The European Parliament today awarded its prestigious Sakharov Prize for human rights and freedom of thought to imprisoned Iranian lawyer and human rights defender Nasrin Sotoudeh and prominent filmmaker Jafar Panahi. Both awardees have been sentenced to long prison sentences in Iran and bans on ...
“Siavash has lost a lot of weight and does not have a good psychological state. He is 24. He was a graduate student when he was abruptly banned from continuing his education, and then he was imprisoned. The month-long solitary confinement, loneliness, his education ban, ...
Protesting her prison conditions, Nasrin Sotoudeh embarked on a wet hunger strike beginning on Wednesday, October 17. Iranian Judiciary officials have not yet reacted to Sotoudeh’s demands. Nasrin Sotoudeh is objecting to her 12-year-old daughter’s travel ban and summons to court, the authorities’ refusal to ...
Earlier this year, in July, Javad Larijani stated, “There are no political prisoners inside the Islamic Republic of Iran.” Just last week, on October 17, Larijani’s brother Sadeq Larijani, Iran’s Head of Judiciary, claimed, “No one is executed in Iran for their political convictions.” ...
Several Sunni Kurds awaiting trial at Evin and Rajaee Shahr prisons for a number of years were put on trial on September 29, a local source told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran. The Sunni Kurds were denied the option to choose a ...
In the seven months since Iranian-American Amir Hekmati’s death sentence was overturned in Tehran, Iranian officials have ignored his family’s requests for information and has failed to schedule his retrial. Since his arrest, Hekmati’s father has been diagnosed with an aggressive and potentially fatal brain ...
Iranian media reported on October 4 that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was planning to visit the entirety of Evin Prison, including parts under the control of the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC). Since June 2012, Ahmadinejad’s media advisor Ali Akbar Javanfekr has been imprisoned at Evin, a case ...
The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran welcomed this latest UN report and called on the Iranian government to seriously engage with the Special Rapporteur and allow him immediate access to the country. The Campaign also called on related UN mechanisms, including Secretary General ...
The United Nations Secretary General issued his “Note transmitting the report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran” today. UN Special Rapporteur Ahmed Shaheed will present his most recent report to the 67th session of the ...
Human rights lawyer and activist Mohammad Ali Dadkhah, who was under pressure to provide televised confessions against the Defenders of Human Rights Center, commenced his nine-year prison sentence at Evin Prison on Saturday, September 29. The prominent lawyer was also sentenced to a ten-year ban ...
This week, United Nations Special Rapporteur Ahmed Shaheed is expected to publish his latest report on human rights in Iran. Today’s podcast features an interview with Dr. Shaheed conducted in May 2012, in which he discusses his concerns about executions, torture, lack of due process, ...
In a statement released October 2, 2012, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights of the United Nations expressed its concern over “the arrest and imprisonment of several prominent human rights defenders, journalists and political activists in … Iran in the past two ...
In an exclusive interview with the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, 2003 Nobel laureate and human rights activist Shirin Ebadi spoke about a new teachers’ rights initiative and called on the Iranian government to “listen to the legitimate demands of the teachers and ...
Just over three years ago, three young Americans—Sarah Shourd, Shane Bauer and Joshua Fattal—were taken into custody by Iranian border guards while hiking in Iraqi Kurdistan. Though the young Americans’ case was widely believed to be political theater, Iranian authorities insisted they had illegally crossed ...
On September 27, 2012, Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad left New York for the last time. In all eight years of his presidency, he never missed an opportunity to come to New York, often accompanied by scores of Iranian officials, to speak at the annual September ...
Following publication of a cartoon entitled “The Blindfolded Men,” Shargh Newspaper was banned on September 26. In a concerted effort by 150 Members of the Parliament, state authorities, and clerics, the newspaper was banned a day after the cartoon was published, and the cartoonist, Hadi ...
Nasrin Sotoudeh, imprisoned lawyer and human rights activist, was nominated this week for the prestigious European Union Sakharov Human Rights Prize. News of her nomination arrived just as she has been deprived of in-person visitation because she wrote her defense bill on a tissue paper. ...
In a September 22 interview with the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, the wife of Saeed Matinpour, a civil activist and journalist from Azerbaijan Province currently serving an eight-year prison term, said that she had submitted her husband’s latest request for conditional release ...
Following publication of a cartoon entitled “The Blindfolded Men,” Sharq Newspaper was banned on September 26. In a concerted effort by 150 Members of the Parliament, state authorities, and clerics, the newspaper was banned a day after the cartoon was published and the cartoonist, Hadi ...
Commentary: CNN’s prime time interview with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad during his final official trip to New York in September 2012, for many who follow Iran’s human rights crisis, seemed to be a great opportunity to shed some light on the eight years of worsening human rights ...
In a speech delivered September 26, 2012, Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad extolled the importance of “the idea of creation of the United Nations.” He asked the General Assembly, “Is there any way to address the problems and challenges besetting the world by using the prevailing ...
(September 26, 2012) The Iranian Judiciary and security apparatus should immediately release teachers imprisoned for their participation in teachers associations. They must also stop all persecution and prosecution of teachers exercising their basic rights to assembly and association, the International Campaign for Human Rights said ...
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad arrived yesterday, September 23, in New York to attend his last UN General Assembly meeting. Accompanied by an entourage of only 140 individuals, the majority unnamed to the public, Ahmadinejad will speak at the UN on Wednesday, September 26. While he ...
(September 22, 2012) As Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad arrives in New York for his last official visit to the United Nations, the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran has released a short video demonstrating and highlighting systematic cover-ups accompanying the marked rise in ...
This year’s International Day of Peace is marked by ongoing civil war in Syria, ratcheting up tensions between Iran and Israel, and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s much anticipated final entry into the United States for his last General Assembly speech as president of Iran. As summer ends, ...
