An Iranian actress who posted pictures of herself with her hair uncovered on Facebook and Instagram has fled to Dubai after being declared “immoral” by authorities in Iran, Yahoo! News reported Friday. Sadaf Taherian put the pictures of herself on her Facebook and Instagram pages in protest against strict laws...

Siamak Namazi, an Iranian-American businessman who has long advocated for closer ties between Washington and Tehran, was arrested two weeks ago by the intelligence arm of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), The Wall Street Journal reported (Google link) Thursday. About two weeks ago, Siamak Namazi, the head of strategic...

Ahmed Shaheed, the United Nations investigator of human rights in Iran, called the high rate of executions he monitors an “unprecedented assault on the right to life in Iran,” The New York Times reported Wednesday. His most striking criticism dwelled on what rights advocates have called Iran’s increasing rate of...

The Iranian government has jailed two prominent poets and sentenced them to 99 lashes each “for shaking hands with members of the opposite sex,” the Associated Press reported Tuesday. The sentences follow a pattern of arrests and convictions targeting activists, journalists and artists that has served as a grim backdrop to...

Though the nuclear deal was signed in hopes that it would move Iran into a more constructive relationship with the rest of the world, the conviction of Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian on espionage charges shows that diplomatic engagement has led to a “stiffening” of Iran’s stance towards the West, Benjamin Weinthal, a...

A national staff member of the activist group Code Pink, which protests Israel’s occupation of the West Bank, is active in a group that promotes Armenia’s occupation of a region of Azerbaijan. Nancy Kricorian is a leading proponent of boycotting Israel, especially products made by Ahava Cosmetics, calling them products of...