Prominent Activists Defy State Ban on Visiting Hospitalized Opposition Leader Mehdi Karroubi
From right to left: Amin Ahmadian, Bahareh Hedayat, Mostafa Tajzadeh and Fakhrolsadat Mohtashamipour at the ...
Torture
Pro-Rouhani Journalist Tortured by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Acquitted of Anti-State Charges
More than two years after his arrest and torture by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), reformist journalist Farzad Pourmoradi, a supporter of President Hassan Rouhani, has been acquitted of the charges laid ...
Iranian Supreme Court Judge Describes 1988 Mass Executions of Political Prisoners as “Fair and Lawful”
A senior Iranian judicial official has publicly defended the state’s mass executions of political prisoners and extended incarcerations of dissidents in the 1980s. In an interview on July 2, 2017 ...
Political Activist Detained Without Charge Subjected to “Illegal” Interrogations in Evin Prison
Ailing political activist Hengameh Shahidi, who has been on hunger strike in Evin Prison since March 16, 2017 to protest her detention without charge, is being subjected to renewed interrogations by security agents ...
Cartoon 167: Raisi’s Candidacy
The presidential candidacy of Ebrahim Raisi as depicted by Iranian cartoonist Touka Neyastani....
Rouhani Slams Conservative Presidential Rivals’ Grim Human Rights Records
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, currently campaigning for a second term win in the May 19, 2017 presidential election, criticized two of his opponents’ records of human ...
Cartoon 166: From Executioner to Presidential Hopeful
The presidential bid of ultra-conservative cleric Ebrahim Raisi has been strongly criticized by supporters of human rights. In 1988, Raisi was appointed to a special commission that sent thousands of political prisoners to their deaths by ...
Crimes Against Humanity in Iran Thrust Into Limelight With Raisi’s Presidential Bid
Ebrahim Raisi Was Member of “Death Commissions” that Ordered Extrajudicial Killings of Thousands of Prisoners in 1988 April 14, 2017–The candidacy in Iran’s upcoming presidential election of Ebrahim Raisi, who played ...
Young Man Facing Death for Insulting Islam Online Tricked into Signing Confession
Sina Dehghan, sentenced to death for “insulting the prophet” of Islam when he was 19-years-old, was tricked into signing his confession, an informed source told the Center for ...
Cartoon 163: Rouhani Protecting Citizen’s Rights
President Hassan Rouhani stands between Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and a political prisoner, ostensibly to protect the prisoner from Khamenei's bat, a metaphor for the Revolutionary Guards, while himself threatening the prisoner with a bat, representing his Intelligence Ministry....
Iran: Repression of those seeking truth and justice for 1980s killings needs to stop
In a joint statement 20 human rights organizations urged the Iranian authorities to stop their attempts to silence human rights defenders and others seeking to shed light on past atrocities. ...
Former Political Prisoner Arrested by “Unidentified Agents” Without a Warrant
Former political prisoner Majid Asadi was arrested at his home in Karaj, west of Tehran, and taken to Evin Prison on February 21, 2017 by “unidentified agents who did not show a ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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. ...
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...
Ayatollah Montazeri’s Son Defends Releasing Audio File of Father Denouncing 1988 Mass Execution of Prisoners
Ahmad Montazeri said in court that the Islamic Republic should publicly investigate the issue. Ahmad Montazeri, the son of late Grand Ayatollah Hosseinali Montazeri—the once successor to Iran’s first supreme leader—has been charged with “acting against national security” and “revealing state secrets” for publishing an audio recording ...
Cartoon 157: Narges Mohammadi’s 16-year prison sentence upheld
The Appeals Court has upheld the 16-year prison sentence against prominent human rights activist Narges Mohammadi. She was sentenced to 10 years for “membership in the [now banned] Defenders of Human Rights Center,” five years for “assembly ...
Cartoon 156: Former Tehran Prosecutor apologizes to family of Kahrizak victim
“As the prosecutor at the time, I deeply apologize and seek forgiveness from the innocent martyrs [Amir] Javadifar, [Mohsen] Rouholamini and [Mohammad] Kamrani and I hope God Almighty will give them the highest rank,” Saeed ...
Seven Years Later No Official Held Accountable for 5 Deaths and Torture of Dozens at Kahrizak
Families of the detainees who died after they were tortured in the Kahrizak Detention Center in 2009 and survivors have told the International ...
Imprisoned Editor Hospitalized After 18-Day Hunger Strike
Open Letter Disproves Judicial Claim About Prisoners’ Rights Imprisoned newspaper editor Ehsan Mazandarani, who recently wrote an open letter disproving a judicial official’s claim about ...
Imprisoned Journalist Denied Knee Operation
Pattern of Denied Medical Care Continues in Iranian Prisons Imprisoned newspaper columnist Afarin Chitsaz urgently needs a knee operation, but the authorities have refused to allow her to ...