‘60 Minutes’ Pulled a Segment. A Correspondent Calls It ‘Political.’; The New York Times, December 22, 2025

Michael M. Grynbaum, The New York Times ; ‘60 Minutes’ Pulled a Segment. A Correspondent Calls It ‘Political.’

"CBS News said in a statement that the segment would air at a later date and “needed additional reporting.”

But Sharyn Alfonsi, the veteran “60 Minutes” correspondent who reported the segment, rejected that criticism in a private note to CBS colleagues on Sunday, in which she accused CBS News of pulling the segment for “political” reasons.

“Our story was screened five times and cleared by both CBS attorneys and Standards and Practices,” Ms. Alfonsi wrote in the note, a copy of which was obtained by The New York Times. “It is factually correct. In my view, pulling it now, after every rigorous internal check has been met, is not an editorial decision, it is a political one.”"

U.S. anniversary coins won’t feature any Black Americans or notable women; The Washington Post, December 20, 2025

Emmanuel Felton, The Washington Post; U.S. anniversary coins won’t feature any Black Americans or notable women

"In a preview of the Trump administration’s approach to celebrating the country’s 250th birthday, Treasury Department officials announced earlier this month that the agency would ignore the committee’s recommendation and produce quarters that are far less diverse and more traditional. Instead of addressing the country’s racial history, the five coins will feature images of former presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and Abraham Lincoln, as well as a Pilgrim couple.

The Biden administration was focused on diversity, equity and inclusion and critical race theory, U.S. Treasurer Brandon Beach told Fox News, but the “Trump administration is dedicated to fostering prosperity and patriotism.”...

The administration is also considering a commemorative dollar with President Donald Trump’s face on one side and his raised fist with the words “FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT” on the other, a reference to the widely circulated image of the president following an assassination attempt in 2024. Democratic senators have decried the idea as “un-American” and introduced legislation to prohibit “the likeness of a living or sitting president” from appearing on American currency."

Acting CISA director failed a polygraph. Career staff are now under investigation.; Politico, December 21, 2025

JOHN SAKELLARIADIS , Politico; Acting CISA director failed a polygraph. Career staff are now under investigation.

"At least six career staffers at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency were suspended with pay this summer after organizing a polygraph test that the agency’s acting director, Madhu Gottumukkala, failed.

The Department of Homeland Security opened an investigation into whether the staff provided “false information” about the need for the test — which was scheduled after Gottumukkala sought access to certain highly sensitive cyber intelligence shared with the agency.

This article is based on interviews with eight current and four former U.S. cybersecurity officials, including multiple Trump administration appointees, who have either worked closely with Gottumukkala or have knowledge of the polygraph examination and the chain of events that followed. They were granted anonymity for fear of retribution.

The incident this July and the subsequent fallout — which has not been reported before — have angered career staff, alarmed fellow Trump administration appointees and raised questions about Gottumukkala’s leadership of the nearly $3 billion cyber defense agency.

“Instead of taking ownership and saying, ‘Hey, I screwed up,’ he gets other people blamed and potentially ruins their careers,” said a current official, who described Gottumukkala’s tenure at CISA so far as “a nightmare” for the agency."

’60 Minutes’ Pulls Planned Segment On Trump Administration’s Deportation Of Migrants To Harsh El Salvador Prison; Show Says Report Will Air In Future; Deadline, December 21, 2025

Ted Johnson, Deadline ; ’60 Minutes’ Pulls Planned Segment On Trump Administration’s Deportation Of Migrants To Harsh El Salvador Prison; Show Says Report Will Air In Future

[Kip Currier: Time will tell if tonight's 60 Minutes reporting on El Salvadoran CECOT prison was censored. The timing and wording of the announcement are suspicious, particularly given concerns about new CBS News Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss. (See here and here and here.)]

[Excerpt]

"CBS News’ 60 Minutes pulled a planned segment on the Trump administration’s deportation of mugrants [sic] to a harsh El Salvador prison. 

“The broadcast lineup for tonight’s edition of 60 Minutes has been updated. Our report ‘Inside CECOT’ will air in a future broadcast,” the network announced on Sunday evening, just hours before the planned broadcast.

A CBS News said of the segment, “We determined it needed additional reporting.” 

