“Art for Change” Prints by Shirin Neshat, Kour Pour, Arghavan Khosrav to Benefit Center for Human Rights in Iran
Shirin Neshat film still from "Land of Dreams" signed and numbered limited print edition available for purchase on ...
Free Expression
French National Benjamin Briere Tried on National Security Charges in Iran
Ten months after being arrested in Iran, a French national has been charged with “espionage” and “propaganda against the state,” the Center for Human Rights in Iran has learned. Benjamin Briere, 35, appeared at a hearing in the northeastern Iranian city of Mashhad on ...
For Translating a Book About Syria, Arash Ganji Must Serve 5 Years in an Iranian Prison
Arash Ganji, a translator and secretary of the board of directors of the Iranian Writers Association (IWA), must serve five years of an 11-year prison sentence that was upheld by the Appeals Court in Tehran on ...
UN Deplores “Systematic” Use of Lethal State Force Against Border Couriers in Iran
Widespread Shutdown of Internet Described as Violation of International Law In response to the killing by state security forces of couriers and protesters in Iran’s Sistan and Baluchistan Province since unrest broke out in the area on February 22, 2021—and the intermittent shutdown of the internet ...
Security Establishment and Judiciary Collude in Disbandment of Iran’s Largest NGO
Imam Ali Popular Students Relief Society Shuttered after Tehran Court Grants Motion by Interior Ministry March 4, 2021—An Interior Ministry motion to disband the Imam Ali Popular Students Relief Society (IAPSRS) was granted by a court in Tehran on March 3, 2021. ...
Non-Persian Mother Languages Treated as “National Security Threat” in Iran
As the world marked International Mother Language Day in 2021, non-Persian native languages remained under attack in Iran, where non-Persian-speaking ethnic minorities are subject to state and institutional discrimination and the official teaching of mother languages is restricted and monitored by the Iranian government. “For years, the state ...
Female Activists Imprisoned for Attending Protests, Refusing “Virginity Test”
Two imprisoned student activists continue to be persecuted for peacefully protesting unjust policies and practices in Iran, including so-called "virginity tests." Charged with “assembly and collusion against national security” for peacefully participating in protests, Saha Mortezaei must now serve six years in prison after her sentence was ...
Center for Human Rights in Iran Joins International Call Against Deadly Crackdown on Afghan Civil Society
A group of international human rights groups including the Center for Human Rights in Iran today published a joint statement expressing serious concerns over a renewed crackdown on Afghan civil society, including a wave of kidnappings and murders of journalists and activists. "The people of Afghanistan are squeezed ...
Freemuse and Center for Human Rights in Iran Call on Iran to Free Writer Arash Ganji, Stop Prosecuting Free Speech
Branch 28 of the Revolutionary Court in Iran sentenced writer, translator, and the secretary of the board of directors of the Iranian Writers' Association, Arash Ganji, to 11 years in prison. Ganji was convicted of conspiracy, membership of an illegal organization and propaganda after he ...
Three Baluch Prisoners Executed, Three Others in Imminent Danger of Execution
At Least 10 Prisoners on Death Row in Zahedan, Accused of Membership in Militant Groups Application of Death Penalty in Political Cases Continues to Increase Three prisoners were recently executed in Iran, two in the central prison in Zahedan, capital of Iran’s Sistan and Baluchistan Province, and one in ...
Abducted German-Iranian Denied Choice of Attorney, Whereabouts Still Unknown
Jamshid Sharmahd Assigned Lawyer Who “Defended” Executed Dissident Ruhollah Zam The exact whereabouts of Jamshid Sharmahd, the German-Iranian dissident who was arrested and apparently abducted by Iranian intelligence agents in July 2020, is still unknown, according to his daughter, and he has been issued the same ...
Comment by UN High Commissioner Michelle Bachelet on the Execution in Iran of Ruhollah Zam
Geneva, 14 December 2020 I am appalled at the execution in Iran on 12 December of Ruhollah Zam, activist and founder of the AmadNews Telegram channel. His death sentence and execution by hanging are emblematic of a pattern of forced confessions extracted under torture and broadcast on state media being used ...