Human rights

JESSICA GOW/TT News Agency/AFP via Getty Images

Sweden summons Iranian ambassador over dual national sentence

The Iranian-Swedish national was arrested during Iran’s June war with Israel for allegedly spying on Israel’s behalf.

Iranian soldiers keep watch at a patrol post in Zabol, southeastern Iran, near the Afghan border, on Oct. 10, 2012.

Analysis

Militant merger in Iran’s Baluchistan signals new threat to Tehran

The group’s outreach to broader ethnic communities reflects a strategic bid for wider legitimacy and a role in the wider struggle against the Islamic Republic.

A correspondent in Tehran

By A correspondent in Tehran

In Tehran, reporting on politics

A fan waves a Pride flag before the soccer match between the Seattle Sounders and the Portland Timbers at Lumen Field, on June 3, 2023, in Seattle, Washington.

Culture

World Cup: Iran fumes over LGBTQ+ themes as Jordan qualifies for first time

Morocco is hoping to build on its historic run in 2022, with Saudi Arabia, Egypt and others in the region similarly vying to build on recent successes.

Security personnel from the Syrian Ministry of Interior stand outside the Justice Palace ahead of the first trial of more than a dozen suspects linked to massacres that left hundreds dead in Syria's Alawite coastal heartland earlier this year, in Aleppo on November 18, 2025. The first trial of more than a dozen suspects linked to massacres that left hundreds dead in Syria's Alawite coastal heartland earlier this year began on November 18, an AFP journalist in the courtroom said. The massacres in March, whic

Feature

A year since Assad’s fall, Aleppo trial tests Syria’s transitional justice

Syria recently launched its first open trial on the deadly sectarian violence in March, but questions about judicial independence and political influence make the upcoming hearings a major test of accountability in post-Assad Syria as the first anniversary of Assad’s fall approaches.

Alessandra Bajec

By Alessandra Bajec

Latest News

Turkey sentences journalist over 4 years in jail for threatening Erdogan

Prominent Turkish journalist Fatih Altayli is pictured in this undated image.

Saudi Arabia lifts travel ban on US citizen Saad Almadi

An undated image of Saad Ibrahim Almadi.

Fed up with Netanyahu, more Israelis seek European passports

Alexi J. Rosenfeld/Getty Images

Israeli settlers arrested after injuring 4 Palestinians in West Bank rampage: What to know

A Palestinian man tries to extinguish flames from a burning truck after an Israeli settlers attack in the village of Beit Lid, east of Tulkarm, in the occupied West Bank on Nov. 11, 2025.

People protest against executions and detentions in Iran, in front of the Iranian Permanent Mission to the UN in New York City on December 17, 2022. (Photo by Kena Betancur / AFP) (Photo by KENA BETANCUR/AFP via Getty Images)

New EU sanctions on Iran target Basij, judiciary after executions

The foreign ministers of the European Union have adopted an eighth round of sanctions against Iranian individuals and entities responsible for serious breaches of human rights.

Red Bull Racing Team Principal Christian Horner talks with Elon Musk in the Paddock prior to final practice ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of Miami at Miami International Autodrome on May 06, 2023 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images)

Antisemitism skyrockets on Twitter as Israel's requests go ignored

With the number of antisemitic posts on social media on the rise, Israel’s Foreign Ministry focuses on tracing such dangerous trends and battling them on the platforms they are published on.

Turkey election

Turkey’s new parliament: 50 shades of nationalism, conservatism

Turkey has ended up with the most nationalist and conservative parliament in its modern history, and where women, LGBT groups will face an uphill battle.

An exhibition calling for an end to executions in Iran on Trafalgar Square on October 10, 2020 in London, England. The exhibition, held by Anglo-Iranian communities in the UK, marked the World Day against the Death Penalty. (Photo by Hollie Adams/Getty Images)

Iran hangs 3 protesters in Isfahan as executions soar

Iran rebuffed calls by rights groups to prevent the execution of three protesters who were reportedly forced into confessions.

LUDOVIC MARIN/AFP via Getty Images

Elon Musk defends ‘antisemitic' tweets on George Soros after Israeli criticism

Israel's Foreign Ministry accused the Twitter owner of encouraging antisemitic posts on the social media platform.

Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio seen during the G7 Foreign Ministers Meeting at the Weissenhaus Grand Village Resort on May 13, 2022 near Oldenburg in Holstein, Germany. The three-day conference is focusing on the current Russian war in Ukraine. The foreign ministers of Ukraine and Moldova are also attending. (Photo by Georg Wendt - Pool/Getty Images)

Analysis

Meet Italy’s Luigi Di Maio, EU’s first envoy for Gulf region

Not everyone in Italy and France is welcoming the nomination of former Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio as the European Union's new envoy to the Gulf region.

Rina Bassist

By Rina Bassist

In Paris, reporting on Israeli politics and European affairs

Israel's Foreign Minister Eli Cohen meets with Sweden's Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom in Stockhold, May 15, 2023.

Israeli FM in Sweden, applauds move to blacklist Iran's IRGC

Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen has turned a new page in bilateral relations with Sweden, hoping to cooperate on economic opportunities as well as battle antisemitism and the Iranian regime.

This picture taken on on Feb. 1, 2021 shows a view of the downtown Dubai skyline, with Burj Khalifa, as seen from the Dubai Frame vantage point.

Lebanon: Death of citizen in UAE custody sparks controversy

The death of a Lebanese businessman in the custody of UAE authorities risks further straining relations between the two countries.

STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN/AFP via Getty Images

France welcomes Iran's release of two detained citizens as four remain

Benjamin Briere and Bernard Phelan are on their way home back to France, leaving four French nationals still held prisoner in Iran.

Iranians burn a Swedish flag during a protest in Tehran on January 27, 2023 against the burning of a Koran in Stockholm. - Swedish-Danish far-right politician Rasmus Paludan set fire to a copy of the Muslim holy book in front of Turkey's embassy in the Swedish capital. Many Muslim countries have said they were outraged by the burning of the Koran, which Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson condemned as "deeply disrespectful". (Photo by AFP) (Photo by STR/AFP via Getty Images)

Sweden-Iran ties strained even more after resolution to blacklist IRGC

Following the execution of Iranian-Swedish dual national Habib Chaab, the Swedish parliament adopted with an overwhelming majority a resolution calling to blacklist the IRGC.

Rina Bassist

By Rina Bassist

In Paris, reporting on Israeli politics and European affairs

People protest against executions and detentions in Iran, in front of the Iranian Permanent Mission to the UN in New York City on December 17, 2022. (Photo by Kena Betancur / AFP) (Photo by KENA BETANCUR/AFP via Getty Images)

What is behind Iran’s execution spree as Tehran hangs 10 prisoners this week?

The United Nations estimated that more than 200 people have been executed this year so far, as authorities battle internal protests.

Women queue to receive humanitarian aid packages at the Kurdish-run al-Hol camp, which holds relatives of suspected Islamic State (IS) group fighters, in Syria's northeastern Hasakeh governorate on August 18, 2021. (Photo by Delil SOULEIMAN / AFP) (Photo by DELIL SOULEIMAN/AFP via Getty Images)

Islamic State women use children as 'sex tools,' Syrian Kurdish officials say

Officials in northeast Syria tell Al-Monitor that women in Islamic State internment camps are forcing young boys to impregnate women as part of an alleged IS campaign to "go forth and multiply."