CBS News announced the segment on the 60 Minutes schedule last week. Per the network, the segment’s logline was: “Earlier this year, the Trump administration deported hundreds of Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador, a country most had no ties to, claiming they were terrorists. This move sparked an ongoing legal battle, and nine months later the U.S. government still has not released the names of all those deported and placed in CECOT, one of El Salvador’s harshest prisons.”

We’re pastors. The fight against Maga Christianity starts locally; The Guardian, December 21, 2025

Doug Pagitt and Lori Walke, The Guardian ; We’re pastors. The fight against Maga Christianity starts locally

"Donald Trump wants us to believe that the “war on Christianity” is spreading across the globe. The US president recently sounded the alarm on the “mass slaughter” of Christians in Nigeria while threatening a US invasion of the African nation. We shouldn’t be surprised. This falls right in line with Trump’s ongoing attempts to project Maga Christianity on to the global stage and crack down on religious freedom.

Maga Christianity represents a self-serving, commercialized version of the Christian faith – putting power over service and empathy – and it is everywhere in our federal government. In February, Trump announced a taskforce led by Pam Bondi with the goal of rooting out “anti-Christian” bias. In September, Trump announced his plans to protect prayer in schools. Later that month, he issued a memorandum identifying anti-Christianity as a potential driver of terrorism. These are not just one-off incidents. This is a national effort to push the Maga Christianity agenda on Americans, and we’re already seeing the consequences.

Despite the Bible’s clear call to “love thy neighbor”, the Maga movement has used its version of the Christian faith to oppress immigrants, oppose the rights of women and condemn the LGBTQ+ community. At the same time, we’ve seen shootings at places of worship and arrests of faith leaders at peaceful protests.

As faith leaders, our greatest strength during Trump 2.0 and the rise of Christian nationalism is our local congregations. It’s our ability to physically come together in our communities, communicate with one another, support our neighbors in need and elevate our own Christian values that set us apart.

Faith leaders have a powerful role to play, especially as the Trump administration continues to use religion to divide us."

Artist to Pull Kennedy Center Show Over Trump Rename; The Daily Beast, December 21, 2025

 Laura Esposito , The Daily Beast ; Artist to Pull Kennedy Center Show Over Trump Rename

"The Kennedy Center is already losing performers after Donald Trump slapped his name on the storied arts institution.

Kristy Lee, a folk singer scheduled to perform at the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts on Jan. 14, is in talks to cancel her appearance, her spokesperson told NOTUS, as other artists also move to sever ties with the venue...

“Kennedy Center is supposed to be a memorial, focusing on being nonpartisan. A place where people, it doesn’t matter what party they believe in, should be performing and experiencing the arts together regardless of what their party is. And it has not become that.”"

The Trump Vibe Shift Is Dead; The New York Times, December 21, 2025

EZRA KLEIN, The New York Times; The Trump Vibe Shift Is Dead

"In January, I made a prediction: “I suspect we are at or near the peak of Trump vibes.” Now, as this long year grinds to its end, I think it can be said more declaratively: The Trump vibe shift is dead. And there are already glimmers of what will follow it...

Political backlash always seeks the opposing force to the present regime. Closed and cruel are on their way out. What comes next, I suspect, will present itself as open, friendly and assertively moral. But it will also need to credibly offer what Trump and Trumpism have failed to deliver: real solutions to the problems Americans face."

Notre Dame receives $50 million grant from Lilly Endowment for the DELTA Network, a faith-based approach to AI ethics; Notre Dame News, December 19, 2025

Carrie Gates and Laura Moran Walton, Notre Dame News ; Notre Dame receives $50 million grant from Lilly Endowment for the DELTA Network, a faith-based approach to AI ethics

"The University of Notre Dame has been awarded a $50.8 million grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. to support the DELTA Network: Faith-Based Ethical Formation for a World of Powerful AI. Led by the Notre Dame Institute for Ethics and the Common Good(ECG), this grant — the largest awarded to Notre Dame by a private foundation in the University’s history — will fund the further development of a shared, faith-based ethical framework that scholars, religious leaders, tech leaders, teachers, journalists, young people and the broader public can draw upon to discern appropriate uses of artificial intelligence, or AI.

The grant will also support the establishment of a robust, interconnected network that will provide practical resources to help navigate challenges posed by rapidly developing AI. Based on principles and values from Christian traditions, the framework is designed to be accessible to people of all faith perspectives.

