Human rights

Amensty – Eight detained conservationists could face the death penalty or long prison sentences, following a grossly unfair trial in which they were accused of trumped-up spying charges. Their charges stem solely from their conservation activities including carrying out research into Iran’s endangered wildlife. They have said they were subjected to torture and other ill-treatment. View report in English https://www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/MDE1399782019ENGLISH.pdf

Radiofarda – Two political prisoners in Tehran have said that they are still being denied access to medical treatment despite claims by Iranian authorities, according to the Defenders of Human Rights Center (DHRC). Narges Mohammadi and Iranian-British Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who are being held at Tehran’s Evin Prison, have warned that if their demands are not met they will stage a …

Radiofarda – A former ally and now a vocal opponent of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has been sentenced to three years in jail and ordered to read and copy three books. Abolfazl Qadyani (Ghadyani) who was a staunch revolutionary in the 1970’s and 80’s has become a critic of Khamenei calling him to step down and rejecting the concept …

Iranian police have arrested a couple for “outraging public decency” after they got engaged in front of a crowd at a shopping mall.Video of the public proposal in the western city of Arak appeared on social media on March 8, showing the pair standing amid rose petals in a heart shape on the floor. Sobhan Hassanvand✔@Hassanvand Man publicly proposes to …

Iran Human Rights- A prisoner was executed for murder charges on February 13, 2019, at Qazvin Central Prison (Also known as Chubin-Dar Prison). According to a report published by Kurdistan Human Rights Network, a man identified as Ali Shakouri, was executed at Qazvin Central Prison on February 13, 2019. Ali was from Tarzilu village, near Urmia city in northwestern Iran.  …

CHRI – Iran’s Intelligence Ministry is pressing new charges against prominent Azeri ethnic rights activist Abbas Lesani, claiming he has been organizing protests from inside the prison in the city of Ardabil where he is incarcerated. Since January 15, 2019, the 57-year-old activist has been serving a 10-month prison sentence in the capital of Ardabil Province, 373 miles northwest of …

CHRI – Education Minister Claims Strikers Wrongly Teaching Students How to Protest Thousands of teachers went on strike throughout Iran for the third time in less than a year March 3-5, 2019, to demand fair pay, the release of their imprisoned colleagues and free, universal education. “The most important reason for the strike is that the government does not feel obligated to implement Article 30 of …

Radiofarda -Radio Farda’s Hannah Kaviani has interviewed Jonathan Franks the spokesperson for Michael White’s mother, Joanne White. Michael White, 46, has been held since July, and is the first known American to have been detained in Iran since Donald Trump became president two years ago. Hannah Kaviani got in touch with Franks through a crowdfunding campaign trying to raise money …

Radiofarda – Reports on social media say that two women in Kangavar, western Iran have been arrested for removing their headscarves in public. Image grab from a video showing two women in Kangavar, Kermanshah province walking in the street without headscarf. Undated Hijab or head scarf with all-body cover is obligatory for women in Iran. But since December 2017 there …

VOA — Britain will hand diplomatic protection to British-Iranian aid worker Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe to underline the government’s belief that Iran has behaved unjustly in its treatment of her, foreign minister Jeremy Hunt said on Thursday. Hunt said while the move, a little-used way for governments to seek protection on behalf of their nationals, was unlikely to be a “magic wand,” …