Human rights

Iran-HRM – The scale of the crimes the Iranian regime committed in cracking down on Iran protests in November becomes more evident every day. More than 1,500 have been killed by security forces, plainclothes agents and Revolutionary Guards. Over 4,000 have been wounded and at least 12,000 arrested and detained. Actual figures must be considered much higher. Many cases have not been registered due …

WASHINGTON — The United States is implementing additional restrictive measures on Iran for what it says are ongoing human rights abuses, following a deadly crackdown last month on protesters in Tehran and more than 100 other cities and towns.At a panel discussion on the topic in Washington that he hosted, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on December 19 …

RFL/RE — European lawmakers have passed a resolution denouncing the “widespread and disproportionate” use of force by Iranian security forces against nonviolent protesters. The nonbinding resolution adopted on December 19 demands that all protesters, human rights defenders, and journalists currently held behind bars “for exercising their legitimate rights to freedom of expression and assembly” be released unconditionally.Iran is facing international …

VOA – Reporters Without Borders (RSF) says it is “appalled” by a Tehran court’s decision to uphold prison sentences for four journalists from the Gam (Step) online magazine. However, the appeals court in Tehran reduced the length of the jail terms from 18 to five years for each journalist — Amirhossein Mohammadifard, Sanaz Allahyari, Amir Amirgholi, and Assal Mohammadi — …

Amnesty – Detained labour rights activist Bakhtiar Rahimi, from Iran’s Kurdish minority, was arrested on 27 November 2019 in Marivan, Kurdistan province. Bakhtiar Rahimi has serious heart and kidney conditions for which he needs daily medication. The Iranian authorities have denied him access to a lawyer and permitted him only one very brief phone call to his family since his …

CHRI – Azar Mirzapour Zahabi, a 48-year-old nurse and mother of four, was killed by a bullet to the heart in the Golshahr district of Karaj on November 16, 2019, while Iranian authorities were repressing protests there, her sister told the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI). Zahabi’s sister, who asked not to be named for privacy reasons, told …

Radiofarda – Iran’s notorious riot police known as the Special Unit rushed in on Wednesday to disperse angry football (soccer) fans outside the headquarters of Esteghlal Football club in Tehran. The fans were chanting slogans against the club officials and the sports minister for failing to return Andrea Stramacchioni, the Italian coach of the team, who quit and left the …

Radiofarda – More than a month after the start of the latest round of anti-government protests in Iran, security forces are still arresting people in various cities. The Police Chief in Kermanshah, Ali Akbar Javidan said on Wednesday December 18 that 250 more protesters have been arrested in that city. Elsewhere in Iran officials broke the news on Tuesday about …

RFL/RE – Covered in black and holding a picture of her son, a blogger who died seven years ago in police custody, Gohar Eshghi trudged slowly with a cane into the home of Nahid Shirpisheh, whose son was shot dead in last month’s violent crackdown on nationwide gas-price protests. Eshghi’s son, Sattar Beheshti, was killed in 2012 while being detained …

CHRI – Sixteen mothers whose children were killed amid violent state crackdowns on street protests have called for Iranians to observe a minute of silence for the victims on December 26, 2019. “We, the mothers, will not remain silent,” they said in a statement published on December 17, 2019, that also called on Iranian authorities to allow the UN to visit the country …