Arrest of Cleric Imprisoned for Highlighting 1988 Political Prisoners Massacre “Like a Kidnapping”
Ahmad Montazeri (right) with his wife Zahra Amlashi. The wife of Ahmad Montazeri, sentenced to six years in prison for publishing an ...
Prisoners / Arrests
Largest Trade Union Body Asks Iran’s Leader to End Persecution of Prominent Activist
The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) has written to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei calling for an end to the persecution of Reza Shahabi, a prominent labor activist who ...
Beaten and Harassed, Dual National Serving 18-Year Prison Sentence in Iran on Hunger Strike
Iranian-American dual citizen Reza (Robin) Shahini, currently serving an 18-year prison sentence in Gorgan Prison (about 190 miles east of Tehran), has gone on hunger strike to protest his ...
Sunni Leader Calls on Khamenei to Investigate Reports of Expedited Executions of Sunni Prisoners
Iranian Sunni cleric Molavi Abdolhamid Ismaeelzahi (right) greets Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei (left). Iran’s most senior Sunni cleric, Molavi Abdolhamid Ismaeelzahi, has written to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali ...
Detained Iranian-Born Swedish Resident Djalali Starts Hunger Strike After Judge Dismisses Lawyers
Iranian-born Swedish resident Ahmadreza Djalali, detained in Iran since April 2016, began a second hunger strike in Evin Prison on February 15, 2017 to protest against his ...
Sisters of Imprisoned Activist Atena Daemi Cleared of Revenge Charges Filed by Revolutionary Guards
A court has rejected charges brought by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Courts (IRGC) against Onsieh Daemi and Hanieh Daemi, the sisters of imprisoned civil rights activist Atena Daemi...
Tehran Criminal Court Sentences Three Alleged Thieves to Hand Amputations
An unknown man's hand is amputated in Iran. A criminal court in Tehran has sentenced three alleged thieves to hand amputations and other punishments for committing robbery, according ...
Iran’s Supreme Leader Cements Hardline Position by Rejecting Offer of National Reconciliation
Some Conservatives Side With Reformist Leader Khatami Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s refusal of an offer to achieve “national reconciliation” in Iran by ending the six-year extrajudicial house arrests of three ...
Revolutionary Guards Try to Silence US-Based Iranian Dissident by Arresting Her Sister
Update: Leila Haghighatjou was released on February 19, 2017 on bail set at 220 million tomans ($68,000 USD). Leila Haghighatjou, the sister of Fatemeh Haghighatjou, an outspoken critic of the Islamic Republic, was arrested by the ...
Opposition Leader’s Son: Khamenei and Rouhani Are Responsible for Extrajudicial House Arrests
The son of Iranian opposition leader Mehdi Karroubi, who has been detained under house arrest without trial since 2011, told the Campaign for Human Rights ...
Intelligence Ministry Violently Arrests Teenage Ethnic Arab Activist in Khuzestan
Ali Kab-Aomair, a 17-year-old ethnic Arab activist, has been held incommunicado since he was violently arrested on February 8, 2017 by agents of the Intelligence Ministry in Ahwaz, ...
Iran’s Judiciary Commutes Death Sentences of Some Juvenile Offenders
The Iranian judiciary has agreed to commute the death sentences of six people who were sentenced to death while they were juveniles while refusing the requests of four others, Tehran’s Prosecutor Abbas Jafari ...
Report: Iranian Hackers Target Activists’ Mac Devices With Revamped Malware
State-sponsored Iranian hackers, who had until now focused almost exclusively on civil and human rights-focused users of the Windows and Android operating ...
In Iran, From Prison to Exile for Posting Jokes on Facebook
After completing a five-year prison sentence in Iran for posting jokes about religion on Facebook, the Judiciary has sent Soheil Babadi into exile. The 39-year-old computer engineer ...
Intelligence Ministry Cracks Down on Alleged “Anti-Revolutionary” Telegram Channels
A screenshot of the heavily edited alleged video “confession” of a man identified as “Shahin.” ...
Judge Salavati Threatens Iranian-Born Swedish Resident With Death Penalty On Day One of Trial
Iranian-born Swedish resident Ahmadreza Djalali, who has been detained in Tehran without due process since April 2016, was threatened with the death penalty on the first day of his ...
Editor Detained by Iran’s Intelligence Ministry Pleads for Help From Evin Prison
Tahereh Riahi, the social affairs editor of the state-funded Borna News Agency, who has been detained by the Intelligence Ministry since late ...
Iranian-Dutch Dual National and Dissident Imprisoned in Tehran Denied Medical Care
Update: Sabri Hassanpour was released in April 2018. The officials of Evin Prison are denying Sabri Hassanpour, an Iranian-born citizen of the Netherlands and outspoken critic of the Islamic Republic who ...
Trump’s travel ban is a gift to Iran’s rulers
Marian Vayghan reacts after her uncle is released from a detention center for deportation back to Iran as people protest President Trump’s travel ban from Muslim-majority ...
Iran’s Intelligence Ministry Arrests Mother of Green Movement Gunshot Victim
Shahnaz Akmali, the mother of a well-known victim of the Islamic Republic’s violent crackdown on the Green Movement, which grew out of the widespread protests ...
Iranian University Conceals Evidence of Expelling Baha’i Students for Religious Beliefs
"Death to Baha'is" reads the graffiti spray painted by a vandal on the gates of a Baha'i-owned home. Fifteen Baha'i Students Expelled in December and January At ...
Rouhani Must Act Against Imprisonment of Dual Nationals
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s Husband Writes Direct Plea to Rouhani January 25, 2017–The Iranian Judiciary’s recent upholding of the indefensible five-year prison sentence...
Ailing British-Iranian Grandpa Serving 7-Year Prison Sentence Denied Medical Leave
Kamal Foroughi, a 77-year-old ailing British-Iranian dual citizen and former civil engineer incarcerated at Evin Prison in Tehran since May 2011, has been denied previously promised and urgently required extended medical ...
Poll: 70% of Iranians Dissatisfied With Rouhani on Democracy and Civil Rights
A survey of public opinion in Iran conducted in the last quarter of 2016 shows that even though a large majority of Iranians (75%) rated advancing democracy and protecting personal and ...
Civil Rights Activist Sentenced to Seven Years in Prison at 10-Minute Mass Trial Released
Revolutionary Guards Pressured Judiciary for Harsh Sentences Civil rights advocate Aso Rostami—whose initial mass trial with three other activists lasted “barely 10 minutes”—was released from Rajaee Shahr Prison in Karaj on January 15, 2017 at the ...