Detained Pro-Rouhani Telegram Channel Admins Repeatedly Denied Legal Counsel Three Months After Arrests
Mohammad Taher Kanani, the lawyer representing Nima Keshvari, a Telegram channel ...
Unfair Trials
Iran’s Supreme Leader Comes to Judiciary’s Defense After Rouhani Criticizes Problematic Arrests
Iran’s supreme leader is continuing his public criticism of newly re-elected President Hassan Rouhani, this time accusing him of not doing enough to aid the judiciary in protecting ...
Elderly Political Prisoner Repeatedly Issued More Prison Time After Completing Sentences
Iranian judicial authorities are refusing to free an elderly political prisoner who was incarcerated for visiting close family members that are members of a banned opposition group. Ali Moezzi, a 65-year-old ...
Persistent Iranian Women’s Movement Chipping Away at State Ban on Females in Sports Stadiums
The peaceful battle by women’s rights activists geared towards ending the ban on female spectators in Iranian sports stadiums is inching forward despite ongoing opposition by religious conservatives. “Women’s rights ...
Two Imprisoned Azeri Rights Activists on Hunger Strike in Iran
After being detained for more than one year on unsubstantiated espionage charges, Azeri political activist Habib Sasanian began a hunger strike on June 13, 2017, according to his wife. “They ...
Thirteen People Arrested Amid Arab Ethnic Rights Protests in Iran’s Khuzestan Province
Thirteen people, including Arab ethnic rights activists and poets, were arrested in Ahwaz, the capital of Iran’s Khuzestan Province, on June 25, 2017, local activist Karim Dahimi ...
Officials Warn Strict Punishment for Iranian Women Caught Wearing “Bad Hijabs” as Summer Heat Begins
Women caught with “bad hijabs” in Mazandaran Province, northern Iran, will face criminal prosecution and their vehicles will be impounded, warned a local prosecutor on June 27, 2017. ...
Reformist Politician: President Rouhani Must Stand Up to Supreme Leader Khamenei’s Hardline Policies
Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s ongoing public criticism of President Hassan Rouhani is “rooted in the fact that the leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran does not recognize the people’s vote,” ...
Azeri Rights Activist Imprisoned Despite Posting Bail One Year Ago Begins Hunger Strike
Siamak Mirzaei, an Azeri ethnic rights activist, started a hunger strike on June 25, 2017 in Tehran’s Evin Prison to convince judicial authorities to end his yearlong legal limbo, a source ...
Reformist Journalist, Activist Arrested in Run-Up to Iran’s 2017 Election Post Bail
Ailing Human Rights Lawyer Granted Brief Furlough Journalist Tahereh Riahi and civil rights activist Mona Moafi, both reformists, were released on bail on ...
Prominent Imprisoned Activist Who Voted for Rouhani: My Vote Was For Iran’s Civil Society
Narges Mohammadi, a prominent human rights activist serving a 16-year prison sentence for her peaceful advocacy efforts, is publicly urging newly re-elected President Hassan Rouhani to build the foundations for ...
Iranian Nobel Laureate Blasts Khamenei’s “Fire at Will” Policy Against Domestic Opponents
Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s recent declaration that his supporters should “fire at will” against presumed enemies of the state is an established policy of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Nobel Peace laureate Shirin Ebadi told ...
Photojournalist Who Worked for Rouhani’s Presidential Campaign Arrested Without Charge
Husband Pressured to Confess to Espionage Formerly imprisoned photojournalist Asal Esmailzadeh was “suddenly” arrested without charge while accompanying her husband to the Culture and Media Court in Tehran on June 19, 2017, Saeed Seif ...
Prominent Civil Rights Activists Urge Iran’s Parliament to Ban Use of Deadly Force Against Border Couriers
The killing, by border guards, of another kulbar—the Persian word for the border-crossing couriers who transport illegally imported goods into Iran—has prompted 250 Iranian civil rights ...
Judiciary Chief Threatens Domestic Proponents of US-Instigated Regime Change With Death Penalty
The chief of Iran’s judiciary has responded to recent comments by the US secretary of state describing the Trump administration’s policy of regime change in Iran by threatening domestic ...
Denied Due Process, Detained Telegram Channel Admins Go on Hunger Strike
Telegram channel admin Nima Keshvari was detained in mid-March 2017 by the IRGC's Intelligence Organization. Six administrators of channels on the ...
Ailing Political Activist Detained Without Charge Subjected to Three-Month Solitary Confinement and Renewed Interrogations
Hengameh Shahidi’s Family Under Media Ban More than three months after her arrest and detainment, ailing political activist Hengameh Shahidi has not been charged and is in poor ...
Iran’s Judiciary Prevents Top Labor Activists From Attending International Conference
A travel ban imposed by the Iranian judiciary has prevented prominent labor rights activists Reza Shahabi and Davoud Razavi from attending an ...
Human Rights Lawyer: Iran’s Response to Terrorist Attacks Could Lead to Major Rights Abuses
The arrests by Iranian security forces of dozens of suspects with alleged links to the terrorist group that calls itself the Islamic State (IS) could result in extrajudicial retaliatory ...
Parliamentary Committee Blocks Security Agencies’ Attempts to Significantly Delay Death Penalty Amendment
A Parliamentary committee in Iran has blocked an attempt by security agencies to delay for a year a parliamentary vote on an amendment that could drastically reduce death penalty sentences ...
Human Rights Activist Told He Must Serve Additional Year in Prison on Day of Expected Release
While his family waited for him outside Rajaee Shahr Prison the day he was supposed to be released, on June 6, 2017, Navid Khanjani was told he would ...
Ahmadinejad Aide Says He Was Imprisoned for Refusing to Collaborate With Revolutionary Guards
An imprisoned media advisor to former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has accused the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) of offering him freedom in exchange for incriminating Ahmadinejad. In ...
Iran’s Supreme Leader Says 1988 Executions of Thousands of Political Prisoners “Unfairly Judged”
Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has broken his silence over the state’s execution of thousands of political prisoners in 1988, which received renewed attention in the country’s May 2017 presidential election ...
Another Student Expelled From University in Iran For Baha’i Faith
Farzad Safaei was one semester away from a bachelor’s degree in industrial metallurgy at the Islamic Azad University when he was expelled on May 20, 2017 by the security office for being a member of the Baha’i faith ...
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 ...