Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on April 26 rejected criticism over the arrests of journalists and said the fact that people had access to the Internet meant press freedom was assured. "We must protect our media landscape from external negative influences just like any other country, and everyone must comply with the laws," Aliyev told a joint news conference with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz during a visit to Berlin. Asked to respond to allegations that journalists' rights are being violated, Aliyev said it would be unfair to criticize Azerbaijan, which has hundreds of media organizations and no censorship. To read the full story on RFE/RL's Azerbaijani Service, click here.

A British man has been charged over alleged hostile state activity intended to benefit Russia, including by allegedly recruiting others for an arson attack on a Ukrainian-linked commercial property in London. UK Foreign Minister David Cameron voiced deep concern about the allegations, and the British Foreign Ministry later said it had summoned Russia's ambassador to London to express its concern about "Russian orchestrated malign activity on UK soil."

A Kurdish-language teacher in the Iranian city of Sanandaj has been sentenced to 11 years in prison for her cultural activities and support for the Women, Life, Freedom protests that have roiled the country since the death of Mahsa Amini in September 2022.

Soma Pourmohammadi, who is involved with the socio-cultural association Nojin, told RFE/RL’s Radio Farda that the first sentence handed down by Branch 1 of the Sanandaj Islamic Revolutionary Court was for a term of 10 years due to her association's activities, saying that it "disrupts national security."

In a second, related case, she said she received an additional one-year suspended sentence linked to her participation in the Women Life Freedom movement, again for "disrupting national security."

Pourmohammadi denied the accusations and criticized the Iranian judiciary and said she has little hope of receiving a reduced sentence on appeal.

During a recounting of her interrogation process, Pourmohammadi said she was blindfolded, forced to face a wall, and physically dragged and thrown outside in cold weather.

She was also forced to speak Persian despite her commitment to using only Kurdish, her mother tongue.

Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian-Kurdish woman, died while in police custody for an alleged hijab infraction in 2022.

Human rights groups say that since Amini’s death, authorities have launched an intense crackdown in provinces with significant Kurdish populations, including Kurdistan, Kermanshah, and West Azerbaijan.

Nojin, which has been officially licensed since 2009, focuses on the education and empowerment of women through the teaching of Kurdish and on raising cultural and social awareness in Kurdistan.

Despite its legal status, its members, including Pourmohammadi, frequently face state scrutiny and intimidation.

Pourmohammadi’s case, activists say, reflects a broader pattern of cultural suppression in Iran, particularly against ethnic minorities and their linguistic rights.

Pourmohammadi's sentencing coincides with increased actions against members of the Nojin association, including other educators who have faced similar charges.

Written by Ardeshir Tayebi based on an original story in Persian by RFE/RL's Radio Farda

Russian authorities have reportedly arrested another Tajik national in connection with the March 22 terrorist attack on the Crocus City Hall concert venue near Moscow that left 144 people dead and hundreds more injured.

The RBK news agency cited sources in law enforcement on April 26 as identifying the detained suspect as Jumokhon Qurbonov, who was born in 2003.

Russian authorities have said 11 Tajik citizens and a Kyrgyzstan-born Russian citizen have been arrested in connection with the attack, Russia’s worst terrorist attack in two decades. Responsibility was claimed by an offshoot of Islamic State known as Islamic State-Khorasan.

Russian investigators say the assault was carried out by four men, all Tajik nationals. Other detainees are being held for aiding and abetting the attackers.

On April 12, Tajikistan’s Foreign Minister Sirojiddin Muhriddin condemned the treatment of the Tajik suspects amid allegations that the detainees were tortured in custody.

SEE ALSO:

Russia 'Punishes' Tajik Migrants With Entry Denials, Deportations After Terror Attack

Several Tajik suspects showed signs of abuse when they appeared in court in Moscow following the attack. The four accused gunmen had bruised and swollen faces and showed other signs of having been severely beaten. There were unconfirmed reports that one of them had his ear cut off during his arrest.

Muhriddin also condemned the surge of xenophobia in Russia after the attack, saying that as a result of an "ill-conceived information campaign" a "negative perception is being formed toward citizens of Tajikistan."

The Kremlin has insisted without evidence that Ukraine, with the help of the United States, was responsible for the attack. Both Kyiv and Washington have dismissed the accusation.

