Archive for Human Rights

Nasrin Sotoudeh, Prominent Lawyer, Says She Has Been Sentenced to 38 Years in Prison

March 11, 2019 – Iranian defense attorney Nasrin Sotoudeh told her husband she has been sentenced to 38 years in prison and 148 lashes. Her statement follows media reports quoting the hardline judge overseeing her case who said she has been sentenced to seven years in prison.

Read more

Nasrin Sotoudeh, Attorney Who Defended Hijab Protesters, Convicted of “National Security” Crimes

Prominent Human Rights Defender Was Facing Decades in Prison, Sentence Unclear

March 5, 2019 – The Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) forcefully condemns the conviction of prominent Iranian defense attorney Nasrin Sotoudeh in a court process sorely lacking in international standards of due process.

Read more

Choosing Raeesi as Judiciary Head Will Be a “Catastrophe” for Justice in Iran

Ebrahim Raeesi Was Member of “Death Commissions” that Ordered Extrajudicial Killings of Thousands of Prisoners in 1988

February 18, 2019—The appointment of Ebrahim Raeesi, who participated in “death commissions” that ordered the extrajudicial executions of thousands of prisoners in Iran in 1988, as Iran’s next head of the judiciary, will represent a complete repudiation of the rule of law and a reward for those involved in crimes against humanity, the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) said in a statement today. If Raeesi is chosen as judiciary head, which appears increasingly likely, CHRI forcefully condemns his appointment.

Read more

Iranian Agents Tried to Frame Detained Conservationists by Staging Scenes to Falsely Implicate Them

Three Major State Agencies Rejected Charges of Espionage, Indictment Based on Retracted False “Confessions”

February 11, 2019 – Amid eight conservationists’ closed-door trial in Iran’s revolutionary court system, the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) has been informed that agents staged scenes around at least two of the detainees with the intent of implicating them in a false narrative.

Read more

Eight Conservationists Tried in Iran on Basis of Retracted False “Confessions”​

First Half of Indictment Lacks Evidence, Relies on Statements Made Under Extreme Duress

January 30, 2019 – In their first trial session since being detained in Iran one year ago, eight conservationists learned today that the first half of their indictment is based on one detainee’s retracted forced “confessions.”

Part of the 300-page indictment was read today to defendants Houman Jowkar, Taher Ghadirian, Morad Tahbaz, Sepideh Kashani, Niloufar Bayani, Amir Hossein Khaleghi, Sam Rajabi and Abdolreza Kouhpayeh in their closed-door trial on January 30, 2019, at Branch 15 of the Revolutionary Court presided by Judge Abolqasem Salavati.

Read more

Iran arrested 7,000 dissidents in ‘year of shame’, says Amnesty

Journalists, lawyers, minority rights activists and anti-hijab protesters among those held

Teargas fills the air as Iranian students clash with riot police during an anti-government protest at the University of Tehran. Photograph: EPA

Thu. 24. Jan.2014 Guardian-Iranian authorities arrested more than 7,000 dissidents last year in a sweeping crackdown that led to hundreds being jailed or flogged, at least 26 protesters being killed, and nine people dying in custody amid suspicious circumstances, according to Amnesty International.

Read more

Iran is Using False “Confessions” to Manufacture Cases Against Detained Conservationists 

January 24, 2019 – Some of the conservationists who have been imprisoned incommunicado in Iran for the past year have been forced to confess under the threat of death, the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) has learned.

Read more

Iran Sentences Men Who Supported Women’s Protests Against Compulsory Hijab to Six Years Prison

Reza Khandan and Farhad Meysami Denied Right to a Public Trial

January 22, 2019 – Reza Khandan and Farhad Meysami have both been sentenced to six years imprisonment in Iran and banned from leaving the country or engaging in online activities for two years for peacefully protesting the country’s compulsory hijab law.

Read more

Sham Investigation of Labor Activist’s Alleged Torture Lacks Impartiality, Ignores Witnesses

Multiple Cases of Alleged Torture Must Be Thoroughly Investigated

Iran Must Re-Open an Independent and Impartial Investigation into Labor Activist’s Abuse

January 17, 2018—After a brief and deeply flawed investigation lacking any semblance of impartiality, the authorities in Iran have denied that labor activist Esmail Bakhshi was tortured in an Intelligence Ministry detention center in Ahvaz, Khuzestan Province in Iran.

Read more

Judicial Official Announces Order to Block Instagram Less Than a Year After Banning Telegram Messaging App

Judicial Order Tied to Previously Undeclared Policy of App Usage Level

2019-01-04 – Eight months after Iran blocked the country’s most widely used messaging app, Telegram, a deputy prosecutor has announced a judicial order to also filter Instagram due to what he described as over-usage of the social media app.

Instagram had not been blocked as of January 4, 2018, and it is unknown when the order will go into effect.

Read more