Sunday 28 October 2018

Prominent Iranian Human Rights Lawyer Returned to Prison عبدالفتاح سلطانی در پی عدم تمدید مرخصی به زندان بازگشت

Prominent Iranian Human Rights Lawyer Returned to Prison

October 28, 2018

Iran Human Rights; October 28, 2018: Abdolfattah Soltani, attorney at law and human rights activist, went back to Evin prison earlier today following the denial of his furlough extension request.

Abdolfattah Soltani had been granted the furlough to attend her young daughter’s funeral on Saturday, August 4, 2018. Despite some hopes that the Islamic Republic authorities might extend his furlough, Mr Soltani went back to prison due to denial of the extension request.

Abdolfattah Soltani was arrested on September 2011 on the charge of “propaganda against the system” for "founding the "Defenders of Human Rights Centre", "gathering and colluding with intent to harm national security", "spreading propaganda against the system" and "accepting an illegal award" (the Nuremberg International Human Rights Award").

Soltani was sentenced to 13 years imprisonment which was reduced to 10 years. Based on Iranian laws, if a defendant is faced with more than one charges, the charge with the highest penalty will be taken into account. However, Mr Soltani has served more than two third of his sentence and technically he could be granted the conditional release.

Abdolfattah Soltani was represented a number of prominent dissidents, civil activists, Bahai minorities and political prisoners prior to his arrest.

Iran Authorities Won’t Explain Why Teachers’ Rights Activist is Being Held Incommunicado in Mental Hospital بازداشت هاشم خواستار و انتقال به بیمارستان روانی توسط سپاه پاسداران: «او هیچ گونه سابقه بیماری روانی ندارد؛ مشخص نیست چه اتفاقی افتاده»


OCTOBER 26, 2018

Iranian authorities have refused to allow the family of a teacher’s rights activist any access to him or provide them with any information about his condition or case after he was arrested and admitted to a psychiatric hospital, the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) has learned.

A close friend of Hashem Khastar told CHRI that the activist has no history of mental illness. It’s also unclear whether Khastar was admitted to the mental hospital against his will after being arrested by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ (IRGC) Intelligence Organization.

Why the Iranian regime must come to an end چرا رژیم ایران باید پایان یابد؟

Iranian members of the revolutionary guards. Picture: BEHROUZ MEHRI/AFP/Getty Images)

October 28, 2018

A recent New European article suggested the sudden downfall of the Iranian regime could create more problems than it solves. Former MEP Struan Stevenson disagrees.

It is incredible that some commentators on Iran still believe that “quiet, calculated diplomatic pressure on the current regime to change some of its practices…” may somehow end the brutal repression, corruption and human rights abuse that the Iranian people have suffered for 40 years. This was the view of Paul Knott, in his recent New European article, arguing that the downfall of the regime in Tehran might not be in the world’s best interests.

UN Rights Expert Urges Iran to End Death Penalty for Minors کارشناس حقوق بشر ایران از ایران خواست تا مجازات مرگ برای افراد زیر سن قانونی را لغو کند

Javaid Rehman, U.N. special rapporteur on human rights in Iran, briefs journalists at U.N. headquarters in New York, Oct. 24, 2018. (E. Schneider/U.N. photo)

October 24, 2018

UNITED NATIONS — 

The U.N. independent expert on human rights in Iran urged Tehran on Wednesday to abolish the death penalty for juveniles.
"I appeal to the Iranian authorities to abolish the practice of sentencing children to death, and to commute all death sentences issued against children in line with international law," Javaid Rehman, special rapporteur for human rights in Iran, told a General Assembly human rights committee.

Execution of juvenile convicts violates international law and contravenes the Convention of the Rights of the Child and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

Tuesday 23 October 2018

Iran Executions: Prisoner Hanged at Sirjan Prisonاعدام یک زندانی در سیرجان

Iran Executions: Prisoner Hanged at Sirjan Prison

October 23, 2018

Iran Human Rights; October 22, 2018: A prisoner was executed on a murder charge at Sirjan Central Prison last Thursday. Sirjan is a city and the capital of Sirjan County in the Iranian province of Kerman.

