Young Female Artist’s Prison Sentence Reduced on Appeal, Could Soon Go Free
Prisoner of conscience Atena Faraghdani’s sentence has been reduced on appeal from 12 years and nine months in prison to 18 months, making her eligible for...
Women's Rights
Iranian VP Summoned to Judiciary for Commenting on High Execution Rate of Drug Traffickers
Shahindokht Mowlaverdi, Iran’s vice president for Women and Family Affairs, has been summoned to the Judiciary to explain a comment she made in February about all the men in a village being ...
Voices from Iran: What are your expectations of President Rouhani?
In this new video, the Campaign asks Iranians from all walks of life inside and outside Iran to share their hopes and expectations of Iranian president Hassan Rouhani for the New Persian year....
Journalist Afarin Chitsaz Held Incommunicado at Evin Prison for Five Months
Status of Case and Charges against Her Remain Unknown Concern is growing for the well-being of newspaper columnist Afarin Chitsaz, who has been imprisoned incommunicado since her ...
Disqualification of Elected Female Reformist MP Sparks Heated Debate in Iran
Two weeks have passed since Minoo Khaleghi’s election to Parliament in Iran’s recent elections was nullified without an explanation by the Guardian ...
Young Woman’s Quest for Higher Education Exposes Iran’s Discrimination Against Baha’is
Rouhieh Safajoo, a student banned from Iranian universities because of her Baha’i faith and arrested for her online activism, was released on March 27, 2016 on 500 million rials (about $16,500 USD) bail, ...
In Brazen Electoral Interference, Hardliners Disqualify Female Reformist MP
Reformists Call on Rouhani to Stop Hardliners from Blocking Elected Candidates March 24, 2016—The reformist MP Minoo Khaleghi, newly elected to Parliament from the city of Isfahan and one of ...
Societal Demand in Iran for Female Representation in Government is Unstoppable
Hardliners' Entrenched Resistance is Overcome in Polls An overlooked outcome of Iran’s recent elections is the unprecedented success of women, who achieved voter support even though the Guardian Council, the ...
Mass Child Marriage Ceremony in Iran Denied by Local Officials
Fifty high school students were married in a mass ceremony in the Iranian city of Parsian, according to local news reports. But city officials have been downplaying the event and distancing themselves ...
Cartoon 142: International Women’s Day
On this March 8, 2016, International Women’s Day, the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran urges all to strive for a world where women everywhere are free from discrimination....
Iran Vote: Political Freedoms Must Be Rouhani’s Top Priority
Electorate Wants Human Rights and Rouhani Must Deliver March 1, 2016—In the elections for Parliament and the Assembly of Experts held across Iran on February 26, the Iranian electorate handed the country’s supreme ...
Iran’s Ban on Women at Volleyball Championship Continues with FIVB’s Nod
Security guards have prevented women from watching the Beach Volleyball World Championship on Iran’s Kish Island for a third consecutive day with the international governing body claiming “misunderstandings.” ...
Prisoner of Conscience Atena Daemi Released on Bail
The civil and children’s rights activist, Atena Daemi, has been released on bail until an Appeals Court hears the objections to her prison sentence. Daemi, 28, was suffering from severe headaches ...
Local Authorities Defy Iran’s Commitment to Federation and Refuse to Allow Women at Volleyball Match
Despite assurances by Iranian authorities that they would comply with international rules and allow women to attend the Beach Volleyball World Championship on Kish Island, women are being turned away. Following refusal of authorities to allow female spectators to attend the Championship matches in Kish Island in ...
Valentine’s Day Expected to Be Bigger Than Ever in Iran, Despite Police Warning
Shops are prohibited from displaying any signs or selling any products associated with the “decadent Western cultural phenomenon known as Valentine’s Day,” Iran’s police force announced on February 10. “Young men and women ...
Hardliners Handpick Candidates to Block Moderates and Rig Elections
3000 reformist applicants (99%) disqualified for Parliament in first vetting. 63% of all applicants disqualified in first vetting, reduced to 40% in second round. Prominent ayatollahs excluded from Assembly of experts for their moderate affiliations. In most of ...
Cartoon 137: “Remember the Spent Candle! Remember!”
“Tell our friends for us, remember the spent candle! Remember!" Iranian cartoonist Touka Neyestani's take on Zahra Rahnavard's message to her family, after five ...
Iranian Officials Condemn Radical Mob’s Attack On Top Actress
An attack last week on one of Iran’s most famous actresses by hardline vigilantes has been condemned by the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance and the Rouhani administration’s top official in charge of ...
Hila Sedighi Released on Bail
Hila Sedighi was released on bail on the evening of Saturday, January 9 in Tehran. The authorities did not provide any details regarding the reason for her arrest on January 7, 2016. Further updates regarding her ...
Young Poet Hila Sedighi Arrested at Airport in Tehran, Latest in String of Arrests
Photo by Reza Baharinejad from Hila Sedighi's Facebook page Freedom of Artistic Expression Under Assault in Iran Update: Hila Sedighi was released on ...
Highest Ranked Woman in Iran’s Government to Sue Extremist Publication
The Iranian government’s most senior female official plans to take legal action against an extremist publication for comparing her to a prostitute. The weekly Ya Lesarat, the mouthpiece of the shadowy, semi-official vigilante group Ansar-e Hezbollah...
Activist’s Health Worsens in Prison As She Awaits Appeal Hearing
A prolonged delay in hearing children’s rights activist Atena Daemi’s appeal against her 14-year prison sentence is causing a serious deterioration in her health, particularly as she has not been able to leave prison for the ...
Tehran Symphony Orchestra Leaves Stage rather than Bow to Demand to Ban Female Members
The Tehran Symphony Orchestra cancelled a performance that had been planned for the closing ceremony of an international wrestling event on November 29, 2015, after the authorities objected to the presence of women ...
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 ...
Women’s Futsal Team Captain Allowed to Travel to World Championship Only after Judiciary Gives Consent
Husband’s Refusal to Give Consent Kept Her Banned from Leaving Country The captain of the Iranian women’s national Futsal team, Niloufar Ardalan, who was previously banned from leaving ...