Human rights

Iran-HRM -As the eighth Women’s World Cup was being started in France on June 7, 2019, female football fans were punched and beaten by security guards outside the famous Azadi Stadium in Tehran for seeking to watch the game between the national teams of Iran and Syria. The Women’s World Cup kicked off with nine teams from Europe, six teams from …

Radiofarda – New legislation passed by the Iranian Parliament approved death sentence for perpetrators of “acid attacks aimed at bringing about terror and instability in the society.” Dozens of women in Iran have been attacked with acid in recent years by family members or presumably by hardline supporters of the compulsory hijab. Ministry of Health statistics puts acid attacks at …

Iran-HRM – Iran has introduced 2,000 new morality police units in Gilan Province, northern Iran, to issue “verbal and physical” warnings to the locals to counter what the regime officials call an “increasing defiance” of the compulsory wearing of hijabs. Mohammad Abdollahpour, the commander of the Gilan Quds Force, announced on June 4 that a new “chapter of promoting virtue …

Radiofarda – Authorities in Iran have shut down a nonprofit high school in the city of Mahabad, northwestern Iran, for holding a mixed-gender traditional Kurdish dance party. With an estimated population of 200,000, Mahabad is a mainly Sunni Kurd city. The representative of the city of Urmia, the capital of West Azerbaijan Province, confirmed the closure of the school after …

Iran Human Rights (IHR) – Political prisoner Kianoosh Sanjari is denied a furlough despite the forensic physicians’ recommendation. According to IHR sources, Kianoosh Sanjari, while in prison, has been sent examined medical experts and forensics to assess his health condition. Forensics have officially reported to the judiciary that he cannot tolerate the imprisonment and must be treated outside the prison. …

CHRI – Rights Activist Remains in Prison with Dangerous Post-Op Infection Husband Reports Mohammadi Is Being Denied Antibiotics June 7, 2019 – The Iranian authorities must immediately transfer prominent human rights activist Narges Mohammadi to a hospital for full and proper medical care, the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) said in a statement today. CHRI is deeply concerned by reports …

CHRI – A group of Haft Tappeh sugar mill workers in the city of Ahvaz, Khuzestan Province, have submitted an official complaint to the International Labor Organization (ILO) about the ongoing suppression of protests there and detentions of peaceful demonstrators and journalists covering the protests. “We hereby submit a brief report and our official complaint for your consideration to condemn the …

Radiofarda – The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has strongly condemned the sentencing of Iranian journalist Masoud Kazemi on national security charges and called for his immediate release. Kazemi on June 3 was sentenced to 4 1/2 years in prison for “spreading misinformation” and “insulting” the country’s supreme leader and authorities. He was also banned from “media activities” …

VOA – Iran has taken new steps against two detained journalists who covered domestic labor unrest and government corruption, sending one to a notorious women’s prison and sentencing another to a two-year jail term. Two human rights groups said Iranian journalist Sepideh Ghaliyan, who covered labor issues in the southwestern city of Ahvaz, was transferred to Qarchak women’s prison near …

Amnesty – Responding to the news that Iranian human rights lawyer Amirsalar Davoudi has been sentenced to 30 years in prison and 111 lashes for his human rights work, including publicizing violations through a channel he set up on the Telegram mobile messaging app and giving media interviews, Amnesty International’s Research and Advocacy Director for the Middle East and North …