“We are deeply grateful to Lilly Endowment for its generous support of this critically important initiative,” said University President Rev. Robert A. Dowd, C.S.C. “Pope Leo XIV calls for us all to work to ensure that AI is ‘intelligent, relational and guided by love,’ reflecting the design of God the Creator. As a Catholic university that seeks to promote human flourishing, Notre Dame is well-positioned to build bridges between religious leaders and educators, and those creating and using new technologies, so that they might together explore the moral and ethical questions associated with AI.”

Australian culture, resources and democracy for $4,300 a year? Thanks for the offer, tech bros, but no thanks; The Guardian, December 15, 2025

 Peter Lewis , The Guardian; Australian culture, resources and democracy for $4,300 a year? Thanks for the offer, tech bros, but no thanks

"According to the Tech Council, AI will deliver $115bn in annual productivity (or about $4,300 per person), rubbery figures generated by industry-commissioned research based on estimates on hours saved with no regard for jobs lost, the distribution of the promised dividend benefit or how the profits will flow.

In return for this ill-defined bounty, Farquhar says our government will need to allow the tech industry to do three things: build a data and text mining exemption to copyright law, rapidly scale data centre infrastructure and allow foreign companies to use these centres without regard for local laws. This is a proposition that demands closer scrutiny.

The use of copyrighted content to train AI has been a burning issue since 2023 when a massive data dredge saw more than 190,000 authors (including me) have our works plundered without our consent to train AI. Musicians and artists too have had their work scraped and repurposed.

This theft has been critical in training the large language models to portray something approaching empathy. It has also allowed paid users to take this stolen content and ape creators, devaluing and diminishing their work in the process. Nick Cave has described this as “replication as travesty”, noting “songs arise out of suffering … data doesn’t suffer. ChatGPT has no inner being, it has been nowhere, it has endured nothing.”

The sense of grievance among creators over the erasure of culture is wide and deep. A wave of creators from Peter Garrett to Tina Arena, Anna Funderand Trent Dalton have determined this is the moment to take a stand.

It is not just the performers; journalists, academics, voiceover and visual artists are all being replaced by shittier but cheaper automated products built on the theft of their labour, undermining the integrity of their work and will ultimately take their jobs.

Like fossil fuels, what is being extracted and consumed is the sum of our accumulated history. It goes from metaphor to literal when it comes to the second plank of Farquhar’s pitch: massive spending on industrial infrastructure to accommodate AI.

This imperative to power AI is the justification used by Donald Trump to recharge the mining of fossil fuels, while the industry is beating the “modular nuclear” drum for a cleaner AI revolution. Meanwhile, the OpenAI CEO, Sam Altman, is reassuring us that we don’t need to stress because AI will solve climate change anyway!

The third and final element of Farquhar’s pitch is probably its most revealing. If Australia wants to build this AI nirvana, foreign nations should be given diplomatic immunity for the data centres built and operated here. This quaint notion of the “data embassy” overriding national sovereignty reinforces a growing sense that the tech sector is moving beyond the idea of the nation state governing corporations to that of a modern imperial power.

That’s the premise of Karen Hao’s book The Empire of AI, which chronicles the rise of OpenAI and the choices it made to trade off safety and the public good in pursuit of scale and profit."

Proposal to allow use of Australian copyrighted material to train AI abandoned after backlash; The Guardian, December 19, 2025

Patrick Commins , The Guardian; Proposal to allow use of Australian copyrighted material to train AI abandoned after backlash

"The Productivity Commission has abandoned a proposal to allow tech companies to mine copyrighted material to train artificial intelligence models, after a fierce backlash from the creative industries.

Instead, the government’s top economic advisory body recommended the government wait three years before deciding whether to establish an independent review of Australian copyright settings and the impact of the disruptive new technology...

In its interim report on the digital economy, the commission floated the idea of granting a “fair dealing” exemption to copyright rules that would allow AI companies to mine data and text to develop their large language models...

The furious response from creative industries to the commission’s idea included music industry bodies saying it would “legitimise digital piracy under guise of productivity”."

