One by one, the 10 women, mostly aged under 30, went defiantly to their deaths by hanging in a city square in Shiraz in southern Iran. The youngest was only 17 years old.
They had been charged with crimes including espionage but, for supporters around the world, they were simply being hanged because they were Bahais, and refused to renounce their faith even under pain of death.
Since the start of the year, Iran has intensified its diplomatic activity, engaging with friends and foes alike as it seeks to reduce its isolation, improve its economy and project strength.
Iran's ultraconservative President Ebrahim Raisi has led the way, swinging through China, Syria and Venezuela, hosting Saudi Arabia's top diplomat, and reaching out to other long-time regional rivals such as Egypt.
Nearly 40 countries at the United Nations backed LGBTQ families on Tuesday, at a time when some Muslim and African nations are contesting sexual orientation and gender identity language in UN forums.
"Families play a fundamental role in society. Supporting families is an important element in promoting and protecting human rights," 37 countries said in a statement at the UN Human Rights Council.
More than 2.5 million people have been uprooted by Sudan's conflict, the UN said Tuesday, but in the western Darfur region the bodies of those who couldn't escape lie face down in the dirt.
A three-day ceasefire due to end Wednesday at dawn brought a brief respite to the capital Khartoum, gripped by the war that erupted on April 15 between two rival generals.
But as the relatively-respected 72-hour truce drew to a close, a huge fire erupted at the intelligence headquarters in Khartoum.
Albanian police on Tuesday raided a camp home to members of an Iranian opposition movement, with local media reporting that the group is suspected of orchestrating cyberattacks against foreign institutions.
The Ashraf 3 camp northwest of Tirana has been home for a decade to thousands of members of the People's Mujahedin Organisation of Iran (PMOI), exiled opponents of the government in Tehran.
The PMOI said one person died and that a dozen of its members were injured during clashes with police.
Kasra Mehdipournejad has seen neither his Iranian parents nor siblings for six years since they advised him to remain in Germany -- on Wednesday the taekwondo specialist will make them proud as the flag bearer for the Refugee Team at the European Games.
Mehdipournejad thinks it could be a dream debut for him as gold is not out of the question in the -80 kilogramme title at the Games in Poland when the action begins on Thursday.
Four people were shot and killed Tuesday near a settlement in the occupied West Bank, Israeli officials said, a day after an army raid in the territory left six Palestinians dead.
The deaths are the latest in a surge of violence linked to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which before Tuesday's shooting had killed at least 166 Palestinians, 21 Israelis and two foreigners this year, according to an AFP tally.
In Huwara, near Nablus, around 100 Jewish settlers attacked residents and set fire to olive groves, the mayor of the town and a resident told AFP by telephone.
The United States, on behalf of 27 countries, condemned Tuesday the open-ended nature of the UN investigation into alleged human rights violations in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and the "disproportionate" attention on Israel.
US ambassador Michele Taylor told the United Nations' Human Rights Council that the group of countries was "deeply concerned" about the Commission of Inquiry (COI), with its "open-ended mandate with no sunset clause" or closing date.
The head of the UN's refugee agency on Tuesday urged Sudan's neighbours to keep their borders open despite security worries as the number of people fleeing the conflict topped 500,000, while those internally displaced climbed to two million.
Filippo Grandi warned in an interview with AFP that the two-month-old war threatened to spread insecurity in the "fragile" nations that border Sudan.
The head of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees warned Tuesday that a funding squeeze could jeopardise access to basic services for millions.
UNRWA provides services such as health, sanitation, education and social assistance to nearly six million Palestinians registered in the Palestinian territories, including Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem, as well as in Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.
It is the latest in a series of warnings from UNRWA on possible deep cuts if the international community fails to provide more support.
