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☆ Iran marks revolution anniversary, hackers interrupt state TV coverage
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-11 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

[1/3] Iranians are seen under a large flag of Iran during the 44th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution in Tehran, Iran, February 11, 2023. His live televised speech was interrupted on the internet for about a minute, with a logo appearing on the screen of a group of anti-Iranian government hackers that goes by the name of “Edalat Ali (Justice of Ali). A voice shouted “Death to the Islamic Republic.”Nationwide protests swept Iran following the death in September of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in the custody of the country's morality police. Government television on Saturday aired live footage of the state rallies around the country. His speech was frequently interrupted by chants of “Death to America” - a trademark slogan at state rallies.

☆ Iran releases emaciated dissident after long hunger strike - judiciary
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

DUBAI, Feb 10 (Reuters) - Iran on Friday released hunger-striking jailed dissident Farhad Meysami, the Iranian judiciary said, a week after supporters had warned that he risked dying for protesting against the compulsory wearing of the hijab. "Following the approval by the leader of the revolution (Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei) of the recent ...amnesty, Farhad_Meysami was included in this amnesty and was released from prison hours ago," the judiciary said on Twitter. Morality police arrested Amini for flouting the hijab policy, which requires women to dress modestly and wear headscarfs. "Shocking images of Dr. Farhad Meysami, a brave advocate for women's rights who has been on hunger strike in prison,” tweeted Robert Malley, Washington's special envoy for Iran. Amnesty International said: "These images (of Meysami) are a shocking reminder of the Iranian authorities’ contempt for human rights."

☆ Iran Grants Amnesty, Reduces Prison Sentences for Some Protesters
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-05 | by ( David S. Cloud | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei granted amnesty for some of those arrested in antigovernment demonstrations. Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei granted amnesty and reduced prison sentences on Sunday to a “significant number” of protesters arrested in antigovernment demonstrations, Iranian state media said, highlighting the regime’s shifting tactics after a lethal crackdown that has recently quieted street demonstrations in many parts of the country. The move, part of a wider amnesty ahead of the anniversary of Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution, covers protesters who have asked the government for forgiveness, but it excludes anyone accused of violent crimes, arson or having contact with foreign intelligence services, Iran’s official judiciary news service Mizan reported.

☆ 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.

☆ Nobel laureate Ebadi says Iran's 'revolutionary process' is irreversible
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-03 | by ( Parisa Hafezi | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

[1/3] Iranian Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Shirin Ebadi answers a question during an interview at the Thomson Reuters office in London, Britain February 2, 2023. REUTERS/Suzanne PlunkettDUBAI, Feb 3 (Reuters) - Iranian Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi said the death in custody of a young Iranian Kurdish woman last year has sparked an irreversible "revolutionary process" that would eventually lead to the collapse of the Islamic Republic. Iran's clerical rulers have faced widespread unrest since Mahsa Amini died in the custody of the morality police on Sept. 16 after she was arrested for wearing "inappropriate attire". As they have done in the past in the face of protests in the past four decades, Iran's hardline rulers have cracked down hard. Like many critics of Iran's clerical rulers, Ebadi believes the current wave of protests has been the boldest challenge to the establishment's legitimacy yet.

☆ Fact Check-Screenshot of Fox News broadcast claiming white women are the greatest threat to world peace is altered
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-31 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

A Fox News graphic presenting results of a survey on the greatest threats to world peace has been digitally altered and shared on social media. In the edited version, the graphic lists “white women” as the biggest threat. Examples of the doctored graphic can be seen here: (here), (bit.ly/3WSkOdl), (bit.ly/3XS9ChZ), (bit.ly/3RjiP0h), (bit.ly/3HM67nT). Donald Trump, who was president of the United States at the time of the broadcast, was voted the biggest threat, and his headshot featured on the left side of the Fox News graphic. The unedited graphic shows Donald Trump was voted the biggest threat.

☆ 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.

☆ Iran and Britain's history of strained relations
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

DUBAI, Jan 14 (Reuters) - British-Iranian relations, which have been strained for decades, were back in the spotlight after Iranian authorities executed British-Iranian national Alireza Akbari for spying, charges he had denied. 1988 - Britain restores full diplomatic relations with Iran. 1994 - Britain accuses Iran of contacts with the outlawed Irish Republican Army, a charge Iran denies but relations worsen. 1999 - Iran says relations between Tehran and Britain have been upgraded to ambassadorial level. The same year, Iran accuses Britain of being behind bombings that killed six people in Iran.