The attack was seen as a major failure for Russia's security and intelligence services. The United States has said it gave specific information ahead of time, warning of a possible terrorist attack. Iran also reportedly provided a tip ahead of time.

With reporting by RBK

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the continued occupation by Russia of Ukraine's Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant, which is Europe's largest, heightens the danger of a nuclear catastrophe. "For 785 days now, Russian terrorists have held hostage the Zaporizhzhia NPP," Zelenskiy said in a message on X, formerly Twitter, on the 38th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear accident. "It is the entire world's responsibility to put pressure on Russia to ensure that ZNPP is liberated and returned to full Ukrainian control, as well as that all Ukrainian nuclear facilities are protected from Russian strikes," he wrote. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service, click here.

Four people, including three children, were wounded early on April 26 when Russian troops shelled the village of Derhachi in Ukraine's Kharkiv region, Governor Oleh Synyehubov said. Two girls, 16 and 5, received medical assistance on the spot, Synyehubov said, adding that a 4-year-old boy and a 52-year-old woman received minor injuries that did not need hospitalization. On April 25, 13 people were wounded in the Kharkiv region by Russian shelling. Russia has intensified its strikes on Kharkiv, whose regional capital, Kharkiv city, is just 30 kilometers from the Russian border. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service, click here.

The bodies of 140 Ukrainian servicemen killed in action have been returned to Ukraine, the Kyiv-based Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War announced in a statement on April 26. They consist of 120 soldiers who were killed in the Donetsk region, with the remainder falling on battlefields in the Luhansk, Sumy, Zaporizhzhya, and Kherson regions," the statement said. The International Committee of the Red Cross assisted in the return of the bodies, it added. On April 12, the bodies of 99 Ukrainian soldiers were returned to Kyiv, while Russia received 23 bodies. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service, click here.

In an apparent attempt to prevent possible ethnic clashes, Kazakh authorities have deployed special forces and increased the presence of law enforcement in the town of Zaghambar in the southern region of Turkistan, where tensions are running high following the alleged sexual assault of a teenage girl.

After police in the town -- where around three-quarters of its 5,400 residents are ethnic Uzbeks -- said on April 24 that a teenage boy had been arrested on suspicion of carrying out the assault, unknown perpetrators threw Molotov cocktails at several houses, barns, and three cars belonging to ethnic Uzbeks.

Police said that 16 young men had been detained on suspicion of carrying out the arson attacks. Local residents told RFE/RL that all of the suspected arson attackers were ethnic Kazakhs.

Zaghambar has been cordoned off by police and special forces since April 24, while telephone and the Internet connections remain blocked.

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Ethnic Tensions High As Kazakh Village Shaken By Alleged School Rape

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By sending special forces to the remote village and blocking communications, the authorities appear to be trying to prevent possible ethnic clashes similar to those that took place in another southern region -- Zhambyl.

In that region in February 2020, a road-rage brawl led to violent clashes between Kazakhs and Kazakh citizens from the ethnic Dungan minority -- a Muslim group of Chinese origin -- that left 11 people dead, dozens injured, and more than 30 houses, 17 commercial buildings, and 47 vehicles burned down.

SEE ALSO:

Containing Ethnic Conflict? Kazakhstan Probes Violence In Mixed Uzbek-Kazakh Village

More than 20,000 people, mostly Dungans, fled the villages where the violence erupted. Many of them ended up in the neighboring Kyrgyz region of Chui, where the majority of Central Asia's Dungans live.

Kazakh officials said at the time that most of the displaced Dungans returned to Kazakhstan several days later.

In February 2015, a quarrel between a Kazakh and an ethnic Tajik in another southern Kazakh district, Bostandyq, ended in the Kazakh man's death, which led to an anti-Tajik rampage involving homes and vehicles belonging to Tajiks being set on fire.

The maintaining ethnic harmony has been a major goal of the Kazakh government's domestic policies for decades. About 140 ethnic groups are represented among citizens of the former Soviet republic, where many ethnic minorities in the former Soviet Union were deported by Moscow in the 1940s.

The issue of ethnic concord became especially sensitive for Astana after Russia launched its ongoing invasion of Ukraine in 2022, asserting its "right" to intervene in foreign countries to protect Russian speakers.

