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Iran Releases on Bail Senior Reformists Arrested After Protests

An Iranian man speaks on his mobile phone as he walks past a huge national flag hanging above shops, in Tehran on February 6, 2026. (AFP)
An Iranian man speaks on his mobile phone as he walks past a huge national flag hanging above shops, in Tehran on February 6, 2026. (AFP)
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Iran Releases on Bail Senior Reformists Arrested After Protests

An Iranian man speaks on his mobile phone as he walks past a huge national flag hanging above shops, in Tehran on February 6, 2026. (AFP)
An Iranian man speaks on his mobile phone as he walks past a huge national flag hanging above shops, in Tehran on February 6, 2026. (AFP)

Iranian authorities released the leader of the country's reformist coalition on bail Friday, days after she was arrested following anti-government protests, local media reported.

Azar Mansouri, head of the Reformist Front, "was released from prison a few minutes ago after posting bail," her lawyer Hojjat Kermani told the ISNA news agency.

Mansouri, 60, an adviser to reformist former president Mohammad Khatami, was arrested on Sunday alongside two other senior reformist figures, Javad Emam and Ebrahim Asgharzadeh.

Late Thursday, Kermani told ISNA that Emam and Asgharzadeh were also released after posting bail.

Asgharzadeh is a former member of parliament and Emam is the spokesman of the Reformist Front, the main coalition of the reformist camp.

They were accused of "undermining national unity" and "coordinating with enemy propaganda," the Fars news agency reported at the time of their arrests.

Reformists traditionally call for more social freedoms and the establishment of a civil society and backed current President Masoud Pezeshkian during his 2024 campaign.

The arrests come weeks after protests erupted across the country, in which thousands of people died and many more were arrested.

In 2009, Emam was one of the campaign managers for Mir Hossein Mousavi, a leading figure in the Iranian opposition and former prime minister, who has been under house arrest since 2011.

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World

King Charles to Visit New York to Commemorate 9/11 Victims

US President Donald Trump alongside Britain's King Charles III during a dinner at the White House (AP)
US President Donald Trump alongside Britain's King Charles III during a dinner at the White House (AP)
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King Charles to Visit New York to Commemorate 9/11 Victims

US President Donald Trump alongside Britain's King Charles III during a dinner at the White House (AP)
US President Donald Trump alongside Britain's King Charles III during a dinner at the White House (AP)

Britain's King Charles and his wife Queen Camilla arrive in New York on Wednesday to commemorate victims of the September 11, 2001, al Qaeda attack on the city, part of a four-day state visit to the US.

The king and queen's visit to New York follows a packed day in Washington on Tuesday, when Charles delivered a speech to the US Congress, held private meetings with President Donald Trump amid tensions between the US and Britain over the Iran war, and sat down with leaders of the US tech industry.

At a White House state dinner on Tuesday night, Trump suggested Charles told the president he did not want Iran to have a nuclear weapon. The king is not a spokesman for the UK government and it could not be confirmed that Charles made the statement to Trump.

Britain was one of the countries alongside the US that negotiated the 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran, which sharply limited Tehran's nuclear programs and opened them to inspectors until Trump unilaterally withdrew the US from the agreement during his first White House term.

Charles and Camilla's visit to New York comes on the third day of their state visit to the US during a tense time in relations between the US and Britain after Trump has repeatedly criticized Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer for what Trump says is his lack of help in prosecuting the Iran war.

Charles and Camilla will begin their day in New York with a ceremony at the 9/11 memorial in lower Manhattan, where the twin towers of the World Trade Center were destroyed by al Qaeda suicide bombers on September 11, 2001, an attack that killed nearly 2,800 people.

Charles is expected to meet with New York City's mayor, Zohran Mamdani, at the ceremony.

The king will then head to Harlem to visit a grassroots community organization that created a sustainable after-school urban farming initiative in an effort to combat food insecurity, according to local media. Such projects have been a passion of the king's for decades.

Meanwhile, Camilla will celebrate the 100th birthday of A.A. Milne’s fictional character Winnie-the-Pooh on behalf of her charity, The Queen’s Reading Room, which Buckingham Palace is calling a "literary engagement" event.

World

UK Police Say Two Men Stabbed in London in Stable Condition

Elements of the British police (Reuters)
Elements of the British police (Reuters)
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UK Police Say Two Men Stabbed in London in Stable Condition

Elements of the British police (Reuters)
Elements of the British police (Reuters)

British police said on Wednesday that a man had been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after two men were stabbed in an area of north London with a large Jewish population.

London's Metropolitan Police said the two men who had been stabbed had been taken to hospital and were in a stable condition.

The suspect also attempted to stab police officers, the Met said, adding that no officers were injured, Reuters reported.

"Specialist officers from Counter Terrorism Policing are leading the investigation and working with the Metropolitan Police to establish the full circumstances and any links to terrorism," the Met said in a statement.

Detective Chief Superintendent Luke Williams said that "investigators are considering all possible motives".

World

UN: Iran Has Executed 21, Arrested 4,000 Since Start of War

A man walks past an Iranian flag installed along the roadside in Tehran on April 29, 2026, depicting images of children killed on the first day of the war in an alleged US-Israeli missile strike on a school in the southern Iranian city of Minab. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP)
A man walks past an Iranian flag installed along the roadside in Tehran on April 29, 2026, depicting images of children killed on the first day of the war in an alleged US-Israeli missile strike on a school in the southern Iranian city of Minab. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP)
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UN: Iran Has Executed 21, Arrested 4,000 Since Start of War

A man walks past an Iranian flag installed along the roadside in Tehran on April 29, 2026, depicting images of children killed on the first day of the war in an alleged US-Israeli missile strike on a school in the southern Iranian city of Minab. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP)
A man walks past an Iranian flag installed along the roadside in Tehran on April 29, 2026, depicting images of children killed on the first day of the war in an alleged US-Israeli missile strike on a school in the southern Iranian city of Minab. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP)

Iran has executed at least 21 people and arrested more than 4,000 since the beginning of the Middle East war, the United Nations said on Wednesday.

Since the US-Israeli strikes sparked the war in late February, at least nine people have been executed in connection with the protests that rocked Iran in January 2026, another 10 for alleged membership of opposition groups and two on spying charges, the UN's rights office said.

More than 4,000 people are meanwhile estimated to have been arrested on national security-related grounds, the agency added, according to AFP.

It said many detainees had been victims of forced disappearances, torture or "cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment", including forced confessions -- sometimes televised -- and mock executions.

"I am appalled that -- on top of the already severe impacts of the conflict -- the rights of the Iranian people continue to be stripped from them by the authorities, in harsh and brutal ways," UN rights chief Volker Turk said in a statement.

"I call on the authorities to halt all further executions, establish a moratorium on the use of capital punishment, fully ensure due process and fair trial guarantees, and immediately release those arbitrarily detained."