Lawyers, Activists Arrested as they Attempt to Sue State for Failed COVID Response
Six Arbitrarily Detained as State Tries to Block Attempt to Seek Justice August 17, 2021—The unlawful arrests of six prominent lawyers and civil rights ...
Tag : COVID-19
August 11, 2021
Iran Should Lift Deadly Ban on Foreign COVID Vaccines
Iran Refusing COVAX Offers as Infections, Deaths Surge Biden Administration Should Include Iran in Global Vaccination Campaign August 11, 2021–Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei should immediately ...
July 22, 2021
Rising COVID Infections, Unhygienic Conditions Raise Fears of More Deaths in Iranian Prisons
The start of a fifth COVID-19 wave in Iran, amidst national water and electricity shortages and unhygienic prison conditions, has greatly increased the ...
May 14, 2021
Security Forces Respond to Iranian High School Protests with Force
Teachers’ Union: “What right do the police have to treat the children of our country with such brutal violence?” As high school final exams ...
May 10, 2021
Joint Letter: Biden Admin Urged to Prioritize Iranian Human Rights Concerns
May 10, 2021 The Honorable Joseph R. Biden The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, D.C. 20500 Dear President Biden, We, the undersigned organizations, write to urge you to prioritize human rights as you shape your administration’s foreign policy toward Iran. As ...
March 24, 2021
Traditional New Year Furloughs and Other Privileges Denied to Iran’s Political Prisoners
Lawyer: “Humanity, in addition to the rule of law, has vanished” Political prisoners in Iran, long subjected to especially harsh treatment in Iran’s prisons, ...
February 15, 2021
New UN Report Assails Iran for Persistent Discrimination against Women
Juvenile Executions, Persecution of Human Rights Defenders Also Condemned In the latest report issued by the UN’s top expert on Iran, UN special ...
February 11, 2021
Letter from Iran: “Political Prisoners Have Nowhere to Turn for Safety and Support”
The married couple Arash Sadeghi and Golrokh Iraee Ebrahimi are imprisoned in Iran for engaging in peaceful civil rights activism. In a letter from Rajaee Shahr Prison in the Iranian city of Karaj, political prisoner ...
February 1, 2021
Dying of Hopelessness: Suicides on the Rise in Iran
Suicides increased in Iran in 2020, according to state medical data. Blue-collar workers as well as students who’ve been disproportionately impacted by the country’s ...
January 22, 2021
Iran Touts Unverified Domestic Vaccines, Ignores International Condemnation of Non-Scientific Policy
When the World Health Organization approved vaccines to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, many countries began planning for mass immunizations. Yet the Iranian supreme leader’s televised speech on January 8--where he announced that “importing American and English vaccines into ...
January 20, 2021
Iranian Rights Groups Call on Khamenei to Allow Purchase of U.S. and UK COVID-19 Vaccines
Iran Should Base COVID-19 Vaccine Decisions on Science January 20, 2021 -- In light of the statement by Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ...
December 22, 2020
Major Humanitarian Organizations Call for Access to COVID-19 Vaccines for Iranians
US Government Must Provide Assurances that Sanctions Will Not Impede Purchases A coalition of major human rights and humanitarian organizations released a statement ...
November 13, 2020
UN: Iran Must Quash Nasrin Sotoudeh’s Convictions and Ensure Her Permanent Release
Top Experts Say Her COVID-19 Diagnosis “Shows the real risks for those in detention in Iran” Top UN experts* released a statement today, ...
November 13, 2020
State’s Online Schooling During COVID-19 Is a Privilege Only for the Well-Off in Iran
Teachers, Families and Students Struggle without Needed Technology in Iran’s Poorer Regions A new online schooling program created by the government to allow virtual ...
November 7, 2020
Nasrin Sotoudeh Released on Temporary Leave from Prison
Human Rights Lawyer, Weakened from Lack of Proper Medical Care, Now Home in Tehran November 7, 2020—Imprisoned human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh was released ...
October 27, 2020
UN: Iran Must Conduct Independent Inquiry into Violence against Protests in November 2019
“Nasrin Sotoudeh and all other individuals arbitrarily detained must be immediately released” The UN’s top expert on Iran, Javaid Rehman, the UN Special Rapporteur ...
October 20, 2020
Nasrin Sotoudeh Transferred to Notorious Gharchak Prison
Doctors Say Hospitalization Required, Instead Sotoudeh Moved to Iran’s Most Dangerous Prison Human Rights Lawyer’s Health in Serious Danger October 20, 2020 -- ...
October 13, 2020
Nasrin Sotoudeh: Grave Deterioration in Health, Exposed to COVID-19 at Hospital
Doctors: Her Return to Prison Was “A deliberate attempt to put her life in danger” Family’s Repeated Requests for Medical Furlough and Hospitalization Denied October 13, 2020 ...
October 7, 2020
UN Press Release: Citing COVID Risk, Bachelet Calls on Iran to Release Jailed Human Rights Defenders
Iran is “Using the criminal justice system as a tool to silence civil society” Farsi version Geneva (6 October 2020) – UN High Commissioner ...
September 25, 2020
Top UN Experts Demand Immediate Release of Nasrin Sotoudeh
UN Calls Her Return to Prison “Unfathomable” and “State Retaliation for Her Tireless Work Defending Human Rights” Sixteen of the UN’s top experts released ...
September 10, 2020
Celebrated Artists and Authors Join Online Campaign to Free Imprisoned Lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh
Urgent Call for International Show of Solidarity to #FreeNasrin as Lawyer Begins Fifth Week of Hunger Strike September 9, 2020—Prominent global artists and ...
August 31, 2020
Critical Deterioration in Nasrin Sotoudeh’s Health as Hunger Strike Hits Three-Week Mark
Imprisoned Human Rights Attorney Refuses Food to Demand Release of Prisoners Endangered by COVID-19 Husband: “Nasrin has become extremely weak” August 31, 2020—The health of ...
August 18, 2020
Imprisoned Human Rights Lawyer in Poor Health, Needs Hospitalization
New Law Reduces Derafshan’s Sentence By 6 Months, Must Still Serve Two Years Sentence Reductions at Judge’s Discretion in “National Security” Cases Imprisoned human rights ...
August 18, 2020
Nasrin Sotoudeh’s Daughter Detained, Persecution of Imprisoned Lawyer’s Family Intensifies
Arrest of Mehraveh Khandan Aimed at Forcing Sotoudeh to End Her Hunger Strike in Prison August 18, 2020—Mehraveh Khandan, the 20-year-old daughter of imprisoned ...
August 12, 2020
Nasrin Sotoudeh Begins Hunger Strike in Evin Prison
Prominent Attorney Seeks Release of Political Prisoners Amid COVID-19 Outbreak August 12, 2020—The imprisoned human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh began a hunger strike ...