Human rights

RFL/RE – The editor in chief and a social-media administrator of Iran’s semiofficial ILNA news agency were detained last week over a cartoon deemed insulting to the country’s leadership. The cartoon, which appeared to mock Iran’s highest authority, was reportedly removed from ILNA’s Telegram channel shortly after being posted. ILNA’s editor in chief, Masud Heydari, has been released on bail …

VOA – Iran appears to have shown little public or private support for 12 Iranians accused or convicted of crimes in the U.S., despite pledging to work for the release of such citizens four months ago in another potential prisoner swap with Washington.   The last, rare prisoner exchange between the two longtime foes happened December 7, when Iran freed Chinese American academic Xiyue Wang …

Iran Human Rights (IHR) – Two men were hanged for murder charges at Sanandaj prison, Kurdistan province, on March 24, 2020. Death row prisoners Ramyar Mokhles and Vahed Feizi were hanged at the central prison of Sanandaj city, Kurdistan province, on Friday, March 24. They were both sentenced to qisas (retribution in-kind) for murder charges.  According to the Kurdistan Human …

Radiofarda – A court of appeals has upheld a one-year jail sentence for a novelist for publishing a novel in France two years ago to avoid censorship in Iran, and publishing articles in a Netherlands-based website. According to an announcement by his brother, the Revolutionary Court of Tehran that passed the one-year jail sentence, had also found the novelist Hamid …

Radiofarda – The sister of an award-winning university student has released a video demanding an explanation from Iran’s security organs for the April 10 arrest of her brother. Ali Younesi who was the winner of the gold medal in the International Astronomy Olympiad in 2017 in China is twenty years old and a fourth-year physics student in Tehran’s Sharif Industrial University. Twelve …

Iran-HRM – The verdict to dismissal of activist teacher Mohammad Habibi was upheld by the Appeals Court on April 20, 2020 and his lawyer was informed. Mohammad Habibi is imprisoned in the Greater Tehran Penitentiary. After nearly two years of remaining in detention, the Education Ministry has decided to fire this activist teacher. Throughout this period, experts said Mr. Habibi deserved …

Iran-HRM – The coronavirus outbreak in Ardabil prison has endangered the lives of prisoners.A prisoner held at Ardebil Prison who was suspected of having contracted Covid-19 was taken to to the city’s Khomeini Hospital on Wednesday, April 22. Two days earlier, the inmate had been taken to the prison’s clinic with Covid-19 symptoms. But he was only checked for fever …

Radiofarda – Days after Amnesty International published a report on the high number of executions in Iran and several other countries, human rights monitors say Iran has executed three more people in minority-populated provinces. Abdul Vahed Faizi and Ramyar (Payam) Mokhless, both from Baneh, were executed in Sanandaj Central Prison on Friday morning, according to the Hengaw human rights website …

Iran-HRM – Iranian authorities executed a Baluchi political prisoner today in Zahedan, in Southeast Iran.Abdulvaset Dahani, 30, charged with moharebeh (enmity with God) was hanged today in Zhedan Prison. He had been on death row since four year ago.His family were allowed to go to the prison on Wednesday for a final visit.Abdulvaset Dahani was arrested in June 2016 and was later …

Iran Human Right (IHR) – From January 1 to April 23, 2020, at least 84 people have been executed in Iran. It is higher than the similar time period in 2019 and 2018. At least 33 people have been hanged in Iran after Coronavirus pandemic reached the country. Since the government forbids gathering to avoid physical contacts and further spread of …