Posts Tagged ‘Iran’

White House won’t rule out using Pope in Iran negotiations

Thursday, February 25th, 2021

The White House is not ruling out using Pope Francis as a means of making contact and negotiating with Iran’s government. The question of using Francis arose when a media outlet noted he has extensive contacts with the Iranian government in Tehran and that President Joe Biden has an excellent relationship with the pontiff. On Read more

Iran sentenced three teenagers to have four fingers amputated

Monday, September 21st, 2020

Iran has sentenced three teenagers to have four fingers amputated each as a punishment for stealing. Hadi Rostami, Mehdi Sharafian and Mehdi Shahivand, whose exact ages are not known, were handed the punishment on Thursday after a failed attempt to appeal. They were originally tried on November 2 last year on four counts of robbery Read more

The kindness of strangers

Thursday, May 14th, 2020
kindness of strangers

Bushra Alkhafaji and her daughter Nada are New Zealand citizens who arrived in Iran in February for an annual trip, with flights paid for by Bushra’s Iran-based daughters. On a short visit to Isfahan during the holiday, Iran announced inter-city travel restrictions so Bushra and Nada were separated from relatives and had to find temporary Read more

Support grows for whipped, imprisoned female human rights lawyer

Thursday, April 11th, 2019

Support is growing for an Iranian human rights lawyer after she was sentenced to 38 years in prison for defending women who refused to wear headscarves. Nasrin Sotoudeh received the sentence — along with 148 lashes — last month on charges of encouraging prostitution and offering legal advice to women protesting the mandatory hijab. The Read more

Thousands of Iranians converting to Christianity

Monday, April 8th, 2019

Thousands of Iranians are converting to Christianity in Iran as Muslims are being criticised on social media for their religion’s oppressive rule. “There are signs that quite a few Iranians are now also disenchanted with Islam itself,” a recent opinion piece notes. “Often silently and covertly, they are abandoning their faith. Some opt for other Read more

Christian conversion can lead to 10 years in jail

Monday, May 14th, 2018

Christian conversion is not for the fainthearted in Iran. It can be a crime leading to a decade in jail. The Iranian government uses the Internet to censor and monitor activists and to enforce official religious interpretations. Surveillance cameras watch Catholic churches. They’re looking for Muslims going into Christian churches, Iranian-born journalist Sohrab Ahmari says. Read more

Nuclear disarmament: religion is key say Nobel Prize alumni

Monday, November 13th, 2017

There is a major role for faith-based groups to help create a nuclear weapon-free world, Nobel Prize winners said at a nuclear disarmament summit at the Vatican last week. They suggested faith groups could use their ability to mobilise people and public opinion, and lay out the moral and spiritual case for disarmament. The Nobel Read more

The Iran agreement and visiting a Nazi death camp

Friday, July 24th, 2015

Let me tell you where I was when I learned about the Iran deal: I was leaving Treblinka. My wife and I have just returned from a journey to Poland for parents of United Synagogue Youth members. We visited Warsaw, Krakow, Lodz and Lublin — with pilgrimages to the concentration camps of Auschwitz-Birkenau, Majdanek and Treblinka. We visited the Polin Museum of Read more

Making a difference: Catholic leaders applaud Iran agreement

Tuesday, July 21st, 2015
Ukraine Government

Committed to a negotiated settlement over the real possibility of armed conflict, six world powers and Iran have decided to give peace a chance. With much patience, persistence and hard work for over 20 months, the P5+1 Group (the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council: China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the Read more

How Isis came to be

Friday, August 29th, 2014

Three years ago, the Islamic State (Isis) did not exist; now it controls vast swathes of Syria and Iraq. Showing off its handiwork daily via Twitter and YouTube, Isis has repeatedly demonstrated that it is much more than a transnational terrorist organisation – rather, it is an entity with sophisticated command, control, propaganda and logistical Read more