Assembly / Association
Hundreds of Iranian Rights Activists Call on Political Prisoner Mohammad Nazari to End Hunger Strike
Mohammad Nazari has been imprisoned since 1994. More than 700 Iranian political and civil rights activists have called on one of Iran’s ...
UN experts call on Iran to stop intimidation of BBC staff
GENEVA (27 October 2017) – Civil and criminal proceedings by Iran against BBC Persian staff and contributors must be halted, two UN human rights specialists have said. “The Iranian authorities appear to ...
Iranian Mother Sentenced to Prison for Demanding Justice For Slain Son
“Confessions” Obtained by Intelligence Ministry While Shahnaz Akmali Held in Solitary Confinement A court in Tehran has sentenced Shahnaz Akmali, the mother of a well-known victim of the ...
UN Special Rapporteur: Despite “Encouraging Signs,” Human Rights Deteriorating in Iran
Asma Jahangir, the special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran. In presenting her semi-annual 2017 report on Iran to the United ...
Iran Launches New Assault on Freedom of Expression With Mass Criminal Investigation of BBC Persian Staff
Popular BBC talkshow presenter Pooneh Ghoddoosi in the studio. BBC Persian Staff Appeal to UN on Iran’s “Unprecedented Collective Punishment of Journalists” Ongoing attempts by hardline officials in Iran ...
Bill for Protection of Children in Iran Stunted in Parliament Since 2011
Police forces simulate a child abuse case. Attorney: Social Welfare Organizations Lack Sufficient Resources Despite ongoing reports of disturbing cases of child abuse, Iran’s Parliament has failed to ratify a bill on the protection of children that was introduced nearly six years ago. ...
Students, MPs Protest Against Rouhani’s Conservative Nominee for Iran’s Science Ministry
Students protest against President Rouhani’s nominee to head ...
Iran’s Expediency Council to Decide Whether Religious Minorities Can Run in Elections
Yazd city councilman Sepanta Niknam holds up a book called Ghathas, the ...
Mousavi’s Daughters: Officials “Hoping and Planning” for Death of Opposition Leaders Under House Arrest
Former presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavian addresses a cheering crowd during the protests following Iran's disputed 2009 presidential election. In an open ...
Reformist Political Activist Turned Refugee Briefly Arrested Upon Return to Iran
A reformist political activist who fled Iran in 2011 after years of being harassed by the Intelligence Ministry was summoned to the Revolutionary Court in Evin Prison upon returning to the country. A source close to ...
Reformist Journalist Sasan Aghaei in Prolonged Solitary Confinement Despite Calls for His Release by MPs
The Iranian judiciary is refusing to release reformist journalist Sasan Aghaei, who has been detained for more than two months in solitary confinement despite calls ...
Seven Reformists MPs Plan to Sue Iran’s State Broadcasting Agency IRIB for Defamation
Seven reformist members of Iran’s Parliament who were recently sentenced to prison for their political views will sue the state TV and radio broadcasting agency for alleging the MPs engaged in ...
Former MP: Don’t Underestimate the New Restrictions on Reformist Ex-President Khatami
Iran's former reformist President Mohammad Khatami. The increasingly restrictive judicial bans issued against reformist leader Mohammad Khatami could morph into something much bigger and enflame the current political climate, an ally of the former president told the Center for ...
“Suspended” Zoroastrian Member of Yazd City Council Facing Uncertain Future
The head councilman of the city of Yazd, in southeastern Iran, has refused to carry out a court order suspending the membership of a fellow councilman who is a member of the minority ...
Leftist Poet Missing in Tabriz Two Days After Intelligence Ministry Raided His Home
Children’s rights advocate and leftist poet Omid Aghdami has been missing since October 5, 2017, two days after he tweeted that Intelligence Ministry agents had searched his home in ...
Imprisoned Editor Ehsan Mazandarani Told to File for Temporary Release With One Month Left on Sentence
A reformist journalist imprisoned in Iran who is due to be freed in less than a month has gone on a hunger strike to protest his continued incarceration. “Ehsan Mazandarani...
Labor Activist Dies From Cancer Left Untreated in Iranian Prison
A photo of Mohammad ...
Imprisoned Teachers’ Rights Advocate Esmail Abdi Denied Sentence Review
Esmail Abdi is serving a six-year prison sentence for peacefully advocating for teachers' rights in Iran. Iran’s judiciary has denied a request for a review of the heavy prison sentence issued ...
Iran’s Ex-Reformist President Banned From Public Appearances Week After Seven MPs Sentenced to Prison
Former President Mohammad Khatami. Iran’s former reformist President Mohammad Khatami has been banned from making public appearances and receiving political guests for three months. The ban, first reported on October 5, 2017, was issued by the Special Court for the ...
Senior Reformist Politicians Sentenced to Prison, Banned From Political Activities
Seven prominent Iranian reformist politicians who wrote in an open letter that the judiciary has been given an “open hand” to prosecute legal political activities with “security crimes” have been handed one-year prison ...
Rights Activist Barred from University Under Ahmadinejad Faces Same Roadblocks Under Rouhani
Mahdieh Golru: “I have lost hope along with the years of my youth.” Iran’s Intelligence Ministry has blocked formerly imprisoned civil rights activist Mahdieh Golru from attending ...
Exiled Members of Sufi Gonabadi Dervish Order Told to “Repent” or Serve Life in Prison
The sentences of a lifetime in exile issued against Mohammad Ali Shamshirzan and Hamid Arayesh of the Sufi order in Iran known as Gonabadi Dervishes ...
Attorney Calls Out Local Governor For “Empty” Promises to Iran’s “Kulbar” Border Couriers
An attorney representing Iranian border couriers, “kulbar” in Farsi, has criticized a local governor in northwestern Iran for making “unreasonable” and “empty” promises of financial assistance to the impoverished, unlicensed tradesmen. ...
Iranian Bus Drivers and Activists Express Solidarity with Imprisoned Labor Activist Reza Shahabi
Update: With assurances from a senior official, labor activist Reza Shahabi ended his hunger strike in Rajaee Shahr Prison on September 27, 2017, after nearly two months of refusing food. “Reza announced the end of his hunger strike when a senior security official, in the presence of his family, promised to ...