Articles

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October 24, 2026

Articles

Execution in the name of security; Intensification of the crackdown on espionage charges in Iran/ Nafiseh Motlagh

Following the escalation of military tensions and attacks by the United States and Israel, the judicial process of dealing with charges of “espionage” and “collaboration with hostile states” in Iran has entered a new phase. What is more controversial than the laws themselves is the way they are implemented: expedited proceedings, lack of transparency, and […]...

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By: Nafiseh Motlagh
May 22, 2026

Media Cooperation with Abroad: Where Is the Boundary Between Reporting and Espionage?/ Mustafa Danandeh

During the two twelve-day and forty-day wars, the relationship between “media activity” and “national security” in Iran entered a new stage. A stage in which sending a video, publishing a report, or even speaking with media outlets outside the country can be interpreted under concepts such as “cooperation with a hostile state” or “espionage.” The […]...

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By: Mustafa Danandeh
May 22, 2026

The Expansion of Securitizing Activism in the New Law Intensifying Punishment for Espionage/ Sara Qoreyshi

An Ordinary Day, an Extraordinary Accusation It is ten o’clock at night. From the window of your apartment, you hear chants. You pick up your phone, record a few seconds of video, and send it to a news channel outside the country. The next day, you face a summons whose title is not “publishing an […]...

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By: Sara Qoreyshi
May 22, 2026

Securitizing Society Through Accusations of Espionage/ Hermineh Hourdad

Since its establishment, the Islamic Republic, as a phenomenon in the form and appearance of the government ruling Iran, has made one of its main actions emptying everything of its original meaning, placing its own desired meaning inside that form, and imposing it on society. The accusation of espionage is no exception to this rule; […]...

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By: Hermineh Hourdad
May 22, 2026

National Security Through Execution and Repression?/ Majid Shia’ali

Since the beginning of the war, human rights violations by the ruling establishment in Iran have increased significantly. In the days after the ceasefire, not a day goes by without news of executions carried out on the basis of death sentences issued through a deeply flawed judicial process and with clear political orientations. The process […]...

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By: Majid Shia’ali
May 22, 2026

From the Filtering of Telegram to “Pro Internet” / Amir Aghaei

The Islamic Republic is breaking many negative records in the field of digital repression. Iranians, during perhaps one of the most turbulent periods in their history — from the start of the 12-day war to the Dey protests and after that the 40-day war, which it is still not clear has completely ended or not […]...

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By: Amir Aghayi
May 22, 2026

The Spectacle of War and the Production of the Nation: A Study of the Visual Management of Power in the Street / Mina Javani

Since the first nights of the war, the streets of Iranian cities have become the stage for a form of theatrical politics: gatherings, supported by the government, filled with lights, flags, anthems, and mowkebs, which seemed less a natural reflection of the social situation than an attempt to produce a uniform and coherent image of […]...

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By: Mina Javani
May 22, 2026

The lived experience of Iranians during the war/ Pardis Parsa

The outbreak of war between Iran, the United States, and Israel was the inevitable consequence of years of ideological adventurism and tension-generating state policies that have consistently prioritized political survival over the safety, welfare, and lives of citizens. This war once again stripped away the illusion of “security” — a claim that for years had […]...

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By: Pardis Parsa
May 22, 2026

Checkpoint Stops; From the Past to Today/ Mohammad Javad Tavaf

One media activist has recounted a memory from the years of the sixties on social networks: “It was night, my cousin and I wanted to go from Khaniabad to Yousefabad, to our aunt’s house. I said: Hooshang, it’s a desert there, let’s take a little of this aragh too. He double-layered a freezer bag, poured […]...

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By: Mohammad Javad Tavaf
April 21, 2026

Can Mere Filming of Strike Sites Lead to Arrest?/ Sina Yousefi

In wartime conditions, the question of respect for human rights is always raised as one of the fundamental challenges. It is a challenge in which the boundary between security necessities and human rights obligations becomes extremely narrow and slippery. Historical experience has shown that in times of crisis, states are more inclined than ever to […]...

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By: Sina Yousefi
April 21, 2026

Digital Governance in a State of War: From Internet Shutdowns to the Engineering of Collective Perception/ Mina Javani

Sometimes, in the midst of war, what disappears is not only sounds and images, but access to reality itself. The internet, this seemingly obvious and always-available platform, suddenly goes dark in such moments and plunges society into a state of informational rupture; a condition in which the boundary between what is happening and what is […]...

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By: Mina Javani
April 21, 2026

Child Soldiering, a Long-Standing Tradition in the Islamic Republic / Morteza Hamounian

Children are among the first victims of war; whether they are present in war themselves or killed as a result of an act of war; whether they are armed and fire in one direction, or are not present in war and are killed or wounded in its turmoil. Even merely witnessing the catastrophe of war […]...

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By: Morteza Hamounian
April 21, 2026