Human rights

RFL/RE – The Islamic Revolutionary Court of Tehran has found a prominent Iranian sociologist and journalist guilty of “forming and managing antiestablishment groups” and of “propaganda against the Islamic Republic of Iran” and sentenced him to nine years in prison — eight for the first charge and one for the second. The accusations against 61-year-old Saeed Madani are mainly based …

Iranwire – In the ongoing nationwide protests in Iran, the southeastern province of Sistan and Baluchestan, home to a Sunni Baluch minority, has become a major thorn on the side of the Islamic Republic regime. The protesters have not retreated after a horrifying massacre in the provincial capital of Zahedan on September 30 in which dozens of people were killed. …

Iranwire – When 22-year-old Mahsa Amini died in the custody of morality police on September 16 it united Iranians, especially women – who are oppressed each day more than the day before – under the slogan “Woman, Life, Freedom”. People took to the streets the length and breadth of Iran to demand women’s rights and freedom. Even so, the patriarchal …

Iran-HRM – Reza Rasai, a 34-year-old man from Sahneh County, Kermanshah Province, West Iran, had participated in recent nationwide rallies. He joined supporters of a Kurdish spiritual leader, Seyed Khalil Alinezhad on November 18, 2022, to commemorate his anniversary. The peaceful gathering was violently attacked by the Revolutionary Guards-IRGC, followed by Iran’s intelligence forces. The IRGC’s Intelligence Chief of Sahneh …

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO) – At least 476 people including 64 children and 34 women, have been killed by security forces in the current nationwide protests. The death toll increase relates to recently verified cases from the first two months of the protests. Furthermore, at least 100 protesters are currently at risk of execution, death penalty charges or sentences. This …

RFL/RE – Jadi Mirmirani, considered to be one of Iran’s leading technologists and a defender of digital rights, has said that he has been sentenced to six years in prison for comments he posted on social media. Mirmirani announced his sentencing in a video address posted to his Twitter account, and said he hopes the ruling will be overturned on appeal. The …

RFL/RE – Iran’s chief prosecutor has warned women who have rejected wearing a hijab while participating in recent nationwide anti-government demonstrations to follow the country’s mandatory head scarf law “for their own safety and health.” Mohammad Jafar Montazeri said Shari’a law and the laws of the Islamic republic have made the head scarf mandatory for women and added, “we cannot …

RFL/RE – Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) arrested seven people with links to Britain on December 25, including some with dual nationality, over anti-government protests that have rocked the country. “Seven main leaders of the recent protests related to the U.K. were detained by IRGC intelligence services, including dual nationals trying to leave the country,” state media said. British …

VOA – Supporters of a Belgian aid worker being held in Iran staged a Christmas Day protest in Brussels to demand his immediate release, with a spokesman questioning why a prisoner swap treaty was stalled. Around 50 people took part in the demonstration under constant rain in the center of the Belgian capital, brandishing pictures of the aid worker, Olivier …

BBC – A leading human rights activist in Iran has written from prison to give the BBC details of how women detained in recent anti-government protests are being sexually and physically abused. Narges Mohammadi said such assaults had become more common in recent protests. She is serving a lengthy sentence in Tehran’s notorious Evin prison. The protests were triggered by …