Human rights

Amnesty – Reacting to the news that unjustly imprisoned Iranian human rights defender Narges Mohammadi has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, Amnesty International’s Secretary General, Agnès Callamard, said:   “Narges Mohammadi receives this prize today from behind bars in Iran where she has been unjustly imprisoned since 2021 solely for her human rights activism. For years, she has worked tirelessly to …

Iranwire – Imprisoned Iranian activist Narges Mohammadi won the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize for her fight against the “oppression of women” in her country and for promoting “human rights and freedom for all.” In making the announcement on October 6, the Norwegian Nobel Committee said the prize also recognizes “the hundreds of thousands of people who, in the preceding year, have demonstrated …

iranintl – More than 40 member states of the UN Human Rights Council have expressed “serious concern” over the approval of Iran’s new hijab bill it branded “gender apartheid”.  The law imposes harsher penalties, including longer prison sentences and higher fines, on women who do not adhere to the country’s strict Islamic dress code for head coverings and modest attire. …

RFL/RE – An Iranian labor group says teachers and classmates of Armita Garavand, a high-school student reportedly in a coma after being assaulted by morality police for not wearing the mandatory head scarf, are being pressured and threatened by security authorities for commenting on the situation surrounding the 16-year-old. Rights groups and journalists say Garavand and two of her friends …

Iranwire – Molavi Abdulhamid, Iran’s most prominent Sunni cleric, used his Friday sermon to urge the country’s authorities to investigate a recent incident that left a 16-year-old girl in a coma, and to bring those responsible to justice. Armita Geravand has been hospitalized since October 1, when she collapsed in a Tehran subway train due to what the authorities called …

Iranwire – The Court of Appeals in Khorasan Razavi province has upheld the 10-year and 9-month prison sentence for Sanaz Tafazoli, a Baha’i citizen currently detained in Vakil Abad Prison in Mashhad. Reports indicate that the Court of Appeal for Tafazoli’s case proceeded without notifying the defendant or her lawyer. The First Branch of the Revolutionary Court in the north-eastern city …

Iranwire – Iran experienced the most significant decline in internet freedom in 2023, driven by the authorities’ “disproportionate and violent” crackdown on the Woman, Life, Freedom protest movement, according to Freedom House. In a bid to quell the nationwide anti-government protests sparked by the death in police custody of Mahsa Amini in September 2022, the authorities arrested thousands of demonstrators, …

Iran-HRM Detention of Shahin Ahmadi, Mother of Armita Gravand, by Security Forces Five days after Armita Goravand fell into a coma on the October 4, Shahin Ahmadi, Armita Goravand’s mother, was detained by the security forces of the Iranian regime on Wednesday afternoon, October 4 ,2023. She was taken to an undisclosed location after her arrest in the vicinity of …

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO) – State media have reported the execution of an unidentified man for murder in Mashhad Central Prison. According to Etemad Online, a man was executed in Mashhad Central Prison (Vakil Abad) on 1 October. His identity has only been reported as 35-year-old Mohammad Taghi (surname unknown). He was accused of murdering a man along with others …

Al-Arabia – The mother of Armita Geravand, Shahin Ahmadi, has been arrested by Iranian security forces, the Iranian-Kurdish rights group Hengaw said on X platform on Thursday. There has been no official confirmation yet of the arrest. Geravand is in critical condition in a coma in hospital, two prominent rights activists told Reuters on Wednesday, after what they said was a confrontation …