Human rights

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO) – Mostafa Emdadi was 16 years old at the time of being arrested on charges of “participating in murder” with his cousin. He has been sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder and is currently awaiting execution in Khalkhal Prison. According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, Mostafa Emdadi was born on 2 March 1999 and arrested in …

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO) – Despite officially reporting Kurdish political prisoner Heydar Ghorbani’s execution in Sanandaj Prison on 19 December 2020, Islamic Republic officials have cited his cause of death as “unknown” in the death certificate. Iran Human Rights Director, Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam said: “Heydar Ghorbani’s death certificate is more evidence that official Islamic Republic documents, particularly in regards to executions, lack …

Iran-HRM – A revolutionary court in Mashhad, northeast Iran has sentenced a political prisoner to death. Babak Paknia, the lawyer representing political prisoner Mohammad Javad Vafaei Sani said in a tweet today that his client has been sentenced to death for “corruption on earth.” Mr. Paknia said that he will appeal the conviction within 20 days. According to Paknia, political …

Iran-HRM – Six political prisoners who were betaen by violent criminals hired by authorities at the Greater Tehran Penitentiary went to court to face new charges. Political prisoners Akbar Bagheri, Pouya Ghobadi, Shapour Ehsani Rad, Esmail Gerami, Alireza Farshi, and another prisoner were tried on January 8, at Branch 101 of the Hassanabad Fashafoyeh Criminal Court on the false charge …

Iran-HRM – Student activist Leila Hosseinzadeh has been summoned to Evin Court to begin serving her prison term. According to the summons Leila Hosseinzadeh was ordered to appear at the court within 5 days. Leila Hosseinzadeh, a student of anthropology at Tehran University, was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment on the charge of “assembly and collusion with the intention of acting against …

RFL/RE – After completing a five-year sentence in 1987, Mehrzad Dashtbani was summoned to the “freedom room,” an in-house court at Iran’s Gohardasht Prison that decided if an inmate could be freed. But instead of securing his release papers from the facility located outside the capital, Tehran, Dashtbani’s visit earned him a personal beating from a prison official known only …

CHRI – The death of Iranian poet Baktash Abtin today in Tehran after contracting COVID-19 in Evin Prison is the result of the Iranian judiciary chief’s inhumane treatment of prisoners and the government’s refusal to hold responsible officials accountable. Abtin, who died after being put into an induced coma while hospitalized, is the second known political prisoner to die in Iran in …

RFL/RE – Jailed Iranian poet and filmmaker Baktash Abtin has died in a hospital in Tehran, the Iranian Writers Association has reported. Abtin’s death, which was announced on January 8, came after the 48-year-old was recently placed in a medically induced coma while attempting to recover from a severe case of COVID-19. Abtin suffered from coronary heart disease, and after …

Iranwire – On January 6, a deadline set by four foreign nations for Tehran to join talks over reparations for the Flight 752 disaster officially passed. Prior to this, it has emerged, the Islamic Republic had already stated its unwillingness to engage. In a joint statement issued on Thursday, the countries that make up the International Coordination and Response Group for Flight 752 – Canada, Ukraine, …

Iranwire – The Writers’ Association of Iran has condemned the ongoing incarceration of four of its members, all four of whom recently came down with Covid-19, alleging medical negligence by the authorities and calling their treatment a continuation of the chain murders. On Thursday, January 6, the Association once again called for the immediate release of Baktash Abtin, Keyvan Bajan, Reza Khandan Mahabadi, …