Journalist Remains in Prison Beyond End of Sentence
The journalist Saeed Razavi Faghih has yet to be released from prison even though he completed his one-year sentence on February 28, 2015, because he is facing new, ...
Issues
UN Keeps Pressure on Iran for its Rights Failures
Human Rights Monitoring Will Continue March 27, 2015—The United Nations Human Rights Council voted today to renew the mandate of Dr. Ahmed ...
Children’s Rights Activist Charged with “Acting against National Security”
Civil and children’s rights activist Atena Daemi has been formally charged, after six months of “temporary detention” in Evin Prison, a source told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran. ...
Suspects Identified, but No Action Taken in Attack against Critic of House Arrests
Despite the fact that several suspects have been identified in the recent attack on Member of Parliament Ali Motahari, who was the Iranian Parliament’s most outspoken critic of the continued house arrest of the Green Movement leaders, no arrests have ...
Under scrutiny, Iran Shows Increased, but Limited Cooperation with UN Mechanism
Four years into his mandate as the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, Dr. Ahmed Shaheed told UN member states at a meeting of the Human Rights Council today in Geneva ...
Facebook Users Arrested, Others Will Be Arrested Soon, IRGC Warns
More than 30 people have been targeted by the cyber crime unit of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) this month, including a dozen arrested for their “immoral” activities on Facebook. ...
Imprisoned Journalist Denied Medical Treatment for Serious War Wounds
Imprisoned journalist and political activist Serajeddin Mirdamadi is in need of urgent medical attention at Evin Prison’s infamous Ward 8, a source told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran. ...
Vigilante Violence: The Acid Attacks against Women in Iran and the State’s Assault on Women’s Rights
The Iranian Parliament should immediately withdraw the pending Plan to Promote Virtue and Prevent Vice, which explicitly calls for Basij militias to enforce strict hijab (female dress). This plan not only violates the rights of all Iranian women, it also ...
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 26 ...
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 ...
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 ...