Prominent Iranians’ Views on Impact of Nuclear Agreement on Human Rights
"Our next agreement will be on our civil rights!" was one of the slogans people chanted in Tehran only hours after a nuclear agreement was reached on ...
April 14, 2015
Cartoon 111: End of A Costly Program
Touka Neyestani reflects on the terrible costs Iran's economy and industrial capacity has incurred due to the government's choice to pursue its nuclear programs—a choice that the citizens of Iran had no say ...
April 5, 2015
Cartoon 107: Ali Motahari Attacked in Shiraz
Conservative Member of the Iranian Parliament Ali Motahari was attacked during a March 9, 2015 visit to Shiraz to deliver a speech. Plainclothes individual attacked ...
April 4, 2015
Cartoon 110: People’s Share of the Nuclear Agreement
As front line victims of several years of sanctions against Iran, and with news of an impending nuclear agreement, Iranians have every right to expect to see their diminished livelihoods and standards ...
April 1, 2015
Cartoon (109): Political Prisoners & Families Celebrate Nowruz, Not!
Dozens of political prisoners and prisoners of conscience were deprived of furlough, ordinarily extended to prisoners in Iran, during the Iranian New Year, Nowruz (March 20, April 1). More than ...
March 25, 2015
Father of Imprisoned Blogger Pleads for His Ill Son’s Release
The father of blogger Hossein Ronaghi Maleki, who, prior to a six-month medical furlough granted for severe illness had been imprisoned since 2009 for his peaceful activities following the disputed 2009 presidential election in Iran, is appealing for an end to his son’s incarceration after ...
March 21, 2015
Cartoon 108: Happy Iranian New Year!
Happy Nowruz (New Day), the Iranian new year, which takes places on the vernal equinox each year. This is also the Year of the Goat. On behalf of all of us at the International ...
March 19, 2015
Children’s Rights Activist Charged with “Acting against National Security”
Civil and children’s rights activist Atena Daemi has been formally charged, after six months of “temporary detention” in Evin Prison, a source told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran. ...
March 19, 2015
Suspects Identified, but No Action Taken in Attack against Critic of House Arrests
Despite the fact that several suspects have been identified in the recent attack on Member of Parliament Ali Motahari, who was the Iranian Parliament’s most outspoken critic of the continued house arrest of the Green Movement leaders, no arrests have been made so far, according ...
March 17, 2015
Under scrutiny, Iran Shows Increased, but Limited Cooperation with UN Mechanism
Four years into his mandate as the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, Dr. Ahmed Shaheed told UN member states at a meeting of the Human Rights Council today in Geneva that although he has yet ...
March 13, 2015
Facebook Users Arrested, Others Will Be Arrested Soon, IRGC Warns
More than 30 people have been targeted by the cyber crime unit of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) this month, including a dozen arrested for their “immoral” activities on Facebook. ...
March 13, 2015
Imprisoned Journalist Denied Medical Treatment for Serious War Wounds
Imprisoned journalist and political activist Serajeddin Mirdamadi is in need of urgent medical attention at Evin Prison’s infamous Ward 8, a source told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran. ...
March 5, 2015
Vigilante Violence: The Acid Attacks against Women in Iran and the State’s Assault on Women’s Rights
The Iranian Parliament should immediately withdraw the pending Plan to Promote Virtue and Prevent Vice, which explicitly calls for Basij militias to enforce strict hijab (female dress). This plan not only violates the rights of all Iranian women, it also presents a clear and present ...
March 5, 2015
Recommendations
To the Iranian Parliament: Immediately halt any further consideration of the Plan to Promote Virtue and Prevent Vice and permanently withdraw the bill. Modify all other pending legislation related to women’s employment, higher education, and family planning to ensure that they do not discriminate against women ...
March 5, 2015
Executive Summary
In 2014, a series of acid attacks against women in the Iranian city of Isfahan convulsed the nation. The assaults involved unidentified men flinging acid ...
March 5, 2015
Conclusion
In a cabinet meeting on October 26, 2014, President Rouhani said, “The government will investigate these events [referring to the acid attacks] with all its capacity so that justice can be done with regards to the perpetrator[s] and so that [they] receive maximum punishment.” ...
March 5, 2015
Introduction
In 2014, a series of acid attacks on women in public places occurred in the Iranian city of Isfahan. The attacks involved unidentified men flinging acid into the faces of young women, who were usually sitting in cars. In a number of the attacks, eyewitnesses ...
March 5, 2015
Activist Ends Hunger Strike after Judge Agrees to Transfer to Evin’s Political Ward
Atena Faraghdani has ended her hunger strike in hospital, where she has been since her February 26 collapse in Gharchak ...
March 3, 2015
UN Secretary-General Expresses Alarm about Executions, Retaliation Against Activists and Attacks on Women in Iran
In particular the Secretary-General voiced his concern about Iran’s chronic application of the death penalty to drug-related offenses, which do not qualify as the “most serious crimes”; the number of death penalty cases with a political dimension; the high incidence of public executions; and the ...
February 27, 2015
Journalist Behind Bars Since 2009 Suffers Heart Attack in Prison
The imprisoned journalist Massoud Bastani was transferred to the hospital on February 20, 2015, following a heart attack inside Shahid Rajaee Prison. The health conditions of Bastani, 37, who has been in prison since his arrest in the wake of the protests that followed the ...
February 27, 2015
Cartoon 107: My Stealthy Freedom
Shortly after the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran, the Islamic covering (hijab) was imposed on Iranian women, and serious penalties, ranging from warnings by Morality Police and arrests to imprisonment and fines, were stipulated and ...
February 27, 2015
Prisoner of Conscience Released After Nine Months of “Temporary Detention” At Deplorable Facility
Nine months after her arrest, the lawyer and prisoner of conscience Negar Haeri was released on bail of about US$580,000 on February 25, 2015. She spent her entire time in prison since her May 2014 arrest on “temporary detention orders.” ...
February 27, 2015
Rouhani’s Top Advisor Says Identity of Killer of Canadian Photojournalist Zahra Kazemi is Known
Ali Younesi’s reference to violations of human rights in Iranian prisons and courts defies the Iranian authorities’ consistent denial of reports of such violations by Ahmed Shaheed, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Iran, and other international human rights bodies, ...
February 25, 2015
Activists Ask FIFA to Intervene to End Iran’s Ban on Women in Stadiums
Referring to the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, approved in 1997, the signatories added, “Any type of deprivation of fundamental rights or restricting such rights based on gender, aimed to or resulting in reduced access of women to ...
February 23, 2015
Women’s Education
In addition to national legislation, the state has moved forward with other initiatives that restrict women’s ability to participate in public life. Most notably, the state has promoted gender-based university admissions policies that are highly discriminatory to women. Ironically, the Islamic Republic has long pointed to ...