January 29, 2019

Three Members of Iran’s Writers Association Charged With National Security Crimes for Opposing Censorship

Three senior members of the Iranian Writers Association (IWA) have been charged with national security crimes for ...

December 26, 2018

Imprisoned Attorney Mohammad Najafi Facing More Jail Time for Criticizing Supreme Leader

Mohammad Najafi has been in Arak Central Prison since October 2018 serving a three-year sentence (currently being appealed) ...

December 17, 2018

Why Did Telegram Warn Users That Iranian Versions of the Telegram App—Talaeii and Hotgram—Are “Unsafe”?

Iranian Client Apps Are Violating Telegram's Terms of Service by Failing to Protect User Data December 17, 2018 – In response to a rising ...

June 7, 2018

Telegram Channel Admin Could Get Death Penalty For “Insulting the Prophet”

Weakened by his hunger strike, prisoner of conscience Hamidreza Amini was transferred to a hospital in hand and ankle cuffs but was returned to prison before the treatment was ...

April 17, 2018

Senior Official: Telegram App Could Be Blocked “At Any Moment”

Education Ministry Bans Telegram on Campuses On the same day the secretary of Iran’s Supreme Cyberspace Council told a radio program that the widely ...

April 11, 2018

Iranian State Hackers Launched Attacks on Same Day Supreme Leader Issued Fatwa Forbidding Privacy Violations

On the same day that Iran’s supreme leader issued a religious ruling ordering the ...

March 19, 2018

Sentenced to Prison For His Political Views, Sadegh Zibakalam Decries Censorship in Iran

Sadegh ...

March 12, 2018

Iran Considers Lifting Its Nine-Year Ban on Twitter

A meeting of Iran's Supreme Council of Cyberspace. State Body Calls Social Media an “Effective Means of Public Diplomacy” The ...

January 12, 2018

Iran Unblocks Widely Used Messaging App Telegram After Two Weeks

It took Iranian President Hassan Rouhani nearly two weeks to lift the ban on the widely used Telegram messaging app, after it was blocked amid state-imposed internet disruption ...

November 22, 2017

Iran’s Snapp Taxi App Violates User Privacy Rights by Spying on Users’ Phone Data

Iranian users of an Uber-like Iranian-made app recently discovered that the app had spied on their phone data ...

November 2, 2017

Website Close to IRGC Says Judicial Attack Against BBC Persian is “Spoils of War”

A website serving as a mouthpiece for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) has attempted to justify the criminal investigation launched ...

November 2, 2017

Speak Out Against Iran’s Criminalization of Journalism

November 2, 2017 -- The Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) today released a video about the criminal investigation by Iran's judiciary of 152 current and former staff members of BBC Persian. The defendants, all Iranian ...

October 29, 2017

UN experts call on Iran to stop intimidation of BBC staff

GENEVA (27 October 2017) – Civil and criminal proceedings by Iran against BBC Persian staff and contributors must be halted, ...

October 25, 2017

Iran Launches New Assault on Freedom of Expression With Mass Criminal Investigation of BBC Persian Staff

Popular BBC talkshow presenter Pooneh Ghoddoosi in the studio. BBC Persian Staff Appeal to UN on Iran’s “Unprecedented Collective ...

September 19, 2017

Wife of Man Imprisoned for Facebook Posts Loses Job After Pressure From IRGC

Every day something bad is happening to him.” Nastaran Naimi, the wife of Soheil Arabi, who was ...

September 15, 2017

Imprisoned for Producing Music, Yousef Emadi Sentenced to Another Year Behind Bars

An imprisoned music producer has been sentenced to an additional year in prison on new charges brought by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, ...

September 9, 2017

Iran’s IRGC Brings “Revenge” Charges Against Man Imprisoned for Facebook Posts and His Wife

An Iranian man imprisoned for his social media postings could face several more years behind bars if he is convicted of new charges ...

August 27, 2017

Reformist MP Calls for Judicial Investigation Into Imprisoned Journalist’s Worsening Health

A member of the Iranian Parliament has called on the judiciary to investigate reports about imprisoned reformist journalist Ehsan Mazandarani’s...

August 23, 2017

Cartoon 172: Authors in Iran

Iranian cartoonist Touka Neyastani depicts the life of authors in Iran, struggling to publish their works amid strict censorship laws....

July 7, 2017

Conservative MPs Pressure Culture Ministry to Ban Films Portraying “Realistic Picture” of Modern Iranian Life

A scene from "Atomic Heart" (2014) Director Ali Ahmadzadeh’s film “...

April 27, 2017

Three Young Men to Serve 12 Years in Prison For “Insulting” Social Media Posts

Three 24-year-olds have been sentenced to 12 years in prison each in Iran for posting critical commentary about politics and religion on the ...

December 11, 2015

Cartoon 131: Choice, Force, and Infiltration

After nearly four decades of tight control on state media such as the Iranian radio and television programming, Friday prayer pulpits, educational curriculum, unabated censorship of the ...

July 21, 2015

Hardline Clerics Stop Screening of Film on Shia Religious Figure

Even Religious Topics Do Not Escape Hand of Censorship in Iran A highly anticipated award-winning film about the revered 7th century Shia religious figure, Imam Hossein, has been pulled from cinemas across Iran on the first day of its screening following criticism by conservative religious leaders. “Out of respect for great religious leaders and distinguished religious scholars, the screening ...

May 23, 2015