Human rights

CHRI – Prominent Human Rights Defender Was Facing Decades in Prison, Sentence Unclear The Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) forcefully condemns the conviction of prominent Iranian defense attorney Nasrin Sotoudeh in a court process sorely lacking in international standards of due process. “No amount of spin will be able to conceal the fact that Sotoudeh is being persecuted for …

CHRI – Following is the statement by the United Nations Environment Programme: UN Environment continues to be concerned by the on-going detentions, and reported trials, of eight environmental workers in Iran, and has shared its concerns with the authorities in Tehran. Information we have recently received that some detainees may not have adequate access to legal counsel and representation is deeply …

CHRI – Responding to news of an autistic child being treated inhumanely in a school, Iranian officials blamed the child and the parents for not putting their kids in a learning institute for “special” children. But according to the testimonies of dozens of parents of autistic children in Iran, the “special” schools are poorly equipped to care for and support …

sciencemag – With the fates of eight conservationists jailed in Iran on espionage charges hanging in the balance, a campaign to win their freedom is picking up steam. For more than a year, colleagues and family members have been quietly lobbying Iran’s government and Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei for the detainees’ release. But now, with closed trials proceeding in Tehran, …

Radiofarda – A third round of nationwide teachers’ strikes in Iran entered its third day March 5, with teachers across the country holding sit-ins in their school principals’ offices to demand better pay, the right to form unions, and the freeing of all jailed teachers’ rights activists. The three-day strike was organized by the Coordinating Council of Teachers Syndicates in …

Iran-HRM – Mostafa Pourmohammadi, former Iran’s Justice Minister in Hassan Rouhani’s cabinet, has acknowledged his involvement in the killings of dissidents during the horrendous 1988 massacre of over 30,000 political prisoners. Pourmohammadi was the Intelligence Ministry’s representative on one of the three-member committees in charge of interrogating political prisoners prior to the 1988 executions. The committee, dubbed the “death commission,” questioned …

VOA – Iranian teachers have begun their fourth peaceful nationwide protest since October to demand better working conditions for their poorly paid profession and the release of jailed education activists. Iranian teachers join a nationwide teachers’ strike in the northwestern city of Marivan, March 4, 2019. They held protest signs calling for the release of detained teachers’ rights activists and …

CHRI – Environmentalist Afshin Sheikholeslami Vatani, a US permanent resident, was arrested on February 17, 2019, at his father’s home in the city of Sanandaj, the capital of Iran’s Kurdistan Province, a month after returning to the country from the United States, his sister informed the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI). “Our parents, uncle and some repairmen were …

Iran-HRM -Ebrahim Raisi who was involved in extra-judicial killings of political prisoners in the late 1980s in Iran will be Iran’s next Judiciary Chief, replacing Sadeq Amoli Larijani. The spokesperson for Iran’s Judiciary has confirmed that Raisi who is considered a person who is trusted by the country’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei is appointed as the head of the Judiciary. Gholamhossein Mohseni …

Iran-HRM – An investigation into a dossier of crimes committed by the Iranian dictators has been called for, as a result of a statement issued by Amnesty International and published by the United Nations General Assembly. According to the statement, “Between late July and September 1988, the Iranian authorities forcibly disappeared and extrajudicially executed thousands of prisoners for their political …