In recent years, many Iranian musicians have left Iran in search of the freedom to create without censorship or fear of punishment for their work. Some have ended up in northern Iraq’s Kurdistan region, which is known for its relative stability and security. There they can perform and release music without having to get government ...
On the morning of June 10, eight Sunni prisoners at Rajaee Shahr Prison were asked to confess to certain actions for a documentary film, a source familiar with conditions of religious minority prisoners at the prison told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran. The source said that agents from Ministry of Intelligence told ...
At Rajaee Shahr Prison in Karaj, 20 Sunni prisoners, facing charges such as “acting against national security” for their proselytizing activities, have been convicted of “moharebeh” [enmity with God], a capital crime, and face an unsuitable atmosphere in prison where they are constantly disrespected by prison forces for their beliefs, a source with knowledge of ...
In a report issued May 21, the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights found that Baha’is face “widespread and entrenched discrimination” in Iran, particularly in employment and education. The report also covered several other pressing human rights issues in Iran, including discrimination against women and ethnic minorities, as well as the lack of ...
At least 100 new IRGC forces have been stationed in the Kurdish border regions in Western Iran in recent weeks, a local source told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran. The forces are engaged in patrolling the area and setting up inspection posts, which have limited local traffic into the mountain regions, as ...
Several Mahabad citizens arrested in February have been released on bail from Mahabad Prison over the past several weeks, a local source told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran. Two detainees, Farough Samani and his cousin Reza Samani, however, remain in “temporary detention” in a state of limbo. Another Kurdish citizen, Khedr Rasoul ...
A Kurdish political prisoner sentenced to death has been transferred back to Orumiyeh Central Prison after spending 15 months inside the Semnan Central Prison, a local source told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran. Habibollah Golparipour had been transferred from Semnan Central Prison to an undisclosed location in the second week of May. ...
Habibollah Golparipour, a Kurdish political prisoner on death row, was summoned by the Semnan Central Prison officials on May 9 and informed that he must prepare himself for transfer to an undisclosed location, a local source told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran. Golparipour was not informed of the reason for his transfer. ...
Afshin Sohrabzadeh, 23, has been sentenced to 25 years in prison in exile at Minab Prison on charges of “moharebeh (enmity with God) through membership in Komalah Party,” a local source told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran. Sohrabzadeh was transferred from the Sanandaj Central Prison to Minab Prison 14 months ago and ...
Since the Iranian authorities won’t allow us to report from within Iran, this month we speak to several Iranian refugees in Iraqi Kurdistan who were imprisoned in Iran for their human rights activities. Iraq’s semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan has become known for its economic growth, relative stability, and security, and is attracting investors, workers, and ...
Four United Nations Human Rights experts urged Iran to release the seven imprisoned Baha’i leaders today, according to a press release issued by the UN Office of the Baha’i International Community. Nearly five years since they were arrested, the seven leaders remain imprisoned solely because of their religious beliefs. ...
The Kurdistan Province IRGC Intelligence Unit has twice summoned the family members of slain members of Kurdish political parties in the past few months, a local source told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran. During the meetings, the families have had to watch videotapes of confessions of Kurdish political prisoners. ...
Haj Ali Chilan, 103, is currently serving an eight-year prison term at Maku Prison on charges of “cooperating with PJAK [Party of Free Life of Kurdistan],” a local source told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran. Chilan, from Zolka Village near Maku, is in dire physical condition as a result of old age ...
Kasra Nouri, 22, a Gonabadi Dervish imprisoned at Adel Abad Prison in Shiraz, has been sentenced to four years and four months in prison in part to intimidate other youth and prevent them from joining the Dervish sect, a close family friend told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran. Sedigheh Khalili added that ...
Over the past several months, Orumiyeh and Mahabad Intelligence Offices have summoned, detained, and harassed several Kurdish former political prisoners on the pretext of concern over their continued political activities after their release from prison, a local source told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran. In most reported cases, security forces have gone ...
A group of Kurdish activist women from Marivan, along with a few citizens of the city, held a demonstration April 16 on the main streets of the city in protest of the authorities’ parading a man in Marivan after dressing him in the traditional women’s clothing of Kurdistan, a local source told the International Campaign ...
Political prisoner Adel Jalali ended his 11-day hunger strike on March 28 after prison officials at Orumiyeh Central Prison agreed to cooperate with him, a local source told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran. The source added that the Prison Intelligence Unit has been pressuring four other political prisoners at Orumiyeh, repeatedly summoning ...
Seven Dervish lawyers being held at the Intelligence Ministry’s Ward 209 at Evin Prison have not had access to light in months and have developed various illnesses, the wife of one of the lawyers told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran. Sedigheh Khalili, the wife of imprisoned lawyer Hamidreza Moradi, added that officials ...
Forces from the Orumiyeh Intelligence Office arrested at least ten Kurdish and Azeri citizens of Orumiyeh in late February on political charges, a local source told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran. In the intervening months, they have been interrogated and transferred to various prison wards, including the ward for violent criminals. ...
An Orumiyeh Penal Court found a Kurdish political prisoner guilty last week of murdering two Revolutionary Guards members, though no evidence, witnesses, nor confessions were presented in the case, a local activist told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran. The prisoner, Ali Ahmad Soleiman, had previously completed a six-year prison term on political ...
Six Arab-Iranian prisoners have been on hunger strike at Ahvaz’s Karoon Prison since March 3 in protest of the judicial process in their cases and their extreme sentences, a cousin of two of the prisoners told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran. Five of the prisoners have been sentenced to death, the sixth ...
(March 22, 2013) The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran welcomes the United Nations Human Rights Council’s 26 to 2 vote to extend the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran for the third consecutive year. The Campaign also urged Iranian authorities to cooperate with the Special Rapporteur ...
As Iranians around the world prepare to celebrate the new year, hundreds of prisoners of conscience remain behind bars in Iran. The Persian New Year, Nowruz, is the most important holiday in Iran, beginning at the moment of the vernal equinox. While the news website Kaleme reports that a dozen political prisoners have been granted ...
Two Iranian Kurds, including the brother of acclaimed filmmaker Bahman Ghobadi, were arrested in Sanandaj on November 3, 2012, on non-specific national security accusations. While Behrouz Ghobadi was released a few weeks later, his business partner Rahmatollah Moadi remains at Evin Prison with no visitation rights and no official charges, his brother Nemat Moadi told ...
The present report is the second to be submitted to the Human Rights Council, pursuant to Council resolution 16/9, and communicates developments in the human rights situation of the Islamic Republic of Iran that have transpired since the submission of the Special Rapporteur’s second interim report to the 67th session of the General Assembly (A/67/369) ...