The lawyer expressed hope that all jailed activists will be freed.
Ms. Hassani was detained at the Mashhad airport last week. She has been accused of acting against national security and undermining the state.
Israeli soldiers kill young Palestinian man in West Bank
The Israeli military announced in a statement that the incident occurred on Monday near a checkpoint located at the southern entrance to Deir Nidham village, situated 13.7 kilometers (8.5 miles) northwest of Ramallah.
It further alleged that as troops approached the vehicle to question him, the Palestinian man got out of his car, hurled a grenade, and opened fire at troops with a makeshift “Carlo” submachine gun.
No Israeli troops were injured in the purported incident.
Footage from the scene showed the Palestinian man lying on the ground with the makeshift firearm, next to a white Nissan car without license plates.
The official Palestinian Wafa news agency later identified the victim as 33-year-old Bilal Ibrahim Qadah, father of three, and a resident of the town of Shuqba.
Witnesses say Israeli troops prevented the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) ambulances from reaching him after he was shot.
The Israeli force left the young Palestinian man bleeding on the ground for a while before they took his corpse and withdrew from the neighborhood.
The development came a day after Israeli military forces shot and injured a Palestinian woman in al-Quds over an alleged stabbing attempt.
The Israeli police alleged in a statement that the woman, a 50-year-old resident of the predominantly Jewish neighborhood of Pisgat Zeev, attempted to stab a light rail security guard at the Ammunition Hill station, who in response shot her in the leg.
The Israeli guard, who shot the woman, claimed that she began to approach him in a suspicious manner.
“I asked her if she needed any help, and she put her hand in her bag and pulled out a knife. I stepped back, cocked my gun, and fired two shots in the air, and told her to drop the knife,” the guard said, adding, “She didn’t drop it so I fired once at her knee.”
There were no other injuries in the suspected attack.
The Israeli regime has intensified its military operations in the occupied West Bank, killing dozens of Palestinians and wounding hundreds more in the past two years.
The Israeli raids have targeted Palestinian towns, villages, refugee camps, and holy sites, sparking a wave of armed resistance from Palestinian factions.
US says drone strike killed Daesh leader in Syria
The strike on Friday resulted in the death of Osama al-Muhajer, IS leader in eastern Syria, Centcom said in a statement on Sunday.
“We have made it clear that we remain committed to the defeat of ISIS throughout the region,” Centcom chief General Michael Kurilla was quoted as saying, using another acronym for the IS militant group.
“ISIS remains a threat, not only to the region but well beyond,” he added.
According to Centcom, no civilians were killed in the operation but coalition forces are “assessing reports of a civilian injury”.
Friday’s strike, Centcom said, “was conducted by the same MQ-9s (drones) that had… been harassed by Russian aircraft in an encounter that had lasted almost two hours”.
US drones taking part in operations against IS in Syria were harassed on Thursday, for the second time in 24 hours, by Russian military aircraft, a US commander said at the time.
Air Force Lieutenant General Alexus Grynkewich stated the planes “dropped flares in front of the drones and flew dangerously close, endangering the safety of all aircraft involved”.
Russia is a key ally of the Syrian government of President Bashar al-Assad.
With the support of Moscow as well as Iran, Assad has clawed back much of the ground lost in the early stages of the Syrian conflict that erupted in 2011.
The last pockets of armed opposition to the government include large swathes of the northern rebel-held Idlib province.
The United States has about 1,000 troops deployed in Syria as part of international efforts to combat IS militants, who were defeated in Syria in 2019 but still maintain hideouts in remote desert areas and conduct frequent attacks.
Shavkat Mirziyoyev re-elected as Uzbek president for seven-year term in snap election
“In accordance with the law, a candidate who receives 50% of the votes plus one vote is considered the elected head of state. Since Shavkat Mirziyoyev, according to preliminary data, won 87.05% of the votes, he is legally elected president,” Zayniddin Nizamkhodjaev, head of the Uzbek Central Election Commission, said during a briefing in the capital Tashkent.
Nizamkhodjaev further added that 15.6 million people, or 79.88% of voters, from approximately 20 million registered voters cast their ballots in the presidential election.
Other presidential candidates running in the election – Robakhon Makhmudova, Ulugbek Inoyatov and Abdushukur Khamzayev – received 4.43%, 4.02% and 3,74% of the vote, respectively.
On April 30, Uzbek citizens voted on constitutional amendments that provide for the extension of the presidential term from the current five years to seven and also allow incumbent President Mirziyoyev to be elected again after two consecutive terms.
Following the vote, Mirziyoyev announced early polls, which the Election Commission decided to hold on July 9.
Iran says US court decision over damages to Alinejad “banditry”
Nasser Kanaani said on Monday Iran “does not accept the US banditry against the assets of other countries”, adding, “the US vicious act is totally illegal and illegitimate.”
