Heard In Iran: Cleric Criticizes Supreme Leader

Iranian Cleric Criticizes Supreme Leader
February 18 -- In an interview with Radio Farda, Cleric Ahmad Ghabel blames the Supreme Leader's "vanity and sense of superiority" for Iran's decline. He also blasts the leadership for not bringing other voices to the table when it comes to US-Iranian relations. [listen in Persian]

Security Forces Demolish Sufi House of Worship
February 18 -- Iranian authorities destroyed a house of worship of the Gonabadi dervishes in Isfahan in the latest crackdown against Sufis and other religious minorities. [read in English or listen in Persian]

Self Immolation Outside Parliament
February 15 -- After a protestor died by setting himself on fire outside Iran's parliament building, a sociologist told Radio Farda that Iran has the third highest suicide rate in the world. [read in Persian]

Journalist Banned from Leaving Iran
February 17 -- Iranian authorities prevented freelance journalist and staunch free speech activist Abdolreza Tajik from boarding a plane to Spain to attend a seminar on the 30th anniversary of Iran's Revolution. [read in English or Persian]

Rising Social Inequality in Iran
February 16 -- Amid reports from Iran's Central Bank on a rising gap between the haves and have-nots in Iran, a Radio Farda listener asks: "With most of the nation's wealth in the hands of a few, what else do you expect?" [read in Persian]

More Students Arrested
February 14 -- A student tells Radio Farda that classmates who published essays about human rights on the Internet have been arrested. [listen in Persian]