Assembly / Association
Admins of 12 Reformist Telegram Channels Arrested in Iran Ahead of May 2017 Election
Iranian security forces arrested an unknown number of administrators of 12 reformist-aligned Telegram channels on March 14-16, 2017, deleted the channels’ content and changed their names. A number of those who were arrested have since been released, but Ali ...
Prominent Lawyers: Judiciary Ad Announcing Prison Time for 10 Iranians in Absentia Unlawful
A classified newspaper advertisement by the judiciary announcing prison sentences for 10 Iranian citizens currently outside the country has no legal merit, two prominent lawyers told the Center for Human Rights ...
Former Opposition Leader Aide Refusing Vital Medication During Hunger Strike to Protest Detainment
Reformist activist and former political prisoner Hengameh Shahidi has started a hunger strike and is refusing to take vital prescription medication in protest against ...
Amendment Could Save Thousands of Drug Traffickers on Death Row in Iran
If passed by Parliament and the Council of Guardians, an amendment to Iran’s death penalty law could save thousands of drug traffickers currently facing execution. ...
Rouhani’s Intelligence Ministry and Khamenei’s IRGC Widen Crackdown Ahead of Election
A growing rivalry between Iran’s Intelligence Ministry and Revolutionary Guards may be the result of a much deeper power struggle. ...
Cartoon 163: Rouhani Protecting Citizen’s Rights
President Hassan Rouhani stands between Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and a political prisoner, ostensibly to protect the prisoner from Khamenei's bat, a metaphor for the Revolutionary Guards, while himself threatening the prisoner with a bat, representing his Intelligence Ministry....
Predicting Her Arrest, Reformist Activist Wrote Letters Criticizing Rouhani’s Failure to Protect Citizens
Anticipating her arrest ahead of the 2017 election, a reformist politician wrote two open letters to President Hassan Rouhani about his failure to carry out his campaign promises. ...
Dual National Speaks of Yearning for Family and Disillusionment with Iran in Letter Prison
Iranian-British citizen Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, imprisoned in Iran since April 2016, has written a letter to her UK-based husband about the pain of being separated from their infant daughter, Gabriella “Gisoo” Ratcliffe, and disillusionment with her birth country of Iran. “I turned 38 without you by my side ...
Teachers Hold Rallies Across Iran for Labor and Education Rights
Teachers held rallies in several Iranian cities in March 2017 demanding livable wages and improved student resources. ...
IRGC Violently Arrests Reformist Editor One Month After Release From Evin Prison
Reformist editor Ehsan Mazandarani was violently returned to Evin Prison less than a month after being released. ...
Opposition Leader Under Extrajudicial House Arrest for Six Years Denied Emergency Care
An elderly opposition leader kept under extrajudicial house arrest in Tehran since 2011 is being denied access to timely emergency medical care. ...
Judiciary Refusing to Release Ailing Baha’i Leader Imprisoned in Iran for Nine Years
Behrouz Tavakkoli, an elderly former Baha’i community leader who has spent nearly nine years in prison for his faith, is legally eligible for early release, but his requests for a case review are being ignored. His ...
Imprisoned Spiritual Leader Facing the Death Penalty Again for His Personal Beliefs
Imprisoned spiritual thinker Mohammad Ali Taheri has again been tried for the charge of “corruption on earth” despite being cleared of the same charge in 2015, his sister Azardokht Taheri told the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI). If convicted, the founder of the banned Erfan-e ...
Evin Prison Violating Iranian Law by Keeping Political Prisoners in Wards With Violent Offenders
Some Prisoners Attacked With “Brass Knuckles and Knives” The authorities of Evin Prison in Tehran are violating Iranian law by refusing to move four political prisoners who have been attacked by other inmates to a ...
Hardliners Float Name of Major Human Rights Violator for Iran’s Next Supreme Leader
For the time being, a powerful hardline cleric implicated in major human rights violations, Ebrahim Raisi, has ruled out his candidacy in Iran’s May 2016 presidential election. He remains, however, as a ...
Editor of State-Funded News Agency Remains Detained Without Access to Due Process
Detained since December 2016, Tahereh Riahi, the social affairs editor of the state-funded Borna News Agency, remains isolated in Evin Prison in Tehran while being denied access to ...
Daughter of Imprisoned Rights Lawyer Accuses Intelligence Minister of Blocking His Release
The daughter of an imprisoned prominent human rights lawyer has accused Iran’s hardline Intelligence Minister Mahmoud Alavi of blocking the release of her ailing father, ...
Former MP Demands That Iran Implement Right of Ethnic Minorities to Preserve Languages
A former member of Parliament and Iranian-Kurdish rights activist, Jalal Jalalizadeh, has strongly criticized the Islamic Republic’s refusal to recognize the constitutional right of ethnic minorities to preserve their languages. Eighty-eight ...
Largest Trade Union Body Asks Iran’s Leader to End Persecution of Prominent Activist
The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) has written to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei calling for an end to the persecution of Reza Shahabi, a prominent labor ...
Sunni Leader Calls on Khamenei to Investigate Reports of Expedited Executions of Sunni Prisoners
Iranian Sunni cleric Molavi Abdolhamid Ismaeelzahi (right) greets Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei (left). Iran’s most senior Sunni cleric, Molavi Abdolhamid Ismaeelzahi, has written to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali ...
Iran’s Supreme Leader Cements Hardline Position by Rejecting Offer of National Reconciliation
Some Conservatives Side With Reformist Leader Khatami Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s refusal of an offer to achieve “national reconciliation” in Iran by ending the six-year extrajudicial house arrests of three ...
Opposition Leader’s Son: Khamenei and Rouhani Are Responsible for Extrajudicial House Arrests
The son of Iranian opposition leader Mehdi Karroubi, who has been detained under house arrest without trial since 2011, told the Campaign for Human Rights ...
Editor Detained by Iran’s Intelligence Ministry Pleads for Help From Evin Prison
Tahereh Riahi, the social affairs editor of the state-funded Borna News Agency, who has been detained by the Intelligence Ministry since late ...
Trump’s travel ban is a gift to Iran’s rulers
Marian Vayghan reacts after her uncle is released from a detention center for deportation back to Iran as people protest President Trump’s travel ban from Muslim-majority ...