Human rights

Iran-HRM – In summer of 1988, over 30,000 political prisoners were summarily executed throughout Iran, based on a Fatwa (religious decree) issued by Khomeini. The Fatwa reads, “it is decreed that those who are in prisons throughout the country and remain steadfast in their support for the Monafeqin [Mojahedin MEK/PMOI], are waging war on God and are condemned to execution.” …

Shabtabnews- In a statement IOPHR stated that “the recent harrowing images of the inhumane behaviour of the agents of the ruling regime in Iran in prisons once again reminded the world of the bitter, painful and undeniable reality of the continuous and organized violation of human rights in Iran. These images show the definite violations of the law of the …

Iranwire – On Wednesday, August 25, the Iranian parliament gave its vote of confidence to Mohammad Mehdi Esmaili, President Ebrahim Raisi’s pick for the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance. Raisi’s choice was greeted with anger and dismay by many artists in Iran and the diaspora, some of whom called him “illiterate” and even compared his cultural outlook to that …

RFL/RE – Former inmates, their families, and human rights activists have long complained of mistreatment and torture at Evin prison, a notorious facility in Tehran that is a primary site for political detainees. Regular detainees, as well as surviving political prisoners and other perceived enemies of Iran’s postrevolutionary regime, have alleged torture and other abuse inside its concrete walls to …

Iranwire – As the Iranian authorities move to confiscate properties belonging to six Baha’is in the province of Semnan, a fresh wave of attacks on businesses is being unleashed on the Baha’is of Iran. The Baha’i International Community (BIC) has submitted formal letters of concern United Nations Special Rapporteurs on this development, calling on the UN and other international actors to engage with …

amnesty- Prisoner of conscience Maryam Akbari Monfared has been held in cruel and inhumane conditions in a distant prison in Semnan province far from her family since March 2021, in reprisal for her open letters condemning the Iranian authorities’ human rights violations and seeking truth and justice for her siblings who were forcibly disappeared and extrajudicially executed in secret in …

CHRI – State security agents carried out search operations in the homes of two detained human rights lawyers, Arash Keykhosravi and Mohammad Reza Faghihi, in Tehran eleven days after the lawyers were unlawfully arrested along with colleagues and activists. Keykhosravi and Faghihi along with Mehdi Mahmoudian (civil activist), Mostafa Nili (lawyer), Leila Heydari (lawyer), and Maryam Afrafaraz (civil activist) were arrested in Tehran on August 14, 2021, and their …

CHRI —The refusal by Iran’s Supreme Court to allow a judicial review of the 25-year prison sentence for Vahid Afkari, the brother of wrestling champion Navid Afkari who was unlawfully executed last year, despite evidence of torture, forced false confessions, witness tampering and falsification of evidence, should be reversed, the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) said today. Vahid, who along with a …

Iranwire – After the Islamic Revolution of 1979 and the establishment of the Islamic Republic, an official campaign of harassment and discrimination of non-Shia Muslims got under way. Article 13 of the Islamic Republic constitution technically safeguarded Christianity as one of three recognized minority religions in Iran. But Muslims who converted to Christianity became targets for sustained ill-treatment by the regime. The government’s position is that …

Iran-HRM – Supreme Court turns down Vahid Afkari’s appeal to re-examine his case. Branch 38 of the clerical regime’s Supreme Court turned down the appeal by Vahid Afkari for re-examination of his case. Political prisoner Vahid Afkari is imprisoned in Adelabad Prison of Shiraz. His lawyer, Saeed Dehghan, posted a notice saying, “It would have sufficed to just glance through …