Intelligence Ministry Denies Labor Activists Qoliyan and Bakhshi Medical Treatment
Supporters of Esmail Bakhshi and Sepideh Qoliyan hold up a sign demanding that the labor activists be released. Detainees Remain in Custody of Same Agency They ...
Assembly / Association
Sugar Mill Workers Call for International Action to Free Detained Colleagues Esmail Bakhshi and Sepideh Qoliyan
Esmail Bakhshi and Sepideh Qoliyan Pressured to Retract Torture Allegations A union representing workers of the Haft Tappeh sugar mill in the Iranian city of Shush, Khuzestan Province, has called on individuals and international organizations to demand the release of union representative Esmail ...
Eight Conservationists Tried in Iran on Basis of Retracted False “Confessions”
First Half of Indictment Lacks Evidence, Relies on Statements Made Under Extreme Duress January 30, 2019 – In their first trial session since being detained in Iran one year ago, eight conservationists learned today that the first half of their indictment is based on one detainee’s retracted ...
Three Members of Iran’s Writers Association Charged With National Security Crimes for Opposing Censorship
Three senior members of the Iranian Writers Association (IWA) have been charged with national security crimes for peacefully protesting state censorship policies, according to a statement posted by the trade union on Facebook on January ...
Iran: Release Labor Activists Re-Arrested For Revealing They’d Been Tortured
Esmail Bakhshi and Sepideh Qoliyan Both At Risk of Serious Harm January 22, 2019—The arrests of labor activist Esmail Bakhshi and freelance reporter Sepideh Qoliyan (also spelled Sepideh Gholian) on January 20, in Shush, Khuzestan Province, by agents ...
Sham Investigation of Labor Activist’s Alleged Torture Lacks Impartiality, Ignores Witnesses
Iran Must Re-Open an Independent and Impartial Investigation into Labor Activist’s Abuse Multiple Cases of Alleged Torture Must Be Thoroughly Investigated January 17, 2018—After a brief and deeply flawed investigation lacking any semblance of impartiality, the authorities in Iran have denied that labor activist ...
Labor Activist’s Revelation of Torture During Detention Prompts Wave of Reports of Abuse in Iran’s Prisons
Esmail Bakhshi’s lawyer says her client is under intense pressure to retract statements about his torture Labor activist Esmail Bakhshi’s public letter in which he revealed his torture in an Intelligence Ministry detention center in Ahvaz, Khuzestan Province, has generated a wave ...
Food With “Rodent Feces” Served to Political Prisoners in Iran’s Great Tehran Penitentiary
The food served at the Great Tehran Penitentiary (GTP) is unsanitary and has been found to contain rodent feces, making some prisoners sick, the wife of a political prisoner held there told the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI). On December ...
Peaceful Teachers Protesting Heavy Sentence Against Mohammad Habibi Met With Tear Gas, Arrests
Teachers who were peacefully protesting a fellow colleague’s heavy prison sentence were met with tear gas by anti-riot units who made “several arrests” in the Iranian city of Isfahan on December 27, 2018, a trade unionist told the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI). On December 24, ...
Iranian MP Calls Arrests of Protesting Ahvaz Workers “Violation of the Constitution”
At Least 31 Steel Workers Remain Detained Eleven workers detained during protests by employees of the Iran National Steel Industrial Group (INSIG) in southwestern Iran between December 17-18, 2018, were released on bail December 19, but at least 31 others remain behind bars, ...
Family “Worried” About Ailing, Elderly Labor Activist Held Incommunicado
The family of ailing labor activist Asghar Firouzi has been extremely “worried” about his condition since he was detained by unidentified security agents, the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) has learned. Firouzi, 70, was taken into custody in the presence of ...
Iran Must Address Crisis of Unpaid Wages, Not Prosecute People Who Demand Their Pay
15 Petrochemical Workers Sentenced to Prison, Flogging for Protesting Unpaid Wages in Latest Ruling Unpaid Wages Violates Iranian Law, Flogging Violates International Law December 13, 2018—In yet another ruling punishing workers for peacefully demanding payment for work done, fifteen petrochemical workers in Ilam, southwest Iran, have been issued prison ...