Human rights

Iran-HRM – A court in Iran has sentenced 42 workers of the Azarab factory, to lashes and prison for participating labor protests to demand months of unpaid wages.The workers are from AzarAb Industries in Arak, a large manufacturing and construction company located in the western province of Markazi.The state-run ILNA News Agency reported Wednesday that the 106th Branch of the …

Iran-HRM – Two protesters detained during November 2019 protests were severely beaten by two non-political inmates who have the support of authorities in the Greater Tehran Penitentiary. One of them was stabbed in the side and another in the back. The non-political inmates attacked Ali Ghahremani and Reza Bayat after they objected to the sale of drugs in ward 5 …

CHRI – The family of Hedayatollah (Hedayat) Abdollahpour, a 27-year-old Kurdish-Iranian father of two who was on death row based on false charges since 2018, has been informed of his death weeks after he was secretly executed in western Iran, his father informed the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI). The execution was carried out despite the fact that one of the judges in the case had earlier told Hedayat’s attorney that he was innocent of any wrongdoing and that the death sentence was a result of …

Amnesty – Kamal Hassan Ramezan Soulo, a Syrian Kurd arbitrarily detained in Iran’s West Azerbaijan province, has been at risk of arbitrary execution for three years because ministry of intelligence officials refuse to acknowledge his real identity and instead are torturing and otherwise ill-treating him to make false “confessions” that he took part in an armed attack. They continue to …

CHRI – Freelance reporter Sepideh Qoliyan, issued a five-year sentence for reporting on a peaceful rally by sugar mill workers for unpaid wages, has had to report to prison to begin serving her sentence—even though some of her codefendants were pardoned—after refusing to sign a letter of apology to Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei. Qoliyan, arrested in November 2018 in Shush, southwest Iran, for covering …

csmonitor – Farmer Reza Ashrafi may have considered the death of his 14-year-old daughter Romina in the name of family honor inevitable. But its ability to spark an uproar that is challenging Iranian traditions of patriarchy and improving women’s and children’s rights had to appear unlikely. After all, hundreds of Iranian women die each year in so-called honor killings. Yet …

Variety – Taraneh Alidoosti, star of Asghar Farhadi’s “The Salesman” and one of Iran’s most popular female actors, is set to receive a five-month prison sentence on charges of anti-government activism, BBC Persia has reported. The BBC Persia report cited Alidoosti’s lawyer Kaveh Rad who tweeted that the sentence has been suspended for two years and would be officially announced in …

Radiofarda – In a joint statement on Wednesday, Justice for Iran (JFI) and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) called on Iran to stop using so-called “confessions” and airing them on the state-run television against dissidents. Iranian security forces often use intimidation, ill-treatment and torture to force individuals to appear on television and speak against themselves and others, “repent” …

Radiofarda – Iranian media on Wednesday reported that police in Tehran have arrested three people for selling babies online for adoption. Hossein Rahimi, Chief of Tehran Police, on Wednesday said the Cyberspace Police found out about the scheme and after surveillance arrested three for the crime. At the time of their arrest, the accused had two new-born babies with them. …

Iran-HRM – Adel Asakereh, a civil activist teaching in rural areas in Khuzestan, was sentenced to nine years in jail by the Public and Revolutionary Court of Shadegan, in southwestern Khuzestan Province. Adel Asakereh is charged with “distortion of public opinion”, “insulting the leader, officials and agents” and “acting against national security.” The charges and ensuing verdict are based on …