Merry boycotting: US shoppers avoid Trump-aligned businesses amid holiday season; The Guardian, December 20, 2025

Rachel Leingang , The Guardian; Merry boycotting: US shoppers avoid Trump-aligned businesses amid holiday season

"It’s the busiest shopping season of the year – and a time when many are trying to figure out where to ethically spend their money.

Over the first year of Trump’s second term, companies and institutions have fallen in line with the administration’s anti-DEI and anti-immigration policies. As a result, people are supporting economic boycotts to show their discontent with the businesses capitulating to the president.

Over the Black Friday weekend, the groups behind the No Kings protests – the largest days of mass protest in recent memory – put their weight behind a campaign called We Ain’t Buying It, calling on people to not shop at Target, Home Depot and Amazon during the marquee week of holiday deals.

More than 220 organizations joined We Ain’t Buying It, the coalition said. The campaign reached millions of Americans, driving more than 40,000 to take a pledge to be a conscious consumer. Signs also point to people spending their money at smaller companies instead. Little Blue Cart, a directory of progressive small businesses, saw record-breaking traffic during the campaign period, the coalition said."

Hikers Reach 8,000-Foot Mountain Summit And Discover A Dog Unable To Move; The Dodo, December 20, 2025

Alana Francis-Crow, The Dodo; Hikers Reach 8,000-Foot Mountain Summit And Discover A Dog Unable To Move

"A few years ago, married couple Maxime and Issy hiked up Bobotov Kuk, the tallest peak in Montenegro. When they reached the mountain’s summit, they were surprised to find a dog lying on his side, unable to move.

The dog had an old bandage wrapped around his leg and was clearly underweight. Despite his severe injuries, he was still friendly and could tell the couple wanted to help. As they bent down to offer him water and a can of tuna, he wagged his tail...

When Maxime finally reached the bottom of Bobotov Kuk, he heard from Issy that while she’d been getting organized to take care of the dog, she’d rescued a little stray kitten named Voli. The couple couldn’t believe that they’d somehow saved and adopted two animals in one day...

These days, Bobo and Voli spend their days traveling the world with their parents in their camper van. During the day, they like to explore the outdoors, and at night, they get cozy in the van...

Given how happy and energetic Bobo is now, it’s hard to imagine that just a few years ago, he was abandoned on a mountain with a bullet wound. Thanks to Maxime and Issy, he got a second chance and a beautiful new life."

JFK’s Infuriated Niece Vows to Take Kennedy Center Renaming Into Own Hands; The Daily Beast, December 20, 2025

Katie Francis , The Daily Beast; JFK’s Infuriated Niece Vows to Take Kennedy Center Renaming Into Own Hands

"Kerry Kennedy has announced a very DIY solution to the addition of Trump’s name to her uncle’s memorial center...

Three years and one month from today, I’m going to grab a pickax and pull those letters off that building, but I’m going to need help holding the ladder. Are you in? Applying for my carpenter’s card today, so it’ll be a union job!!!"

Another Trump Financial Conflict, This Time With Nuclear Power; The New York Times, December 19, 2025

Rebecca F. Elliott and Brad Plumer , The New York Times; Another Trump Financial Conflict, This Time With Nuclear Power

"A Trump-sponsored business is once again betting on an industry that the president has championed, further entwining his personal fortunes in sectors that his administration is both supporting and overseeing.

This one is in the nuclear power sector. TAE Technologies, which is developing fusion energy, said on Thursday that it planned to merge with Trump Media & Technology Group. President Trump is the largest shareholder of the money-losing social media and crypto investing firm that bears his name, and he will remain a major investor in the combined company.

The deal, should it be completed, would put Mr. Trump in competition with other energy companies over which his administration holds financial and regulatory sway. Already, the president has sought to speed up safety reviews of new nuclear power plants and lower thresholds for acceptable radiation exposure.

“Having the president and his family have a large stake in a particular energy source is very problematic,” said Peter A. Bradford, who previously served on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the independent agency that oversees the industry."

He Tried to Protect His Son From Bullies. He Didn’t Know How Far They Would Go.; The New York Times Magazine, December 15, 2025

Matthew Shaer, The New York Times Magazine; He Tried to Protect His Son From Bullies. He Didn’t Know How Far They Would Go.

