Author: Shabnam von Hein

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A child is seen inside his house near Kabul, Afghanistan, on 13 October 2021 (photo: Bilal Guler/AA/picture-alliance)

Afghanistan's humanitarian crisis

Can the Taliban avert a food crisis without foreign aid?

In view of the catastrophic supply situation in Afghanistan, UN authorities are sounding the alarm. Inflation and growing poverty are exacerbating the situation. The Taliban reportedly have an emergency programme to combat the crisis. By Shabnam von HeinMore

Taliban takeover: Afghanistan crisis looms as West cuts aid lifelinesAfghanistan: Victim-blaming – a trope of the West's failure in AfghanistanThe West's failure in Afghanistan: Authors of 'War on Terror' in denial to the bitter endWestern withdrawal from Afghanistan: The symbolic importance of the U.S. defeat
Symbolic image: Iranian schoolbooks (photo: DW)

Control and censorship in the Islamic Republic

Iran’s doctored schoolbooks and the disappearing girls

Since the beginning of the Islamic Republic, the guardians of the country’s religion have been battling to get the correct image of society and history into young people’s heads. But the battle seems to be an increasingly hopeless one. By Shabnam von HeinMore

Contemporary Iranian literature: Reading outside the boxChild trafficking in Iran: The agony of the destituteIran′s image in the West: Sheer incredulityPhoto gallery: Unwelcome images of life in Tehran
Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi, one of the speakers at Festival Lavaro in Italy in 2019 (photo: Zumapress/picture-alliance)

Interview with Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Shirin Ebadi

"Ruhollah Zam's death sentence is a political judgement"

The death sentence against journalist Ruhollah Zam in Iran has been criticised worldwide. Iran has said it will not accept any interference in its "internal affairs". Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Shirin Ebadi takes Tehran to task over the matter. Interview by Shabnam von HeinMore

Foreign academics risk arrest in Iran: Tehran's new hostage policyQantara photo essay: Iran's female political prisonersIran upholds five-year jail sentence for French-Iranian academic Fariba Adelkhah
A drug addict sells her baby on the streets of Tehran

Child trafficking in Iran

The agony of the destitute

More and more parents are selling their children out of economic desperation across Iran. Unfortunately, the government is suspicious of NGOs wanting to help. By Shabnam von HeinMore

Rakhshan Bani-Etemad: Filming the margins of Iranian societyIran′s image in the West: Sheer incredulityUnwelcome images of life in Tehran