More than 20 percent of Kazakhstan's 19 million people are ethnic Russians or so-called Russian speakers, mainly residing in northern regions bordering Russia and bigger cities, such as Almaty, the largest city, and Astana, the capital.

With reporting by RFE/RL's Kazakh Service

A court in Kyrgyzstan has sent a former deputy chief of the Anti-Monopoly Service to pretrial detention for at least two months on a charge of calling for mass unrest. Akjoltoi Tukunov was detained on April 17 and initially charged with public calls to seize power and calls for mass unrest. The first charge was later dropped. On April 19, a court ruled in favor of his release though it ordered him not to leave Bishkek. Prosecutors appealed that ruling, demanding that he be placed in pretrial detention. That request was granted by the Chui district court on April 26. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service, click here.

The leader of the United Kyrgyzstan opposition party, Adakhan Madumarov, told journalists after he was released from a detention center on April 26 that he will appeal his fraud conviction because the case was "ungrounded." In late March, a Bishkek court found Madumarov guilty of financial fraud and ignoring Kyrgyzstan's interests while signing a Kyrgyz-Tajik border deal in 2009 when he led the country's Security Council. The court did not sentence Madumarov due to the statute of limitations but ordered him to remain in custody for another month until the decision takes force. Madumarov was arrested in September. To read the original story on RFE/RL’s Kyrgyz Service, click here.

Russia's Justice Ministry said on April 26 that it had asked the Supreme Court to ban what it called the "International Anti-Russia Separatist Movement," a group that does not appear to exist. According to the ministry, the Supreme Court will look into its request on June 7. Last year, the Prosecutor-General's Office designated two movements registered abroad as undesirable organizations -- the League of Free Nations and the Forum of Post-Russia's Free Peoples, which advocate self-determination for ethnic republics within the Russian Federation. In November, the Supreme Court banned another nonexistent group -- the International Public LGBT Movement. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Russian Service, click here.

A Russian court sentenced businessman Oleg Kan in absentia on April 26 to 17 years in prison after being convicted of ordering the assassination of a business rival in 2010. Kan, known in Russia as the "Crab King," was an influential businessman who accumulated significant wealth by exporting seafood from Russia's Sakhalin island. He fled Russia in 2018 after a probe was launched against him. Kan's lawyers claimed later that their client died of cancer in Britain in 2023. Russian officials presume that Kan is alive, saying that his death was not registered with the Russian authorities. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Russian Service, click here.

Spain will send a small number of Patriot missiles to Ukraine in response to pressure from EU and NATO allies to send more military aid to Kyiv, according to a report published on April 26. With Russia having stepped up air attacks on Ukraine, EU governments have been urged to supply more protective systems to Kyiv, especially countries like Greece and Spain, which have such arms in their arsenals. Quoting unidentified government sources, the El Pais newspaper said that Spain had ruled out delivering Patriot antiaircraft launchers, but would supply the Ukrainian military with missiles for the system. To read the original story by Reuters, click here.

Ukrainian Agriculture Minister Mykola Solskiy was released from custody on April 26 after posting bail following his arrest earlier in the day over accusations that he had illegally acquired land worth about 291 million hryvnyas ($7 million).

Ukraine's anti-corruption court ordered that Solskiy be taken into custody following an investigation by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU).

Live Briefing: Russia's Invasion Of Ukraine

RFE/RL's Live Briefing gives you all of the latest developments on Russia's full-scale invasion, Kyiv's counteroffensive, Western military aid, global reaction, and the plight of civilians. For all of RFE/RL's coverage of the war in Ukraine, click here.

The anti-corruption judge ruled that Solskiy be placed in custody until June 24 and set bail at 75 million hryvnyas ($1.9 million), although the prosecutor had recommended a much higher bail -- 200 million hryvnyas ($5 million).

A press statement issued by the Agriculture Ministry later on April 26 said a bail of 75.7 million hryvnyas had been paid for the release of Solskiy, who "continues to exercise the powers of agriculture minister of Ukraine."

It did not say who paid the bail.

Solskiy, 44, is the first member of President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's government to be officially accused of corruption.

After he was named as a suspect in the multimillion-dollar graft investigation, Solskiy offered to resign on April 25 in a handwritten letter, which Ukrainian parliament speaker Ruslan Stefanchuk published on Facebook.