"Then came the incident that would connect Tristan’s case to a larger epidemic of bullying in the East Valley. In late October, news broke of the fatal assault on 16-year-old Preston Lord, who was attacked by several peers outside a Halloween party in the desert town of Queen Creek. Preston was knocked down, kicked and punched repeatedly in the head. After his assailants fled, other partygoers attempted to perform C.P.R.; approximately 48 hours later, doctors at a nearby hospital pronounced him dead.

“I remember we published something on the Lord death, and right away we got an absolute flood of community tips — people across the East Valley coming out of the woodwork to say that they had info to share,” Ashley Holden, a television reporter with an ABC affiliate, told me. “And a lot of the rumblings had to do with a group that called itself the Gilbert Goons.”

Many of the teenagers reportedly came from wealthy families, dealt drugs and carried guns. Anyone could label themselves a member, or, with equal facility, disavow their association — there was no official swearing in, no hierarchy, no leaders...

As is increasingly common in cases involving bullying or teen violence, many of the incidents subsequently attributed to the Goons involved exchanges that took place via text, social media platforms or video game chat logs visible only to the participants. Even when investigators were able to obtain a warrant for the information, says Jim Bisceglie, an assistant chief for the Gilbert police, “sometimes the data is already gone from Company A or B or C by the time it’s sent over to us. It’s piecemeal, and you’ve got the complexity of reading through all the messages, trying to understand the order."...

Rick later met with the parents of Connor Jarnagan and Preston Lord, who gave him the validation he had been seeking for more than two years. He wasn’t alone — he hadn’t lost his mind. In extensive interviews with reporters across the East Valley, Rick took to railing loudly against the police for ignoring a clear and present danger in their midst. “They could have had all this stuff done months ago,” he said in one exchange with a reporter from The Arizona Republic. Had the authorities done so, he went on, his son would still be home, and Preston Lord would still be alive. He made a point of attending school board meetings, community rallies...

To Rick, the underlying issue was one of “reactivity versus proactivity” — a phrase I heard him use often. “You had the city and the schools essentially sweeping this stuff under the rug,” he said. “Hoping it would go away. Hoping it was just kids being kids.”"

Kennedy Family Rails Against Trump’s ‘Obsessive’ Center Renaming; The Daily Beast, December 18, 2025

William Vaillancourt , The Daily Beast ; Kennedy Family Rails Against Trump’s ‘Obsessive’ Center Renaming

"Several members of the Kennedy family have objected to Donald Trump slapping his name on the historic arts center that memorializes the 35th president.

Despite Congress being the authority on the name of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Trump on Thursday declared that the venue would be known as the “Trump-Kennedy Center” following a vote from his hand-picked board members. Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt bizarrely even offered “congratulations” to Kennedy when announcing the news.

But JFK’s nieces, grandson, and grandnephew naturally don’t approve of Trump, 79, inserting himself into the late president’s legacy.

Maria Shriver, Kennedy’s niece through Eunice Kennedy Shriver, called Trump’s habit of naming things after himself an “obsession.”

“It is beyond comprehension that this sitting president has sought to rename this great memorial dedicated to President Kennedy. It is beyond wild that he would think adding his name in front of President Kennedy’s name is acceptable. It is not,” Shriver, 70, wrote on X, adding that he could very well try to do the same with the Lincoln Memorial and the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, D.C...

“This is not dignified. This is not funny. This is way beneath the stature of the job. It’s downright weird. It’s obsessive in a weird way,” continued Shriver, who earlier said she was “enraged” by the news. “Just when you think someone can’t stoop any lower, down they go…”

Meanwhile, Kerry Kennedy, JFK’s niece through Robert F. Kennedy, criticized Trump for “repressing free expression, targeting artists, journalists, and comedians, and erasing the history of Americans whose contributions made our nation better and more just.”"

White House installs plaques mocking former Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden; NBC News, December 17, 2025

 Sarah Dean, Garrett Haake, Alexandra Bacallao and Rebecca Shabad , NBC News; White House installs plaques mocking former Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden

[Kip Currier: This quote by White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt is jaw-droppingly farcical:

"The plaques are eloquently written descriptions of each President and the legacy they left behind," she said. "As a student of history, many were written directly by the President himself.”

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/white-house-installs-plaques-mocking-former-presidents-barack-obama-jo-rcna249746 

 

To refer to such defamatory and erroneous statements as "eloquently written" is the epitome of George Orwell's 1984 Newspeak, in which words used by propagandists are converse from their true meanings, e.g. Freedom is Slavery, and Ignorance is Strength.]

