Category Archives: Iran

Dissident Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof released from prison

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The award-winning film-maker, who was arrested last July, has apparently been formally released from prison, though there is no official comment

Iran has released award-winning film-maker Mohammad Rasoulof more than six months after arresting him for criticising the government, a pro-reform newspaper reported on Monday.

Rasoulof, whose 2020 film There Is No Evil won the top prize at the Berlin international film festival, is one of several prominent artists, athletes and other celebrities detained in recent months.

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Iran marks 44 years since revolution amid protests

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Anti-government hackers interrupted televised speech by president Ebrahim Raisi, who appealed to the ‘deceived youth’ to repent

Iran marked the 44th anniversary its revolution on Saturday with state-organised rallies, as anti-government hackers briefly interrupted a televised speech by the president, Ebrahim Raisi.

Raisi, whose hardline government faces one of the boldest challenges from young protesters, appealed to the “deceived youth” to repent so they can be pardoned by Iran’s supreme leader.

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French-Iranian academic Fariba Adelkhah released from Iran prison

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In 2020 Iranian authorities sentenced Adelkhah to five years in jail on national security charges, which she denied

Iranian-French academic Fariba Adelkhah was released from Iran’s Evin prison, France said, but it was unclear what the conditions of her release were.

Adelkhah has been in prison since Iranian authorities arrested her in 2019 during a visit. She is one of seven French nationals detained in Iran, a factor that has worsened relations between Paris and Tehran in recent months.

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Russian cruise missiles crossed into Moldova and Romania, says Ukraine

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Apparent violation of countries’ airspace comes as Kremlin launches major missile and drone attack

Two Russian cruise missiles have entered the airspace of Moldova and Romania, Ukraine has said, in the latest attack by Moscow on targets across the country.

Gen Valerii Zaluzhnyi, the commander-in-chief of Ukraine’s armed forces, said the Kalibr rockets crossed into Moldova at 10.18am local time on Friday. They then flew into Romania at 10.33am at the intersection of the state border, before recrossing into western Ukraine, he said.

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Iranian prosecutors concealed rape by Revolutionary Guards, document shows

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Internal report on rape of two women arrested during protests suppressed for fear of ‘misrepresentation by enemy groups’

Members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards raped two women in an attack covered up by state prosecutors, according to an internal judicial document seen by the Guardian.

The document, originally leaked to Iran International by hacktivist group Edalat-e Ali (Ali’s Justice), reveals the case of sexual assault by two IRGC officers of a woman aged 18 and a woman of 23 in a van during protests against the death in September of Mahsa Amini in police custody in Tehran.

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Iran’s supreme leader to pardon some detained anti-government protesters

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Amnesty does not apply to dual nationals, prisoners on death sentence or those that do not regret their crimes, say officials

A limited amnesty is to be offered to many of those detained in the recent Iranian protests, the country’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has agreed.

But the amnesty does not apply to dual nationals, those convicted of offences carrying the death penalty or those that refuse to admit and regret their crimes, the Iranian officials said.

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Iranian film-maker Jafar Panahi released on bail after hunger strike

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Award-winning director, who was arrested in July, is released from Evin prison in Tehran

The acclaimed Iranian film-maker Jafar Panahi has been released on bail after starting a hunger strike to protest against his almost seven-month detention, a rights group and supporters said on Friday.

Panahi has been released from Evin prison in Tehran “two days after starting his hunger strike for freedom”, the US-based Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) said on Twitter. Iran’s Shargh newspaper posted an image of Panahi jubilantly embracing a supporter.

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Film-maker Jafar Panahi begins hunger strike in Iranian prison

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Panahi says he will not eat until he is released, after lawyer successfully challenged his detention

One of Iran’s most illustrious film-makers, Jafar Panahi, is on hunger strike in protest at his continued detention in Tehran’s Evin prison, his wife has said.

The Cannes film festival award-winner and director of The White Balloon, The Circle and No Bears took the step after plans for his release were dashed, even though his lawyer had successfully challenged his detention.

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Iranian couple filmed dancing in Tehran are jailed for 10 years

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Couple convicted of ‘encouraging corruption and public prostitution’ after video of dance at landmark tower went viral

An Iranian court has handed jail sentences of more than 10 years each to a young couple who danced in front of one of Tehran’s main landmarks in a video seen as a symbol of defiance against the regime, activists have said.

Astiyazh Haghighi and her fiance, Amir Mohammad Ahmadi, both in their early 20s, were arrested in early November after a video went viral showing them dancing romantically in front of the Azadi Tower.

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Met police urged to prosecute Iranian accused of backing Rushdie fatwa

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Officers are reviewing a dossier accusing Sayed Ataollah Mohajerani, who lives in London, of encouraging terrorism

The Metropolitan police is being urged to crack down on Iranian terrorism in the UK by prosecuting a former senior Iranian government official accused of advocating the fatwa against Sir Salman Rushdie.

The Metropolitan police has been studying a legal dossier accusing Sayed Ataollah Mohajerani, who lives in Britain, of encouraging terrorism contrary to the 2006 Terror Act. He denies the claims.