Kanaani said, “Using its domestic laws, the US issues rulings against other countries, plundering their financial resources. This behavior runs counter to the dignity of the UN member states and is a violation of international law.”
A US federal court has reportedly ruled that Iran should pay over $3.3 million in damages to the US-based Iranian opposition figure Masih Alinejad “for detaining her brother.”
The Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman, in other comments, spoke about a measure by some western countries to form of a fact-finding mission that has accused Iran of “violating human rights.” Kanaani said, “The action by the western countries is a clear example of politicizing the important issue of human rights, and instrumentally using the UN human rights mechanisms.”
“Those governments that provoked the unrest in Iran (last year) have created this illegal committee, and are themselves now facing the similar situation, repressing the protestors inside their countries. These countries are initiating such mechanisms; we do not accept double standards,” said the Foreign Ministry spokesman.
Biden: Netanyahu’s coalition has some of ‘most extreme’ members in Israel
CNN presses the US president on what it would take for him to extend an invitation to Netanyahu to visit the White House, but the president manages to dodge the question, noting that President Isaac Herzog will be coming to Washington next week.
Herzog was invited by congressional leadership to address a joint session in honor of “Israel’s 75th year of independence”. He is also expected to meet with Biden in the White House but those invites are traditionally extended only a few days ahead of time.
Netanyahu has yet to receive a similar invitation, even though he’s been back in office for over six months. Biden told reporters in March that Netanyahu would not be coming in the “near term” amid US frustration over his government’s effort to radically curb the judiciary.
Despite the lack of an invitation, Biden stresses that he is an “unyielding supporter of Israel for… as long as I have been around.”
As for Netanyahu, Biden says, “I think [he] is trying to [figure out] how he can work through his existing problems in terms of his coalition.”
The US president stresses that “Israel’s ultimate security rests on a two-state solution” with the Palestinians but laments: “I think it’s a mistake to think that, as some members of his cabinet — and this is one of the most extreme members of cabinets that I have seen. And I go all the way back to Golda Meir and all. Not that she was extreme, but I go back to that era.”
None of the current cabinet members have gone on record in recent years backing a two-state solution. Netanyahu stated last month that Israel must “crush” Palestinian aspirations for a state.
Biden adds that Israel is not all to blame for the latest uptick in violence in the West Bank, but “they are a part of the problem — particularly those individuals in the cabinet who say… we can settle anywhere we want, [and that the Palestinians] have no right to be here.”
Biden notes that the Palestinian Authority “has lost its credibility” not only because of Israel. But as a result, a “vacuum for extremism” has been created among the Palestinians.
“There are some very extreme elements,” he continued.
The US president says his administration is in regular contact with Israel, “trying to tamp down what’s going on.”
He then turns to the crisis over the Israeli government’s effort to overhaul the judiciary and adds, “Hopefully, Bibi will continue to move toward moderation in changing the court.”
US and Iran in indirect talks on prisoner swap deal: White House
“We have had contacts with Iran indirectly. There are no direct negotiations over the nuclear file or detainees. We have had those indirect conversations on detainees because it’s our obligation to try to bring US citizens home,” he told reporters.
“So we talk to any government any way we can, like we do with the Russian government on the unjustly detained Americans there, in an effort to find a solution to get our people home,” Sullivan added.
In recent years, Iran has arrested dozens of dual nationals and foreigners, mostly on espionage and security-related charges. Rights groups have accused Iran of taking prisoners to gain diplomatic leverage, while Western powers have long demanded that Tehran free their citizens, who they say are political prisoners. Tehran denies holding people for political reasons.
Tehran has repeatedly stressed it is ready for a prisoner exchange with the United States based on the agreement and independent of the nuclear deal, which the US unilaterally abandoned in May 2018 despite Iran’s full and strict compliance.
Iran has blasted the US for linking a humanitarian exchange of prisoners with the talks over the revival of the accord. Tehran has also rejected calls for wider negotiations over its military activities and missile defense program, stressing it would only discuss over its nuclear program with world powers.
Some Iranians are in US jails just because of ignoring Washington illegal sanctions on Tehran.
Lawyer: Iran rapper death sentence revoked, client got imprisonment
In an interview with “Shabke Sharq”, Roza Etemad Ansari, said, “”The court verdict against Tomaj Salehi was handed down to us. In our opinion, the issued vote is a good one.”
The lawyer added his client, “who was in solitary confinement, has been transferred to the general ward of the prison.”
Tasnim News Agency reported last week Toomaj’s court ruling had been commuted to imprisonment.
Tasnim said that, “based on the news received,” Salehi’s sentence had been commuted because of his “active cooperation” with authorities.
Protests erupted in Iran after the death of a 22-year-old woman, Mahsa Amini, in the custody of “morality police” for not wearing her hijab properly in September last year. Several months of protests gradually subsided.