According to HRANA, on the morning of October 18, 2018, a prisoner was hanged at Sirjan Prison. He is identified as Hassan Nosratabadi, 37. Hassan killed a person while trying to rob a home two years ago.

He was sentenced to qisas (retribution in kind) and the execution was carried out at Sirjan prison.

The Iranian media outlets have not published news related to the aforementioned execution so far.

According to Iran Human Rights annual report on the death penalty, 240 of the 517 execution sentences in 2017 were implemented due to murder charges. There is a lack of a classification of murder by degree in Iran which results in issuing a death sentence for any kind of murder regardless of intensity and intent.


Pompeo Adds Human Rights to Twelve Demands for Iranپومپئو حقوق بشر را به دوازده درخواست برای ایران اضافه می کند



OCTOBER 23, 2018

Appearing at a conservative think tank in Washington in May, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo presented a list of twelve demands that Iran had to meet for the Trump administration to consider new negotiations with the Islamic Republic.

The list covered a wide range of what the US calls Iran’s “malign activities,” from its continued enrichment of uranium—allowed in limited quantities by the nuclear deal President Donald Trump discarded—to its regional interventions and ballistic missile program.

For Iran’s Activists, Prison’s Just the StartJailed Activist to Get Medical Care, Lawyerبرای فعالان ایرانی زندان تازه اول ماجراستدسترسی فعال زندانی به مراقبت پزشکی

Arash Sadeghi

October 22, 2018

Iranian officials, under international pressure and facing domestic unrest, have reacted by increasing  their pressures on activists. It is unclear  how many  are  behind bars, but Human Rights Watch has documented dozens of cases of people who have been sentenced or detained for merely exercising their freedom of expression  by criticizing the government and engaging in peaceful activism.

International Community Must Establish Mechanisms to Sell Humanitarian Goods to Iran, Iranian Government Must Ensure Affordabilityجامعه بین‌المللی باید مکانیسم‌هایی برای فروش دارو و غذا به ایران فراهم کند؛ دولت ایران باید قابل دسترس بودن این کالاهای ضروری را برای شهروندانش تضمین کند


OCTOBER 22, 2018

Economic Mismanagement and Sanctions Combine to Endanger Economic and Social Rights of Iranians, Poor at Greatest Risk

October 23, 2018—With the full reinstatement of US sanctions on Iran on November 5, which will make financial transactions between Iranians and major economies in the world difficult and in many cases impossible, people’s access to humanitarian goods such as essential food items, medicine and medical supplies in Iran could be imperiled.

The Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) calls on the international community to institute transparent financial mechanisms that will ensure trade in medicines and other essential humanitarian items will continue unimpeded with Iran.

Saturday 13 October 2018


Iran: Environmentalists Languish in JailArbitrary Detention, No Clear Charges or Due Process 


ایران: فعالان محیط زیست همچنان در زندانبازداشت خودسرانه، بدون اتهام مشخص یا دادرسی عادلانه

A campaign poster showing environmental activists, Taher Ghadirian, Niloufar Bayani, Amirhossein Khaleghi, Houman Jokar, Sam Rajabi, Sepideh Kashani, Morad Tahbaz and Abdolreza Kouhpayeh, who have been in detention for six months.


October 11, 2018

(Beirut) – Eight environmental activists arbitrarily detained in Iran in January and February 2018 remains in detention eight months later without clear charges, Human Rights Watch said today. Iranian authorities should either immediately release them or charge them with recognizable crimes and produce evidence to justify their continued detention.

On September 30, family members said on social media that judicial authorities had told them that the detained environmentalists can only be represented by lawyers from a pre-approved list of 20 that the judiciary had published in June. The authorities have not allowed the detained environmentalist’s access to lawyers of their choice or set a trial date.

