Prisoners of Conscience

January 6, 2017

Nobel Laureate’s Call for Resignation of Iran’s Judiciary Chief Puts Spotlight on Rampant Judicial Abuses

January 6, 2017—The call for the resignation of Iran’s top judicial official, Sadegh Larijani, by the prominent Iranian human ...

January 5, 2017

Iran’s First Female Judge and Nobel Laureate Calls for Resignation of Judiciary Chief

Shirin Ebadi: Interrogators Make Decisions for the Judges Amid the ongoing wave of life-threatening hunger strikes by political prisoners in Iran, Iranian Nobel Peace Laureate Shirin Ebadi has called on ...

January 4, 2017

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 ...

January 4, 2017

Persecution of Dual Nationals: Businessman Serving 10-Year Prison Sentence After Coerced Confession

Security Forces Use Kamran Ghaderi's Wife as “Bait” to Coerce Confession Iranian-Austrian dual citizen Kamran Ghaderi is entering the second year of his 10-year prison sentence in solitary ...

December 30, 2016

Huge Twitter Storm in Support of Imprisoned Iranian Activist on Hunger Strike

Arash Sadeghi Is World’s Highest Trending Topic on Twitter on December 30 SaveArash# was for a time the highest trending topic on Twitter on Friday December ...

December 30, 2016

Hardline Tehran Prosecutor Advocates Harsher Penalty for Mixed-Gender Parties

Tehran’s hardline prosecutor general has announced that people caught at mixed-gender parties, especially celebrity artists and athletes, along with those caught consuming ...

December 29, 2016

Political Prisoner Banned from Visits After Sending Complaint to Warden

Imprisoned doctoral student Hamid Babaei has been banned from receiving visitations after the prison warden accused him of “insulting” Iran’s supreme leader ...

December 28, 2016

Revolutionary Court Sentences More Than 70 Iranians to Prison for Celebrating “Cyrus Day”

Islamic Republic Represses Commemoration of Pre-Islamic Era History Update: Most of the people arrested for celebrating the unofficial birthday of “Cyrus the Great” have had their sentences reduced or ...

December 23, 2016

Union Leader Receives Unofficial Warning To Return to Prison or Lose $140,000 Bail

Labor rights activist Jafar Azimzadeh has been told that he must return to Evin Prison in Tehran ...

December 23, 2016

Iranian-American “Completely Isolated” in Iran’s Gorgan Prison

Iranian-American political prisoner Reza (Robin) Shahini is being held in adverse conditions with dangerous criminals in Gorgan Prison, 186 miles northeast of Tehran in Golestan Province, ...

December 23, 2016

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 ...

December 22, 2016

Lebanese-American Internet Freedom Advocate Starts Hunger Strike in Iran’s Evin Prison

Nizar Zakka, a Lebanese-born U.S. permanent resident and internet freedom advocate who was sentenced to 10 years in ...

December 21, 2016

Reformist Journalist Targeted by Intelligence Agents Awaits Sentence After Kafkaesque Trial

Reformist journalist Farzad Pourmoradi is awaiting sentencing after being tried at Branch 103 of the Criminal Court in Kermanshah, northwestern Iran, on ...

December 20, 2016

Five Political Prisoners in Iran on Life-Threatening Hunger Strikes in Desperate Bid for Case Reviews

The lives of at least three imprisoned civil rights activists in Iran are perilously in danger after suffering health complications from weeks ...

December 16, 2016

Five Gonabadi Dervishes Arrested in Iran Amid Ongoing Persecution Campaign

Five dervishes of the Sufi Gonabadi Order were arrested in the southern Iranian city of Dezful on December 13, 2016 after obeying a summons to appear ...

December 16, 2016

Iran’s New Basij Militia Commander More Militaristic Than His Predecessor

The appointment of ultra-conservative hardliner Gholam-Hossein Gheibparvar as the new commander of Iran’s Basij, a volunteer militia under ...

December 15, 2016

Mother Begs Revolutionary Guards Not to Return Her Activist Son to Prison In Heart-Rending Video

A video posted on social media shows the mother of civil rights activist Omid Alishenas...

December 14, 2016

Imprisoned Azeri Rights Activist Loses 44 Pounds 50 Days Into Hunger Strike

Imprisoned Azeri civil rights activist Morteza Moradpour has lost 44 pounds and is suffering from severe kidney pain 50 ...

December 14, 2016

Rouhani Supporter Imprisoned for Peaceful Activism Critically Ill After 43-Day Hunger Strike

After 43 days on hunger strike, political prisoner Ali Shariati, a long-time supporter of President Hassan Rouhani, has been ...

December 13, 2016

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 ...

December 12, 2016

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” ...

December 10, 2016

Six Years Into Extrajudicial House Arrest, Mehdi Karroubi Repeats Request for First Trial

The Judiciary should carry out its latest “promise—or threat” to put former presidential candidate Mehdi Karroubi, who has been under extrajudicial house arrest ...

December 8, 2016

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. ...

December 8, 2016