Free Iran’s Political Prisoners
July 12, 2018--During a speech in March 2018, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei claimed that no one in Iran is imprisoned for their thoughts, expressions, or personal choices. That’s not ...
Free Expression
Location of Baluchi Activist Arrested at Mass Rape Protest Concealed From His Family
The location of detained Baluchi ethnic rights activist Abdollah Bozorgzadeh remains unknown three weeks after he was detained in the Iranian city of Iranshahr in Sistan and Baluchistan Province. Bozorgzadeh was taken ...
Rights Attorney Summoned to Court in Iran After Signing Letter Criticizing Judiciary’s Restriction of Right to Counsel
Attorney Hossein Ahmadiniaz, the defense counsel in several cases involving human and political rights in Iran, has been summoned by Branch 4 of the Revolutionary Court in Sanandaj, the capital of Kurdistan Province. ...
Facing 20-Year Prison Sentence for Taking Headscarf Off in Public, Woman Flees Iran
“Due to the Injustices of Iran’s Judicial System I Had to Leave Iran” Draconian Sentences Demonstrate the Authorities’ Cultural Tyranny July 10, 2018—Shaparak Shajarizadeh, one of the women who took her headscarf off in public during ...
Iran’s Forcing of Teenage Girl to Confess on State TV for Posting Dance Video Prompts Strong Outcry
Authorities Ramp Up Crackdown on Social Media July 9, 2018—Forcing a teenage girl to confess on state TV for the “crime” of posting a video of herself dancing on Instagram represents a blatant violation of ...
63 University Groups Slam Rouhani and Reformists For Crackdown on Students
Sixty-three student organizations from universities across Iran have issued a statement sharply criticizing President Hassan Rouhani for a crackdown led by his ...
Four Female Sufis Sentenced to Five Years Imprisonment Each Under National Security Charge
Shima Entesari with her family Political Personalities Urge Authorities to Free Detainees Four followers of Iran’s persecuted Sufi Gonabadi Order ...
Shots Fired at Protest as Officials Unable to Ease Water Shortage Crisis in Iran’s Khuzestan Province
Shots were reportedly fired during protests over water shortages in the southwestern city of Khorramshahr in Iran’s Khuzestan Province but the Interior Ministry has denied any fatalities. Khuzestan, home ...
Imprisoned Human Rights Defender Narges Mohammadi Hospitalized in Tehran
Renowned human rights advocate Narges Mohammadi was transferred from Tehran’s Evin Prison to a hospital on June 30, 2018, due to severe kidney pain, her husband Taghi ...
Iranian Journalist and Political Activist Detained For Criticizing Iran’s Judiciary
Well-known journalist and political activist Hengameh Shahidi was arrested upon leaving a hospital in Iran’s Kish Island after strongly criticizing state policies on social media and ...
Iran’s Judiciary Chief Threatens Protesting Merchants With Execution as Protests Continue
Tehran Demonstrations Against Inflation Turn Political as They Spread to Other Cities The Chief Justice of Iran Sadegh Larijani has threatened the merchants who have been protesting in Tehran ...
Iran: Stop Imminent Execution of Kurdish Prisoner, Investigate Evidence of Torture and Denial of Due Process
Fear Grows After Bus Driver Was Executed in Iran Despite Similar Concerns June 20, 2018—The Iranian judiciary should immediately annul the death sentence issued against Kurdish prisoner ...
Iran Telegram Ban Strangles Country Amid Struggling Economy, Protests
This report examines the Iranian Judiciary’s ban on the Telegram messaging app, which as of 2018 was integrated into all aspects of daily life in Iran and had some 40 million active users in the country. It assesses what it means for Iranians’ digital rights, for the Rouhani government and its professed support for internet ...
University Student Activists Sentenced to Prison After Being Arrested by President Rouhani’s Intelligence Ministry
University of Tehran student activists Sina Darvish Omran and Ali Mozaffari were each sentenced to eight years in prison on June 11, 2018, by Branch 15 of the Revolutionary Court ...
Prominent Attorney Nasrin Sotoudeh Detained Amid Iranian Judiciary’s Crackdown on Human Rights Lawyers
Iranian human rights attorney Nasrin Sotoudeh previously served three years in prison for her defense of dissidents, activists, journalists and minorities ...
Iranian Poet Sentenced and Fined For Posting Photo of Man Injured by Police
Iranian poet and filmmaker Baktash Abtin has been sentenced and fined in Iran for posting a photo to his Instagram account of a man who was assaulted ...
Third Woman Sentenced to Prison in Iran For Removing Hijab Slapped With More Charges
Civil rights activist Shima Babaei: “They said the hijab is the law and I must respect it. I told them it’s a bad law and I’m protesting against it in the most peaceful way possible; I’ve been instigated ...
Telegram Channel Admin Could Get Death Penalty For “Insulting the Prophet”
Weakened by his hunger strike, prisoner of conscience Hamidreza Amini was transferred to a hospital in hand and ankle cuffs but was returned to prison before the treatment was completed. Hamidreza Amini could face the death penalty if he ...
Arab Rights Activist Hatam Morammezi Dead After One Year of Detention in Iran
Hatam Morammezi holding his nephew. Family Threatened to Stay Silent About the Case, Which Marks Sixth Death in Custody in Iran in ...
10 Years Later, This Baha’i Manufacturer is Still Fighting to Claim His Business in Iran
Payam Vali’s manufacturing business was shuttered in Iran in 2008 because of his religious beliefs. ...
Iranians Complain of Fake Accounts Created in Their Names on State-Approved Soroush App
The CEO of Iran’s Soroush messaging app, Meysam Sayedsalehi. Tech Experts Urge Rouhani to Stop Stifling of Internet in ...
Oxford PhD Student Denied Legal Counsel 40 Days After Being Arrested in Iran
Father Claims IRGC’s Intelligence Organization is Cooking Up Case Against His Activist Son Reformist political activist Mohammadreza Jalaeipour, an Oxford University PhD student, has been held without charge and access ...
Iranian Cleric Under Seven-Year House Arrest Says Only Death Will Bring Him Freedom
Former Presidential Candidate Mehdi Karroubi Detained in His Home Without Trial Since 2011 An Iranian cleric and former presidential candidate who has been restricted to his home under state surveillance since February 2011 without ...
10 Iranian HEPCO Workers Striking For Unpaid Wages Charged With “Disturbing Public Order”
Ten striking workers at Iran's Heavy Equipment Production Company (HEPCO) in the city of Arak, south of Tehran, were charged with “disturbing public order” for participating in protests billed as “illegal ...
50 Years Later, Iranian Security Forces Are Still Trying to Silence the Iranian Writers Association
Police and security forces blocked an event commemorating the 50th anniversary of the anti-censorship Iranian Writers Association (IWA) by raiding the home in Tehran where ...