Mother Puts All Hope in Appeals Court to Free Son
“How can a young man who worked hard for Rouhani’s presidential campaign, ‘wage propaganda’ and ‘act against the state’?” That is the question Mina Dena has been repeating to Judge Moghisseh at ...
Prisoners / Arrests
Ground Shifts as 70 MPs in Iran Introduce Bill to End Executions for Drug Crimes
More than 70 Members of the Iranian Parliament have presented a bill that, if ratified by the full legislature and approved by the Council of Guardians (the constitutional body charged with approving legislation), could reduce the punishment for ...
Arrested Journalists Held Incommunicado for Over a Month while Officials Make Baseless Claims
More than a month after his arrest, the prominent reformist journalist Issa Saharkhiz has not contacted his family and judicial authorities have not commented on his status, his son Mehdi Saharkhiz told the International ...
Ninety Journalists Call for Release of Four Arrested Colleagues
Ninety Iranian journalists have signed a statement calling for the release of four of their colleagues arrested a month ago by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Intelligence Organization: Issa Saharkhiz, Ehsan Mazandarani, Saman Safarzaie, and Afarin ...
Five Prison Inmates on Hunger Strike to Protest Knife Attack against Two Political Prisoners
Prison Officials Refuse to Remove Attackers from Ward Two political prisoners, Saeed Madani and Saeed Razavi Faghih, were attacked with knives ...
Imprisoned Children’s Rights Activist Denied Bail
Saeed Shirzad Saeed Shirzad, a children’s rights activist sentenced to five years in prison, has been denied bail during the appeal process, a source close to his ...
Untreated Kidney Stones Sends Imprisoned Physicist Omid Kokabee to Hospital
Imprisoned physicist Omid Kokabee was transferred to Taleghani Hospital in Tehran on November 24, 2015, suffering from severe kidney stones, a source told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran. For the past ...
Cartoon 130: Infiltration
Hardliners in Iran’s Parliament, Judiciary, and Revolutionary Guards are intensifying a broad crackdown on supporters of human rights and free elections, in a campaign underpinned by supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei’s assertion that the US seeks to ...
Political Prisoner’s Health Deteriorating as His Hunger Strike Enters Fourth Week
The political prisoner Majid Azarpey is in extremely poor health since beginning a wet hunger strike (refusing solid foods) in Evin Prison on November 3, 2015 to protest his sentence. Azarpey’s mother, Mina ...
Khamenei Rails against US “Plots” and Authorities Chime in with Crackdown
A photo posted on Ayatollah Khamenei's official website highlighting his ...
Cartoon 129: For Imprisoned Cartoonist Hadi Heidari
Security forces arrested the prominent Iranian cartoonist Hadi Heidari in his office at Shahrvand Daily in Tehran today, November 16, 2015. Two co-workers of Heidari at the Tehran daily confirmed the arrest and told ...
Journalist Sentenced to Three Years in Prison for Her Facebook Posts
Solmaz Ikdar The journalist Solmaz Ikdar has been sentenced to three years in prison for “insulting the Supreme Leader” and “propaganda against the state.” The charges were based ...
Fifteen Baha’is Arrested by Rouhani’s Intelligence Ministry
In a fresh crackdown on Iran’s Baha’i community, one of the most persecuted religious minorities in Iran, 15 followers of the faith were simultaneously arrested in Tehran, Isfahan, and Mashhad on November 15, 2015, by Iran's ...
Prominent Cartoonist Hadi Heidari Arrested
Hadi Heidari’s last cartoon was related to the terrorist attacks in Paris. Security forces arrested the prominent ...
Cartoon 126: Khamenei’s Green Light for Press Crackdown
Several journalists were arrested in Iran over the past week in an intensifying campaign of repression that is based on the belief, spearheaded by Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei, that the US intends to use ...
Sunni Kurd Faces Imminent Execution for His Activism
Shahram Ahmadi Shahram Ahmadi has been sentenced to death in Iran due to his activism as a Sunni Muslim and a Kurd. Members of ethnic or ...
Arrests Gather Pace in Iran after Khamenei Gives Green Light for Crackdown
Fear of Post-Nuclear Deal Rapprochement with West Drives Intensified Repression November 9, 2015—Several journalists were arrested in Iran over the past week in an intensifying campaign of repression that is based on the ...
Prominent Reformist Journalist Arrested for “Insulting Supreme Leader”
The political journalist Issa Saharkhiz has been arrested on charges of “intending to disrupt national security,” “propaganda against the state,” and “insulting the Supreme Leader,” according to his son Mehdi. Mehdi ...
Washington Post OpEd: Free Omid Kokabee, another Iranian prisoner of conscience
By Herbert L. Berk October 30 Herbert L. Berk is chairman of the American Physical Society’s Committee on ...
Clerical Battles over Legally Sanctioned Retaliatory Killings and Stoning Continues in Iran
Controversy over Strict Adherence to Islamic Law Dates Back to 1979 Revolution A battle over the necessity of strict adherence to Islamic law, including Quranic punishments that in modern times have been designated by the UN as ...
Reformist Journalist Freed from Prison after Serving Four Years
Alireza Rajaei The prominent journalist Alireza Rajaee has been released from prison upon completion of a four-year sentence for his journalistic work and peaceful political activism. Rajaee, a member ...
Revolutionary Guards Treat Protesting Teachers as Agitators, Lawyer Says
Peyman Haj-Mahmoud Attar, the lawyer for the Teachers Association of Iran The intelligence unit of the Revolutionary Guards considers activists ...
Iran Should Allow UN Human Rights Expert into Country
International Community Should Pursue Human Rights with Same Commitment as the Nuclear Deal October 29, 2015—The international community should urge Iranian authorities to allow the United Nations Special Rapporteur on human rights in Iran, Dr. Ahmed Shaheed, into the country, said the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran and ...
Prominent Iranian Reformist Politician Sentenced to Six Years in Prison
Esmaeil Gerami Moghaddam Esmail Gerami Moghaddam, a former Member of Parliament and spokesman for a reformist party has been sentenced to six years in prison. Moghaddam’s lawyer, Nemat Ahmadi, ...