Over 100 human rights advocates from 40 countries are convening in São Paulo, Brazi, from October 12 to 19, to discuss “A New Global Order in Human Rights? Actors, Challenges and Opportunities” at the 13th International Human Rights Colloquium organized by Conectas Human Rights. This post will be updated regularly throughout the conference. ...
After weeks of public objections to the Iranian Parliament’s approving a new bill which would make it possible for foster parents to marry their adopted children, Iran’s Guardian Council decided in favor of the bill last week and approved its passage as the modified law for “Protection of Children and Adolescents with no Guardian [adoption ...
Massoumeh Dehghan, who has never had any political activities, was arrested and detained for six days in July 2011 on charges of traveling to Germany and receiving the Nuremberg Human Rights Award on behalf of her ...
Imprisoned lawyer Mohammad Seifzadeh appeared in court to defend himself against charges of “collusion and assembly against national security,” he wrote in a letter published September 29 on Kaleme website. Though judicial officials had told his family they planned on closing the case against him if he appeared in court, Seifzadeh wrote, the court appearance ...
An hour after her release from prison, human rights lawyer and prisoner of conscience Nasrin Sotoudeh told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, “When they took me out of the prison, they told me, ‘You are free.’ Last night they told four others. They told me that my furlough was approved, but when ...
Human rights activist Mansoureh Behkish, several of whose family members were executed by the Islamic Republic in the 1980s, was summoned to Intelligence Ministry again on Wednesday, August 26, a source told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran. She has been summoned to the Intelligence Ministry several times in the past. ...
In an interview with Kambiz Hosseini, host of the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran’s “Five in the Afternoon” weekly podcast, Reza Moini, the head of Reporters Without Borders’ Iran, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan desk, said that his brother lost his life during the 1988 mass executions of dissidents in Iranian prisons. ...
Intelligence Ministry forces interrogated lawyer Massoud Shafiee again 20 days ago, a source close to him told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran. The source, who requested anonymity, told the Campaign that during the recent interrogation, Massoud Shafiee was told that he could soon receive his confiscated passport, but this has not happened ...
During his 2013 presidential campaign, Iranian president Hassan Rouhani promised to uphold the “rights of the people” enumerated in the country’s constitution. Millions of his supporters demanded social and political rights, including the release of political prisoners from prison and house arrest. In ...
Iranian president Hassan Rouhani should take concrete steps to curb widespread human rights abuses by the government of Iran and reinstate the rule of law in the country, the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran said today. ...
A group of Iranian political and human rights activists, academics, and students inside and outside Iran wrote a letter this week to US President Barack Obama asking him to engage with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani to “work towards the elimination of sanctions and the lowering of tensions between Iran and the United States.” The letter ...
Imprisoned lawyer Mohammad Seifzadeh defended himself against charges of “writing letters and signing group statements in prison” in a July 17 appeals court session, his wife told the Campaign for Human Rights in Iran. Calling the his trial courts “unqualified” to try him, Mohammad Seifzadeh had not attended any of his previous five court sessions, ...
After 37 days of lawyer Massoud Shamsinejad’s detention, Branch 5 of Orumiyeh Special Crimes Courts informed him of political charges against him, a local source told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran. Shamsinejad, an Orumiyeh lawyer who has represented many Kurdish political prisoners, has been charged with “supporting Kurdish parties,” “contacting foreign media,” ...
Reza Khandan said that despite authorities’ promises for a furlough that could lead to Sotoudeh’s release, she was summoned back to Evin Prison and none of her letters requesting an extension of her furlough were answered. Khandan told the Campaign that his wife returned to prison on the evening of Sunday, July 7. ...
During his last days as president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad ordered the Cabinet to eliminate and archive the General Bill on the Legal Profession. This decision faced sharp criticism from the Head of the Judiciary, though it pleased many lawyers who have been critical of the bill. Three Iranian lawyers spoke with the International Campaign for Human ...
A lower court ruling in the Kahrizak case issued yesterday indicates that the three suspects in the case were permanently dismissed from judicial positions, and further dismissed from government employment for five years. To the astonishment of observers, Saeed Mortazavi, the prime suspect in the case, was acquitted from the charge of “participation in murder,” ...
Imprisoned lawyer and human rights activist Nasrin Sotoudeh was released from Evin Prison on furlough on Sunday, June 23. Journalist Jila Baniyaghoub was also released from Evin Prison on the same day after completing her one-year prison sentence. ...
In an interview with the Campaign, independent Internet security expert Collin Anderson, who participated in the campaign to lift the technology sanctions, described the general license as “an exemplary case of civil society organizations from different fields working together.” Congratulating the US administration for lifting the technology sanctions, Anderson said, “Now we have to push ...
Two journalists and a blogger previously released on furlough have been recalled to prison and are expected to turn themselves in today, and imprisoned lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh’s promised furlough has not been granted. Security forces have also recently summoned several other journalists in Tehran and have made telephone calls warning them not to support a ...
“Five in the Afternoon,” the Persian-language weekly podcast hosted by prominent Iranian satirist Kambiz Hosseini and sponsored and produced by the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, has won the Bobs Reporters Without Borders User Award presented by Deutsche Welle. ...
Since the Iranian authorities won’t allow us to report from within Iran, this month we speak to several Iranian refugees in Iraqi Kurdistan who were imprisoned in Iran for their human rights activities. Iraq’s semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan has become known for its economic growth, relative stability, and security, and is attracting investors, workers, and ...
Massoud Shafiee, the lawyer who represented the three American hikers in Iran, shared an open letter to the Iranian authorities with the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran. In the letter, he calls out the Iranian authorities for confiscating of his passport, monitoring all his communications, and preventing him from continuing his professional activities ...
Despite the family’s presentation of a property deed as collateral, Tehran Prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi refused to grant furlough to imprisoned lawyer Abdolfattah Soltani, the latter’s daughter told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran. Maedeh Soltani told the Campaign that the Prosecutor refused her father’s furlough request two days before Persian New Year, ...
Human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh’s eyesight is deteriorating in prison, but she has not been granted any leave to visit an ophthalmologist, her husband Reza Khandan told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran. ...
Seven Dervish lawyers being held at the Intelligence Ministry’s Ward 209 at Evin Prison have not had access to light in months and have developed various illnesses, the wife of one of the lawyers told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran. Sedigheh Khalili, the wife of imprisoned lawyer Hamidreza Moradi, added that officials ...