crack down on protests a year after Mahsa Amini's death
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

The Kurdistan Human Rights Network, which said the incident was linked to the protests, said special forces entered the ward, beat up the women and fired pellet bullets. In a separate incident, human rights group Hengaw said security forces opened fire in the Kurdish city of Mahabad, wounding at least one person. Earlier, social media and reports by rights groups spoke of security forces taking up positions around Amini's home in Saqez, in western Iran. Speakers led the crowd in chants of "Say her name ... Mahsa Amini," and also recited "We are the revolution" and "Human rights for Iran!" Iran's Etemad daily reported in August that the lawyer for Amini's family also faced charges of "propaganda against the system".

Persons: Mahsa, IRNA, Hengaw, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Mahsa's, Amjad Amini, Dilara, Amini, Joe Biden, Biden, Nasser Kanaani, Saqez, Saleh Nikbakht, Toby Chopra, Alex Richardson, Nick Macfie, Daniel Wallis Organizations: Revolutionary Guards, Islamic, Kurdistan Human Rights Network, REUTERS, United Nations, White, Iran's Foreign Ministry, Amnesty International, Thomson Locations: Iran's, Tehran, Kurdistan, Kurdish, Mahabad, Kermanshah, Saqez, Iran, Fars, Karaj, Mashhad, Istanbul, Turkey, In Washington, Britain, U.S, State, Iran's Kurdistan

“He risked his life to get the information out for me when I was in the prison in Iran. He met White in 2018 after one such arrest when Vatankhah faced accusations of spreading propaganda against Tehran's government. Though Vatankhah was later released, he was arrested again, this time winding up in the same cell as White in Iran's Mashhad prison. Citizenship and Immigration Services said it does not discuss individual humanitarian parole cases. Vatankhah said his humanitarian parole is good for one year, but he already has applied for asylum, which would allow him to remain in the U.S.

Persons: — Michael White, White, Mahdi Vatankhah, “, ” White, Vatankhah, Jonathan Franks, White's, —, Qassem Soleimani, Paris Etemadi Scott, “ Mahdi, ”, He's, Eric Tucker Organizations: WASHINGTON, Navy, AP, U.S, Iranian, Quds Force, Revolutionary Guard, Citizenship, Immigration Services, State Department, Twitter Locations: Iranian, White, United States, Los Angeles, Iran, U.S, Southern California, Iran's Mashhad, American, Turkey, Paris, California, San Diego

☆ Iran resorts to security cameras, ostracism to deter unveiled women
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-02 | by ( Parisa Hafezi | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

For decades women who refused to wear the hijab were accosted by morality police operating from vans that patrolled busy public spaces. NOVEL TACTICSIn place of the vans, authorities are installing cameras on streets to identify unveiled women, providing a more discreet method of detecting breaches of Iran's conservative dress code. Now women show up frequently unveiled in malls, airports, restaurants and streets in a display of civil disobedience. Several lawmakers and politicians have warned that the protests could resume if authorities continue to focus on penalising women who discard the hijab. "My grocery shop was closed down for a few days by authorities for serving unveiled women," said Asghar, 45, in the central city of Isfahan.

☆ Iran's embassy in Riyadh opens gates for first time in years
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( Aziz El Yaakoubi | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The heavy gates of the Iranian embassy's compound were open in Riyadh with a team inspecting its premises, a Reuters reporter said. The diplomatic mission opened hours after the Iranian foreign ministry said a technical delegation arrived in the kingdom. "The Iranian delegation will take the necessary measures in Riyadh and Jeddah to set up the embassy and consulate general," Iranian foreign ministry spokesman, Nasser Kanaani, said in a statement. Riyadh accused Iran of arming the Houthis, who went on to attack Saudi cities with armed drones and ballistic missiles. Saudi officials also arrived in Iran to discuss procedures for reopening Riyadh's embassy in Tehran and consulate in Mashhad, the Saudi foreign ministry said on Saturday.

☆ Saudi officials arrive in Iran to discuss reopening diplomatic missions
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-08 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

DUBAI, April 8 (Reuters) - Saudi officials have arrived in Iran to discuss procedures for reopening Riyadh's embassy in Tehran and consulate in Mashhad after China brokered a deal to restore relations between the two regional powers, the Saudi foreign ministry said on Saturday. After years of hostility that fueled conflicts across the Middle East, Iran and Saudi Arabia agreed to end their diplomatic rift and reopen their diplomatic missions in March. Chinese President Xi Jinping helped broker the surprise deal which left the United States on the sidelines. Saudi Arabia cut ties with Iran in 2016 after its embassy in Tehran was stormed during a dispute between the two countries over Riyadh's execution of a Shi'ite cleric. Reporting by Enas Alashray; writing by Maha El Dahan Editing by Angus MacSwanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Raisi says hijab is the law in Iran as unveiled women face 'yoghurt attack'
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

