Human rights

Amnesty  – Iranian human rights defender and writer Golrokh Ebrahimi Iraee, sentenced to six years in prison for writing a story about the cruel practice of stoning, was rearrested on Sunday and the judicial review of her conviction is being illegally blocked, said Amnesty International today. Golrokh Ebrahimi Iraee was returned to Evin prison after being picked up by Revolutionary …

Iranhumanrights.org – Kamal Foroughi, a 77-year-old ailing British-Iranian dual citizen and former civil engineer incarcerated at Evin Prison in Tehran since May 2011, has been denied previously promised and urgently required extended medical leave, his son, Kamran Foroughi, told the Campaign for Human Rights in Iran. “For the Iranian authorities we have a simple message: Please let Dad come home,” …

Iranhumanrights.org – Well-known Iranian poet and filmmaker Baktash Abtin has been charged with “propaganda against the state” following his arrest on December 2, 2016 at a memorial event in Tehran marking the 18th anniversary of the “chain murders” of dissidents, including writers, in the 1990s by agents of the Islamic Republic. An informed source told the Campaign for Human Rights …

Guardian – A British-Iranian woman sentenced to five years in jail in Iran on unspecific charges relating to national security has had her conviction upheld in the appeals court, according to judiciary officials. Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a project manager with the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the news agency’s charitable arm, appealed against her sentence earlier this month in what was her last …

Amnesty – Elderly dissident Iranian cleric Ayatollah Mohammad Reza Nekounam has been on hunger strike for 31 days in protest at his detention and the denial of specialized medical care by the authorities. After suffering from a stroke and heart attack while in detention, he is in extremely poor health and in urgent need of specialized medical care. View report …

Iran Human Rights –  Four prisoners, including two Afghan citizens, were reportedly hanged at Taybad Prison (Razavi Khorasan province, northeastern Iran) on drug related charges. According to a report by the human right news agency HRANA, the executions were carried out on Wednesday January 18. The report identifies one of the prisoners as Habib Khazayi. The names of the other …

Iranhumanrighst.org – Revolutionary Guards Pressured Judiciary for Harsh Sentences Civil rights advocate Aso Rostami—whose initial mass trial with three other activists lasted “barely 10 minutes”—was released from Rajaee Shahr Prison in Karaj on January 15, 2017 at the end of his two-year prison sentence for engaging in peaceful activism. He was initially sentenced to seven years, but the term was …

Iranhumanrights.org – The Campaign for Human Rights in Iran has learned that Tehran Prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dowlatabadi has called on President Hassan Rouhani to block access to Telegram, Iran’s most widely used messaging application, ahead of the upcoming presidential election scheduled for May 19, 2017. Rouhani has yet to respond to the request, an informed source told the Campaign, but …

Radiozmaneh – Head of Hormozgan Province Department of Justice announced that 32 managers and users of the instant messaging service, Telegram in the province have been arrested on charges of publishing profanity. Telegram is one of the only social media services that is not blocked by the Iranian government; however, conservative factions have repeatedly called for tightening of state control …

Al-Arabia – Amnesty International declared that young people in Iran are exposed by the ruling regime in their country to a “systematic violence,” referring to the incident of flagellation of young people on charges of participating in mixed celebrations. Amnesty International condemned in a statement the physical violence sentences issued by Iranian courts against citizens, citing the example of the …