Iran Says It Released Homa Hoodfar for “Humanitarian” Reasons
Other Ailing Dual Nationals Remain in Prison while Denied Due Process “I didn’t feel I would be released until I was on the jet. In Iran, nothing is complete until ...
Unfair Trials
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Push Harsh Prison Sentences for Activists
Cases Expose Judiciary’s Lack of Independence In another example of the Iranian Judiciary’s lack of independence, an Appeals Court has upheld disproportionate prison sentences against four civil rights activists following pressure by the ...
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 be transferred ...
Union Leader: Less Pressure on Teachers Thanks to Rights Activists
Under Rouhani, “They have changed tactics from hard forms of pressure to milder ones.” The leader of Iran’s largest teachers’ rights organization has said that due to pressure from civil rights activists, the government of President Hassan Rouhani has been less repressive ...
Iranian Authorities Silent on Green Movement Campaign Worker Missing Since 2011
“None of the state agencies confirm or deny anything.” Alireza Piri, a dentist from Tabriz in northwestern Iran who campaigned for former presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi, has been missing since he was arrested on January 9, 2011. His family has not ...
Upholding Narges Mohammadi’s 16-Year Prison Sentence is Indefensible
Mother of Two Young Children Will Be Eligible for Release Only After 10 Years September 28, 2016—The upholding of the 16-year prison sentence against human rights defender Narges Mohammadi by Iran’s Appeals Court for her peaceful work is cruel and ...
Iran Appeals Court Upholds 16-Year Prison Sentence Against Rights Activist Narges Mohammadi
Mother of Two Young Children Will Be Eligible for Release Only After 10 Years An Appeals Court has upheld the 16-year prison sentence issued against prominent human rights defender Narges Mohammadi...
Iran’s Foreign Minister Says Judiciary is Responsible for Detained Dual Nationals
Zarif Hopes Their Situation Can Be "Resolved Amicably" Iran’s Foreign Minister Javad Zarif said he hoped the situation of detained dual nationals in Iran could be “resolved amicably,” adding that the office of the president has no control over the Judiciary, at a ...
Reformist Editor Vows to Remain On Hunger Strike Until Released from Prison
Imprisoned newspaper editor Ehsan Mazandarani will be on hunger strike in Evin Prison until he is released based on Iran’s New Islamic Penal Code, which allows prisoners to apply for early ...
Kahrizak Torture Victim Rejects Prosecutor’s Apology for Detainees’ Deaths
“Amir Javadifar died beside me as he was begging for water. I can never forget those moments.” Reza Zoghi, who was tortured at the Kahrizak Detention Center in south Tehran where three young men died as a result of the ...
Ailing Reformist Journalist’s Prison Sentence Reduced
Additional Charge Against Issa Saharkhiz Remains Pending Prominent reformist journalist Issa Saharkhiz’s prison sentence has been reduced based on Article 134 of the New Islamic Penal Code, his lawyer, Mahmoud Alizadeh Tabatabaee, ...
On Hunger Strike, Imprisoned Music Distributors’ Health Deteriorates
Imprisoned music distributors Mehdi Rajabian and Hossein Rajabian are in poor health after starting a hunger strike on September 8, 2016 in Evin Prison. The brothers are protesting ...
Twenty-Year Old On Death Row After “Confessing” on Promise of Freedom
Death Sentence for Posting “Anti-Islamic” Content on Social Media Sina Dehghan was just 19-years-old when the Revolutionary Guards told him, while they were interrogating him, that if he confessed to the charge ...
Hospitalized Christian Convert Ordered Back to Prison
Imprisoned Christian convert Maryam (Nasim) Naghash Zargaran, who has been hospitalized since August 21, 2016 for heart problems, has been denied an extension of her medical ...
Five-Year Prison Sentence for Dual National Casts Shadow Over Iran’s Opening to World
Nazanin Zaghari Ratcliffe’s Sentence Announced Two Weeks Before Rouhani Comes to NY September 12, 2016—The five-year prison sentence for Nazanin Zaghari Ratcliffe, a dual citizen of Iran and the UK who has been inside Iranian prisons for ...
More Than 100 Prominent Iranians Ask UN to Declare 1988 Massacre “Crime Against Humanity”
This article has been updated on September 12, 2016 to reflect the correct number of original signatories. In a letter to the United Nations Human Rights Council and the International Criminal Court, more than one hundred ...
Labor Activists Put on Trial After Hundreds of Workers Protest Unpaid Wages
Labor activists Jafar Azimzadeh and Shapour Ehsani-Rad have been put on trial for allegedly inciting workers to strike. The first day of ...
Iran’s Security Establishment is Targeting the Students of an Imprisoned Spiritual Leader
Vahid Pourtahmasb is the fifth student of Mohammad Ali Taheri to have been arrested since 2015. Another student of imprisoned spiritual group leader Mohammad Ali Taheri has been arrested, this time ...
Unjustly Imprisoned Young Physicist Granted Conditional Release After Five Years
Omid Kokabee’s Release Comes After Months Struggling with Kidney Cancer That Was Left Untreated in Prison August 29, 2016—Imprisoned Iranian scientist Omid Kokabee, who spent more than five years in ...
Recording on 1988 Prison Massacre Exposes Early Fissure in the Islamic Republic of Iran
The recently released audio recording of Grand Ayatollah Hosseinali Montazeri sharply denouncing the mass execution of political prisoners in the summer of 1988 has highlighted disagreements among prominent ...
Judiciary Blocking Compensation for False Arrests
High Number of False Arrests Would Require Large Payout More than a year after Iran’s new Code of Criminal Procedure went into effect, the Judiciary is resisting ...
Elderly Pro-Democracy Activist Sentenced to Four Years in Prison
The four-year prison sentence handed down to imprisoned author and peaceful political activist Kourosh Zaim has no legal basis and the 77-year-old should be immediately released because of his advanced age, his lawyer Giti Pourfazel told the International Campaign for Human Rights in ...
Prominent Labor Activist’s Wife Awaits Verdict for Alleged Facebook Post
Najibeh Salehzadeh was never shown the “evidence” Najibeh Salehzadeh, who says she was falsely charged for posting “insulting” material on Facebook, is awaiting a verdict following her trial at Branch 1 of ...
Reformist Journalist’s Prison Sentence Reduced on Appeal
The prison sentence of reformist journalist Ehsan (Saman) Safarzaei has been reduced from five to two years, the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran has learned. Safarzaei’s lawyer, Iman Mirzadeh, confirmed ...
Imprisoned Epileptic Journalist Denied Request for Early Release
Reformist Writer Has Not Had Access to His Lawyer Since 2014 Imprisoned reformist journalist Ahmad Asgari, who suffers from severe epilepsy, has been denied early conditional release and medical furlough...