“Capital punishment itself is a form of premeditated murder,” Ramin Jahanbegloo tells us in today’s podcast. Today we discuss a culture of violence that’s become deeply entrenched in Iranian society. State violence in the form of inhumane executions, cruel and ...
In today’s podcast, Persis Karim talks about the literature of the Iranian diaspora and the creative restrictions on writers within Iran. ...
“When people tell you that nothing will ever really change, just remember that however clever and intelligent they sound, they have kind of been proved wrong on many occasions in the past,” Steve Crawshaw, co-author of Small Acts of Resistance, ...
Children of the Jacaranda Tree, by Sahar Delijani, is a stunning debut novel set in post-Revolutionary Iran. Told in interconnected, alternating perspectives, the book follows three generations of men and women, some linked by family, others brought together by the ...
Our guest today is Dr. Nayareh Tohidi, Professor of Gender & Women Studies at California State University, Northridge, talking about Iranian government restrictions on women in higher education. ...
“In late February of 2012, Iran announced that ‘We reformed the penal code, and there is a ban on death penalty by stoning and execution of minors.’ But . . . during the course of [the] last three decades, stoning ...
Referencing “key opposition leaders in detention” and “quite serious webs of arrests of journalists,” Dr. Ahmed Shaheed says, “In an election year, these kinds of activities can negate any sense of a ...
Nikahang Kowsar is a blogger, journalist, and political cartoonist who doesn’t shy away from controversy. In his cartoons, he frequently criticizes the Iranian leadership and draws attention to very sensitive issues, including human rights abuses. In today’s podcast, he talks ...
“Discrimination is . . . quite widespread, whether it’s based on gender, religion, or ethnicity,” Dr. Ahmad Shaheed tells us in this latest podcast. In March of 2011, increased international concern about Iran’s human rights crisis led to the ...
Today we speak with award-winning journalist Tara Kangarlou about her new film, “Beyond the Electronic Curtain,” and the issue of Internet censorship in Iran. “Beyond the Electronic Curtain” documents the effects of unrelenting censorship on Iranian society. Through the stories ...
Drs. Arash and Kamiar Alaei are brothers who built one of the world’s most successful community-based approaches to treat and fight HIV/AIDS in Iran. Their work included a widespread use of needle-exchange programs, as well as using methadone management for ...
Amir Hekmati, a 29 year-old US citizen and decorated Iraq war veteran, traveled to Iran in August of 2011 to visit his grandmother and extended family. Within weeks of entering the country for the first time, he was arrested, interrogated, ...
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, ...
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 ...
The stories of sweeping reform across the Middle East has captured the attention of many of us. In this week’s Weekly Rights Podcast, Minky Worden, Director of Global Initiatives at Human Rights Watch, talks to the Campaign about the effect ...
For most of us, listening to any music that we want is just a way of life. But in Iran, musicians face censorship and Iranians cannot listen to anything they want. In this week’s Weekly Rights Podcast, we talk to ...
Most of us remember President Ahmadinejad’s infamous 2007 comment that homosexuals do not exist in Iran. In this Weekly Rights Podcast, we talk to Hossein Alizadeh, the Middle East and North Africa Program Coordinator for the International Gay and Lesbian ...
What does the recent increase in the arrests of journalists in Iran have to do with the upcoming parliamentary elections in Iran? Mehrad Vaezinejad, a Middle East analyst based in London, explains that the two are actually related. We also ...
Unless you live under a rock, you’ve no doubt heard of the Occupy Wall Street movement, brought together under the banner of ‘the 99%’. Today, we talk to Ali Abdi, Iranian student rights and LGBT activist, about “Campaign 99.” Campaign ...
The idea of ‘being a refugee’ can evoke many different images in people’s minds. Refugees from Iran are perhaps not what one may immediately think of as ‘typical’. To start with, there’s a relatively wide range of reasons behind ...
We all use the internet. But what does it mean to use the internet in a country where freedom of speech is under assault? This week, we talk to Mehdi Yahyanejad, the founder of the Balatarin, the Persian language version ...
Ever wonder why UN human rights resolutions on Iran are important? In this week’s Weekly Rights Podcast, we talk to Dokhi Fassihian of United 4 Iran, a global network of human rights activists. Ms. Fassihian talks about the recent resolution ...
In this week’s Weekly Rights Podcast, we explore the topic of U.S. military intervention in Iran. We discuss the recent IAEA report and the increased talk amongst senior U.S. officials about bombing Iran. We talk to Columbia University Professor Hamid ...
In this week’s Weekly Rights Podcast, we examine the Iranian government’s crackdown on independent and documentary filmmakers and actors. We talk to Maziar Bahari, an Iranian-Canadian filmmaker and journalist, about the arrests of six independent documentary filmmakers who were charged ...
After the 1979 Revolution, Iranian authorities renewed a historic campaign to eradicate members of the Baha;i community. Since then, over 200 Iranian Baha’i ’s have been executed, disappeared, or killed for their beliefs. Thousands more have been imprisoned and have ...