Human rights

Iranwire – Protesters took to the streets of multiple Iranian cities on the evening of March 13 to call for the overthrow of the Islamic Republic, ahead of Chaharshanbe Suri, the Persian festival of fire. Videos shared on social media show demonstrators in cities including Tehran, Sanandaj, Kamiyaran and Mashhad, chanting “Woman, life, freedom,” the main slogan of the nationwide …

Iranwire – The Iranian authorities are accusing the lawyer representing the family of Mahsa Amini, the 22-year-old woman whose death in September 2022 while in police custody has led to nationwide unrest, of spreading “propaganda against the regime,” activists say. The Kurdistan Human Rights Network, a France-based group that monitors the human rights situation in western Iran’s Kurdish region, said …

Iranwire – Schoolgirls in at least two western Iranian cities were reportedly taken to medical centers for treatment on March 13, amid a wave of poisonings that have affected thousands of pupils across the country over more than three months. The Telegram channel of the group Bazaar Civil Protests released a video purportedly showing anxious residents of Kurdistan province’s city …

Amensty – Iranian authorities have been subjecting activist Ebrahim Babaei to enforced disappearance for 15 months, amid grave concerns of torture and other ill-treatment. Despite mounting evidence indicating that he is in state custody, authorities continually refuse to acknowledge his detention or reveal his fate and whereabouts to his family. He was forcibly disappeared in December 2021 during an attempt …

CHRI – An Iranian-born Swedish citizen and dissident, Habib Farajollah Chaab, who was reportedly lured to Turkey by Islamic Republic agents and then forcibly taken to Iran in 2020, is at risk of being executed after the Iranian Supreme Court upheld his death sentence. “Chaab was a hostage from the moment he was abducted and taken to Iran against his …

RFL/RE — Dozens of Iranian students across the country say they have been banned from entering their universities after they protested the suspected poisoning of pupils that has hospitalized scores, mainly schoolgirls. According to the United Students Telegram channel, at least 40 students at the Tabriz University of Medical Sciences and 30 students at Tehran’s Allameh University have been denied entrance to …

RFL/RE – Iran’s hard-line judiciary says its Supreme Court has upheld a death sentence against a Swedish-Iranian dissident who went missing from a Turkish airport two years ago before turning up in Iranian custody accused of terrorism. The defendant, Habib Chaab, a founder and former leader of a separatist group called the Arab Struggle Movement for the Liberation of Ahwaz …

Iranwire – As IranWire has reported, hundreds of Iranians have sustained severe eye injuries after being hit by pellets, tear gas cannisters, paintball bullets or other projectiles used by security forces amid a bloody crackdown on mainly peaceful demonstrations. Doctors say that, as of now, at least 580 protesters have lost one or both eyes in Tehran and in Kurdistan alone. …

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO) – Kurdish political prisoner Mohiyedin Ebrahimi  has been transferred to solitary confinement from the general ward of Urmia Central Prison, raising concerns about his imminent execution. According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, Kurdish political prisoner Mohiyedin Ebrahimi was transferred from the political prisoners’ ward in Urmia Central Prison to solitary confinement. As his death sentence has already …

Al-Monitor – Syria is the least and Israel is the most free country in the Middle East and North Africa region, while Turkey remains one of the worst performing countries of Europe, according to Freedom House. The US-based international human rights watchdog released its 50th annual Freedom in the world report this week. It reviewed access to political rights and civil liberties …