[Excerpt]

"The White House has installed plaques on the exterior of the building bashing President Donald Trump's predecessors, including Presidents Joe Biden and Barack Obama, and promoting disinformation about their administrations.

The plaques were hung up below presidential portraits that have been on display on Trump’s recently added "Presidential Walk of Fame" in the White House colonnade.

The one placed under the portrait of the “Autopen," which stands in for President Joe Biden's portrait, refers to him as “Sleepy Joe Biden” and calls him “the worst President in American History.” The plaque contains a number of derisive statements about the former president, referring to Biden’s “severe mental decline,” “the Biden Crime Family” and his “Radical Left handlers."

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told NBC News in a statement that Trump wrote the text of "many" of the plaques.

“The plaques are eloquently written descriptions of each President and the legacy they left behind," she said. "As a student of history, many were written directly by the President himself.”"

Fox News hosts blast Trump over 'repulsive' White House plaques; AlterNet, December 19, 2025

Thomas Kika , AlterNet; Fox News hosts blast Trump over 'repulsive' White House plaques

"Donald Trump got a sharp rebuke from his Fox News on Friday as hosts decried the recent addition of insulting plaques about Democratic presidents at the White House as "trolling" and "repulsive."

While not the largest and eye-catching change Trump has made to the White House, his addition of a "Presidential Walk of Fame" has nonetheless made headlines for insulting jabs at his political opponents. When the feature was first introduced in September, former President Joe Biden was represented with a photo of an autopen instead of a portrait, referencing the tool for signatures which Trump has falsely claimed invalidates some of the executive orders and pardons that his predecessor issued.

More recently, reporters noticed the addition of new plaques beneath thephotos of Biden, Barack Obama and Bill Clinton. Under Biden's photo, the new plaque reads "Sleepy Joe Biden was, by far, the worst President in American History. Taking office as a result of the most corrupt Election ever seen in the United States, Biden oversaw a series of unprecedented disasters that brought our Nation to the brink of destruction." It also added references to Trump's long-debunked claim that Biden's win in the 2020 election was the result of widespread voter fraud.

The new plaque for Obama refers to him as "divisive" and attacks him for the passage of the "Unaffordable Care Act" and joining the Paris Climate Accords. It also repeated Trump's unfounded claims that the Obama administration spied on his 2016 campaign and fabricated claims that it colluded with Russia. While less directly insulting, Clinton's plaque was given a new note about his wife, Hillary Clinton, losing the 2016 election to Trump."

Fair Use is a Right. Ignoring It Has Consequences.; Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), December 18, 2025

 MITCH STOLTZ , Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF); Fair Use is a Right. Ignoring It Has Consequences.

"Fair use is not just an excuse to copy—it’s a pillar of online speech protection, and disregarding it in order to lash out at a critic should have serious consequences. That’s what we told a federal court in Channel 781 News v. Waltham Community Access Corporation, our case fighting copyright abuse on behalf of citizen journalists."

Iranian boxing champion at imminent risk of execution as retrial request rejected; The Guardian, December 19, 2025

Sarah Johnson , The Guardian; Iranian boxing champion at imminent risk of execution as retrial request rejected

[Kip Currier: It's gut-wrenching to see such barbaric human rights violations and the specter of state executions against people like Iranian boxing champion Mohammad Javad Vafaei Sani who advocate for basic democratic rights.]

[Excerpt]

"A boxing champion in prison in Iran is thought to be at imminent risk of execution after his request for a retrial was rejected by the country’s supreme court.

Mohammad Javad Vafaei Sani, 30, from Mashhad in north-east Iran was arrested in 2020 for taking part in nationwide democracy protests in 2019 and accused of supporting an opposition group, the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (MEK). He has spent five years in prison, where he has been tortured and put in solitary confinement...

Vafaei Sani was convicted of “corruption on Earth” and sentenced to death for a third time in September 2024 after “a grossly unfair trial”, according to Amnesty International. The supreme court upheld his death sentence on 4 October.

Nassim Papayianni, Amnesty International’s senior campaigner on Iran, called on the Iranian authorities to immediately halt any plans to carry out Vafaei Sani’s execution and quash his conviction and death sentence."