17 Baha’is Arrested in One Month in Iran
Seventeen members of the Baha’i faith were arrested by agents of the Intelligence Ministry throughout Iran between August 23 and September 23, 2018, the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) ...
Prisoners / Arrests
Political Prisoner Farhad Meysami Refusing Food and Medication in Desperate Protest
Political Prisoner Farhad Meysami has intensified his hunger strike against his unjust imprisonment by refusing to take medication for a serious illness, the Center for ...
For the First Time in Three Years, Political Prisoner Narges Mohammadi Has Gone On Furlough
For the first time in more than three years, imprisoned human rights activist Narges Mohammadi was granted furlough for three days to visit her severely ill ...
Fourth Women’s Rights Activist Arrested in Iran in Less Than a Month
Women’s rights advocate Maryam Azad was arrested by security agents at Tehran’s Imam Khomeini International Airport on September 25, 2018, after boarding a plane scheduled to fly to Istanbul, a source close to ...
Hunger-Striking Activist Farhad Meysami Refuses To Be Hospitalized in Shackles
Despite his worsening condition, hunger-striking detainee Farhad Meysami refused to be transferred to a hospital outside Tehran’s Evin Prison unless he would be allowed to ...
Nasrin Sotoudeh Sends Heart-Breaking Apology to Son For Missing First Day of School
Detained human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh has written a letter to her 12-year-old son, Nima, explaining why she and her husband—also detained in Iran’s Evin Prison—can’t be ...
Families of Iran’s Detained Environmentalists Urge Supreme Leader to Release Their Loved Ones
The families of environmentalists who have been detained for nearly eight months in Iran on unsubstantiated accusations of espionage have sent a letter to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei calling ...
Activists Call on UNGA Attendees to Hold Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani Accountable
With President Hassan Rouhani in New York attending the 73rd session of the UN General Assembly, the Center for Human Rights in Iran has urged UNGA attendees to directly address the worsening human rights situation in Iran. Diplomats should raise the issue of the arrests of peaceful activists, lawyers and others with Rouhani and the international ...
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s Health Condition Has “Gotten Worse” in Iran’s Evin Prison
The health of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has severely declined since she was forcibly returned to Evin Prison in Iran after a brief furlough in August 2018. “Her psychiatrist said ...
Rouhani Should Be Called to Account for Human Rights Abuses in Iran at UN Gathering
Mobile Billboard with Photos of Iran’s Political Prisoners to Circle UN Headquarters During Meetings September 19, 2018—As President Hassan Rouhani comes to NY to attend the 73rd session of the UN General Assembly, the Center ...
Satirist Keyomars Marzban Arrested by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, Held Incommunicado, No Access to Lawyer
Keyomars Marzban, a 26-year-old satirist, has been held incommunicado in Tehran's Evin Prison and without access to counsel since the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) arrested ...
18 Sufis on Strike in Iran’s Great Tehran Penitentiary Issue Three Demands
Eighteen Sufi dervishes of the Gonabadi Order are on hunger strike in Iran’s Great Tehran Penitentiary (GTP) including Zafarali Moghimi, who is in ...
Nasrin Sotoudeh Sacrifices Family Visits To Protest Prosecutor’s Demand She Wear Full Hijab
Detained human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh has given up her family visitation right in protest against a prosecutor’s demand that she receive visitors fully draped in a ...
Iranian Activist Hengameh Shahidi Refuses to Hire New Lawyer Against Judge’s Orders
Detained Iranian political activist and journalist Hengameh Shahidi has defied a judge’s order by refusing to hire a new lawyer. “I have been ...
Former Ahmadinejad VP, Spokesman Sentenced to Prison in Iran
Two top advisors to former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (2005-2013) have been sentenced to prison in Iran under national security charges. Former Vice President Esfandiar ...
Activists Arrested After Mass Strike in Iran’s Kurdistan Province Against “Revenge” Executions
After a mass strike by Kurdish merchants in western Iran on September 12, 2018, Iranian security forces arrested several civil rights activists in the region, the Center for Human ...
Iran is Jailing and Threatening Human Rights Attorneys
Seven human rights lawyers have been arrested in Iran since January 2018 as the state escalates its assault against its own legal profession and its flagrant violations of basic rights of freedom of expression and due process. “The authorities in Iran arrested these lawyers for the same reason all the other human right defenders are ...
Let My Daughter See Her Sick Father, Pleads Narges Mohammadi’s Mother
The mother of imprisoned human rights activist Narges Mohammadi has urged Tehran Prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dowlatabadi to allow the ailing political prisoner to go on furlough...
From Evin Prison, Attorney Nasrin Sotoudeh Condemns Iran’s Execution of Three Kurdish Prisoners
In a letter from Iran’s Evin Prison, prominent human rights attorney Nasrin Sotoudeh has condemned the judiciary’s execution of three Kurdish prisoners on ...
Three Detained Women’s Rights Activists Should be Immediately Released
No Information on Charges or Where Hoda Amid, Najmeh Vahedi or Rezvaneh Mohammadi are Being Held, Families Denied Contact September 11, 2018—The three women’s rights activists arrested by Iran’s security forces since September 1—the lawyer Hoda Amid, the sociologist Najmeh Vahedi, and the gender studies student Rezvaneh Mohammadi—should ...
Iran’s Execution of Three Kurdish Prisoners is Unlawful and Unjust
All Three Cases Rife with Denial of Due Process and Evidence of Torture and Forced Confessions September 10, 2018—Iran’s execution of three Kurdish prisoners, Ramin Hossein ...
Detained Sufis Kept in Solitary and Dangerous Wards for Refusing to “Express Remorse” for Peaceful Prison Protests
A number of detained Sufi dervishes of the Gonabadi Order have been kept in solitary confinement or transferred to a ward with dangerous inmates because of participation in a protest...
Iran’s Assault on Legal Profession Intensifies with Three More Attorneys Arrested
Seven Lawyers Now Behind Bars with More Summoned or Banned from Work *On September 6, after publication of this article, the lawyers Payam Derafshan and Farrokh Firouzan were released on bail of 110 ...
Execution of Kurdish Death-Row Prisoner More Likely, Prison Officer Says
Fears for Ramin Hossein Panahi Grow Despite Torture and Due Process Violation Concerns The execution of a Kurdish death-row prisoner has become more likely, despite credible questions regarding violations of due ...
Detained Civil Rights Activist Refusing to Break Hunger Strike
Farhad Meysami Thin and Pale after More than a Month on Hunger Strike Farhad Meysami, the 48-year-old physician who has been detained in Iran’s Evin ...