News

January 11, 2016

Detained Poet Describes Being Transported in a Cage and Watched “Like a Murderer”

Two-Day Ordeal Included Solitary Confinement and Incarceration with Criminals The poet Hila Sedighi, who was arrested and held for two days amidst an ...

January 11, 2016

Journalist Resumes Hunger Strike to Protest His Continued Detention

After two months of detention, the prominent reformist journalist and political activist Issa Saharkhiz has resumed his hunger strike, in protest against his ongoing ...

January 11, 2016

Netflix Opening to Iran Ends State Broadcasting’s Decades of Monopoly

The Islamic Republic of Iran’s near total monopoly on the broadcast of film and television series has effectively ended following the January 7, 2016, decision by ...

January 9, 2016

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 ...

January 8, 2016

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 ...

January 7, 2016

Popular Telegram Messaging Application Survives Censorship Vote in Iran

State Filtering Body Refuses to Block the Service An official Iranian state censorship body has resisted calls by hardliners in Iran to block ...

January 7, 2016

Soccer Star Arrested for Online Photos With Women despite Evidence His Account was Hacked

Legal Expert Decries Refusal to Release Sosha Makani on Bail till Investigation is Completed Sosha Makani, Persepolis soccer club goalkeeper and member of ...

January 6, 2016

Judiciary Claims No Knowledge of Student Not Heard from Since His Arrest Almost 17 Years Ago

The mother of a student who has not been heard from since soon after his arrest in Tehran in 1999 has dismissed the Iranian Judiciary’s ...

January 4, 2016

Persecution of Christian Converts Continues under Rouhani

Christian is Arrested and Taken to Unknown Location Despite President Hassan Rouhani’s pledges during his election campaign in 2013 that “All ethnicities, all religions, ...

January 3, 2016

Judge’s Tirade Bodes Poorly for Independent Music Producers in Iran

An Appeals Court judge has admonished collaborators of a popular music site for ignoring repeated warnings that they were operating illegally and having ties with Iranian singers abroad ...

January 2, 2016

Cartoon 133: Will 2016 Offer Safe Shores?

Wishing a Happy 2016 for all those searching for safe shores, free of persecution, free of pain, free of loss, and free of violations of basic ...

December 31, 2015

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 ...

December 30, 2015

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 ...

December 29, 2015

Cartoon 132: Santa and the New Visa Waiver Restrictions

Touka Neyestani ponders who will be caught by the US's new visa waiver restrictions (H.R. 158), which unfairly and indiscriminately target Iranian and three other nationalities ...

December 28, 2015

Retired Professor, 71, Held in Disease-Ridden Ward, Daughter Says

The daughter of prisoner of conscience Mohammad Hossein Rafiee fears her elderly father is in danger of attracting serious diseases, including ...

December 24, 2015

Death Sentence Against Spiritual Center Founder Rejected

Family Hopes for Taheri’s Release at End of Prison Term in 2016 With the lifting of the death sentence against spiritual leader ...

December 24, 2015

Popular Iranian Poet Arrested for Third Time amidst Hardline Crackdown against Artistic Community

The well-known Iranian poet Mohamadreza Haj Rostambegloo was released on bail from Karaj’s Central Prison last week, following his third arrest by the authorities in ...

December 24, 2015

Kurdish News Editor Released on Bail after 60 Days in Prison

Hassan Sheikh Aghaei, the editor of a Kurdish-Persian news site, was released on two billion rials (about $67,000) bail on December 6, 2015, after 60 days ...

December 21, 2015

No Bail Set or Appeals Court Date as Child Rights Activist Waits in Prison

Imprisoned children’s rights activist Omid Alishenas has been refused bail while waiting for the Appeals Court to hear his case. “Seven months have passed since Omid ...

December 21, 2015

Rouhani and Judiciary Clash over Ban on Publishing Images of Former President Khatami

The Rouhani administration and the hardline-dominated Judiciary in Iran are engaged in an increasingly direct confrontation over the ability of Iranian media to publish images of ...

December 16, 2015

After 20-Day Hunger Strike, Imprisoned Teacher Activist Released on Temporary Medical Leave

The teachers’ union activist Mahmoud Beheshti Langroudi was allowed to leave Evin prison on December 16, 2015, on temporary medical leave after a 20-day hunger ...

December 12, 2015

Underground Music Distributors Await Appeal Decision for Six Years in Prison

Two musicians and a filmmaker who were jointly sentenced to six years in prison and fined 200 million rials (about $6,650) each for “insulting the sacred” ...

December 11, 2015

Cartoon 131: Choice, Force, and Infiltration

After nearly four decades of tight control on state media such as the Iranian radio and television programming, Friday prayer pulpits, educational curriculum, unabated censorship of ...

December 11, 2015

Commentary: Khamenei’s New Letter to Western Youth is Case Study in Hypocrisy

Seyed Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, has written a letter addressed to youths in Western countries and, as he did in an earlier similar letter, ...

December 11, 2015