Dissent

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Some 110,000 Israelis protested Saturday night at two big rallies in Tel Aviv. So reports Al Jazeera. The larger of the two was attended by opposition politicians Yair Lapid and Benny Gantz. Lapid told Israeli radio, “We will defend the nation and democracy. We will not surrender before we reach […]

Authoritarianism

Iranians In Kurdish Sanandaj Renew Call For Regime Change At Gathering To Mark Protester’s Death

Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty

By Ardeshir Tayebi – ( RFE/RL ) – Iranians in the western city of Sanandaj have marked the end of a 40-day mourning period for Homan Abdullahi, a protester killed by security forces in ongoing nationwide protests that have rocked the country since the death of Mahsa Amini, with renewed calls for regime change. Videos […]

Authoritarianism

Iran: Brute Force Used in Crackdown on Dissent

Human Rights Watch

( Human Rights Watch – (Beirut) – Iranian authorities used excessive and lethal force in their clampdown on nationwide protests that broke out in September 2022, Human Rights Watch said today in its World Report 2023. The government imprisoned hundreds of activists on dubious charges, and issued death sentences in grossly unfair trials. The death on […]

Authoritarianism

Dual Iranian-British national Alireza Akbari’s execution plunges Iranian Relations with the West to a new Low

Farhang Jahanpour

Oxford (Special to Informed Comment) – On Saturday 14 January, the Iranian regime executed a 61-year old dual Iranian-British national and a former deputy defence minister, Alireza Akbari. The 15th branch of the Islamic Revolutionary Court, presided over by Abolqasem Salavati who had been the judge of numerous controversial cases and who has been sanctioned […]

Apartheid

Criticizing Israel: Letter to the President of Harvard University regarding Kenneth Roth

Committee on Academic Freedom

Committee on Academic Freedom | Middle East Studies Association of North America | Lawrence S. Bacow President, Harvard University president@harvard.edu Dear President Bacow: We write on behalf of the Middle East Studies Association of North America (MESA) and its Committee on Academic Freedom to express our grave concern about the July 2022 decision […]

Authoritarianism

Will Iran’s Protest Movement Survive?

Golnaz Esfandiari

( RFE/RL) – Antiestablishment protests have raged across Iran for months, despite a brutal state crackdown in which hundreds of demonstrators have been killed and thousands more detained. Triggered by the death of a young woman died after she was arrested by Iran’s morality police in mid-September, the ongoing nationwide protests have become the longest-running […]

Authoritarianism

Iran Leader Khamenei seems to Back-Pedal from Punishing Women for “Poor Veiling” after Months of Protest

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – According to the official Iranian press, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the “August Leader” of Iran, met Wednesday with hundreds of professional women and spoke about the controversies wracking the country regarding veiling. He stressed that the veiling of women is firmly part of Islamic law and there can be no retreat […]

Authoritarianism

Two Iranian Teens Reportedly Sentenced To Death Over Protests

Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty

By Ardeshir Tayebi | – Iran has reportedly sentenced two teenagers to death for “corruption on Earth” and “waging war against God” among other charges often used by the judiciary to help the government quell nationwide unrest sparked by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini while in police custody. The U.S.-based activist group HRANA quoted […]

censorship

Sudan Military-Civilian Pact Omits Key Justice Reforms, including an End to Impunity (HRW)

Human Rights Watch

Human Rights Watch – (Nairobi) – Sudan’s political actors and international partners should ensure that progress on human rights and accountability for serious human rights violations are central to any new transition, Human Rights Watch said today. This includes an end to the violent crackdown against peaceful protesters, releasing arbitrarily detained protesters, and taking concrete […]