Solskiy's offer will be considered at an upcoming session of parliament, Stefanchuk said.

Solskiy, who was appointed minister in March 2022, has denied the accusations, saying the case concerns a dispute in 2017-18 between state-owned enterprises and private individuals, particularly soldiers, over land that was given to these people "in accordance with the law."

He promised to fully cooperate with the investigation.

NABU said earlier this week that Solskiy, an ex-head of parliament's Agriculture Committee, was involved in a plot that resulted in him taking possession of state land worth 291 million hryvnyas and that he was also attempting to acquire more land worth 190 million hryvnyas ($4.8 million).

NABU said that Solskiy was the coordinator of the scheme, which involved three other people, including two employees of the state cadastral office.

The Agriculture Ministry has overseen Kyiv's efforts to continue to export grain and other produce despite Russian attempts to block Black Sea export routes.

Zelenskiy last year dismissed Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov after a series of corruption scandals involving his ministry and the procurement of supplies for Ukrainian troops fighting Russia in the east of the country.

The United States will provide Ukraine with Patriot missiles for its air-defense systems as part of a massive $6 billion additional aid package, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said on April 26 after a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group.

The missiles will be used to replenish previously supplied Patriot air-defense systems, Austin said in the announcement, which came after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy called on the countries in the contact group to provide additional defense systems to create an air shield against further Russian missile attacks.

Live Briefing: Russia's Invasion Of Ukraine

RFE/RL's Live Briefing gives you all of the latest developments on Russia's full-scale invasion, Kyiv's counteroffensive, Western military aid, global reaction, and the plight of civilians. For all of RFE/RL's coverage of the war in Ukraine, click here.

In addition to Patriot missiles the $6 billion package includes more munitions for National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems, (NASAMS) and additional equipment to integrate Western air-defense launchers, missiles, and radars into Ukraine's existing weaponry.

Zelenskiy raised Ukraine’s need for U.S.-made Patriots air-defense systems earlier on April 26 during a virtual meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, also known as the Ramstein Format.

Austin said in his opening comments to the meeting that everyone in the contact group shares Zelenskiy's sense of urgency and he announced $1 billion worth of assistance to Ukraine, including HIMARS, 155-millimeter ammunition, air-defense interceptors, and armored vehicles.

The U.S. defense secretary also said donated F-16 fighter jets, trained pilots, and service personnel will begin arriving in Ukraine this year from members of the contact group.

Ukraine has said it wants jets to help it reach its goal of regaining control over its skies.

But Austin said the contact group's meeting on April 26 would focus largely on air-defense systems, which Zelenskiy said Ukraine urgently needs to save lives.

Zelenskiy said this year alone Russian jets have already used more than 9,000 guided aerial bombs against Ukraine, "and we need the ability to shoot down the air combat aircraft so that they do not approach our positions and borders."

At least seven Patriot systems are needed to protect Ukrainian cities, he added.

The contact group meeting comes just days after U.S. President Joe Biden signed a long-delayed $61 billion military aid package for Ukraine. The United States has already announced that $1 billion in artillery, air defenses, and other hardware would soon be heading to the battlefield.

Austin said that since the Ukraine Defense Contact Group was founded two years ago members have provided Ukraine with more than 70 medium- and long-range air-defense systems and thousands of missiles.

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Ukraine Welcomes Long-Delayed U.S. Military Aid, Vows To Make Up For Lost Time

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The group also sent more than 3,000 armored vehicles, including more than 800 main battle tanks, Austin said.

Despite all the aid delivered, Zelenskiy said Russia "managed to seize the initiative on the battlefield" in the six months it took for Congress to pass the large U.S. aid package. But he said it is not too late to stabilize the front and "move toward achieving our Ukrainian goals in the war."

The flow of weaponry could improve Kyiv's chances of averting a major Russian breakthrough in the east, military analysts say. But it is unclear how much pressure Kyiv can apply after months of rationing artillery as its stocks ran low. Kyiv also faces a shortage of troops on the battlefield.

