Rafsanjani’s Death Reshuffles the Political Deck in Iran
The heads of Iran’s three branches of government and supreme leader pray beside the ...
Assembly / Association
Political Prisoner Banned from Visits After Sending Complaint to Warden
Imprisoned doctoral student Hamid Babaei has been banned from receiving visitations after the prison warden accused him of “insulting” Iran’s supreme leader during a discussion about a complaint Babaei had sent to the warden’s ...
Revolutionary Court Sentences More Than 70 Iranians to Prison for Celebrating “Cyrus Day”
Islamic Republic Represses Commemoration of Pre-Islamic Era History Update: Most of the people arrested for celebrating the unofficial birthday of “Cyrus the Great” have had their sentences reduced or they have been released on bail. “The Appeals Court has reduced the sentences ...
Union Leader Receives Unofficial Warning To Return to Prison or Lose $140,000 Bail
Labor rights activist Jafar Azimzadeh has been told that he must return to Evin Prison in Tehran by January 13, 2017 or his guarantor will lose 450 million tomans ...
Lebanese-American Internet Freedom Advocate Starts Hunger Strike in Iran’s Evin Prison
Nizar Zakka, a Lebanese-born U.S. permanent resident and internet freedom advocate who was sentenced to 10 years in prison in Iran in September 2016 for “espionage,” has been ...
Five Political Prisoners in Iran on Life-Threatening Hunger Strikes in Desperate Bid for Case Reviews
The lives of at least three imprisoned civil rights activists in Iran are perilously in danger after suffering health complications from weeks on hunger strike, while another has sewn his lips shut, ...
Protestant Church Property Confiscated in Iran by Khamenei-Supervised Organization
The largest Persian-speaking Protestant community in Iran, Jama'at-e Rabbani, has announced that it has been stripped of its ownership of Sharon Gardens, a large and valuable piece of real estate ...
Five Gonabadi Dervishes Arrested in Iran Amid Ongoing Persecution Campaign
Five dervishes of the Sufi Gonabadi Order were arrested in the southern Iranian city of Dezful on December 13, 2016 after obeying a summons to appear at the prosecutor’s office, their lawyer Kasra Nouri told the ...
Iran’s New Basij Militia Commander More Militaristic Than His Predecessor
The appointment of ultra-conservative hardliner Gholam-Hossein Gheibparvar as the new commander of Iran’s Basij, a volunteer militia under the authority of the Revolutionary Guards, has raised fears of ...
Mother Begs Revolutionary Guards Not to Return Her Activist Son to Prison In Heart-Rending Video
A video posted on social media shows the mother of civil rights activist Omid Alishenas, who was at home with her on bail ...
Imprisoned Azeri Rights Activist Loses 44 Pounds 50 Days Into Hunger Strike
Imprisoned Azeri civil rights activist Morteza Moradpour has lost 44 pounds and is suffering from severe kidney pain 50 days into a hunger strike that he has vowed to ...
Rouhani Supporter Imprisoned for Peaceful Activism Critically Ill After 43-Day Hunger Strike
After 43 days on hunger strike, political prisoner Ali Shariati, a long-time supporter of President Hassan Rouhani, has been hospitalized and is “critically ill,” his mother told the International ...
Six Years into Extrajudicial House Arrest, Green Movement Leaders Still Asking for Trial
Mehdi Karroubi, Mir Hossein Mousavi and Zahra Rahnavard Detained Since February 2011 December 13, 2016—The Judiciary should carry out its latest “promise—or threat” to put former presidential candidate Mehdi Karroubi, who has been under extrajudicial ...
Nobel Laureate Shirin Ebadi: Rouhani Directly Responsible for All Intelligence Ministry Abuses
In an interview with the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, Iranian Nobel Laureate Shirin Ebadi held President Hassan Rouhani directly responsible for “every Intelligence Ministry violation” and criticized his failure to uphold the ...
Six Years Into Extrajudicial House Arrest, Mehdi Karroubi Repeats Request for First Trial
The Judiciary should carry out its latest “promise—or threat” to put former presidential candidate Mehdi Karroubi, who has been under extrajudicial house arrest since 2011, on trial, said his son Mohammad Taghi Karroubi. ...
Briefing: Iran’s Fashion Industry is the Latest Victim of Khamenei’s War on Western Culture
Iran’s brain drain has spread to the fashion sector as designers, photographers, models and other industry professionals emigrate to escape raids, the shuttering of their businesses, arrests and prosecutions under vague laws that restrict freedom of expression. ...
Expelled Student Activist Reminds Rouhani of Unfulfilled Pledge to Let Her Resume Studies
A women’s rights activist and former student who spent nearly two and a half years in prison for her peaceful activism has written an open letter to President Hassan Rouhani reminding him that he ...
Rights Activist Sentenced to 15 Years Imprisonment in Critical Condition After 45-Day Hunger Strike
Civil rights defender Arash Sadeghi, who is currently serving a 15-year prison sentence for his peaceful activism, is in “critical and worrying” condition after 45 days on hunger strike ...
Iranian Government Subdues Politically Charged Student Day With “Happy Shows”
Since its 1979 revolution, Iran’s Student Day has been marked with passionate speeches given in a less restrained political atmosphere on university campuses. But this year the government has tried to extinguish displays of political dissent by ...
Anti-Riot Forces Violently Attack Peacefully Protesting Tehran Bus Union Members
Members of one of Iran’s oldest unions who were peacefully demanding their past due housing allowances and other benefits in front of the Tehran Municipality building were violently attacked by anti-riot police on December 4, ...
Iranian Lawyer and Writers Beaten and Arrested at Commeration of Murders of Political Dissidents in 1990s
Police and plainclothes security agents arrested a prominent human rights lawyer and several members of the Writers Association of Iran at a commemoration event for victims of the “chain murders...
Rights Activist Files Complaint Against Revolutionary Guard Agents for Excessive Force
Agents Attacked Atena Daemi and Her Sister and Used Pepper Spray When Taking Her into Custody The young human rights activist Atena Daemi has filed a ...
Women’s Rights Activist Arrested After Attending Workshop in Georgia
Twenty Others Who Attended Women’s Empowerment Workshop Also Questioned Photographer and women’s right activist Alieh Matlabzadeh has been undergoing interrogation in Evin Prison since November 26 when Intelligence Ministry agents took her into custody without charge, ...
Imprisoned Human Rights Activist to Sue IRGC Agents for Violent and Illegal Arrest
Atena Daemi Taken to Evin Prison’s Women’s Ward To Begin Seven-Year Sentence Human rights activist Atena Daemi, 29, was taken into custody from her home in Tehran by agents of the ...
Shocking Montazeri Sentence Reveals a Prosecution Lacking Legal or Moral Legitimacy
Ahmad Montazeri Will Appeal "Ugly" Six-Year Prison Sentence The six-year prison sentence handed down to Ahmad Montazeri for publishing an audio tape on the mass execution of political prisoners ...