For the First Time in Three Years, Political Prisoner Narges Mohammadi Has Gone On Furlough
For the first time in more than three years, imprisoned human rights activist Narges Mohammadi was granted furlough for three days to visit her severely ...
Free Expression
Fourth Women’s Rights Activist Arrested in Iran in Less Than a Month
Women’s rights advocate Maryam Azad was arrested by security agents at Tehran’s Imam Khomeini International Airport on September 25, 2018, after boarding a plane scheduled to fly to Istanbul, a source close to ...
Hunger-Striking Activist Farhad Meysami Refuses To Be Hospitalized in Shackles
Despite his worsening condition, hunger-striking detainee Farhad Meysami refused to be transferred to a hospital outside Tehran’s Evin Prison unless he would be allowed to ...
Nasrin Sotoudeh Sends Heart-Breaking Apology to Son For Missing First Day of School
Detained human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh has written a letter to her 12-year-old son, Nima, explaining why she and her husband—also detained in Iran’s Evin Prison—can’t be ...
Families of Iran’s Detained Environmentalists Urge Supreme Leader to Release Their Loved Ones
The families of environmentalists who have been detained for nearly eight months in Iran on unsubstantiated accusations of espionage have sent a letter to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei calling ...
Rouhani Should Be Called to Account for Human Rights Abuses in Iran at UN Gathering
Mobile Billboard with Photos of Iran’s Political Prisoners to Circle UN Headquarters During Meetings September 19, 2018—As President Hassan Rouhani comes to NY to attend the 73rd session of the UN General Assembly, the Center for Human ...
Satirist Keyomars Marzban Arrested by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, Held Incommunicado, No Access to Lawyer
Keyomars Marzban, a 26-year-old satirist, has been held incommunicado in Tehran's Evin Prison and without access to counsel since the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) arrested ...
In Just Six Months, Iranian Universities Expelled 50 Baha’i Students For Their Religious Beliefs
Fifty Baha’i students have been expelled from Iranian universities in the current Iranian year (beginning March 21, 2018) because of their religious beliefs, according to Simin Fahandej, a representative of ...
18 Sufis on Strike in Iran’s Great Tehran Penitentiary Issue Three Demands
Eighteen Sufi dervishes of the Gonabadi Order are on hunger strike in Iran’s Great Tehran Penitentiary (GTP) including Zafarali Moghimi, who is in ...
Secretary General: Iran Engages UN But Intensifies Crackdown on Freedom of Assembly and Speech
Mohammad Javad Larijani, the secretary general of the Iranian judiciary's High Council for Human Rights. Following are the summary, introduction, and recommendations of the report of the ...
Nasrin Sotoudeh Sacrifices Family Visits To Protest Prosecutor’s Demand She Wear Full Hijab
Detained human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh has given up her family visitation right in protest against a prosecutor’s demand that she receive visitors fully draped in a ...
Iranian Activist Hengameh Shahidi Refuses to Hire New Lawyer Against Judge’s Orders
Detained Iranian political activist and journalist Hengameh Shahidi has defied a judge’s order by refusing to hire a new lawyer. “I have been ...
Iran is Jailing and Threatening Human Rights Attorneys
Seven human rights lawyers have been arrested in Iran since January 2018 as the state escalates its assault against its own legal profession and its flagrant violations of basic rights of freedom of expression and due process. “The authorities in Iran arrested these lawyers for the same reason all the other human right defenders are ...
Let My Daughter See Her Sick Father, Pleads Narges Mohammadi’s Mother
The mother of imprisoned human rights activist Narges Mohammadi has urged Tehran Prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dowlatabadi to allow the ailing political prisoner to go on furlough...
Three Detained Women’s Rights Activists Should be Immediately Released
No Information on Charges or Where Hoda Amid, Najmeh Vahedi or Rezvaneh Mohammadi are Being Held, Families Denied Contact September 11, 2018—The three women’s rights activists arrested by Iran’s security forces since September 1—the lawyer Hoda Amid, the sociologist Najmeh Vahedi, and the gender studies student Rezvaneh Mohammadi—should ...
Detained Sufis Kept in Solitary and Dangerous Wards for Refusing to “Express Remorse” for Peaceful Prison Protests
A number of detained Sufi dervishes of the Gonabadi Order have been kept in solitary confinement or transferred to a ward with dangerous inmates because of participation in a protest...
Detained Civil Rights Activist Refusing to Break Hunger Strike
Farhad Meysami Thin and Pale after More than a Month on Hunger Strike Farhad Meysami, the 48-year-old physician who has been detained in Iran’s Evin ...
Husband of Imprisoned Human Rights Lawyer, Arrested for Speaking Out, Must Be Released Immediately
State Harassment, Arrest of Family Members to Silence Dissent Intensifies in Iran September 4, 2018—Reza Khandan, the husband of imprisoned human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh, should ...
Tehran Penitentiary Guards Launch “Brutal” Attack on Imprisoned Sufi Muslims
Guards in Iran’s Great Tehran Penitentiary (GTP) attacked and beat detainees inside Ward 3 of the prison on August 29, 2018, and moved some ...
University Student Sentenced to Seven Years Imprisonment in Iran as Another is Ordered to Attend Friday Prayers
As Iran continues to imprison university students for attending protests, a judge in the city of Semnan, 140 miles east of Tehran, has ordered one ...
“I Didn’t Choose This:” Iranians Respond to FM Zarif
Iran's FM Mohammad Javad Zarif received backlash by Iranian users on Twitter when he told state TV that Iran is facing international isolation solely because it "chose to live life differently" than other nations. #من_انتخاب_نکردم ...
Four Christians in Iran Appeal Prison Sentences For Alleged Missionary Activities
Four Christians in Iran, including two converts, have appealed their prison sentences for alleged missionary activities, arguing that they’re innocent of the charges. “It is our expectation that the ...
Detained Human Rights Lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh Refuses to Appear in Court, Begins Hunger Strike
Sotoudeh Facing Seven “National Security” Charges as Judiciary Continues to Build Case Against Her Prominent defense attorney Nasrin Sotoudeh has gone on hunger strike and refused to appear in court to protest her unjust detainment ...
Journalist Recounts “Inhumane” Living Conditions at Tehran Penitentiary
An Iranian journalist who was detained at Iran’s Greater Tehran Central Penitentiary (GTCP) has written about the jail’s “inhumane” conditions, ...
Iranian Journalist Sentenced to 10 Years in Prison For Criticizing Ultra-Conservative Cleric in a Tweet
Amir Mohammad Hossein Miresmaili, a former journalist and satirist for the Jahan Sana’at (Industry World) newspaper in Iran, has been sentenced to a decade in prison after allegedly disparaging a Shia ...