A number of people have received death sentences on charges of killing security forces.
Tasnim said Salehi was arrested while attempting to flee the country at a border site. It said he had encouraged “violence, confronting armed forces, and making Molotov cocktails” on his Twitter account and had “published fake news.”
UK, Canada, Ukraine, Sweden pursue ‘political objectives’ by taking legal action at UN court against Iran: Foreign Ministry
The four countries claimed in their application to the ICJ on Wednesday that Iran had violated “a series of obligations” against the so-called Montreal Convention on the safety of civilian air travel.
They accused the Islamic Republic of failing to take all practicable measures to prevent the downing of Ukraine International Airlines flight PS752 that killed all 176 people on board in January 2020, and also failing to conduct an “impartial, transparent and fair criminal investigation and prosecution.”
The four countries also asked the World Court to order that Iran publicly acknowledge its “internationally wrongful acts,” apologize to the families and provide assurances that the incident will not happen again.
The foreign ministry said in its statement that Iran has formed an “independent technical group” right after the incident and took necessary actions “with goodwill, transparency, and utmost seriousness” to investigate and clarify various aspects of the tragic case.
“Following the tragic incident involving the Ukrainian plane, the Islamic Republic of Iran has officially, in accordance with domestic laws, international commitments, and with goodwill, transparency, and utmost seriousness, taken necessary actions to shed light on various aspects of the incident,” the statement said.
“It is worth mentioning that, in the aftermath of the incident, the Islamic Republic of Iran facilitated and provided assistance, including immediate visas, for over fifty specialists and experts from Ukraine and Canada to visit the scene of the incident,” it added.
The Iranian government said a technical report was prepared in the designated timeframe with the participation of experts from France, the United States, Ukraine, Canada, and Britain after the completion of investigation, adding that the report was “well-received” by the majority of the aforementioned experts.
The statement emphasized that in accordance with its legal jurisdiction, the Military Prosecutor of Tehran conducted thorough and comprehensive investigations independently, impartially, and based on the laws and regulations of the country.
“It is worth mentioning that, based on the criminal investigations conducted at the prosecutor’s office, the Military Court has held 20 sessions with families of the victims.
“After reviewing and considering the statements, arguments, and defenses of the plaintiffs and their lawyers, as well as those of the defendants, the court issued its verdict and sentenced the defendants in February 2023.
“It should be noted that some parties to the case have appealed the verdict,” the statement said.
The Iranian government underlined that the Islamic Republic, through diplomatic channels and during the proceedings, invited the embassies of Ukraine, Canada, Britain, and Sweden in Tehran to attend the court.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran has invariably expressed its readiness to engage in negotiations with relevant countries and has conducted three rounds of negotiations with the Ukrainian government in the cities of Kiev and Tehran,” the statement said.
“In addition to repeatedly expressing its willingness to engage in bilateral negotiations with Ukraine, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Sweden, the Islamic Republic of Iran, in its latest diplomatic effort, announced its readiness to engage in collective negotiations with the four governments to demonstrate goodwill and prevent the exploitation of this tragic incident for their political purposes,” it added.
“Iran is still awaiting their response to proceed with the negotiations at a designated time and place.”
Underlining that the aforementioned governments demonstrated their lack of commitment to their own request for negotiations by disregarding the Islamic Republic’s proposals, the statement said, “Their request for negotiations was practically a means to pursue their political objectives and interests as they referred the matter to the International Court of Justice.”
On January 8, 2020, the Ukraine International Airlines flight PS752, en route to Kiev and transporting mostly Iranians, crashed minutes after takeoff near the Iranian capital.
The plane was shot down by Iran’s air defenses, which mistook the aircraft for a military target amid tensions between Tehran and Washington following the US assassination of revered Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani in Iraq days earlier.
Iran acknowledged days later that the mismanagement of an air defense unit’s radar system by its operator was the key human error that led to the accident.
Assyrian Iranians mark thousand-year ceremonies in NW Iran
Besides paying respect to the status of the Saint, they held annual ceremonies and traditions, including lighting candles, performing the Sacrament and slaughtering sacrifices.
Assyrians have been performing the ceremonies for more than a thousand years, called Shanader in local Azeri language.
The participants in this ceremony also spent a few hours with their relatives and friends. Among those present, there were some Assyrian Iranians who had migrated abroad but returned to Urmia to attend this ceremony.
Similar ceremonies are simultaneously held in Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, Turkey and all other countries that are affiliated to the East Assyrian Church.
The ceremony is held on the passing anniversary of Church Saints having two spiritual and social dimensions.
The spiritual aspect includes saying prayers, making vows and sacrifices, and the distribution of charity food.
As for the social aspect, which occurs on the evening of the day, Assyrians gather together in the church grounds or other places to see each other and reunite.