With reporting by Reuters and AP

A military court in Siberia has handed prison terms to two teenagers over graffiti they painted protesting Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Aleksandr Snezhkov, 19, and Lyubov Lizunova, 16, were sentenced to 6 years and 3 1/2 years in prison, respectively, on April 25. A third defendant in the case, Vladislav Vishnevsky, 20, was handed 18 months of work in an industrial facility to be designated by the authorities with the deduction of some portion of his salary by the state treasury. Snezhkov told RFE/RL earlier that he and Lizunova wanted their graffiti to express their opposition to “repressions and the war in Ukraine.” To read the original story by RFE/RL's Siberia.Realities, click here.

Ruben Vardanian, a former Russian citizen of Armenian descent who served as prime minister in the de facto government of the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh from November 2022 to February 2023, has ended a hunger strike in a Baku prison, his family said on April 25. A family statement said he ended the hunger strike because his health was deteriorating. Vardanian, a billionaire banker who renounced his Russian citizenship, was arrested and brought to Baku after Azerbaijan retook Nagorno-Karabakh in September 2023. He began the hunger strike to demand his release and that of other detained former Karabakh separatist leaders. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Russian Service, click here.

Russian President Vladimir Putin plans to visit China in May. Putin announced his plans on April 25 at a congress of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs in Moscow. He didn't say when his visit would take place and didn't offer any other details. Russia’s growing economic and diplomatic isolation because of its war against Ukraine has made it increasingly reliant on China, its former rival for leadership of the communist bloc during the Cold War.

The U.S. Treasury Department has issued further sanctions targeting companies that manufacture, sell, and ship Iranian drones as part of an effort to curb their use by Russia in its full-scale war in Ukraine.

The sanctions announced on April 25 have been imposed on more than a dozen entities, individuals, and vessels “that have played a central role in facilitating and financing the clandestine sale of Iranian unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for Iran’s Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics (MODAFL).”

The MODAFL is in turn supporting Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) and Russia’s war in Ukraine, the department said in a news release.

The department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) singled out the company Sahara Thunder, saying it is the main front company that oversees MODAFL’s commercial activities in support of the IRGC and Russia's war in Ukraine.

The company plays a key role in the design, development, manufacture, and sale of thousands of drones, many of which are ultimately transferred to Russia for use in its war against Ukraine, the Treasury Department said.

Among the individuals designated for sanctions are three officials of Sahara Thunder -- Kazem Mirzai Kondori, Hossein Bakshayesh, and Hojat Abdulahi Fard.

OFAC is also designating two companies and a vessel that it says are involved in the shipment of Iranian commodities for Sepehr Energy Jahan Nama Pars, a company that plays a leading role in the commercial activities of Iran’s Armed Forces General Staff (AFGS), the Treasury said.

The Treasury Department said its actions were concurrent with sanctions announced on April 25 by Britain and Canada targeting several entities and individuals involved in Iran’s UAV procurement and other military-related activities.

“Iran’s Ministry of Defense continues to destabilize the region and world with its support to Russia’s war in Ukraine, unprecedented attack on Israel, and proliferation of UAVs and other dangerous military hardware to terrorist proxies,” Treasury Undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian E. Nelson said in the news release.

He said the United States will continue its close coordination with Britain and Canada and continue to use "all means available to combat those who would finance Iran’s destabilizing activities."

The new sanctions also hit an Iran-based company involved in the procurement and development of drones, quadcopters, engines, and electronic and digital parts along with its leadership and an Iranian cargo airline.

The United States and Britain last week announced sanctions on Iran targeting its drone production capabilities in response to its April 13 attack on Israel.

The U.S. designated 16 individuals and two entities on April 18 for allegedly enabling Iran’s drone production, including engine types that power Iran’s Shahed drones.

The sanctions freeze any assets the individuals and entities have in U.S. jurisdiction and generally bar Americans from dealing with them.

Ukraine's agriculture minister offered to resign on April 25 after he was named as a suspect in a multimillion-dollar corruption investigation. Mykola Solskiy offered his resignation in a handwritten letter, which Ukrainian parliamentary Speaker Ruslan Stefanchuk published on Facebook. Solskiy’s offer will be considered at an upcoming session of parliament, Stefanchuk said. Solskiy has been accused of illegally seizing land worth about 291 million hryvnyas ($7 million). Solskiy says the matter involves events in 2017-2018 and land that was given to soldiers "in accordance with the law." He promised to cooperate with the investigation. To read the original story by RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service, click here.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has spoken about the possibility of nationalizing Russia’s industrial facilities. Speaking at the congress of the Union of Russian Industrialists and Entrepreneurs on April 25, Putin said industrial facilities could be nationalized "when actions or inactions of the companies' owners impose direct damage on the country’s security and national interests." According to Transparency International and the newspaper Novaya Gazeta Europe, since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, courts have received 40 requests to nationalize more than 180 private companies with assets of 1.04 trillion rubles ($11.1 billion). To read the original story by RFE/RL's Russian Service, click here.

