Human rights

Radiozmaneh – Political prisoners in the Greater Tehran Prison System have started a mass hunger strike to demand being released from prisons due to the rapid spread of coronavirus infections in Iran. Some inmates have tested positive inside Iranian overpopulated prisons. The prison authorities are only transferring inmates from ward to ward as a solution and not implementing the social …

Iran-HRM – Political prisoner Soheil Arabi experienced serious heart problem on Saturday, March 21, and was transferred to the dispensary of the Greater Tehran Penitentiary. He was supposed to be sent to hospital but prison authorities have prevented it. Mr. Arabi has been told that there are no soldiers and ambulances in the prison, and he must be transferred to hospital …

Iran-HRM – Prisoners at risk of Coronavirus infection rebelled in two western Iranian prisons, some managing to escape. Friday night, March 20, 2020, prisoners in the Central Prison of Aligoudarz, in the western province of Lorestan, rebelled and disarmed some of prison guards, attempting to escape.  Clashes ensued between guards and prisoners at risk of Coronavirus infection, extending outside the …

Iran-HRM – Forty political prisoners in the Greater Tehran Penitentiary have started a hunger strike since Monday, March 16, 2020 to protest Judiciary officials’ rejection of granting leaves to political prisoners and prisoners of conscience after the spread of Coronavirus to prisons. Protesting inmates include those arrested in the protests in November 2019. The political prisoners announced their hunger strike in a …

RFL/RE – Two former detainees released in a prisoner swap between France and Iran have returned to their home countries after each having spent months in confinement.French researcher Roland Marchal arrived in Paris on March 21, with his support group releasing a short statement saying, “Roland has returned.”Meanwhile, Iranian engineer Jallal Rohollahnejad, who is wanted in the United States, arrived …

Shabtabnews – Yesterday, -– Ambassador Sam Brownback , the US Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom , stated in a Twitter message that he demanded in light of widespread epidemic in Iran all those imprisoned because of their religious faiths be released. Tweets by IRF_Ambassador

RFL/RE – Iran has released a French researcher held since last year in an apparent prisoner swap for an Iranian engineer held in France for more than a year, Iranian state media report. Iranian state broadcaster IRIB reported on March 20 that Jalal Rohollahnejad, who was detained by France in February 2019 under a U.S. extradition warrant, had been released.The …

RFL/RE – A U.S. Navy veteran detained in Iran for allegedly insulting Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and posting private information online has been released on medical furlough. Michael White (right) poses with his mother in Washington in an undated photo. Californian Michael White had been serving a 13-year sentence following his arrest in 2018, the State Department said in …

Iran Human Rights (IHR) – Death-row prisoner Alireza Sa’daei was hanged at Zanjan prison on March 11, 2020.  According to IHR sources, Alireza Sa’daei was executed on the morning of Wednesday, March 11, at the central prison of Zanjan city, Iran. He was sentenced to qisas (retribution) for murdering his cousin four years ago. The plaintiff was Alireza’s own paternal …

RFL/RE – The Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) says that at least three political activists in Tehran’s Evin prison have joined imprisoned human rights activist Nasrin Sotoudeh’s hunger strike demanding freedom for all political prisoners. Sotoudeh’s hunger strike was launched after Iranian judicial officials announced the temporary release of 85,000 inmates to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus, which …