June 14 – Hardline politicians dominated the election candidate lineup in Iran this week, following a vetting process carried out by the Islamic Republic’s ultra-conservative Guardian Council.
Former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was also disqualified from running alongside other prominent politicians.
Of the six men nominated to run, five are considered hardliners while one, Masoud Pezeshkian, is a reformist politician.
An international coalition was launched to campaign for the release of Nobel Prize Laureate Narges Mohammadi in Iran.
The coalition, which includes Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and freedom of speech advocacy group PEN America, called for the human rights campaigner’s unconditional release.
Mohammadi, who has been detained in Evin prison since 2021, has called for an end to the death penalty and equal rights for women in Iran.
And female film director and screenwriter Bahare Lelahi has allegedly been killed by Iran’s security forces and buried in secret, according to a report published by the Learning Institute for Iranian Civil Society (Tavaana).
Lelahi was briefly detained during the 2022 anti-government protests in Iran, and later went missing.
A source close to the family said security forces had demanded money to disclose the location of her burial and warned them not to talk about her death in public.