☆ Iran executions are 'state sanctioned killing' - UN rights chief
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-10 | by ( Emma Farge | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Summary Warns that more executions are imminentMeeting between Turk, Iranian authorities plannedUN-appointed body to probe Iran's crackdownGENEVA, Jan 10 (Reuters) - The U.N. human rights chief said that the death penalty was being weaponised by Iran's government to strike fear into the population and stamp out dissent, saying the executions amounted to "state sanctioned killing". "The weaponization of criminal procedures to punish people for exercising their basic rights – such as those participating in or organizing demonstrations - amounts to state sanctioned killing," U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said, adding the executions violated international human rights law. The U.N. Human Rights office has received information that two further executions are imminent, the statement said, while up to 100 face charges for capital crimes. The Geneva-based Human Rights Council voted in November to set up a three-member independent fact-finding mission into Iran's crackdown on protests. The start of executions, which have been condemned by a growing number of countries, has coincided with a slowdown in the protests.

☆ 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.

☆ Iran sentences three more protesters to death amid international criticism
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-09 | by ( Parisa Hafezi | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

DUBAI, Jan 9 (Reuters) - Iran's judiciary has sentenced three more anti-government protesters to death on charges of "waging war on God", its Mizan news agency reported on Monday, defying growing international criticism over its fierce crackdown on demonstrators. Pope Francis on Monday condemned Iran for using the death penalty on demonstrators demanding greater respect for women. Under Iran's Islamic law, treason is punishable by death. Amnesty International said last month that Iranian authorities are seeking the death penalty for at least 26 others in what it called "sham trials designed to intimidate protesters". The European Union, the United States and other Western countries have condemned Iran for using the death penalty against demonstrators.

☆ Marchers in southeast Iran denounce top leader in renewed protests
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-30 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

protesters chanted in reference to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in a social media video said to be from Zahedan, capital of Sistan-Baluchistan province. The impoverished province is home to Iran's Baluch minority of up to 2 million people, who human rights groups say have faced discrimination and repression for decades. Separately, a rights group said at least 100 detained protesters in Iran faced possible death sentences. This is a minimum as most families are under pressure to stay quiet, the real number is believed to be much higher," the Norway-based Iran Human Rights group said on its website. Reporting by Dubai newsroom Editing by Hugh Lawson and Matthew LewisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Analysis: Iraq's mercurial Moqtada Sadr risks isolation with political retreat
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-29 | by ( Ahmed Rasheed | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

Pro-Sadr clerics, former legislators and analysts say Sadr has no clearly defined political role for the first time since 2005, leaving him at his weakest since entering Iraqi politics. Sadr officials, pro-Sadr Shi'ite clerics and religious sources in the sacred Iraqi city of Najaf told Reuters they believed Tehran was behind the pronouncement. Haeri told Sadr's followers to seek future guidance on religious matters from Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, a scholar who is Iran's Supreme Leader. Ghazi Faisal, chairman of the Iraqi Center for Strategic Studies think-tank, said Haeri gave "momentum to Iranian efforts to consolidate the powers of its allies in Iraqi politics." Human rights groups accused Sadr militiamen of kidnapping and killing Sunnis at the height of Iraq's civil war.

☆ Iran's clerical leaders to grapple with deepening dissent in 2023
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-22 | by ( Parisa Hafezi | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Amini's family said she was beaten after being arrested by the morality police on Sept. 13 for violating the Islamic Republic's imposed dress code. Facing their worst legitimacy crisis since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Iran's religious leaders have tried to portray the unrest as breakaway uprisings by ethnic minorities threatening national unity rather than its clerical rule. Protesters from all walks of life have taken to the streets, calling for the downfall of the Islamic Republic. However, the persistent unrest does not mean the four-decade-old Islamic Republic will disappear any time soon given the power wielded by its security apparatus. The Islamic Republic will be engulfed by what analysts call a "revolutionary process" that will likely fuel more protests into 2023, with neither side backing down.

☆ Lessons From 2022 for Elitists and Authoritarians
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-20 | by ( Gerard Baker | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

The temptation to look back on a passing year for clues to a larger historical narrative is irresistible. Despite the inevitable short-termism of late-December amateur historiography, I’m not going to resist it. For some, 2022 was the year when liberty fought back. Russia’s disastrous war in Ukraine, China’s futile war on Covid and Iran’s brutal war on its own women are testaments to the evil and folly of a system in which leaders face no accountability. Their failures and cruelties—and the tragic human cost—call for humility from those in the West who have spent the past few years denouncing liberal democracy and its works.

☆ Canada adds sanctions on Russia, Iran, Myanmar over human rights
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-09 | by ( Kanishka Singh | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Dec 9 (Reuters) - Canada on Friday imposed fresh sanctions on Russia, Iran and Myanmar, citing alleged human rights violations by their governments. Since Russia's invasion on Feb. 24, Canada has imposed sanctions on more than 1,500 individuals and entities from Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. "There is more work to be done, but Canada will never stop standing up for human rights," Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly said. In addition to Iran and Russia, Canada also imposed sanctions on 12 individuals and three entities in Myanmar that perform key functions on behalf of the Myanmar military, facilitate arms flows to the military and enable the military's violence, Canada said. More than 16,500 people have been arrested and more than 13,000 of them remain in detention since the coup, according to a human rights organization that documents violations by the Myanmar military.

