One of the few remaining defense lawyers in Iran willing to take on human rights cases, Nasser Zarafshan is an expert at navigating the Islamic Republic’s judicial system, which criminalizes dissent and imprisons lawyers like Zarafshan for doing their job. Usually tried under trumped-up “national security” ...
No Accountability for Hundreds Killed, Thousands Injured and Arrested International Community Must Demand Independent Investigation and Justice for Victims November 10, 2021 -- Two years after Iran’s security forces violently crushed mass protests that erupted across the country, leaving hundreds of civilians killed, two officials who oversaw that ...
Two months after the inauguration of ultra-conservative President Ebrahim Raisi, Iran’s state-run Headquarters for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice organization has announced plans to launch religious college-level courses dedicated to the “promotion of virtue and prevention of vice”, according to Iran’s ...
Court Rulings Reveal Systematic Religious Discrimination The Baha’i faith community is one of the most severely persecuted religious minorities in Iran. Iran’s government is unabashed in its propagating of false narratives about the community and has for decades blocked Baha’is from obtaining prominent positions in Iranian society as well ...
The Iranian government’s intolerance of dissent has resulted in systemic suppression of freedom of expression. To prevent the free flow of information and views, Iranian courts work with the intelligence-security establishment to identify civil rights activists, writers, journalists, artists, and intellectuals and accuse them of trying to undermine ...
September 28, 2021 – The Iranian security establishment’s attempt to imprison four prominent human rights defenders, only a few months after the inauguration of the country’s new presidential administration, signals the beginning of a new and intensified era of repression. “This is a clear attempt to enchain the ...
With Iran’s new academic year, beginning on September 23, 2021, just around the corner, teachers have been protesting in front of Parliament and the Plan and Budget Organization in Tehran to voice anger and frustration over low pay and serious challenges including state repression ...
Investigation Marked by Torture, Witness Tampering and Contradictions August 26, 2021—The refusal by Iran’s Supreme Court to allow a judicial review of the 25-year prison sentence for Vahid Afkari, the brother of wrestling champion Navid Afkari who was unlawfully executed last year, despite evidence of torture, ...
Persecution and Discrimination by State and Society Pervades Daily Life August 26, 2021—In a new LGBTQ Fact Sheet published today by the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI), the extreme rights violations and deadly violence perpetrated by both the state and society against the LGBTQ community ...
Six Arbitrarily Detained as State Tries to Block Attempt to Seek Justice August 17, 2021—The unlawful arrests of six prominent lawyers and civil rights activists in Tehran as they were preparing to file a lawsuit against state officials for their gross mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic is ...
The historic trial against Nouri, which will hear testimonies from dozens of witnesses in 72 sessions, will be the first time that one of the worst crimes committed in the Islamic Republic of Iran will be thoroughly examined and exposed in a court of law ...
“My Song is About Stars That Go Missing Every Night” August 5, 2021 – Iranian American musician and songwriter Marjan Farsad released a new song today about political prisoners in Iran, a country where people are jailed for peacefully exercising basic human rights such as ...