Iranian Merchants Close Down Shops in Silent Strike against Hyperinflation اعتصاب بخش‌هایی از بازار شهرهای ایران در اعتراض به گرانی و رکود


OCTOBER 10, 2018

Merchants and business owners went on strike in several Iranian cities on October 8, 2018, to protest against hyperinflation and economic instability.

Images and video footage posted on social media networks showed many shops closed that day in the cities of Tehran, Tabriz, Mashhad, Isfahan, Kermanshah, Sanandaj and Orumiyeh.

But Iran’s state television reported on October 8 that businesses were open to the public at the Grand Bazaar in Tehran.

Great Tehran Penitentiary Imposes Information Blackout on Eight Sufi Detainees Held in Solitary Confinementادامه بی‌خبری از هشت درویش گنابادی و نگرانی خانواده‌های زندانیان از سکوت مقامات قضایی


OCTOBER 12, 2018

It has been more than a month since the wife of a Sufi Gonabadi Dervish held in Iran’s Great Tehran Penitentiary (GTP) has heard from her husband after he was put in solitary confinement with seven other Sufi detainees.

Faezeh Abdipour said judicial officials have refused to provide any information about her husband Mohammad Sharifi Moghaddam and his fellow inmates Reza Entesari, Kasra Nouri, Morteza Kangarlou Bilchi, Sina Entesari, Mehdi Eskandari, Amir Nouri and Hessam Moini.

The information blackout began after the detainees were moved into solitary confinement for allegedly taking part in a sit-in protest inside the facility on August 29, 2018, to demand the release of Sufi women being held in Gharchak Prison in Southern Tehran.

Kurdish Mechanic Sentenced to Death in Iran despite Judge’s Acknowledgement of His Innocenceوکیل هدایت عبدالله‌پور: موکلم بیگناه است و حکم اعدام با ملاحظات امنیتی صادر شده است


OCTOBER 11, 2018

Iran’s Supreme Court upheld a death sentence against a 25-year-old Kurdish auto mechanic on false charges, the mechanic’s lawyer told the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI).

Hedayat Abdollahpour was arrested in late June 2016 following a clash between members of the banned, separatist Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (DPIK), based in Northern Iraq, and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) near the city of Oshnavieh, in Iran’s West Azerbaijan Province, “even though he played no role in the clash and wasn’t even there,” said attorney Hossein Ahmadiniaz.

Sunday 7 October 2018


120 Academics and Activists Join UN in Calling on Iran to Free Princeton Scholar Xiyue Wang۱۲۰ چهره دانشگاهی و فعال حقوق بشر از سازمان ملل خواستند تا از ایران بخواهد شی‌وانگ را آزاد کند



OCTOBER 3, 2018



A group of 120 academics and human rights activists of Iranian origin have called on Iran to free imprisoned American scholar Xiyue Wang, who was arrested in Tehran by agents of Iran’s Intelligence Ministry during the summer of 2016 and sentenced to 10 years in prison on unsubstantiated espionage charges a year later. The signatories, including prominent Iranian scholars and the Nobel Peace Laureate Shirin Ebadi, made the call in a letter addressed to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, which recently found that there “no legal basis” for Wang’s arrest and detention and called for his immediate release.

*The letter has been published below in both English and Farsi in its original form with no modifications apart from including the full hyperlinks.

A United Nations Working Group Exposes Iran’s Extortion Policy
September 27, 2018

Dear members of the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention,

We the undersigned, a group of Iranian academics and human rights activists residing outside the country, wish to thank the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention for investigating the imprisonment of Mr. Xiyue Wang in Iran and concluding that there is “no legal basis for his arrest and detention.” The New York Times covers the story with more details.

Young Woman Put to Death in Iran for Crime Committed as Juvenileایران اعدام افرادی که زیر سن قانونی مرتکب جرم می‌شود را متوقف کند و به محروم کردن متهمان از دادرسی عادلانه پایان دهد

Zeinab Sekaanvand is Fifth Known Juvenile Offender Executed in Past Year

OCTOBER 2, 2018

October 2, 2018 – The Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) condemns the execution of Zeinab Sekaanvand Lankarani who was charged with murder as a juvenile and hanged in violation of all international laws and standards, and calls on the Iranian judiciary to immediately halt the executions of all juvenile offenders.

