MPs Demand Answers from Rouhani on Increasing Arrests Ahead of Elections
President Hassan Rouhani has yet to respond to a letter from four reformist members of Parliament demanding an explanation for the ...
Women's Rights
Former Opposition Leader Aide Refusing Vital Medication During Hunger Strike to Protest Detainment
Reformist activist and former political prisoner Hengameh Shahidi has started a hunger strike and is refusing to take vital prescription medication in protest against ...
Amendment Could Save Thousands of Drug Traffickers on Death Row in Iran
If passed by Parliament and the Council of Guardians, an amendment to Iran’s death penalty law could save thousands of drug traffickers currently facing execution. ...
Predicting Her Arrest, Reformist Activist Wrote Letters Criticizing Rouhani’s Failure to Protect Citizens
Anticipating her arrest ahead of the 2017 election, a reformist politician wrote two open letters to President Hassan Rouhani about his failure to carry out his campaign promises. ...
Dual National Speaks of Yearning for Family and Disillusionment with Iran in Letter Prison
Iranian-British citizen Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, imprisoned in Iran since April 2016, has written a letter to her UK-based husband about the pain of being separated from their infant daughter, Gabriella “Gisoo” Ratcliffe, and disillusionment with her birth country of Iran. “I turned 38 without you by my side ...
Iranian-Kurdish Activist Lured to Government Office and Arrested by Intelligence Ministry
Update: Farzaneh Jalali was released on March 13, 2017, according to a post on her Facebook page. Farzaneh Jalali, an Iranian-Kurdish civil rights activist, has been held at an Intelligence Ministry detention ...
Editor of State-Funded News Agency Remains Detained Without Access to Due Process
Detained since December 2016, Tahereh Riahi, the social affairs editor of the state-funded Borna News Agency, remains isolated in Evin Prison in Tehran while being denied access to ...
Sisters of Imprisoned Activist Atena Daemi Cleared of Revenge Charges Filed by Revolutionary Guards
A court has rejected charges brought by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Courts (IRGC) against Onsieh Daemi and Hanieh Daemi, the sisters of imprisoned civil rights activist Atena Daemi...
Revolutionary Guards Try to Silence US-Based Iranian Dissident by Arresting Her Sister
Update: Leila Haghighatjou was released on February 19, 2017 on bail set at 220 million tomans ($68,000 USD). Leila Haghighatjou, the sister of Fatemeh Haghighatjou, an outspoken critic of the Islamic Republic, was arrested by the ...
Opposition Leader’s Son: Khamenei and Rouhani Are Responsible for Extrajudicial House Arrests
The son of Iranian opposition leader Mehdi Karroubi, who has been detained under house arrest without trial since 2011, told the Campaign for Human Rights ...
Editor Detained by Iran’s Intelligence Ministry Pleads for Help From Evin Prison
Tahereh Riahi, the social affairs editor of the state-funded Borna News Agency, who has been detained by the Intelligence Ministry since late ...
Iran’s Intelligence Ministry Arrests Mother of Green Movement Gunshot Victim
Shahnaz Akmali, the mother of a well-known victim of the Islamic Republic’s violent crackdown on the Green Movement, which grew out of the widespread protests ...
Prominent Iranian Directors Decry Censorship After Minister Bans Films From Tehran Fajr Festival
Reza Salehi Amiri became the minister of culture and Islamic guidance in November 2016 after former minister Ali Jannati resigned. Less than three months into his new ...
Rouhani Must Act Against Imprisonment of Dual Nationals
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s Husband Writes Direct Plea to Rouhani January 25, 2017–The Iranian Judiciary’s recent upholding of the indefensible five-year prison sentence...
Court Rejects Some New Charges by Revolutionary Guards Against Activist Sentenced to 7 Years In Prison
Atena Daemi and Family Still Face Legal Persecution Three of the five new charges brought against imprisoned civil rights advocate Atena Daemi by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp (IRGC) were dismissed after two policemen ...
Revolutionary Guards Arrest Former Reformist MP’s Sister on Unspecified “Security Charges”
Fatemeh Haghighatjou, a former reformist member of Iran’s Parliament currently living in the United States, is desperately seeking information about her sister, Leila Haghighatjou, who was arrested on December 19, 2016 in Tehran by ...
Woman Imprisoned in Iran for Facebook Posts Conditionally Released
Political prisoner Omolbanin (Nahid) Gorji was conditionally released from Vakilabad Prison in Mashhad, northeastern Iran, on January 9, 2017 after serving more than a third of her sentence, an ...
Wife of Imprisoned Activist Arash Sadeghi Resists Order to Return to Prison
Political prisoner Arash Sadeghi, the husband of Golrokh Iraee who went on a 71-day hunger strike demanding a case review for his imprisoned wife, was quickly returned to prison ...
Reformist Journalist Convicted of “Propaganda Against the State” Completes One-Year Prison Sentence
Reformist journalist Reyhaneh Tabatabaie was released from Evin Prison in Tehran on January 5, 2017 after serving a one-year sentence for interviewing Iranian Sunni leaders, posting critical commentary ...
Arash Sadeghi’s 71-Day Hunger Strike Achieves Promise of Case Review for Imprisoned Wife
Public Pressure Forces Iran’s Judiciary to Retreat From Hardline Stance “The [Tehran] Assistant Prosecutor Mr. Hajilou accepted that my case was wrongfully handled, but said it would take time for it to be reviewed,” ...
Imprisoned Activist Faces New Charges After Filing Complaint About Revolutionary Guards
Iranian civil rights defender Atena Daemi, who is serving a seven-year prison sentence in Tehran’s Evin Prison for her peaceful activism, has been ...
Rouhani Unveils Toothless Charter on Citizen’s Rights Without Path to Implementation
Five months before his second term re-election bid, President Hassan Rouhani signed his government’s “Charter on Citizen's Rights” on December 19, 2016. The announcement was touted as the ...
Six Years into Extrajudicial House Arrest, Green Movement Leaders Still Asking for Trial
Mehdi Karroubi, Mir Hossein Mousavi and Zahra Rahnavard Detained Since February 2011 December 13, 2016—The Judiciary should carry out its latest “promise—or threat” to put former presidential candidate Mehdi Karroubi, who has been under extrajudicial ...
Nobel Laureate Shirin Ebadi: Rouhani Directly Responsible for All Intelligence Ministry Abuses
In an interview with the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, Iranian Nobel Laureate Shirin Ebadi held President Hassan Rouhani directly responsible for “every Intelligence Ministry violation” and criticized his failure to uphold the ...
Briefing: Iran’s Fashion Industry is the Latest Victim of Khamenei’s War on Western Culture
Iran’s brain drain has spread to the fashion sector as designers, photographers, models and other industry professionals emigrate to escape raids, the shuttering of their businesses, arrests and prosecutions under vague laws that restrict freedom of expression. ...