Iran Affirms Right of Constitutionally Recognized Religious Minorities to Run in Local Elections

JULY 27, 2018

Sepanta Niknam has reclaimed his city council seat in the city of Yazd, southeastern Iran, nine months after he was suspended by a local court because he’s a member of the Zoroastrian faith. 

“I think it would be best that under the current circumstances, when the country is dealing with many issues, the authorities don’t expel an elected representative just because of his religious affiliation,” said Kourosh Niknam, Sepanta’s uncle and a former member of Iran’s Parliament, in an interview with the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) on July 20, 2018.

By a two-thirds majority, the Expediency Council, Iran’s highest arbiter of disputes between state branches, voted on July 21 to amend the Law on the Formation, Duties, and Election of National Islamic Councils, thereby affirming the right of constitutionally recognized religious minorities to run in local elections.

Rapper Detained For More Than a Month Without Lawyer in Iran’s Sistan and Baluchistan Province

JULY 27, 2018

Rap artist Shah Baloch, real name Emad Bijarzehi, has been detained in the southeastern Iranian port city of Chabahar without counsel since June 20, 2018, for singing about state oppression against ethnic Baluchis in Sistan and Baluchistan Province.

“He has been interrogated mostly about his songs,” a source with knowledge about the case told the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) on July 23. “They asked him why he had defiled the regime and praised Baluchis and congratulated them on Baluchi Cultural Day [March 2]. They wanted to implicate him in working for foreign agents and other [opposition] groups.”

Rights Groups: Iran Confirms Prison Terms for 8 Baha'is

July 28, 2018

Human rights groups say Iranian courts have confirmed prison terms for eight Baha’is, members of a religious minority that has experienced decades of discrimination in the Shiite Muslim-majority nation.

In a report published Thursday, Iran’s Human Rights Activist News Agency (HRANA) said an appeals court in the central city of Yazd confirmed prison terms for six Baha’i men and one Baha’i woman. The report did not specify the charges against the seven or when the court confirmed their sentences. A separate HRANA report published Wednesday detailed the sentencing of an eighth Baha’i by another court.

Brunel professor reports on Iranian human rights abuse for United Nations

July 27, 2018

A professor of law from Brunel University London has been unanimously elected as the United Nation’s new Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Iran.

Professor Javaid Rehman, an expert in human rights, international law and Muslim constitutionalism, will work on behalf of the UN Human Rights Council to monitor compliance in Iran, and engage with the government on specific legal and policy issues that contribute to abuses in the country.

Political Prisoner Narges Mohammadi’s Sister Banned From Travel as State Continues to Harass Her Family

JULY 21, 2018

From her cell in an infamous Iranian prison, imprisoned human rights activist Narges Mohammadi has condemned Iran’s judiciary for preventing her sister from traveling to France to visit her children who she has not seen for three years. 

In a letter from Evin Prison in Tehran to Judiciary Chief Sadegh Larijani, the prominent human rights defender warned that she would take “protest action” if the ban on her sister was not lifted. 

“The imposition of pressures, the domination over defenseless families of political prisoners even during visitation, are not only motivated by political and security considerations but also show a deterioration of morality and human dignity,” wrote Mohammadi.

Detained Teachers’ Rights Activist Denied Months of Salary Due to “Fault of Others” 

JULY 21, 2018

Detained teachers’ rights activist Mohammad Habibi is being denied his monthly state salary despite not being convicted of any crime, the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) has been informed.

Habibi, a 29-year-old member of the Iranian Teachers’ Trade Association (ITTA), has not been paid his wages since his arrest on May 17, 2018, according to a colleague who spoke to CHRI on July 18, 2018.

“Mr. Habibi is still under temporary detention and has not been convicted of anything but his salary has been cut off,” said the colleague who requested anonymity for security reasons.

Activists Note Serious Failings by Iranian Organization Tasked With Supporting People With Disabilities

 

JULY 21, 2018

As Iran’s State Welfare Organization (SWO) marked its 38th birthday, several people with disabilitiesbased in the country told the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) that the organization must undergo fundamental reform in order to carry out its mission. 

Pouya, a disability rights activist who requested anonymity for security reasons, said: “The welfare organization does not have a sufficient budget or the human resources to handle a mountain of responsibilities. Destitute women, child laborers and street workers, drug addicts, victims of violence among women and children, the elderly and persons with disabilities have all been entrusted to the welfare organization even though each of these groups requires specialized expertise and equipment.”

The names of the people who provided testimony to CHRI for this report have been changed due to the sensitivities in Iran around speaking to foreign media outlets.