Human rights

Iranwire – It was a rare moment of joy for opponents of capital punishment in Iran when lawyers of Mohammad Ghobadloo and Abbas Daris, two protesters who had been sentenced to death, reported that the Supreme Court of the Islamic Republic has stayed their executions pending a judicial review and a retrial. Many campaigns on social media had called for …

RFL/RE – Narges Mohammadi, a prominent human rights activist and political prisoner in Iran’s Evin Prison, has voiced concerns over the health of Zohreh Sayadi, a fellow prisoner of conscience who is currently undergoing chemotherapy treatments for cancer. “Since her imprisonment, Zohreh has been transferred back to prison twice, just 24 hours after undergoing chemotherapy. Even the prison doctors believe that enduring …

Iranwire – Iranian news agencies reported details of the Hijab and Chastity Bill on Thursday amid an intensifying clampdown on violations of the Islamic Republic’s strict dress code for women. The contentious legislation, consisting of 69 articles, imposes stringent penalties on women who refuse to adhere to the mandatory hijab. Under this bill, women found in violation of mandatory hijab …

Iranwire – In the aftermath of the Woman, Life, Freedom movement, several lawyers have faced arrest and received prison sentences for various reasons, though Marzieh Mohebi’s verdict has taken an unexpected turn in the judicial system. A court in the northeastern city of Mashhad issued a ruling for Mohebi – granting authorities the power to confiscate her properties – in …

VOA – Two major labor unions in Iran are strongly condemning the Revolutionary Court of Tehran’s sentencing of Reyhaneh Ansari-Nejad, a retired worker and dedicated labor activist, to a four-year prison term. Ansari-Nejad was sentenced for “participating in an organizational session” and alleged affiliations with dissident groups and French spy organizations. The Haft Tappeh Sugarcane Mill Labor Syndicate and the …

Iranwire – Judge Ebrahim Ramezani, presiding judge of Branch 4 of the Revolutionary Court of Appeals in the city of Birjand and a cleric described by former prisoners as “extremely fanatical and narrow-minded,” plays an active role in violating human rights in the Iranian province of South Khorasan. Prisoners of conscience in this province call him the “Rubber Stamp” because …

Iranwire – Iranian judiciary officials have sentenced a young protester to 15 years in prison on several charges – including lowering the Islamic Republic’s flag in the Kurdish city of Saqqez. After enduring 35 days of detention in Sanandaj, Javanpour was ultimately transferred back to Saqqez, where he was handed the staggering 15-year prison sentence. The Revolutionary Court of Saqqez, …

Iranwire – Women and girls in Iran continue to defy mandatory headscarf laws during the traditional mourning month of Muharram, despite an intensifying clampdown on violations of the Islamic Republic’s strict dress code for women. Muharram will culminate in Ashura on July 28, the holiest day on the Shia calendar, when worshipers traditionally gather for large demonstrations of high-scale mourning …

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO) – Mohammad Seifzadeh, a veteran lawyer and one of the founders of the Centre for the Defence of Human Rights in Iran, has been sentenced to a year behind bars for a letter he signed to António Guterres, the UN Secretary-General, calling for a reaction against the Islamic Republic’s execution machine. Judicial and security authorities started the extrajudicial …

RFL/RE – Ahmad Zeidabadi, a prominent Iranian political activist, has been sentenced to a year of punitive imprisonment and 50 lashes in a case he says is linked to speeches he gave during the 2009 presidential election. Zeidabadi, who has previously served time as a political prisoner, disclosed on his Telegram channel that the charges in the case heard in a court in the …