British Foreign Secretary David Cameron told RFE/RL that his country is open to building a deeper partnership with Kazakhstan.

In an interview in Astana on April 25, Cameron said that while preserving its ongoing ties and cooperation with Russia and China, Kazakhstan also has "the choice to have a deeper partnership with Britain."

"I think we already have a great partnership on education, on business, on the economy, on trade, political cooperation. I've seen that growth since I first came here 13 years ago. The point is, we are a voluntary partner, a choice you can make if you want to make that choice," Cameron said.

Cameron also said that he and Kazakh President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev met the previous day and discussed the Kazakh government's current efforts to return illegally obtained assets kept abroad back to Kazakhstan, emphasizing that "it's vital that we work with you to try and find that money and return it. "

Britain is one of the first countries in the world that introduced what's called unexplained wealth orders, he said. This allows an examination of the origins of someone's wealth, and if it was stolen, "we can take it back and return it," he added.

He admitted that it was "not working as well as I'd like" but said Britain is "committed to working with you to make this happen."

Britain introduced unexplained wealth orders (UWO) in 2017 to give U.K. law enforcement a means of compelling targeted individuals to reveal the sources of any riches that could not be accounted for. Under a UWO, Britain's National Crime Agency can apply to seize property when a suspected corrupt foreign official, or member of their family, cannot identify a legitimate source of the funds used for buying it.

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On Central Asian Trip, U.K. Foreign Secretary Cameron Criticizes Russia's 'Aggression'

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Cameron also said that Britain could play an important role in the implementation of Kazakhstan's plans to build nuclear power plants.

"We've been making small nuclear reactors for many years because they've been in our submarines. And I think there is potential for companies like Rolls-Royce to produce these small nuclear reactors for other countries," Cameron added.

Cameron held separate talks on April 24 with Toqaev and Kazakh Foreign Minister Murat Nurtileu. The sides discussed regional security, cooperation, and the ongoing war in Ukraine, the Kazakh Foreign Ministry said.

An agreement on strategic partnership and cooperation between the two nations was signed during the Cameron-Nurtileu talks.

SEE ALSO:

U.K.'s Cameron Seeks To Define Common Interests On Visit To Kyrgyzstan

Earlier this week, Cameron also held talks with top officials in Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. He is also scheduled to visit Mongolia during his ongoing diplomatic tour of Central Asia.

Iranian civil political activists, including several who are currently imprisoned, have condemned the government's "military" aggression toward women through its renewed enforcement of the mandatory hijab, according to a document made available to RFE/RL’s Radio Farda.

The statement criticizes the "government's mobilization" against women and highlights what it calls "a persistent campaign of arrests and repression" and emphasizes that, despite "the oppressive measures, the people of Iran remain committed to seeking freedom."

Following the death of in September 2022 of Mahsa Amini, who died while detained by the morality police, and the subsequent nationwide protests it sparked, the presence of morality police vehicles in cities had noticeably decreased.

But since April 14, law enforcement and plainclothes officers have escalated violent tactics against women and girls in Tehran and other cities in enforcing the Hijab and Chastity Law, resulting in numerous detentions following public assaults.

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Iran's 'Ambassadors Of Kindness' Enforce Hijab In New Head Scarf Crackdown

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The activists' statement accuses the government of using the law as a tool to control lifestyles and maintain the state's power through fear.

Signatories to the statement include prominent figures such as Narges Mohammadi, Mostafa Tajzadeh, and Faezeh Hashemi, who called the government's actions inhumane and illegal.

They argued that the state's treatment of women resisting the hijab mandate not only violates human rights, but also demonstrates the regime's "misogynistic stance."

The new crackdown on women for not adhering to the hijab, or Islamic head scarf, intensified after Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei gave a directive during the recent Eid al-Fitr prayer sermon to step up enforcement measures against what he called "religious norm-breaking" within Iranian society.