April 1 (Reuters) - President Ebrahim Raisi said on Saturday that the hijab was the law in Iran after a viral video showed a man throwing yoghurt at two unveiled women in a shop near a holy Shi'ite Muslim city. They were also the subject of arrest warrants for flouting Iran's strict female dress rules, state media reported. Videos of unveiled women resisting the morality police have flooded social media. Judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei earlier threatened to prosecute "without mercy" women who appear in public unveiled, Iranian media reported. It urged citizens to confront unveiled women.

☆ 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.

☆ 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.

☆ 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.

☆ 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.

☆ US-trained Afghan commandos are fighting in Ukraine. Some are there for the pay. Others are there for revenge.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-04 | by ( Antonio Giustozzi | World Politics Review | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

Afghan commandos who fled the Taliban are being recruited to fight alongside Russia in Ukraine. Former Afghan commandos in Iran that I spoke to largely confirm the rumors, though I found less evidence to support the claim of Wagner's role. After the Taliban takeover, only about 1,000 Afghan commandos were evacuated to the US, while a few others made it to Europe and Turkey. Afghan special forces in Kunduz City. A US Special Forces soldier patrols with Afghan Commandos.

LONDON — Iran’s government has spent months violently cracking down on protests gripping the country. The first known executions of people arrested over the monthslong protests prompted an outcry from Western governments and human rights activists, but they came as little surprise to those involved in the demonstrations or carefully watching them from afar. Human rights groups and Western governments say Iran’s judicial system is based on sham trials behind closed doors. A week earlier, Iran executed another man, Mohsen Shekari, for allegedly blocking a road in Tehran and stabbing a pro-government militia member who required stitches. Around a dozen others have been sentenced to death, according to human rights groups.

☆ Iran carries out second known execution over protests
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-12 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +4 min

Iran on Monday executed a second known prisoner detained and convicted amid nationwide protests challenging the country’s theocracy, airing footage on state television it claimed shows him stabbing two security force members to death and running away. At least 488 people have been killed since the demonstrations began in mid-September, according to Human Rights Activists in Iran, a group that’s been monitoring the protests. Iran’s Interior Ministry said earlier this month that the death toll was 200, including security forces who were killed. A heavily edited state television report aired after Rahnavard’s execution showed clips of him in the courtroom. It executed the first known prisoner detained during demonstrations last Thursday.

He was convicted of “waging war against God” for reportedly killing two members of the Basij paramilitary force, and injuring four others on November 17, the outlet said. The charge of “waging war against God” carries the death penalty under the theocracy of the Islamic Republic since 1979. Rahnavard was hanged in a public execution in the northeastern city of Mashhad early Monday morning, it said. He is the second known person to be executed in connection to the 2022 protests. His death comes less than a week after Mohsen Shekari – the first known protester to be executed – who was hanged last Thursday.

☆ Iran executes second protester after rapid trial as EU plans more sanctions
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-12 | by ( Natasha Turak | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Iran executed a second detained protester on Monday, its state media reported, after a rapid trial as unrest and anger toward the government continue to boil over around the country. Cranes have been commonly used for public hangings since the early days of the Islamic Republic after its establishment in 1979. Iran has long held what activists and other governments say are sham trials in order to imprison or execute critics of the state. "No lawyer, no due process, tortured confession, sham trial. He was hanged for 'waging war against God.'

☆ UN agency says Israel is delaying new visas for its staff
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-12 | by ( Hadas Gold | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +12 min

Jerusalem CNN —A United Nations agency that operates in the West Bank and Gaza says Israel is not processing visas for its newly recruited staff, while Israeli officials accuse the agency of “ignoring Israeli victims of terror” in East Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank, a charge the agency denies. The UN considers East Jerusalem and the West Bank to be occupied territory, and Israelis living there to be living in illegal settlements. Erdan said when OCHA is asked why they don’t count Israeli victims, they are told the agency does not have reliable data. “Of course you don’t, you don’t employ Hebrew speakers, and the senior manager of the agency is Palestinian,” Erdan said. OCHA’s latest report does record some instances of Israelis being injured by stones thrown at civilian vehicles traveling in the West Bank.

