Human rights

iranintl – The Campaign to Free Political Prisoners in Iran (CFPPI) says use of pharmacological torture against political prisoners has increased alarmingly in the past year. The Canada-based non-profit has urged the international community to investigate this type of torture and deaths resulting from it in Iran. “The Islamic regime in Iran must be held accountable for its crimes against …

RFL/RE – The United States has imposed sanctions on dozens of people in several countries, including in Afghanistan, China, and Iran, cracking down on human rights abuses ahead of Human Rights Day on December 10. The U.S. Treasury Department in a statement on December 8 said it had imposed sanctions on 20 people over human rights abuses in nine countries. The actions …

RFL/RE – Prominent Iranian opposition figure Zahra Rahnavard says the government crackdown on students angry over a lack of freedoms and enforcement of rules such as a dress code is “unprecedented” but ultimately will fail to stifle the dissent. Rahnavard, who has been under house arrest for over 13 years along with her husband, Mir Hossein Musavi, made the comments in a …

Iranwire – The Islamic Republic’s authorities have barred the family of Mahsa Amini from leaving Iran to attend a ceremony in France, where she is to be honored with the prestigious Sakharov Prize, IranWire reports.  Hours before Amini’s family was set to depart for France on December 8, authorities at Imam Khomeini International Airport prevented them from boarding their flight. …

Iranwire – The authorities in Iran have taken down the Instagram page of a pensioner after a video clip of him dancing on the street in the northern city of Rasht had gone viral.  Police deleted all the posts on his page and posted a message reading, “This page was blocked due to the publication of criminal content.” 🎞️ The …

iranintl – The Iranian Writers’ Association says combatting censorship, a significant tool of suppression, is crucial to safeguarding freedom of speech against government tyranny. The statement, issued on the Day Against Censorship on December 4 by the long-banned Iranian Writers’ Association (IWA) on Facebook, asserts that censorship has been a decisive instrument over the past four decades to suppress writers, …

Iranwire – Branch 1 of the Revolutionary Court in Sari, northern Iran, has sentenced three Baha’i citizens to prison, fines, and bans on educational activities for establishing a kindergarten that used the Montessori educational method.  The court’s ruling labeled the Montessori method as an instrument of Baha’i indoctrination.  According to the court’s verdict, Saha Sabeti received the harshest sentence, with …

Iranwire – The husband of Shirin Alizadeh, a victim of the bloody crackdown on last year’s Woman, Life, Freedom protests, has been acquitted of the charge of spreading “falsehoods.” On November 25, Branch 119 of Isfahan Criminal Court cleared Mohammad Vaziri of the accusation of “publishing falsehoods with the intention of disturbing public order.”  Earlier, Vaziri was sentenced to two …

VOA – The address on the invitation to the winner of this year’s Nobel Peace Prize says it all. “Ms. Narges Mohammadi, c/o Evin Prison, Tehran province, Iran.” Mohammadi, 51, awarded the prize in October in recognition of two decades of work defending human rights in Iran, in defiance of constant persecution by the Islamic republic, remains in prison in …

CHRI – “I will make my voice louder for the world to hear,” says Mohammadi Suffering from Serious Health Issues, Authorities Ban Phone Calls, Visitations December 8, 2023 – Governments worldwide, UN leaders, and human rights organizations should demand the immediate release of Iranian human rights defender Narges Mohammadi, who has been wrongfully imprisoned on fabricated charges and banned by the …