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Turkey Arrests Iranian Activist

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani chairing the Sixth Meeting of Supreme Council of Strategic Relations between Iran and Turkey | DPA
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani chairing the Sixth Meeting of Supreme Council of Strategic Relations between Iran and Turkey | DPA
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Turkey Arrests Iranian Activist

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani chairing the Sixth Meeting of Supreme Council of Strategic Relations between Iran and Turkey | DPA
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani chairing the Sixth Meeting of Supreme Council of Strategic Relations between Iran and Turkey | DPA

Turkish authorities arrested an Iranian women’s rights activist, Maryam Shariatmadari, in the southwestern Turkish city of Denizli in order to deport her back to Iran. The arrest took place on the eve of holding the Sixth Meeting of Supreme Council of Strategic Relations between Iran and Turkey.

In a short video shot from inside the police car and shared on her Instagram, Shariatmadari said that Turkish police detained her late at night and that her arrest was a pretext for her deportation.

“This is without cause. They have chosen a few people to sacrifice and deport. I only ask that you share this news, that is the only way you can help right now,” Shariatmadari said in the video.

The video was widely circulated on social media by Iranians who have been calling for Shariatmadari’s release and criticizing the Turkish government’s treatment of refugees.

Shariatmadari said that immigration police had arrested her for allegedly not obtaining legal residency documents.

The Iran International Network reported that, after her arrest, Shariatmadari was escorted to a hospital to get tested for the coronavirus, which is a prerequisite for travel between Iran and Turkey.

“History has shown that if returned to Iran, [Shariatmadari]’s life will be in imminent danger. She must not be returned to her oppressors,” former Iranian crown prince Reza Pahlavi said on Twitter.

Shariatmadari was one of several Iranian women who protested against compulsory hijab in Iran by removing and waving her headscarf in Enghelab (Revolution) Street in the capital Tehran. These women came to be known as the “girls of revolution street.”

Shariatmadari took off and waved her headscarf as she stood on a platform on Enghelab Street in 2018. Her action was met with a violent reaction from a police officer who threw her off the platform causing her injuries.

The Iranian judiciary sentenced Shariatmadari to one year in prison for “encouraging corruption by removing the hijab.”

Shariatmadari managed to flee to Turkey after being detained for a few days in Iran.

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Pope Leo XIV Calls for Peace in Ukraine and Gaza

Pope Leo XIV waves as he delivers the Regina Caeli prayer from the main central loggia of St Peter's basilica in The Vatican, on May 11, 2025. (Photo by FILIPPO MONTEFORTE / AFP)
Pope Leo XIV waves as he delivers the Regina Caeli prayer from the main central loggia of St Peter's basilica in The Vatican, on May 11, 2025. (Photo by FILIPPO MONTEFORTE / AFP)
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Pope Leo XIV Calls for Peace in Ukraine and Gaza

Pope Leo XIV waves as he delivers the Regina Caeli prayer from the main central loggia of St Peter's basilica in The Vatican, on May 11, 2025. (Photo by FILIPPO MONTEFORTE / AFP)
Pope Leo XIV waves as he delivers the Regina Caeli prayer from the main central loggia of St Peter's basilica in The Vatican, on May 11, 2025. (Photo by FILIPPO MONTEFORTE / AFP)

Pope Leo XIV called for a genuine and just peace in Ukraine and an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, in his first Sunday noon blessing as pontiff.
“I, too, address the world's great powers by repeating the ever-present call ‘never again war,’” Leo said from the loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica to an estimated 100,000 people below.
It was the first time that Leo had returned to the loggia since he first appeared to the world on Thursday evening following his remarkable election as pope, the first from the United States. Then, too, he delivered a message of peace.
Leo was picking up the papal tradition of offering a Sunday blessing at noon, but with some twists. Whereas his predecessors delivered the greeting from the studio window of the Apostolic Palace, off to the side of the piazza, Leo went to the very center of the square and the heart of the church.
He also offered a novelty by singing the Regina Caeli prayer, a Latin prayer said during the Easter season which recent popes would usually just recite, The Associated Press reported.
Traditionalists and conservatives, many of whom felt alienated by Pope Francis' reforms and loose liturgical style, have been looking for gestures hinting at Leo's priorities. Some have expressed cautious optimism at the very least with a return to a traditional style that Leo exhibited on Thursday night, when he wore the formal red cape of the papacy that Francis had eschewed.
On hand in the square on Sunday for Leo's first noon prayer were two of Europe's more firebrand conservatives, France's Marine Le Pen and Italy's Matteo Salvini. The Italian minister has highlighted his Catholic faith in his political messaging.
On Sunday Leo wore the simple white cassock of the papacy and had reverted back to wearing his silver pectoral cross. He had worn a more ornate one that contains the relics of St. Augustine and his mother, St. Monica, on Thursday night that had been given to him by his Augustinian religious order.
‘Beloved Ukrainian people’ Leo quoted Pope Francis in denouncing the number of conflicts ravaging the globe today, saying it was a “third world war in pieces.”
“I carry in my heart the sufferings of the beloved Ukrainian people," he said. “Let everything possible be done to achieve genuine, just and lasting peace as soon as possible.”
He called for the release of war prisoners and the return of Ukrainian children to their families, and welcomed the ceasefire between India and Pakistan.
He also called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and for humanitarian relief to be provided to the “exhausted civilian population and all hostages be freed.”
Leo also noted that Sunday was Mother’s Day in many countries and wished all mothers, “including those in heaven” a Happy Mother’s Day.
The crowd, filled with marching bands in town for a special Jubilee weekend, erupted in cheers and music as the bells of St. Peter’s Basilica tolled.