Human rights

CHRI – Iranian actress Matin Sotudeh was summoned to the Guidance Court in Tehran for her attire at the premiere of “Maskharehbaz” (English title: “A Hairy Affair”) in the capital city on October 10, 2019. Matin Sotudeh (middle) was dressed in a hijab and buttoned-up, long-sleeved tunic that was tucked into belted pants at her October 10 red-carpet appearance in Tehran. Sotudeh’s neck-covering hijab, with …

AP – Iran’s foreign ministry says it has sent a list of names it is demanding in a prisoner swap Tehran is proposing with the United States and other Western nations. Babak Namazi, the brother of a prisoner in Iran Siamak Namazi, and Richard Ratcliffe, the husband of detained Nazanin Zaghari Ratcliffe, in a press conference in New York, on …

Radiofarda – Iranian police in the city of Arak in the Central Province attacked Azar Ab Industry workers during a gathering marking the second week of their walk-out Sunday October 20. The police attacked the workers with tear gas and arrested scores of them, semi-official news agency ISNA reported. The workers blocked the North-South railway for several hours, but the …

Iran-HRM – Two political prisoners have gone on hunger strike to protest their harsh prison sentences. Ibrahim Khalil Sedighi Hamedani and his son, Salar, have gone on hunger strike in Urmia Central Prison in northwest Iran, since September 25, protesting being sentenced to a total of 38 years in prison. The judge presiding over this jail, by the name of …

Iran-HRM – Prison authorities in Rajai Shahr Prison have not allowed a political prisoner to receive proper medical treatment in a hospital outside the prison. The political prisoner, Majid Assadi is suffering from various illnesses, including severe pain in his spine and digestive problems which have intensified as a result of prison authorities’ continued hindering of his medical process. Prison authorities …

Iran Human Rights (IHR) – A man was hanged at the central prison of the Iranian city of Zanjan last Tuesday. According to IHR sources, on the morning of Tuesday, October 15, prisoner Bahman Parvizi was hanged at Zanjan prison.  “Bahman was arrested along with two others five years ago for having 65 kilograms of drugs,” the source told IHR, …

gatestoneinstitute.org – The end of First World War left the Kurds in an even worse situation than before. President Woodrow Wilson’s promise of “self-determination” was soon forgotten, leaving behind the dream of independence on the Kurdish side and the fear of Kurdish secession in the Ottoman camp as reconstituted as the Turkish Republic under Mustafa Kemal pasha (Ataturk). The best …

Radiofarda – A prominent Iraqi blogger resurfaced Friday a day after he was seized by masked gunmen, his father said, as Amnesty International denounced a “climate of fear” in the country after protests and deadly violence. Shujaa al-Khafaji’s family said armed men had snatched him from his home on Thursday without identifying themselves or showing an arrest warrant. Khafaji’s Facebook …

Iran-HRM – Lack of infrastructure and mismanagement of the water supply network has created water crisis in Sistan and Baluchestan province. A Sistan and Baluchestan village water official said in July 2019 that close to half of the province lacked water supply networks. Abdolahad Rigi, the head of the Sistan and Baluchestan Rural Water and Sewage Company told the ILNA state-run News Agency that …

Radiozamaneh – Atefeh Rangriz, a 30-year-old female political labor prisoner has gone on a hunger strike in prison to protest the Iranian Judiciary’s treatment of her case and the violations of her rights in prison. Atefeh Rangriz has been sentenced to 11.5-years in prison and 74 lashes for taking part in a labor protest in front of the Iranian Parliament. …