Khamenei also emphasized that the mandatory hijab law was a "definite religious decree," underscoring the obligation of all to adhere to this the same as other legal decrees.

The resurgence of the morality police has sparked increased tensions and confrontations across various cities.

Despite the backlash and public outcry, including from some regime supporters, the national police command says the crackdown will continue.

The hijab became compulsory for women and girls over the age of 9 in 1981, two years after the Islamic Revolution in Iran. The move triggered protests that were swiftly crushed by the new authorities. Many women have flouted the rule over the years and pushed the boundaries of what officials say is acceptable clothing.

Written by Ardeshir Tayebi based on an original story in Persian by RFE/RL's Radio Farda

European lawmakers have approved a resolution that calls for the "immediate and unconditional release" of all political prisoners held in Russia, including journalists Alsu Kurmasheva and Evan Gershkovich.

The resolution was part of a joint motion in the European Parliament on April 25, condemning Russia's "undemocratic" presidential election last month and their "illegitimate extension" to territories inside Ukraine that Moscow has illegally annexed.

The resolution -- which was approved by 493 MEPs in favor while 11 were against and 18 abstained -- calls "for the immediate and unconditional release and compensation of all political prisoners...unjustly imprisoned journalists, including Alsu Kurmasheva and Evan Gershkovich, and their families, for the restoration of freedom of expression and association in Russia and for increased international scrutiny and monitoring of human rights abuses in Russia."

Among others, the resolution names Vladimir Kara-Murza, Oleg Orlov, Ksenia Fadeyeva, Ivan Safronov, and Ilya Yashin as political prisoners who should be released.

Kurmasheva, a Prague-based journalist with RFE/RL who holds dual U.S. and Russian citizenship, has been held in Russian custody since October 18 on a charge of violating the so-called "foreign agent" law.

RFE/RL and the U.S. government say the charges are a reprisal for her work as a journalist. She had traveled to Russia to visit and care for her elderly mother and was initially detained while waiting for her return flight on June 2 at Kazan airport, where her passports were confiscated.

SEE ALSO:

After 6 Months In Russian Detention, RFE/RL Journalist Still Making Sense Of It All

Kurmasheva, 47, was arrested in Kazan and charged with failing to register as a foreign agent under a punitive Russian law that targets journalists, civil society activists, and others. She’s also been charged with spreading falsehoods about the Russian military and faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted.

Many critics and rights groups say the so-called foreign agent law is used by the Kremlin to crack down on any dissent. Moscow has also been accused of detaining Americans to use as bargaining chips to exchange for Russians jailed in the United States.

Kurmasheva, who lives in the Czech capital with her husband, Pavel Butorin, who also works for RFE/RL, and their two daughters, aged 12 and 15, has described her prison conditions as poor and said her health has deteriorated as she has been unable to access proper treatment.

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U.S. Journalist Detained In Russia Defiantly Insists She Will Walk Free

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Gershkovich, areporter for The Wall Street Journal, has been held in detention since March 2023 on spying charges both he and the newspaper vehemently deny, saying the 32-year-old was merely doing his job as an accredited reporter when he was arrested.

Gershkovich has been designated as wrongfully detained by the U.S. government. Kurmasheva, however, has not, despite pleas from RFE/RL and Kurmasheva's family.

The designation would mean her case would be assigned to the office of the Special Envoy for Hostage Affairs in the State Department, raising the political profile of her situation and allowing the Biden administration to allocate more resources to securing her release.

President Vladimir Putin easily won the March presidential election, which independent observers said was neither free nor fair. The vote was the first major election to take place in Russia since Putin launched his full-scale invasion.

Four people were arrested in Georgia as part of a Europe-wide operation to bust a gang of thieves specialized in the stealing of rare books, the Georgian Prosecutor-General's Office said on April 25. Separately, the EU police agency Europol said in a statement that the gang was believed to be responsible for the theft of at least 170 rare books by Russian authors, such as Alexander Pushkin and Nikolai Gogol. Some books had been sold at auction houses in St Petersburg and Moscow, "effectively making them irrecoverable," Europol said. The damage is estimated at 2.5 million euros ($2.7 million), it said. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Georgian Service, click here.