After avoiding street protests, former ‘heart of the student movement’ says he is being jailed just for thinking

One of Iran’s most prominent liberal thinkers appears to be days away from being sent back to jail to serve a new six-year sentence, despite the fact he has kept a low profile and not taken part in street demonstrations.

Majid Tavakoli was first arrested in September last year at the outset of nationwide protests following the death of Mahsa Amini in what was seen as a “preventive arrest”. He was among a large group of dissidents swept up in a state dragnet in response to the “women, life, freedom” movement prompted by Amini’s death.

Governor says man has been detained after attack on Shia shrine in southern city of Shiraz

A gunman opened fire on Sunday night at a prominent shrine in southern Iran, killing one person and wounding eight others in an attack that followed another assault there months earlier, authorities said.

Officials offered no immediate motive for the attack in the city of Shiraz at Shah Cheragh, which draws Shia pilgrims to its domed mosque and the tomb of a prominent member of the faith from its earliest days.

Sadegh Zibakalam was sentenced for tweeting in March about the alleged poisoning of schoolchildren in Iran

One of the most distinguished former political science professors at the University of Tehran, who was sentenced to a year in jail for tweeting about the alleged poisoning of schoolchildren, has said his sentence was inexplicable and he will appeal against it.

Sadegh Zibakalam said nothing in his tweet directly accused the government of being behind the mysterious spate of alleged poisonings of schoolchildren that left hundreds in hospital and no one charged.