A 30-year-old man has been detained for four months without trial on charges related to writing a blog in Shiraz, his sister told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran. Kaveh Taheri was arrested on September 23, 2012, and charged with “acting against national security” and “creating public anxiety in the virtual space.” After ...
Today marks two years since Iranian security forces prevented former presidential candidates Mehdi Karroubi and Mir Hossein Mousavi, and cultural leader Zahra Rahnavard from leaving their homes. The three opposition leaders have been held under de facto house arrest ever since they requested a permit for a rally in solidarity with Arab Spring protesters in ...
(Commentary) What does it mean to defend something “unabashedly”? The use of the word “unabashed” here might mean that we have received a “shameful” proposal. In such cases, we usually mean that someone suggested something ugly to us without shame, whereas we feel he should have been more remorseful. What lies behind our expectation of ...
(February 13, 2013) The Iranian authorities should immediately release from arbitrary house arrest two former presidential candidates Mehdi Karroubi and Mir Hossein Mousavi, his wife Zahra Rahnavard, author and political activist, and cease harassing or detaining without cause the couple’s two daughters and Mehdi Karroubi’s son, said the Nobel Peace laureate Shirin Ebadi and ...
Nearly two years since Iranian opposition leaders Mehdi Karroubi, Mir Hossein Mousavi, and Zahra Rahnavard were placed under illegal house arrest in Tehran, Iranian authorities have summoned their children, a source close to the families told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran. ...
Today three United Nations experts spoke out against the continued detention of former Iranian presidential candidates Mehdi Karroubi and Mir Hossein Mousavi and cultural leader Zahra Rahnavard, as well as the recent detention and interrogation of their children. This Friday, February 15, will mark two years of the opposition leaders’ house arrest. ...
Following the arrest of Saeed Mortazavi, Tehran’s former press court judge and prosecutor, Nobel Peace laureate Shirin Ebadi told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, “The timing and the manner of arrest of Saeed Mortazavi, a suspect in the Kahrizak Detention Center case and the Zahra Kazemi murder case, once again showed that ...
Former Tehran Prosecutor Saeed Mortazavi should be prosecuted for his role in prisoners’ deaths, not political score-settling, prominent lawyer Abdol-Karim Lahidji told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran. Mortazavi, currently the head of Iran’s Social Security Organization, was arrested Tuesday and detained for 24 hours following a public exposé by President Ahmadinejad during ...
Another wave of summonses and arrests of journalists has taken place in Iran, the Iranian Intelligence Ministry announced on February 5. In a statement published by Fars News Agency, affiliated with Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps, the Intelligence Ministry stated that the journalists were arrested for their contact with the BBC and that the arrests, which ...
“Discrimination is . . . quite widespread, whether it’s based on gender, religion, or ethnicity,” Dr. Ahmad Shaheed tells us in this latest podcast. In March of 2011, increased international concern about Iran’s human rights crisis led to the appointment of a United Nations’ Special Rapporteur on the situation of Human Rights in the ...
In the last week of January, Iranian security forces arrested at least 16 journalists and charged them with “spying and ties with foreign news organizations.” Iranian authorities are accusing the journalists of working with the Persian-language services of the BBC and Voice of America, based in the UK and the US, respectively. ...
Two years since the arrest and subsequent imprisonment of Iranian physicist and student Omid Kokabee, scientific societies are redoubling their efforts to secure his release. Students from the University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin) have released a short film about his situation. ...
Nearly 200 Iranian journalists inside and outside Iran signed a statement, objecting to the widespread arrests of fellow journalists which began on Sunday, January 27 and has continued this week. The journalists asked Iran’s judicial authorities to release their colleagues immediately and prove that they respect the law. ...
On Sunday, January 27, 2013, Iranian security forces raided the editorial rooms of Tehran-based newspapers and publications Bahar, Shargh, Arman, Etemad, and Aseman Weekly, and arrested several journalists. According to reports, the forces entered the offices of the five publications simultaneously and, in addition to arresting the journalists, searched and videotaped the premises. ...
The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran is proud to announce the publication of a groundbreaking new book at the crossroads of art and human rights: Sketches of Iran: A Glimpse from the Front Lines of Human Rights available now at Amazon.com. In this unprecedented collection of drawings, editorial cartoons, and portraits of human ...
Security forces raided editorial rooms of Tehran-based newspapers and publications Bahar, Shargh, Arman, Etemad, and Aseman Weekly, and arrested several journalists who worked there. According to reports, the forces entered offices for the five publications simultaneously and in addition to arresting the journalists, searched and videotaped the premises. ...
The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran demands that the Iranian Judiciary suspend the execution sentences of five Ahvazi Arab activists, conduct an independent investigation into the judicial process of the case, and investigate the suspects’ allegations of torture during their investigations. The five men are said to be activists in or founders of ...
Today five independent experts from the United Nations called on the Iranian government to halt the executions of five Ahvazi Arab activists. The UN experts include the UN Special Rapporteurs on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association, on extrajudicial, ...
Authorities had earlier told Sotoudeh that she would be granted a long furlough, but she was summoned to Evin Prison after only three days. Several other political prisoners have also been released on furlough over the past few days, including student activist Bahareh Hedayat; journalists Bahman Ahmadi Amouee, Ahmad Zeidabadi, Mahsa Amrabadi, and Massoud Bastani; ...
The UN WGAD is a body of five independent experts who review cases of arbitrary detentions, issue opinions, and communicate their concerns to governments regarding alleged cases of arbitrary detention. The WGAD acts under the ...
Lawyer and women’s rights activist Farideh Gheirat told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran that the new Passport and Exit Law bill, which will make it mandatory for girls and women to have the approval of their “guardian” (father, husband, or paternal grandfather) to exit the country, is at odds with the Iranian ...
Asked when the transfer would take place, Marzieh Rahimi told the Campaign, “We have no idea. He was scheduled for a February 14 trial for one of the letters he wrote. I’m not sure which letter this trial was about. But the trial session was suddenly held on Monday, January 7. The Judge said, ‘I ...
While the population of Kurds in Iran is close to seven million, nearly 10% of the total Iranian population, the Kurdish people continue to be systematically isolated and discriminated against. One of the main demands of Iranian Kurds has been to allow them to use the Kurdish language in their education and textbooks. However, since ...
Today we speak with award-winning journalist Tara Kangarlou about her new film, “Beyond the Electronic Curtain,” and the issue of Internet censorship in Iran. “Beyond the Electronic Curtain” documents the effects of unrelenting censorship on Iranian society. Through the stories of the many journalists in Iran who have been imprisoned for doing their job, the ...
The 73-page comprehensive report, The Cost of Faith: Persecution of Christian Protestants and Converts in Iran, documents a pattern of rights violations that extends to all walks of life for Protestant converts in Iran: they face severe restrictions on religious practice and association, arbitrary arrests and detentions for practicing their faith, and violations of the ...