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 in Tehran’s Evin Prison for her peaceful activism, has been slapped ...
Prisoners / Arrests
Rouhani Unveils Toothless Charter on Citizen’s Rights Without Path to Implementation
Five months before his second term re-election bid, President Hassan Rouhani signed his government’s “Charter on Citizen's Rights” on December 19, 2016. The announcement was touted as the fulfillment of ...
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 prison in Iran in September 2016 for “espionage,” has been on hunger ...
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 5, 2016, but the indictment for the charges of ...
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 on hunger strike, while another has sewn his lips shut, ...
Protestant Church Property Confiscated in Iran by Khamenei-Supervised Organization
The largest Persian-speaking Protestant community in Iran, Jama'at-e Rabbani, has announced that it has been stripped of its ownership of Sharon Gardens, a large and valuable piece of real estate ...
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 at the prosecutor’s office, their lawyer Kasra Nouri told the ...
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 the authority of the Revolutionary Guards, has raised fears of ...
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, who was at home with her on bail ...
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 days into a hunger strike that he has vowed to ...
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 hospitalized and is “critically ill,” his mother told the International ...
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 former presidential candidate Mehdi Karroubi, who has been under extrajudicial ...
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” and criticized his failure to uphold the ...
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 since 2011, on trial, said his son Mohammad Taghi Karroubi. ...
Iran’s Cyber Police Tries to Control Popular Social Media App Telegram with Hacking, Permits
A state crackdown on social media ahead of Iran’s 2017 presidential election has resulted in the Cyber Police (FATA) requiring Iranian-owned channels with more than 5,000 followers ...
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. ...
Rights Activist Sentenced to 15 Years Imprisonment in Critical Condition After 45-Day Hunger Strike
Civil rights defender Arash Sadeghi, who is currently serving a 15-year prison sentence for his peaceful activism, is in “critical and worrying” condition after 45 days on hunger strike ...
Former Italian Ambassador to Iran Denounces Detention of Iranian-American Dual National and Wife
“Much more is at stake than the personal freedom of two outstanding, patriotic Iranian citizens,” says Ambassador In a public letter the former Italian Ambassador to Iran, Roberto Toscano, condemned the arrest and ...
Anti-Riot Forces Violently Attack Peacefully Protesting Tehran Bus Union Members
Members of one of Iran’s oldest unions who were peacefully demanding their past due housing allowances and other benefits in front of the Tehran Municipality building were violently attacked by anti-riot police on December 4, ...
Iranian Lawyer and Writers Beaten and Arrested at Commeration of Murders of Political Dissidents in 1990s
Police and plainclothes security agents arrested a prominent human rights lawyer and several members of the Writers Association of Iran at a commemoration event for victims of the “chain murders...
Iranian Official Arrested for Supporting Release of Imprisoned Human Rights Activist
Director in Qazvin Governor’s office asks friends online to support Narges Mohammadi Alireza Rahmani, the director of public relations for the governor’s office in Qazvin, 89 miles (143 kms) northwest of Tehran, was arrested ...
Sister Breaks the Silence Over Iranian-American and Wife Held for Three Months Without Charge or Counsel
Case fabricated “for the purpose of extortion and property seizure” says US-based family member* December 2, 2016—Karan Vafadari, an Iranian-American national belonging to the Zoroastrian faith, and his wife Afarin Niasari, have been in detention in ...
Women’s Rights Activist Arrested After Attending Workshop in Georgia
Twenty Others Who Attended Women’s Empowerment Workshop Also Questioned Photographer and women’s right activist Alieh Matlabzadeh has been undergoing interrogation in Evin Prison since November 26 when Intelligence Ministry agents took her into custody without charge, ...
Sedigheh Moradi Freed from Prison after Serving Five Years “for Nothing”
Appeals Court Throws Away Conviction “The judge looked at my file and ordered my unconditional release. It didn’t even take 10 minutes,” said Sedigheh Moradi who was released from Evin ...
Imprisoned Human Rights Activist to Sue IRGC Agents for Violent and Illegal Arrest
Atena Daemi Taken to Evin Prison’s Women’s Ward To Begin Seven-Year Sentence Human rights activist Atena Daemi, 29, was taken into custody from her home in Tehran by agents of the ...