Human rights

rferl.org – Imprisoned Islamic scholar and civil rights activist Sedigheh Vasmaghi has been transferred from Tehran’s notorious Evin prison to a hospital after reports surfaced that authorities were preventing the move, despite doctors’ advice. Sources told Radio Farda that Vasmaghi was taken to the Taleghani hospital late on April 3 with symptoms of chest pain, heart palpitations, and high blood …

Iranwire – More than 350 civil society and women’s rights activists have voiced strong support for 11 women’s rights activists detained in Gilan province and demand the activists’ immediate and unconditional release. The statement, signed by 355 human rights and civil society activists, condemns the harsh sentences imposed on the Gilan activists.  Addressing “repressive forces,” it declares that these verdicts exemplify the …

VOA – The U.N. Human Rights Council on Thursday prolonged by a year an independent international fact-finding mission investigating Iran’s deadly crackdown on protests that erupted in 2022. The United Nations’ top rights body extended the mission, and the mandate of the council’s special rapporteur on Iran, Javaid Rehman, with 24 votes in favor, eight against and 15 abstentions in …

Iran-HRM – On Tuesday, April 2, 2024, the death sentence for political prisoner Shahriar Bayat was issued by Branch 13 of the Criminal Court in one of the provinces of Tehran. Prior to this, Shahriar Bayat, the political prisoner, had been sentenced to 18 years in prison by Branch 1 of the Revolutionary Court in Shahriar. One of the family …

Amnesty – Fears are mounting that thousands of people have been sentenced to death and are at risk of execution or are facing investigations or prosecution on capital drug-related offences, amid a horrific surge in executions in Iran. In 2023, at least 481 people were executed for drug-related offences – over half of the total of at least 853 executions …

Iranwire – Saeed Madani, a sociologist, university professor, and prominent researcher in social sciences, was transferred to Damavand Prison, IranWire reports.  Authorities acted at the request of the Ministry of Intelligence and with the prosecution’s approval to transfer him. In January 2022, Madani received a nine-year prison sentence from the Revolutionary Court. The charges against Madani included “forming and leading …

Iranwire – Iranian women and children rights activist Samaneh Asghari has begun serving a one-year prison sentence, her husband says.  Ismail Nazari, the activist’s spouse, said in an Instagram post on April 3 that Asghari went to the prosecutor’s office in Tehran and was transferred to Evin prison. In November 2022, the Islamic Republic’s judiciary sentenced Asghari, a student at …

Iranwire – A woman was arrested by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) intelligence for displaying an Israeli flag in the streets of Tehran, Fars news agency reported. The report did not disclose the woman’s identity or her current location.  It was also reported that she was apprehended while allegedly attempting to leave the country. This incident underlines the ongoing …

Iranwire – Iranian security forces have arrested Saeed Farokhipour, father of slain protester Amir Mehdi Farokhipour, while he was visiting his son’s grave. He went to visit his son’s grave at Behesht-e Zahra cemetery in Tehran on April 1, according to HRANA human rights news agency. Farokhipour’s current location and the detaining entity remain unknown. On September 27, 2022, 17-year-old …

Iranwire – Further diminishing Iran’s press freedom, the Islamic Republic has prosecuted at least 91 journalists, media activists, and media outlets in the first quarter of 2024. Defending Free Flow of Information, a non-profit advocating for freedom of expression, reports that at least 12 journalists and media activists were subjected to arbitrary arrests during this period. Three were imprisoned, while …