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Iranian protesters sentenced to death were tortured, says Amnesty report

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Two teenagers and 31-year-old man were subjected to torture including rape and beatings and denied fair trial, says group

The alleged torture of three young Iranian men facing the death penalty has been detailed in a report by Amnesty International that raises deep concerns about the country’s judicial system.

One of the men, Mehdi Mohammadifard, was raped by prison guards and severely beaten, the rights group said. Amnesty said it had learned that Mohammadifard suffered anal injuries and rectal bleeding that required treatment in a hospital outside the prison where he was being held.

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Drones target Iranian weapons factory in central city of Isfahan

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Attack appears to fit a pattern of strikes against strategic sites that have been attributed to Israel

A series of powerful explosions have damaged an Iranian government weapons factory in the central city of Isfahan, according to witnesses and footage from the scene, in what officials said was a coordinated drone attack.

The overnight strikes left flames billowing from a military industrial complex thought to be a production hub for drones and missiles that have been used across the Middle East and by Russian forces in Ukraine.

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Iran to rule on release of film-maker Jafar Panahi

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Lawyer for award-winning director says court of appeal expected to decide on case by end of week

Iran’s judiciary is to rule on whether to release the film-maker Jafar Panahi on bail after his conviction was overturned by the supreme court, his lawyer said.

Panahi, 62, who has won a number of awards at European film festivals, was arrested on 11 July last year and sent to jail to serve a six-year sentence which had been handed down in 2010 for “propaganda against the system”. He served two months at the time before being granted a conditional release. He was also barred from leaving Iran and making films, and was largely confined to his home until his arrest in July.

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Iran: fears grow of security crackdown in Zahedan as anti-regime protests persist

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Checkpoints have sprung up and armed police flood the streets in the restive city where dozens of civilians were killed last year

Protesters say they fear Iran’s security services may be planning an assault in the city of Zahedan – the site of a deadly attack on civilians last year – as reports emerge that there are thousands of armed police on the streets.

Fifteen checkpoints have been put up in the past week across the city, the capital of Sistan-Baluchistan province, and several people have been detained by security forces.

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MEPs call for blacklisting of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards

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Ministers under pressure to pass ban but some fear it could lead to collapse of nuclear talks

The European parliament has called for Iran’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) to be blacklisted in Europe, a move some western politicians fear could provoke Iran to walk out of talks on reviving the 2015 nuclear deal.

The parliament has only an advisory role, but EU foreign ministers are due to meet on Monday to discuss further sanctions, and the Iranian diaspora is making the proscription of the IRGC its key demand.

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Iran to execute mentally ill man for allegedly burning Qur’an during protest

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Rights groups say Javad Rouhi, who was sentenced on charges including apostasy, was tortured so badly he can no longer speak

A 35-year-old man from a small village in northern Iran has been sentenced to death on charges including apostasy for allegedly burning a Qur’an and “insulting holy things” during the early phase of the protests triggered by the death in custody of Mahsa Amini.

Javad Rouhi has not been entitled to a lawyer of his choice in court and suffers from a severe mental illness. Human rights groups say he was tortured so terribly in a detention centre run by the feared Revolutionary Guards that he lost his ability to speak and walk, and became incontinent.

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Family of executed British-Iranian national ‘prevented from seeing body’

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Alireza Akbari’s sister and daughter went to cemetery to collect his remains but were told he had already been interred

The Tehran-based family of the executed British-Iranian dual national Alireza Akbari have been prevented from seeing his body or burying him in the grave in which he had asked to be laid to rest in Shiraz, his birthplace, family members have told the Guardian.

Akbari was executed for spying for M16, charges he vehemently denied and for which there is no substantive evidence, save a confession extracted under torture.

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Senior Iranian ex-diplomats expressing open criticism of regime

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Former envoys warn against policies including supply of drones to Russia and failure to revive nuclear deal

Senior former Iranian diplomats are expressing open criticism of their government, warning that by failing to revive the nuclear deal and supplying drones to Russia in Ukraine, the country risks becoming isolated, its economy weakened and the protest movement emboldened.

The increasingly stark warnings may reflect the views of a waning old guard of reformist diplomats, but appear to echo a live battle within the government over strategy and policy.

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Iranian hardliners urge revenge on UK after Alireza Akbari’s execution

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Newspaper editor calls for UK agents to be named, despite zero evidence British-Iranian dual national was a spy

Iranian hardliners are urging their government to exact revenge on the UK and deliver a blow to its spying network by revealing the true names of the British intelligence agents who supposedly worked with Alireza Akbari, the British-Iranian dual national who was executed on Saturday for allegedly spying for the UK.

The call – made by Hossein Shariatmadari, the editor of the Kayan, the newspaper closest to the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) – shows hardliners are intent on a confrontation with Britain over the issue.

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UK set to brand Iran’s revolutionary guards as terrorists after Akbari execution

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Britain and EU expected to coordinate response to hanging of British-Iranian accused of spying

The UK and the European Union are expected to coordinate moves to brand the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organisation after the execution of Alireza Akbari, a British-Iranian dual national who was lured back to Iran by the security services three years ago.

Akbari, who had been a senior defence figure in reformist governments nearly two decades ago, was hanged for being a spy for MI6, a charge his family deny. A friend of the family said “this is a murder case”, and vowed to prove the innocence of the 61-year-old, including allegations that he had been paid by British intelligence.

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