Publication index

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Reporting, investigations and verification from the public record.

• Afghan migrants offered $500 by Iran to fight for Syrian regime

  Iran has been accused of recruiting and sending Afghanistan’s Shia Muslims to fight alongside the Assad regime in war-torn Syria. Afghan migrants say they are being…

  

• The woman encouraging a hijab revolution in Iran

  Over the past week, women in Iran have been posting photos of themselves without their hijabs on a Facebook page called “Stealthy Freedoms”, which has already…

  

• Iran’s hardliners launch campaign against ‘improper’ dress

  Every year, as the weather warms up, the Iranian morality police come out in full force to patrol the streets and stop women they judge as…

  

• Self-censorship on the rise in Iran’s underground art scene

  Many artists in Iran have two careers: a public one, and a secret one. They exhibit pieces that they know wouldn’t make it past official scrutiny…

  

• Drug dealers clash in Iranian border city

  In the poorest neighbourhoods of Zahedan, a city in southeastern Iran, daily clashes take place between drug gangs, which include women and young children.The drug trade…

  

• Iran’s ‘secret’ al Qaeda prisoners

  Across the Islamic Republic of Iran, Iranians accused of being members of al Qaeda are being held in prisons – some even in specific high security…

  

• Female bodybuilders try to lift sport’s profile in Iran

  Because they have to wear hijabs, Iranian women athletes cannot compete in many international competitions, and have to settle for competing at a national level. But…

  

• The Iranian stars who were purged from history

  History is written by the victors. This adage is glaringly true in Iran, where press and TV archives were shut down after the revolution in 1979,…

  

• Videos show Iranian officers supervising Syrian soldiers

  Videos published online seem to show Iranian military officers working with soldiers from Syria’s regular army, giving them advice and instructions for combat. This footage revives…

  

• Women skirt Iranian music ban with fancy dress

    They are famous singers, but nobody ever recognizes them in the street. In their music videos, you only see their back, their feet, their silhouette…