At Least 40 Detained in Connection With Protests at Ahvaz Sugar Mill

JUNE 20, 2019

A group of workers of the Hafteh Tappeh sugar mill company in Ahvaz, Khuzestan Province, published a list of 40 names of colleagues and supporters who’ve been detained in recent months in connection with protests for unpaid wages at the mill.

“We know that the names of many dear individuals are not on this list,” said the unnamed workers in a statement posted on the group’s Telegram app channel on June 13, 2019. “The majority of these names include Haft Tappeh workers, along with dear family members, labor supporters and even guests at their homes who were detained and interrogated.”

30 Tehran University Academics Call for Release of Detained Journalist Marzieh Amiri

JUNE 20, 2019

Thirty scholars and researchers at the University of Tehran have called for the release of detained reporter Marzieh Amiri in a letter addressing Minister of Science, Research and Technology Mansour Gholami.

Amiri, a reporter for the reformist Shargh newspaper and student at the university, has been in Evin Prison’s Ward 209 under the control of the Intelligence Ministry since she was arrested while covering a Labor Day protest in Tehran on May 1, 2019.

Interview with Filmmaker Abdolreza Kahani: “We are Born Into Censorship”

JUNE 20, 2019

In Iran, the Ministry of Guidance and Islamic Culture imposes a strict process of review and approval for all screenplays before films can be legally produced in the country. Films that are produced also face censorship, and directors are often ordered to remove certain scenes before the authorities allow them to screen the film.

Prominent director Abdolreza Kahani migrated to France in 2015 after three of his films were banned in the Islamic Republic and he was prevented from submitting them to international festivals. His films, which focus on social issues in the country, had great commercial success but “sometimes a filmmaker’s actions become more important than his films,” he told the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) in a recent interview.

Iran: Juvenile Offender Danial Zeinolabedini in Danger of Execution

MAY 30, 2019

Iran Human Rights (IHR); May 28, 2019: According to information received by IHR, the death row juvenile offender Danial Zeinolabedini might be in danger of execution. Unofficial sources have told Danial's family that he will be executed after Ramadan, Muslims’ month of fasting, which ends in the first week of June. Danial Zeinolabedini is a juvenile offender whose death sentence has been upheld by the Iranian Supreme Court. Danial was born on August 9, 2000. He allegedly committed murder on September 22, 2017, when he was 17 years old. According to his relatives, he did not commit the murder and is innocent.

According to IHR sources, Danial Zeinolabedini is scheduled to be executed after Ramadan, Muslims’ month of fasting, which ends in the first week of June. Danial was along with three others charged with murdering a man identified as Sadegh Barmaki. Forensics announced that Mr Barmaki had died as a result of burn injuries. Danial has repeatedly said that he did not play a role in causing the burn injuries. However, the judge’s understanding is that Mr Barmaki was killed before his body was set on fire.

Why is the Iranian Government Aiding the Development of a Censorship Circumvention Tool?

MAY 30, 2019

Using Iranian government resources, a Tehran-based company has been developing an online censorship circumvention tool that specifically enables users in the country to access a widely used app that was blocked nationwide by judicial order one year ago, the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) has learned.

The proxy called MTProto, enables users to access the blocked Telegram messaging app, which remains the principal means of digital communication in the country even though it has been officially banned. Its unclear how safe MTProto is or why the Iranian government is supporting its development.

Defense Attorney Lodges Complaint against Judge Moghiseh’s Lack of Impartiality

MAY 31, 2019

“You People Have No Right to Breath,” Judge Allegedly Told Political Prisoner Masoud Kazemi

The notoriously hardline judge presiding over the case of former magazine editor Masoud Kazemi has repeatedly expressed hatred toward the political prisoner and refused to reduce the exorbitantly high one billion toman [$237,206 USD] bail amount set for his case, a source told the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI).

Kazemi’s lawyer has meanwhile filed a complaint against Judge Mohammad Moghiseh for his blatant display of bias in Kazemi’s case.

Interview with Khosrow Semnani: Iran Funds Repression “Through Corruption by Design”

MAY 28, 2019

The Iranian-American engineer, businessman, and philanthropist Khosrow Semnani made a name in foreign policy circles in both Washington and Tehran in 2013 after he published a comprehensive report about the environmental and human costs of a military strike on Iranian nuclear facilities. Five years later he has published a new report, this time focusing on the socioeconomic effects of corruption in Iran’s oil industry.

In “Where is My Oil?”–the title playing off the chants of “Where is My Vote?” during mass street protests against the contested result of Iran’s 2009 presidential election–Semnani, based in Salt Lake City, Utah, argues that state forces repress the Iranian people through a system of “corruption by design” funded by oil revenues that belong to the people, not the government. With revenues from that oil accounting for 50%–60% of the country’s fiscal budget, corruption in the sector threatens the budgets of every ministry and deprives all sectors of Iranian society from the most basic services, according to the report. “If the corruption went away, the system would not be able to survive,” Semnani told the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) on March 26, 2019. Excerpts of the interview follow.

CHRI: How are you connected to Iran and how did you end up here in the United States?