Human rights

CHRI – Political prisoners in Iran, long subjected to especially harsh treatment in Iran’s prisons, have been largely left out of the furloughs (temporary leaves from prison) typically granted to many prisoners for Nowruz, the Iranian new year that began on March 20, 2021. With a handful of exceptions, the vast majority of those who went home for the new year holidays …

Iran Human Rights (IHR)- A prisoner named Asef Taghinejad who had been sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder, was executed in Tabriz Central Prison in early March. According to Hrana news agency, a man was executed in Tabriz Central Prison on the morning of March 8. His identity has been established as Asef Taghinejad, who was from the village of Aruq in …

Al-Monitor – Following Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s speech on the important issues facing the country in the upcoming year, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps announced plans to form groups to make sure these issues are prioritized. In an open letter to Khamenei following the start of the Iranian new year on March 20, Hossein Salami announced the formation of the Headquarters for …

Iran-HRM – 18 Jailed dissidents at Raja’i Shahr Prison of Karaj wrote an open letter on March 21, protesting the exile of political prisoners and opening new cases against them. The letter, a copy of which was sent to Iran Human Rights Monitor, states: “during the last months, despite all the claims by the highest judiciary authorities about complying with …

Iran-HRM – Political prisoner Afshin Baymani has been denied medical treatment despite experiencing heart complications. Vaziri, the Prosecutor’s special assistant for political prisoners’ affairs has refused to authorize his transfer to a hospital against doctors’ advice. On Saturday, March 20, 2021, the political prisoner who is serving a life sentence in Raja’i Shahr Prison of Karaj, was transferred to the …

Iran-HRM – A Kurdish man was killed in a police shooting on Monday on Khorramabad Road in western Iran. According to Hengaw Kurdish website, the man was identified as Mohammad Sadeghi. The state security forces opened fire at the Kurdish man’s car on suspicion of transporting smuggled goods. This is while Mohammad Sadeghi’s car was empty and he was not …

Shabtabnews – Iran Working Group, International Religious Freedom Office Iran in a statement calls on the ruling regime in Iran to respect religious freedom. The statement declared that : “Since the inception of the ruling regime in Iran, a persistent theme of oppression has been the intensification of the persecution of religious minorities during times of particular significance for these …

Shabtabnews – The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) applauds the coordinated sanctions that the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the European Union imposed against Chinese officials Wang Junzheng, Secretary of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (XPCC), and Chen Mingguo, Director of the Xinjiang Public Security Bureau (XPSB), under the Global Magnitsky Act for committing …

Shabtabnews – IOPHR issued a statement regarding the Dire Health Condition of Teachers’ Rights Activist Mr. Hashem Khastar. The statement declared: “Once again, the IOPHR would like to draw the attention of all international organisations to the plight of prisoners of conscience and political prisoners in Iranian prisons, especially Mr. Hashem Khastar – the imprisoned teacher and activist, who has …

Iranwire – Eighteen political prisoners detained in Rajaei Shahr Prison in Karaj have published an open letter protesting the authorities’ recent deportation and transfer of political prisoners and filing new cases against them. In the letter, the prisoners of conscience refute recent claims by judiciary head Ebrahim Raeesi that prisoners’ rights are upheld in Iran. These statements, they say, were …