Judge Salavati Often Assigned to Issue Harsh Sentences in Political Cases The judge who will re-sentence imprisoned spiritual thinker Mohammad Ali Taheri for the charge of “corruption on earth” has demanded that Taheri use an attorney approved by the judiciary. “Unfortunately, the ...
Iranian officials are beginning to broach the previously taboo topic of religious discrimination in Iran. On the same day, two government officials publicly discussed discriminatory policies against Baha’is, one of Iran’s most severely persecuted minority faiths. “Today we have students being illegally ...
Students accused of engaging in peaceful activism continue to be banned from attending university in Iran despite President Hassan Rouhani’s election campaign promise that he would lift the ban. On November 30, ...
Within the course of the same week, two Sunni Muslim politicians were warned by Iran’s Intelligence Ministry to stop advocating for Sunni Muslims rights, especially the inclusion of Sunnis in the president’s cabinet ...
The Supreme Administrative Court in Tehran has blocked an agreement by the speaker of Parliament and the head of the judiciary to reinstate Sepanta Niknam, a member of the Zoroastrian faith, to the Yazd City Council ...
In an overwhelming sign of international support for human rights in Iran, 83 countries approved a resolution by the UN Third Committee today criticizing the state of human rights in the Islamic Republic ...
Passing legislation to restrict the rights of religious minorities in Iran would violate their rights as equal citizens, a prominent reformist former legislator told the Center for Human Rights in Iran. Mohammad Kianoush-Rad, who represented the people of ...
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has condemned the recent suspension of a Zoroastrian member of a city council as “illegal” and asked the supreme leader to intervene in the growing dispute that has highlighted divisions within the state ...
In her first interview since being released from Evin Prison on October 31, 2017, Baha’i faith leader Fariba Kamalabadi said Baha’is “love” Iran and want to “serve” their country. “There have been a lot of reports about the rights that have been denied to Baha’is,” Kamalabadi told the Center for ...
Suspended Zoroastrian Councilman at Center of Debate The head of Iran’s judiciary has sided with proponents of banning religious minorities from local elections while the Rouhani government has reiterated their rights as citizens under the Constitution. In his October 31 ...
A photograph of Sepanta Niknam, who was suspended from the Yazd City Council for being ...
Asma Jahangir, the special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran. In presenting her semi-annual 2017 report on Iran to the United Nations General Assembly, UN Special Rapporteur Asma Jahangir noted positive developments in the ...
Yazd city councilman Sepanta Niknam holds up a book called Ghathas, the 17 Avestan hymns of the Zoroastrian religion, during a council ...
The head councilman of the city of Yazd, in southeastern Iran, has refused to carry out a court order suspending the membership of a fellow councilman who is a member of the minority Zoroastrian faith. “In my mind and in my religion, I ...
The sentences of a lifetime in exile issued against Mohammad Ali Shamshirzan and Hamid Arayesh of the Sufi order in Iran known as Gonabadi Dervishes has been illegally changed to life in prison unless the two ...
The situation of Iran’s Sunni Muslims has not improved since Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei pointed out in a sermon that minorities are constitutionally protected from discrimination, a former Sunni member of Parliament told the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI). “The supreme ...
“We never betrayed our country and never will.” Mahvash Sabet, a leader of Iran’s persecuted Baha’i faith who was released from Evin Prison on September 18, 2017 after completing a 10-year sentence, said she was convicted of espionage charges despite non-existent evidence. “There were seven charges against us,” she told ...
Two members of the persecuted Baha’i faith in Iran have been offered university enrollment in exchange for renouncing their religion, according to information received by the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI). According to the Baha’i-focused Payam News...
Mahvash Sabet Finally Free But State-led Persecution of Baha’i Community Continues September 18, 2017—The Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) welcomes the release of the Baha’i leader, Mahvash Sabet, who was unjustly imprisoned in Iran for 10 years on the sole basis of her religion. CHRI calls ...
Iranian President Rouhani is scheduled to speak this week at the 2017 UNGA in New York, but he won't mention his Broken Promises....
Art Gallery Owners Karan Vafadari and Afarin Neyssari Held on Baseless Charges More Than One Year Without Trial Detained Iranian-American art dealer Karan Vafadari has written a letter from Evin Prison demanding that he and his wife be released for lack ...
The lawyer for imprisoned Iranian spiritual leader Mohammad Ali Taheri is optimistic that the latest death sentence against his client will again be turned down upon appeal. The verdict, issued by Judge Mashallah Ahmadzadeh of Branch 26 of the ...
Zargaran Reports Being Given “Unnecessary” Anti-Psychotic Medication Maryam (Nasim) Naghash Zargaran, who was released from Evin Prison on August 1, 2017 after serving more than four years for allegedly engaging in Christian missionary activities, has been banned from leaving Iran for six months, she told the Center ...
Thirteen Sunni Arabs have been beaten by security and plainclothes agents and arrested for publicly praying in Ahvaz, the capital of Iran’s Khuzestan Province, the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) has learned. The men, all between the ages of 20 and ...
Followers of imprisoned Iranian spiritual leader Mohammad Ali Taheri are being arrested by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) while he awaits a verdict more than three weeks after he was retried for the charge of “corruption on earth.” ...