“Iran claims it doesn’t execute juveniles but it isn’t fooling anyone by arresting minors and waiting until they’re adults to hang them,” said CHRI’s Executive Director Hadi Ghaemi.

“Zeinab Sekaanvand was married off at 15, jailed at 17 and later executed for the charge of murder despite evidence that she had been forced to confess to the crime under torture,” Ghaemi added.

Iran Executions: Man Hanged at Qazvin Central Prisonاعدام یک زندانی در زندان مرکزی قزوین

Iran Executions: Man Hanged at Qazvin Central Prison

October 6, 2018

Iran Human Rights; October 6, 2018: A prisoner was executed on October 2, at Qazvin Central Prison on murder charges. 

According to IHR sources, on the morning of Tuesday, October 2, Hamed Valizadeh was hanged at Qazvin Central Prison (also called Chubin Dar). He was from Abhar city and was 38 years old at the time of the execution. 

Hamed was arrested in January 2014 for murdering a person and convicted to qisas (retribution in kind) at Qazvin public court. According to the IHR sources he was involved in an honour killing case. 

The Iranian media outlets have not published news related to the aforementioned execution so far.

According to Iran Human Rights annual report on the death penalty, 240 of the 517 execution sentences in 2017 were implemented due to murder charges. There is a lack of a classification of murder by degree in Iran which results in issuing a death sentence for any kind of murder regardless of intensity and intent.

Bachelet urges Iran to stop executing juvenile offendersکمیسر عالی حقوق بشر سازمان ملل از ایران خواست تا به اعدام نوجوانان پایان دهد

Bachelet urges Iran to stop executing juvenile offenders

October 5, 2018

GENEVA (5 October 2018) – UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet on Friday condemned the execution in Iran this week of Zeinab Sekaanvand Lokran, a juvenile offender. Ms. Sekaanvand was convicted of murdering her husband in 2012, when she was 17 years old, but her claims that she was coerced into confessing to the killing, and that she had been a victim of domestic violence, were reportedly not adequately examined during her trial.

UN Human Rights Chief Condemns Iran's Execution Of Woman Convicted As Teenager

Zeinab Sekaanvand in undated photo
October 06, 2018

The UN human rights chief is condemning Iran's execution of a woman convicted of murdering her husband five years ago when she was 17 years old.

The office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet said on October 5 that Zeinab Sekaanvand Lokran had insisted she was coerced into confessing to the 2012 murder and she was beaten by police after her arrest.

Ayatollah's solution to sexual harassment and assault is to wear a hijab


October 7th, 2018

By Melissa Etehad Los Angeles Times

On the first anniversary of the global #MeToo movement, Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, declared a solution for Western women facing sexual harassment: wear a hijab.

His statement comes during growing unrest over the law that mandates that Iranian women wear the hijab, or headscarf, in public. In recent weeks, the Iranian government has arrested several activists who have protested the law.

Iran’s Deteriorating Human Rights Situation and Trump Administration Policies

Barbara Slavin, Dokhi Fassihian, Hadi Ghaemi, and Sussan Tahmasebi (Atlantic Council)

SEPTEMBER 17, 2018

BY MASOUD MOSTAJABI

Iran’s human rights record continues to deteriorate but there are effective ways to advocate for improvement that include making demands as specific as possible and enlisting broad multilateral support.

These were the main conclusions of a September 13 
panel on the topic organized by the Atlantic Council’s Future of Iran Initiative.

The system imposed in Iran since the 1979 Islamic revolution seeks a return to conservative social values through rigid interpretations of Islamic law. From women losing rights previously enshrined in a 1975 Family Protection Act, to intimidation and repression of civil society at large by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) and the Judiciary, Iran has violated a wide spectrum of ethnic, social, and religious rights.