Iran news in brief, April 22, 2019

Iran news in brief, April 22, 2019

Google Disables YouTube Account of Iran's "PressTV"

Following a series of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards accounts being closed down by Instagram after the U.S. State Department’s decision to designate this entity as a “Foreign Terrorist Organization” YouTube is taking action and has disabled the channel affiliated to the regime’s Press TV.

Press TV is considered Tehran’s main English language mouthpiece. The Fars news agency, affiliated to the IRGC, wired a report complaining that Google had issued no prior warnings. This disabling measure also covers the mullahs’ “HispanTV” channel on YouTube.

Iran, south Korea Trade at Record Low Since 2015

Iran's imports from South Korea has dramatically dropped during the past two years according to figures released by the joint Iran-Korea chamber of commerce.

Meanwhile, Iran's export to South Korea has dropped from $4386 in 2017 million to $1806 million during the first 11 months of 2018.

This is a record low since 2015 when Iran and the West made a nuclear agreement to limit Iran's nuclear program and lift international sanctions on Iran in return.

Pouya Firouzi, the secretary general of Iran and South Korea's joint chamber of commerce has told Fars news agency on Saturday April 20 that problems in the areas of transportation and insurance have led to a decline in trade between Iran and South Korea.

Iran: Protest Rally by Farmers in Isfahan

A group of farmers from the town of Khorasgan, east of the central city of Isfahan, rallied on Friday, protesting the local government’s new pipeline construction project. The regime’s steel company is installing new pipelines to transfer water from a local lake.

One farmer complained and said they opened the gates to the dams to let the water drain for 90 days. They wanted to see how much water they could take.

Steel company authorities in Isfahan started to install the new water pipeline on Thursday to direct water from Zayandeh-Rud River to their mill. Local farmers and people from Isfahan protested the decision and said it goes against environmental codes.

They considered this move illegal and are trying to stop the initiative altogether.

Amnesty International: Stop Crackdown on Women's Rights Defenders

Amnesty International issued a statement urging the Iranian regime to stop harassing, arresting and imprisoning women’s rights defenders peacefully protesting against Iran’s degrading and discriminatory forced veiling laws.

Amnesty International also reiterated in its statement, “Iran’s intelligence and security bodies have also subjected several other women’s rights defenders to threatening telephone calls, warning them that they will be arrested if they continue to campaign against forced veiling. Some have been summoned for questioning and fear imminent arrest.”

Iran Sentences Rights Defender Jail and Lashes for 'Anti-State Propaganda'

Human rights defender Nader Afshari has been sentenced to one year in prison and 74 lashes after being convicted of “disrupting public order” and “propaganda against the state.”

The activist had also been sentenced to four months in prison in February 2019 for spreading anti-state propaganda.

Prior to his sentencing he was facing charge of “speaking out in the media and reporting about Iranian political prisoners.”