Why an Iranian Rights Violator Isn’t in Prison

Iran’s Judiciary Prosecutes Activists, Ignores Abusers

Tara Sepehri Far

Iran Researcher@sepehrifar

Tehran Prosecutor General Saeed Mortazavi speaks to journalists during a news conference in Tehran April 19, 2009.

 © 2009 Reuters

It seems that an infamous Iranian prosecutor – someone sentenced to two years in prison for complicity in the death of one person arrested during Iran’s 2009 anti-government protests – has vanished before he could even be arrested. At least, that is what a spokesperson from Iran’s judiciary said on Thursday.

Iran: Jailed Rights Defender Ailing

Free Hospitalized Peaceful Activist

 

(Beirut) – Iranian authorities should immediately release Golrokh Iraee, a human rights defender hospitalized in Tehran, Human Rights Watch said today. Iraee was sentenced to six years in prison in April 2015 on charges solely related to her peaceful activism, after an unfair trial.

Iran: Crackdown on Dervish Minority

Mass Arrests at Protest; Death in Custody

(Beirut) – Iranian authorities arrested over 300 members of the minority Dervish Muslim community in late February 2018 after police forcibly tried to break up a protest. The events in February stemmed from what appears to be an intensified crackdown on the Dervish minority, including likely ramped-up surveillance of the group’s leader.

EXPAND

Police Forces at the scene of the clashes, Tehran, Iran February 19, 2018. 

 © 2018 Majzooban-e-Noor

The ensuing clashes left dozens of people injured and at least three police officers and one Basij member dead. One arrested protester died in custody in unexplained circumstances. The Iranian authorities should immediately release those held or charge them with a recognizable crime. The authorities should also allow for an independent investigation into possible use of excessive force during the clashes.

Children Main Victims of Iran’s “Temporary Marriages”

Thursday, 8 March 2018KUROSH BAHRAMI

For more than three decades, temporary marriage has been a controversial topic in the Islamic Republic of Iran. And when, in mid-1985, Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani promoted it as a way of strengthening “chastity” in the Iranian society as part of his Friday Prayers sermons, it became more widely discussed and debated.

Child Marriage or Child Rape?

Thursday, 5 April 2018
AIDA QAJAR

Child marriage is a central theme in the latest season of the TV series Capital that is being aired by the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB). But many of the show’s viewers, whether children’s rights activists or just commenters on social media, have criticized this; they say that the storyline follows the policies and attitudes of the Islamic Republic, allowing under-age marriage, and that national television is now promoting these ideas. Children’s rights activists especially say that child marriage is just a mask for child molestation.