Free Iran’s Political Prisoners
July 12, 2018--During a speech in March 2018, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei claimed that no one in Iran is imprisoned for their thoughts, expressions, or personal choices. That’s not ...
Unfair Trials
Location of Baluchi Activist Arrested at Mass Rape Protest Concealed From His Family
The location of detained Baluchi ethnic rights activist Abdollah Bozorgzadeh remains unknown three weeks after he was detained in the Iranian city of Iranshahr in Sistan and Baluchistan Province. Bozorgzadeh was taken ...
Rights Attorney Summoned to Court in Iran After Signing Letter Criticizing Judiciary’s Restriction of Right to Counsel
Attorney Hossein Ahmadiniaz, the defense counsel in several cases involving human and political rights in Iran, has been summoned by Branch 4 of the Revolutionary Court in Sanandaj, the capital of Kurdistan Province. ...
Execution of Young Man for Crime Committed at Age 14 Shows Iran’s Blatant Disregard for Children’s Rights
Iran is one of world’s few countries executing juveniles; dozens currently on death row July 10, 2018—The execution of 19-year-old Chezani Sharahi by hanging in Iran’s Central Prison in the city of Qom on ...
Facing 20-Year Prison Sentence for Taking Headscarf Off in Public, Woman Flees Iran
“Due to the Injustices of Iran’s Judicial System I Had to Leave Iran” Draconian Sentences Demonstrate the Authorities’ Cultural Tyranny July 10, 2018—Shaparak Shajarizadeh, one of the women who took her headscarf off in public during ...
Kurdish Death Row Prisoner in Iran Repeatedly Led to Believe Execution Would Be Carried Out
Photo: Ramin Hossein Panahi has been transferred to an unknown location possibly to face execution. The authorities of Iran’s Sanandaj Central Prison led 24-year-old Kurdish death row prisoner ...
63 University Groups Slam Rouhani and Reformists For Crackdown on Students
Sixty-three student organizations from universities across Iran have issued a statement sharply criticizing President Hassan Rouhani for a crackdown led by his ...
Four Female Sufis Sentenced to Five Years Imprisonment Each Under National Security Charge
Shima Entesari with her family Political Personalities Urge Authorities to Free Detainees Four followers of Iran’s persecuted Sufi Gonabadi Order ...
Imprisoned Human Rights Defender Narges Mohammadi Hospitalized in Tehran
Renowned human rights advocate Narges Mohammadi was transferred from Tehran’s Evin Prison to a hospital on June 30, 2018, due to severe kidney pain, her husband Taghi ...
Political Prisoner “Wasting Away” as Iran Refuses to Provide Medical Tests For Potentially Cancerous Bone Tumor
Iranian civil rights activist and political prisoner Arash Sadeghi is being denied medical leave to undergo testing for a bone tumor that could be cancerous. A source with knowledge ...
Iranian Journalist and Political Activist Detained For Criticizing Iran’s Judiciary
Well-known journalist and political activist Hengameh Shahidi was arrested upon leaving a hospital in Iran’s Kish Island after strongly criticizing state policies on social media and ...
Injuries Reported After Iran’s Detained Environmentalists Subjected to Renewed Interrogations
Environmentalists detained without charge for the past five months in Tehran’s Evin Prison are once again being subjected to interrogations in the prison’s Ward 2-A under ...
Iran: Stop Imminent Execution of Kurdish Prisoner, Investigate Evidence of Torture and Denial of Due Process
Fear Grows After Bus Driver Was Executed in Iran Despite Similar Concerns June 20, 2018—The Iranian judiciary should immediately annul the death sentence issued against Kurdish prisoner ...
Iran Telegram Ban Strangles Country Amid Struggling Economy, Protests
This report examines the Iranian Judiciary’s ban on the Telegram messaging app, which as of 2018 was integrated into all aspects of daily life in Iran and had some 40 million active users in the country. It assesses what it means for Iranians’ digital rights, for the Rouhani government and its professed support for internet ...
UN Rights Experts: Iran Must Halt Execution of Ramin Hossein Panahi
GENEVA, UN (18 June 2018) – UN human rights experts* have made a fresh call to Iran to annul the death sentence imposed on Iranian Kurd Ramin Hossein Panahi, ...
Prominent Attorney Nasrin Sotoudeh Detained Amid Iranian Judiciary’s Crackdown on Human Rights Lawyers
Iranian human rights attorney Nasrin Sotoudeh previously served three years in prison for her defense of dissidents, activists, journalists and minorities ...
Who Are the State-Vetted Lawyers Exclusively Allowed to Defend Detainees Facing Political Charges in Iran?
List Not Finalized According to Judicial Official Iran’s judiciary has not released the names of the 20 state-approved lawyers exclusively allowed to represent detainees held on politically motivated charges in Iran. But some potential ...
Third Woman Sentenced to Prison in Iran For Removing Hijab Slapped With More Charges
Civil rights activist Shima Babaei: “They said the hijab is the law and I must respect it. I told them it’s a bad law and I’m protesting against it in the most peaceful way possible; I’ve been instigated ...
10 Years Later, This Baha’i Manufacturer is Still Fighting to Claim His Business in Iran
Payam Vali’s manufacturing business was shuttered in Iran in 2008 because of his religious beliefs. ...
Iranian Cleric Under Seven-Year House Arrest Says Only Death Will Bring Him Freedom
Former Presidential Candidate Mehdi Karroubi Detained in His Home Without Trial Since 2011 An Iranian cleric and former presidential candidate who has been restricted to his home under state surveillance since February 2011 without ...
Wave of Baha’i Arrests in Iran Raises Alarm at Faith’s UN Office
The Baha'i International Community (BIC) at the United Nations has expressed alarm over a spate of arrests of Baha’i faith members in three Iranian provinces by agents of the ...
Sufi Bus Driver Sentenced to Death in Iran Says He Confessed to Killing Policemen While Under Torture
A Sufi bus driver who was sentenced to death in Iran for running over three policeman says he was forced to confess after being tortured while ...
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s Case Re-Opened Ahead of UK Foreign Secretary’s Meeting With Iranian Officials
The Mother of a Toddler Has Been Serving a Five-Year Prison Sentence Since 2016 Already serving a five-year prison sentence on trumped-up espionage charges in Tehran’s Evin Prison, Iranian ...
Baha’i Leader’s 10-Year Prison Sentence Extended Despite Judicial Ruling That He Is Too Ill to Be Incarcerated
Afif Naeimi, the seventh and last imprisoned member of Baha’i leaders in Iran known as the Yaran, returned to Rajaee Shahr Prison near Tehran on April 23, 2018, at the end of his medical leave despite suffering from life-threatening ailments. His wife Shahla Khalaji informed the Center for ...
Despite Facing Prison, Rights Lawyer Mohammad Najafi Still Seeking Justice For Deceased Detainee
“The authorities…told me that they are trying to grind me into oblivion.” Mohammad Najafi, a human rights lawyer facing years behind bars in Iran for publicly arguing...