Activist Ends Hunger Strike after Judge Agrees to Transfer to Evin’s Political Ward
Atena Faraghdani has ended her hunger strike in hospital, where she has been since her February ...
Issues
UN Secretary-General Expresses Alarm about Executions, Retaliation Against Activists and Attacks on Women in Iran
In particular the Secretary-General voiced his concern about Iran’s chronic application of the death penalty to drug-related offenses, which do not qualify as the “most serious crimes”; the number of death penalty cases with a political dimension; the high incidence ...
Journalist Behind Bars Since 2009 Suffers Heart Attack in Prison
The imprisoned journalist Massoud Bastani was transferred to the hospital on February 20, 2015, following a heart attack inside Shahid Rajaee Prison. The health conditions of Bastani, 37, who has been in prison since his arrest in the wake of ...
Cartoon 107: My Stealthy Freedom
Shortly after the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran, the Islamic covering (hijab) was imposed on Iranian women, and serious penalties, ranging from warnings by Morality Police and arrests to imprisonment and ...
Prisoner of Conscience Released After Nine Months of “Temporary Detention” At Deplorable Facility
Nine months after her arrest, the lawyer and prisoner of conscience Negar Haeri was released on bail of about US$580,000 on February 25, 2015. She spent her entire time in prison since her May 2014 arrest on “temporary detention orders.” ...
Rouhani’s Top Advisor Says Identity of Killer of Canadian Photojournalist Zahra Kazemi is Known
Ali Younesi’s reference to violations of human rights in Iranian prisons and courts defies the Iranian authorities’ consistent denial of reports of such violations by Ahmed Shaheed, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Iran, and ...
Activists Ask FIFA to Intervene to End Iran’s Ban on Women in Stadiums
Referring to the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, approved in 1997, the signatories added, “Any type of deprivation of fundamental rights or restricting such rights based on gender, aimed to or resulting in ...
Six Hanged in Orumiyeh Central Prison for Drug Trafficking
Six prisoners on death row for drug trafficking were hanged on February 15, 2015 inside Orumiyeh Central Prison, according to a local source. The names of the six men are Saeed Bakhshali, Ebrahim Reyhani, Adel Kouhi, Khosrow Modiri, Rahim Soleimani, ...
After Years in Solitary Confinement, Mohammad Ali Taheri Faces New Trial on Corruption on Earth Charges
Three-and-a-half years after the arrest and imprisonment of Mohammad Ali Taheri, the founder of a spiritual group who has been in Evin Prison since May 2011, the Iranian Judiciary will put him on trial again for “corruption on earth,” a ...
Free Them Now: End Arbitrary House Arrests of Green Movement Leaders
(February 17, 2015) – The Iranian Judiciary and Iran’s National Security Council should put an immediate end to four years of extrajudicial house arrest of Green Movement leaders Mir Hossein Mousavi, Mehdi Karroubi and Zahra Rahnavard, the International Campaign for ...
Omid Kokabee, in Letter from Prison, Accepts Prestigious Science Award
An acceptance speech [Link to full letter] by Omid Kokabee, written from his prison cell in Iran, was delivered at the Award Ceremony for the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) 2014 Freedom and Responsibly Award on February ...
Prisoner of Conscience’s Life at Risk at Evin Prison
Pourseifi, a radio host and senior producer for Iranian state radio, was a member of the Society for the Defense of Working and Homeless Children. He was arrested in 2009 on charges of “cooperating with the Human Rights Activists News ...
Row over Solo Singing of Women Grows in Iran
There is a growing row between Hassan Rouhani’s Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance and conservative Iranian clerics over the issue of women’s singing in Iran. At least two Grand Ayatollahs said earlier this month that they will not allow ...
Execution of Juvenile Offender is Imminent
The family of a juvenile offender on death row has been informed that he will be executed on February 19, 2015. Saman Naseem, 20, was 17 years old when he was arrested and later put on trial on charges of ...
Iran’s IRGC Intensifies Crackdown on Facebook Users with 12 Arrests and 24 Summonses
An IRGC cyberspace specialist, Mostafa Alizadeh, announced in a statement on Iranian state television on February 1, that 12 Iranian Facebook users have been arrested on charges of “spreading corruption, and [carrying out a] mission to change family lifestyles.” He ...
Cartoon 106: Jannati: Resist Sanctions with One or Two Meals Per Day
In his January 30, 2014 Tehran Friday Prayer sermon, commemorating the anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, hardliner cleric and Head of the Guardian Council Ahmad Jannati warned against a compromise with the US, aimed to end the sanctions, and ...
Labor Protests Sweep Iran
A wave of labor protests has been sweeping through Iran over the past ten days. The protests are focused on workers’ demands for wage increases to keep up with the growing rate of inflation, payment of back wages, and other ...
Teachers Protest Wages That Are Below the Official Poverty Line
Strikes continue in a number of Iranian cities Teachers in the cities of Marivan, Baneh, and Shahrood, who have refused to attend class ...
Cartoon 105: Ahmad Jannati on the House Arrests
On January 24, 2015, hardliner cleric and member of the Guardian Council, Ahmad Jannati, reacted to conservative Member of the Parliament Ali Motahari's interrupted speech at the Iranian Parliament, in ...
Prominent Human Rights Activist Detained and Kept from Seeing Vice President of German Parliament
Human rights activist Narges Mohammadi Human rights activist Narges Mohammadi was detained by security agents for several hours as she tried to ...
MPs Move to Permanently Ban Journalists Connected to Shuttered Publications
Hamid Rasaie (left) and Mohammad Ghoochani. A ...
Iranian Judiciary Shuts Down Newspaper for Publishing “I am Charlie Too” Quote
Two days after the conservative Iranian newspaper Kayhan demanded judicial authorities close down reformist newspaper Mardom-e Emrooz newspaper, the newspaper, in operation for only 16 days, was shut down by orders from Branch 2 of Media Court of the Iranan ...
Video: Iranian Cartoonists and Satirists Speak Out on Charlie Hebdo
January 14, 2015—In the wake of the January 7 attack on the offices of Charlie Hebdo in Paris, the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran released a video today, featuring nine prominent Iranian cartoonists, satirists and comedians expressing their ...
Jason Rezaian Indicted by Tehran Revolutionary Court, Says Prosecutor
During a press conference today, Tehran Prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi told reporters that the imprisoned Washington Post correspondent, Jason Rezaian, has been indicted and that his case has been forwarded to a Tehran Revolutionary Court. The Prosecutor’s announcement, after 170 ...
Official Claims of Smart Internet Filtering Overblown, but Efforts to Monitor Users Grow
In the continuing battle over control over the Internet in Iran, a new salvo was recently issued—the announcement by state officials that smart filtering would be installed on the country’s Internet gateways as the authorities had now developed the ...