Human rights

Iranwire – In April, authorities handed down a 40-year jail sentence to Kurdish political prisoner Mohammad Moradi on charges of “rebellion through membership to an opposition party and returning to Iran to carry out armed operations.” But when Moradi, who is from Piranshahr county in West Azerbaijan, decided to return to Iran in 2018, he was given assurances by the local intelligence …

Iranwire – Ward 4 of Iran’s notorious Evin Prison is reserved for people charged with security-related and espionage offences – and of course, hostages being held on this pretext. Anousheh Ashouri, a British-Iranian dual national, is one of them. The father-of-two, a businessman aged 67, was sentenced by the regime to 10 years in prison in 2019 on spurious charges …

Iranwire – The years 1988 to 1994 witnessed the stratospheric rise of Ebrahim Raeesi from middling to senior member of the Iranian judiciary. His membership on Ayatollah Khomenei’s death panel, which sent thousands of political prisoner to their deaths in 1988, effectively turbo-charged the now-presidential frontrunner’s career. It appears, however, that Raeesi himself is conflicted about his decisive role in the massacre. The …

Iranwire – Sixteen political and civil activists who had previously been held in solitary confinement in prison have filed a lawsuit against Islamic Republic officials responsible for their treatment, the Center for Human Rights Defenders reported on Thursday, May 27. The case emphasizes that holding people in solitary confinement for prolonged periods is considered to be torture under international law, and …

Al-Monitor – “It is a targeted practice. The interrogators are given special training to systematically break the morale of jailed women,” stated Iranian rights advocate Narges Mohammadi. She was recounting details of how dissident women are subject to various forms of mistreatment during interrogation by Iran’s Intelligence Ministry and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Addressing a meeting on the social media …

Iranwire – Ebrahim Raeesi is now the frontrunner in Iran’s June 2021 presidential election, all of whose credible conservative rivals have been disqualified by the Guardian Council. This report examines some of the more under-reported details of his life and career to date, from birth in a famous district of Mashhad to becoming a member of Ayatollah Khomeini’s infamous death …

Iranwire – Days after being hit with another risible 30-month jail sentence, veteran Iranian human rights activist Narges Mohammadi has taken to Clubhouse to speak out against the abuse of female prisoners by the Iranian regime. Speaking on Wednesday night in a chatroom entitled “Female Political Prisoners: from Humiliation and Sexual Assault to Corporal Punishment”, Mohammadi told the audience about …

Iranwire – “I was born into a religious family, and was 13 or 14 years old when I realized. I don’t know how my family didn’t notice – or maybe they did, but they pretended not to. Unlike the other boys, who loved cars, balls and boisterous play, I always liked playing with dolls.” Shahnaz is a transgender woman in …

Iran-HRM Authorities intensified pressures and harassment of Iranian journalists and reporters to silence criticism of state policies. There are numerous reports that the intelligence agents in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) have contacted several social media activists, threatening them not to post content that criticizes Iran’s Chief Justice and presidential candidate Ebrahim Raisi, otherwise they will be in “trouble”. Several …

Iran-HRM – Iran court sentences six Baha’is citizens to 73 years of prison A revolutionary court in Iran has sentenced six Baha’i citizens to a total of 73 years and 6 months in prison. Borhan Esmaili, Maryam Bashir, Faranak Sheikhi, Hayedeh Ram, Minoo Bashir and Derna Esmaili, six Baha’i citizens living in Shiraz and Borazjan, were sentenced by the Revolutionary …