☆ Iran's Raisi promises to pursue crackdown on protesters; cleric critical of execution
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-09 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Molavi Abdolhamid, a Sunni cleric in the Shi'ite-ruled Islamic Republic, criticized the death sentence, according to his website. Human rights groups said Shekari was tortured and forced to confess. In Geneva, U.N. Human Rights High Commissioner Volker Turk called the execution “very troubling and clearly designed to send a chilling effect to the rest of the protesters." Britain announced sanctions on Friday against 30 people worldwide, including officials from Russia, Iran and Myanmar it deems responsible for human rights abuses or corruption. Molavi Abdolhamid made his critical comments from Zahedan, the capital of restive Sistan-Baluchistan province, home to Iran's Baluch minority who have faced discrimination and repression for decades, according to human rights groups.

☆ 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.

☆ Khamenei calls for overhaul of Iran's cultural system
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-06 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

DUBAI, Dec 6 (Reuters) - Iran’s Supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, on Tuesday called for "revolutionary reconstruction of the country's cultural system", state media reported, as nationwide protests kept up pressure on the authorities. "It is necessary to revolutionise the country's cultural structure... the supreme council should observe the weaknesses of culture in different fields of the country," Khamenei said during his meeting with a state cultural council. Iran has been rocked by unrest since the death of Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini on Sept. 16 in police custody after her arrest for “inappropriate Islamic attire”. The demonstrations have posed one of the strongest challenges to the Islamic Republic since the 1979 revolution. Reporting by Dubai Newsroom, Editing by William MacleanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Iran's attorney general signals that morality police could be 'abolished'
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-04 | by ( Mithil Aggarwal | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +4 min

Iran‘s Attorney General said Saturday that the country’s controversial morality police will be “abolished,” local media reported, amid ongoing nationwide protests. Montazeri's brief and unscripted comment came in response to a question about “why the morality police were being shut down,” the outlets reported. Iran’s Interior Ministry and police have not commented on the status of the morality police. Amini had allegedly failed to fully cover her hair and defied the country’s strict dress codes when she was arrested in Iran’s capital, Tehran. Police had said Amini died after she fell ill and slipped into a coma, but her family has said witnesses told them officers beat her.

☆ Iran state body reports 200 dead in protests, Raisi hails 'freedoms'
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

A top state security body meanwhile said that 200 people, including members of the security forces, had lost their lives in the unrest, a figure significantly lower than that given by the world body and rights groups. Amirali Hajizadeh, a senior Revolutionary Guards commander was quoted as saying on Monday that 300 people, including security force members, had been killed in the recent unrest. Javaid Rehman, a U.N.-appointed independent expert on Iran, said on Tuesday that more than 300 people had been killed in the protests, including more than 40 children. Rights group HRANA said that as of Friday 469 protesters had been killed, including 64 minors. "The people's protest has shown that the policies of the last 43 years have reached a dead end," he said in late November.

On Tuesday, those criticizing the team made their voices heard: This was the Islamic Republic's loss, not Iran's. Meanwhile, there were thousands of tweets in Persian, or in English from prominent Iranians, saying how happy they were their own team had fallen at the first hurdle of the competition. Dean Mouhtaropoulos / Getty Images"For 43 years the regime brainwashed Iranians to hate America," Masih Alinejad, a New York-based Iranian journalist and activist, tweeted . "But see how people across Iran are celebrating the victory of the U.S. soccer team against the Islamic Republic." Reuters TVWhere the Iranian soccer team fits into all this has been a subject of debate among Iranians and those watching from abroad.

Still, politics have spilled into the World Cup, the first to be held in a Middle East country. We don't have voice in Iran," said an Iranian living in the United States who gave his name only as Sam. Steve Garcia, from Phoenix, Arizona, said the United States and Iran had their differences but could come together in sport. The United States has imposed sanctions on Iranian officials over the crackdown on protesters. When their soccer teams clashed in the 1998 World Cup, Iran emerged with a 2-1 victory.

Qatar, which has strong ties with Washington and friendly relations with Tehran, has staked its reputation on delivering a smooth World Cup, beefing up security at Iran games and banning some items deemed inflammatory, like Iran's pre-Revolution flag. The Qatar official, when asked about fans' security concerns and complaints over restrictions, said authorities would ensure every match at the World Cup is "safe and welcoming for all spectators". Items that "could increase tensions and risk the safety of fans" would not be permitted at stadiums, the official said. The United States and Iran severed formal relations in 1980 after the Revolution and ties were hostile when their soccer teams clashed in the 1998 World Cup. Reporting by Maya Gebeily and Charlotte Bruneau; Writing by Ghaida Ghantous; Editing by Peter RutherfordOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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