Category: Human Rights

UN Experts Alarmed by Civil Society Crackdown in Iran

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UN human rights experts* today expressed serious concerns about a violent crackdown against civil society in Iran, including members of workers’ unions and teachers arrested for protesting against their low salaries and poor working conditions, and urged those responsible for using excessive force to be held to account through comprehensive and independent investigations. “We are alarmed at the recent escalation of allegedly arbitrary arrests of teachers, labour rights defenders and union leaders, lawyers, human rights defenders and other civil society actors,” the experts said. In the past year, the Iranian…

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Open Letter by Former Cellmates of Imprisoned Conservationists in Iran

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Former female cellmates of a group of wildlife conservationists who’ve been unjustly imprisoned in Iran since January 2018 penned the following letter as a tribute to their nature-loving friends on the occasion World Environment Day, June 5, 2022. The letter was initially written in Persian and provided to the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) along with the English version printed below. The signatories—formerly imprisoned in Iran on trumped-up charges with two of the conservationists, Sepideh Kashani and Niloufar Bayani—recognize the group, as well as their colleague Kavous Seyed-Emami,…

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UN Urges Iran to Revoke Execution of Swedish Academic Ahmadreza Djalali

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Iranian authorities should revoke the death sentence against Iranian-born Swedish academic Ahmadreza Djalali, said the UN Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner in a statement published today. Read the complete statement by spokesperson Liz Throssell below. Click here to learn more about Djalali’s case. We are deeply alarmed by the imminent execution in the Islamic Republic of Iran of Swedish-Iranian doctor and academic Ahmedreza Djalali and urgently call on the Iranian authorities to halt the execution and revoke his death sentence. Iranian authorities announced yesterday that while the execution currently…

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Protesters Killed While Iran’s Government Blocks Internet and Media Coverage

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At least five protesters are dead amid a violent state crackdown on street demonstrations in Iran, while the authorities have blocked internet access in protest hot zones, pressured domestic media not to cover the protests, and arrested growing numbers of protesters and activists. Yet the protesters are refusing to back down; street demonstrations, currently in their second week, were reported in at least 20 cities across Iran at the time of this writing. “The Iranian people are in the streets to protest living costs and air grievances against their repressive…

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Without a Definitive, Coordinated Response from the International Community, Iran’s Violence Abroad will not Cease

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The July 13, 2021 revelation about the indictment by the United State Department of Justice of four Iranians involved in a kidnapping plot targeting Masih Alinejad and other unnamed activists in exile has shocked and dismayed the Iranian diaspora. The Islamic Republic of Iran’s history of politically motivated violence across the world is not new. Since 1979 Iranian agents have carried out attacks against hundreds of refugees, most often with impunity, hence their repetition. Iranian authorities respond to rising discontent and unrest with violence. Protests, which broke over water shortages in Khuzestan…

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Arrest and summoning a number of civil and media activists in different cities of Iran

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Reports indicate that in recent days, four civil society and media activists critical of the Islamic Republic were arrested in Tehran and Karaj and Two political activists were also summoned to court. According to human rights sources, Mehri Entesari and  Yashar Karimi were arrested on December 28, 2020 in Tehran, and Somayeh Moghadam and Fatemeh Zahraei were arrested on December 30, 2020 in Karaj by Revolutionary Guards intelligence agents. According to this report, Mehran Mohammadzadeh and Mahshid Asadi were summoned to the Islamic Revolutionary Tribunal of Tehran on December 30. According…

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Five civil and media activists arrested and summoned in Tehran and Ahvaz

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Human rights sources from Iran have reported that in recent days, three media activists and civil activists critical of the Islamic Republic have been arrested in Tehran and Ahvaz, and two human rights activists have been summoned to khuzestan judicial authorities. According to Iran Human Rights Watch, on October 30, 2020, Mr. Reza Bavi and Fouad Sadeghi, two Ahwazi Arab bloggers and media activists, were arrested at Tehran International Airport (Imam). Kamal Hosseini, an Ahwazi Arab student activist, was also arrested by plainclothes security agents in front of Chamran University…

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UN: Iran Must Conduct Independent Inquiry into Violence against Protests in November 2019

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The Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran must conduct an independent, impartial and transparent inquiry into the violent crackdown against protests in November 2019 and January 2020, and bring human rights violators to justice, a UN expert said today. Javaid Rehman, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, said in his annual report delivered to the General Assembly that instead of holding those responsible to account, serious violations targeting protesters continued. “Despite clear evidence that Iranian security forces used excessive and lethal…

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Continued human rights abuses in Iran, crackdowns and arrests and killings of protesters

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As human rights abuses continue in Iran, the detention of civil society, labour, student activists, and women activists and journalists continue in various Iranian cities. Thousands have been detained, hundreds killed, and dozens were missing during recent Iran protests since the third week of November 2019. Iranian regime officials have also cut off Internet networks across the country, preventing leaks of current news and events abroad. News sources report that many students, labour, media, and women’s activists have been abducted and detained in recent weeks. According to reports, on Monday,…

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Independent Human Rights Experts Sound Alarmed on Suppression in Iran

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Following the protests that began on Friday, 15 November, against the 300 percent increase in gasoline prices across Iran; the Iranian government moved to repress forcefully the people and especially the youth. The United Nations posted an article on its website titled “Independent rights experts sound alarmed at Iran protest crackdown, internet blackout”. The article said in part: “Reports of killed and maimed demonstrators, and a continuing nationwide internet shutdown in Iran’s now week-long protests are of ‘grave concern’, and the Government and authorities must ensure rights of expression and…

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