“Unbearable”: Reza Khandan, Husband of Nasrin Sotoudeh, on the Ground in Iran’s Qarchak Prison
Reza Khandan
“The purpose of holding women prisoners in such a place is to pressure and psychologically abuse them and their families.” ...
Time to Abandon Haji Firouz's Blackface-Nazila Fathi
Nowruz is approaching and Haji Firouz, the legendary character who spreads joy before the Persian new year, will once again hit the streets. There is one problem: his blackface. ...
The Running To Take The Reins In Iran? - Golnaz Esfandiari
Iran will hold a presidential election in less than three months amid speculation that a hard-liner and a "military man" could succeed Hassan Rohani, who is serving his final term and is under heavy pressure from his hard-line opponents who have consolidated power in the Islamic republic. ...
Labor Activists, the Living Wage and State Law in Iran
Fruzan Afshar
On April 8, 2020, representatives of Iran’s government, business and labor sectors resumed long overdue negotiations to revise the national minimum wage. With an economy hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic and crippling sanctions imposed by the United States, prospects for government and business representatives to consent to a substantial wage increase were slim. ...
Academic jailed in Iran pulls off daring escape back to Britain
A British- Iranian dual national sentenced to nine years and three months in jail in Iran for co-operating with “a hostile state power” has smuggled himself out of Iran, escaping over the country’s treacherous mountainous border, and is now living in London. In an interview with the Guardian, Kameel Ahmady explained he felt had no option but to flee after spending nearly 100 days in Evin prison, including a brutal spell in solitary confinement while he was being interrogated. ...
Former officials from across Europe urge change in diplomatic status toward Iran
On Thursday (28 January) a group of former government officials from more than a dozen European countries issued a statement urging the European Union and its member states to downgrade diplomatic relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran, pending guarantees for an end to the threat of Iranian state terrorism. The statement on the initiative of the International Committee in Search of Justice (ISJ) was released exactly one week ahead of the anticipated verdict in the case of Assadollah Assadi, a high-ranking Iranian diplomat who allegedly served as the mastermind of a 2018 terror plot targeting a gathering of Iranian expatriates in France. During an online panel discussion, four officials on the ISJ talked about the failure of Europe’s policy of appeasement. ...
‘Iran’s Nelson Mandela’ is back in prison. Biden must push for her freedom.
Nasrin Sotoudeh, an attorney and human rights activist often called “Iran’s Nelson Mandela,” is back in an overcrowded prison cell, separated from those she loves. Under arrest since 2018, she was granted a brief medical leave this month, but it was abruptly canceled on Jan. 19, the same day the government froze her family’s bank accounts. That afternoon, her husband, Reza Khandan, drove her to Qarchak's prison for women, accompanied by their daughter Mehraveh and son Nima. ...
How an anti-elite TV drama became Iran’s lockdown hit
Holly Dagres
A woman screams for her life after being locked in a Mercedes-Benz in a junkyard. In the next scene, all that is left of her is a metal cube with blood gushing out. This isn’t a scene from the latest horror film, but the first episode of the new Iranian drama series, Aghazadeh – taken from a term used to describe children of the Iranian elite with privilege, connections and influence. ...
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