☆ Sister of Iran's leader condemns his rule, urges Guards to disarm - letter
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/3] Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks during a meeting with a group of students in Tehran, Iran November 2, 2022. Badri Hosseini Khamenei, who lives in Iran and is the sister of Ayatollah Khamenei, criticised the clerical establishment starting from the time of the Islamic Republic's late founder Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini to her brother's rule, the letter, dated "December 2022", said. "Ali Khamenei's Revolutionary Guards and mercenaries should lay down their weapons as soon as possible and join the people before it is too late," the letter said. The Revolutionary Guards are Iran's elite force which has helped the country's establish proxies across the Middle East, and runs a vast business empire. President Ebrahim Raisi meanwhile gave a speech at the University of Tehran to mark Student Day.

☆ Iranian city shops shut after strike call, judiciary blames 'rioters'
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

DUBAI, Dec 5 (Reuters) - Iranian shops shut their doors in several cities on Monday, following calls for a three-day nationwide general strike from protesters seeking the fall of clerical rulers, with the head of the judiciary blaming "rioters" for threatening shopkeepers. Amini was arrested by Iran's morality police for flouting the strict hijab policy, which requires women to dress modestly and wear headscarfs. Iran's public prosecutor on Saturday was cited by the semi-official Iranian Labour News Agency as saying that the morality police had been disbanded. Security forces would show no mercy towards "rioters, thugs, terrorists", the semi-official Tasnim news agency quoted the guards as saying. Kurdish Iranian rights group Hengaw also reported that 19 cities had joined the general strike movement in western Iran, where most of the country's Kurdish population live.

☆ Iran protests: Social media videos show flames at home of late leader Khomeini
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Reuters verified the location of two video clips using the distinctive arches and buildings that match file images. The semi-official Tasnim news agency, however, denied Khomeini's house was set on fire, saying a small number of people had gathered outside the house. The social media videos show dozens of people cheering as a flash of fire is sparked in a building. Two intelligence agents were killed in clashes with protesters on Thursday night, according to the Revolutionary Guards' news site. Iranian media said two Revolutionary Guards members were killed during unrest in the northwestern city of Bukan and a police colonel died in Sanandaj, capital of Kurdistan province late on Thursday.

☆ President Raisi says Iran thwarted U.S. destabilisation
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

As Iranian authorities marked the anniversary this week of the seizure of the U.S. embassy in Tehran by radical students, President Joe Biden backed the protesters, saying: "We're gonna free Iran. In Syria, mass demonstrations against Iran's ally President Bashar al-Assad were confronted with force and the country spiralled into conflict which continues 11 years on. By contrast, Iranian cities were now "safe and sound", Raisi said, promising retribution for the unrest the country had seen. At least 14,170 people have been arrested, including 392 students, in protests in 136 cities and towns, and 134 universities, it said. The crisis has dragged Iran's currency to new historic lows.

☆ Facing a wave of public anger, Iran’s regime could be in a fight for long-term survival, experts say
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-29 | by ( Dan De Luce | Dan De Luce Is A Reporter For The Nbc News Investigative Unit. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +9 min

From anti-government graffiti to students heckling government officials, to women walking in the street without headscarves to workers putting down their tools, Iran’s regime looks increasingly bewildered by events. “It’s like a war, the Islamic Republic versus the Iranian people,” said the woman from Tehran. She and other Iranians say the helmeted police flooding the streets resemble an occupying force, unsure of their position and unable to trust the local population. The Norway-based group Iran Human Rights and the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency said Friday more than 250 protesters have been killed in the six weeks since protests began. “We all know that this time we will overthrow the regime,” said the woman in Tehran.

☆ Iranian protesters defy crackdown with nationwide demonstrations
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Protests were also reported in Isfahan, in central Iran, and in the southeast of the country. The Tehran commander of the Basij militia forces that have deployed against protesters said in Tehran that three Basij had been killed and 850 more injured. "So many years of crimes, death to this religious leadership", they chanted, according to a video posted on social media. Iran's foreign minister spoke on Friday with the European Union's top diplomat Josep Borrell, who urged Tehran to stop the repression of protesters. In a phone call, Hossein Amirabdollahian told Borrell Iran allowed peaceful protests and its government enjoyed popular support, state media said.

☆ Iran’s Supreme Leader Rails Against Protesters
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-12 | by ( Sune Engel Rasmussen | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei doubled down Wednesday on his unsupported accusations that the uprising rocking Iran is orchestrated by the country’s foreign enemies, as authorities further tightened internet restrictions to make it harder for protesters to spread information about the violent government crackdown. Meanwhile, strikes by shopkeepers spread to Iran’s second-most populous city, Mashhad, according to social-media posts. The city is a stronghold for the country’s hard-liners, including Mr. Khamenei and President Ebrahim Raisi . Mashhad shopkeepers joined strikes under way in the capital Tehran and other cities across the country.

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