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‘It’s feminist and it’s badass’: the Iranian women taking up pole dancing and aerial dance
Hanging from a rope, a harness or a hoop, Iranian women are flocking to gyms to perform aerial dance and sharing videos of their routines on social media. Others are quietly practising another form of self-expression – pole-dancing – in underground venues hidden from Iran’s security forces. In a theocracy where women are banned from riding motorbikes, singing in public or appearing outside without a hijab,...
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Honored to be Collective recipient of the European Press Prize 2025 for BakuConnection
It was an honour to contribute to the Baku Connection investigation as a France 24 Observers journalist, working alongside colleague Corentin Bainier. The collaborative project, led by Forbidden Stories, received the Special Award at the European Press Prize ceremony in Bari, Italy.
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Elon Musk’s tweets: Investigating the billionaire’s anti-European rhetoric
The FRANCE 24 Observers -including me- collaborated with France Info and Belgium’s RTBF to analyse the rhetoric of Elon Musk, one of Trump’s closest advisers. This two-part investigation, conducted by the Médias Francophones Publics, examines the X owner’s social media posts, documenting how the billionaire is propagating anti-Ukraine sentiment and posting tweets in support of the European far right.“I use my tweets to express...
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Iranian female singers face arrests and police summons
In Iran, at least seven women have recently been arrested or summoned for questioning by police. The Iranian regime does not allow women to sing in public. However, more and more Iranian women are defying the ban, particularly since the “Woman Life Freedom” movement began. In recent weeks, they have been the target of a crackdown. This report aired and was published first here...
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Vanishing reservoirs, empty taps: how Iran’s water crisis became a national emergency
In recent days, images of vast, dried-up reservoirs near Tehran have circulated on social media. These dams supply water to more than nine million people in the Iranian capital, and their depletion has sparked widespread concern. A combination of decades of drought, mismanagement, and crumbling infrastructure is driving Iran towards an unprecedented water crisis as the Middle East enters its warm season, experts warn....
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“It will be our execution order”: US deportations leave asylum seekers in limbo
An Iranian woman who was among 299 migrants deported by the United States to Panama has appealed to President Donald Trump for a reprieve so she can avoid being sent back to Iran. As a Christian convert, Artemis Ghasemzadeh, 27, could face execution or life in prison under Iran’s Sharia law if she is forced to return. UPDATE: On Thursday night, all the asylum...
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Macron-Modi Meeting: Debunking Viral Misleading Claims
After the international AI summit in Paris, media outlets and social media accounts linked to the Russian government circulated a video claiming that French President Emmanuel Macron had snubbed Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, ignoring him and refusing to shake his hand. However, this claim is misleading. A longer version of the same footage shows that the two leaders had already met outside the...
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‘Free Women of the Levant’: Jihadists’ families rally against al-Sharaa’s crackdown in Syria
On December 14, dozens of protesters—mostly women and children—gathered in Aleppo in northern Syria to demand the release of their relatives from the prisons of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS). Yet the detainees are not pro-democracy activists or journalists imprisoned by the Islamist group: they are hardline jihadist fighters who rejected HTS’s increasingly pragmatic approach since the group began distancing itself from al-Qaeda and the...
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Repression in Iran, ammunition made in France
A two-year investigation by FRANCE 24 has revealed that hunting cartridges produced by the French-Italian ammunition manufacturer Cheddite were used in Iran during the violent crackdown on the “Woman, Life, Freedom” protests in 2022. The investigation uncovers how these cartridges are widely available in Iran, despite European sanctions imposed in 2011. It appears the ammunition may have been routed through Turkey, where Cheddite at one...
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Ershad Alijani 