iranintl – Circles close to prominent Iranian dissident figure Mir-Hossein Mousavi have raised concerns regarding the health of Mousavi and his wife who are under house arrest. Mousavi, a former prime minister and Zahra Rahnavard, have been under house arrest, living in seclusion under the control of security forces at their home since 2011. The situation arose when they and …

Iranwire – A group of 38 political prisoners held in Ghezelhesar prison in Karaj, near Tehran, went on a hunger strike on September 5 to protest their recent transfer from other penitentiaries and their dire conditions of detention. “In addition to the 13 prisoners transferred from [Tehran’s] Evin prison to Ghezelhesar, 25 others were also relocated there from Gohardasht prison,” …

Iranwire – In an audio file sent from Tehran’s Evin prison, journalist Nazila Maroofian says that she was “sexually assaulted” during her latest arrest a week ago. “They sexually assaulted me when I was in the worst possible situation,” the 23-year-old Maroofian said in the audio file made public on September 6. Maroofian was detained at her home in Tehran …

Iranwire – Mojtaba Pourbakhsh, a prominent Iranian sports presenter and university lecturer, has been sacked from Tehran’s Azad University, as the authorities intensify their crackdown on academics supporting the “Woman, Life, Freedom” protest movement. Pourbakhsh shared on his Instagram account on September 5 the official termination notice issued by the Ministry of Science.  In a message accompanying the document, he …

Iranwire – Iranian security forces have arrested the father and sister of Mohammad Hassanzadeh, a protester killed during last year’s nationwide protests, according to human rights groups. Hassanzadeh’s father, Ahmad, was arrested in the Kurdish city of Bukan on September 5, while his sister Solmaz was also taken into custody. They were both taken to an undisclosed location. The arrests …

Iranwire – A Baha’i resident of the central Iranian city of Semnan has been sentenced to 16 years in prison for alleged “propaganda activity” against the Islamic Republic and leading a group aimed at “destabilizing the country’s security.” According to a report received by Iranwire, Branch 1 of the Semnan Revolutionary Court also fined Shahdaokht Khanjani 50 million tomans ($1,000) …

Iranwire – The Iranian authorities have imposed a ban on the sale of notebooks with covers featuring Walt Disney characters, according to the head of the Tehran Stationery Union. In an interview with the Tejarat News website on September 5, ahead of the new school year on September 23, Musa Farzanian said that violators face fines and the possibility of having …

Iranwire – Iranian authorities have transferred civil activist and political prisoner Reza Ramezanzadeh to the ward housing dangerous criminals in Tehran’s Greater Tehran Prison, IranWire has learned.  The transfer took place on September 5, one week after he presented himself at the prison to start a one-year prison sentence.  Ramezanzadeh was arrested during street demonstrations in Tehran in October 2022 …

Iranwire – “I cannot remember the exact moment when the idea of launching a school with a new system first took root in my mind; perhaps it began to start towards the end of my time in traditional schooling. By my second year of high school, I started feeling that attending school was nothing more than a waste of time …

Iran-HRM – On Monday, September 4, 2023, Azam Gholami Zahab, a resident of Mashhad and one of the detainees of the nationwide uprising, was sentenced to 16 years and 4 months of imprisonment by Judge Hossein Yazdankhah from Branch 5 of the Revolutionary Court of Mashhad. She has been charged with “gathering and collusion with the intent to disrupt national …