Archive for Human Rights

Iran’s Assault on Legal Profession Intensifies with Three More Attorneys Arrested

Seven Lawyers Now Behind Bars with More Summoned or Banned from Work

September 5, 2018—The arrest of three more lawyers in Iran, Payam Derafshan, Farrokh Forouzan and Hoda Amid, represents the continuing escalation of Iran’s assault against its own legal profession and a flagrant violation of these individuals’ basic rights to freedom of expression and due process, the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) said in a statement today.

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Husband of Imprisoned Human Rights Lawyer, Arrested for Speaking Out, Must Be Released Immediately

State Harassment, Arrest of Family Members to Silence Dissent Intensifies in Iran

September 4, 2018—Reza Khandan, the husband of imprisoned human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh, should be immediately released from detention in Iran, the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) said in a statement today. Khandan was arrested by agents of Iran’s intelligence ministry at his home on September 4 following his public support for his detained wife.

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Too Little, Too Late: Iran Should Permanently Release Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcilffe

August 23, 2018 – The Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) urges the Iranian Judiciary to turn the three-day furlough it has granted to Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffeinto permanent and unconditional release.

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Judiciary’s Intensifying Crackdown on Defense Attorneys in Iran Must End

Association Notes Iran’s “Unacceptable Intrusion on the Independence of the Legal Profession Which Undermines the Rule of Law”

August 14, 2018—An intensifying state crackdown on human rights defenders in Iran, in which the authorities have denied attorneys the ability to represent their clients and jailed them for attempting to do so, violates Iran’s domestic laws and international obligations and must end, the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) said in a statement today.

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Iran’s Authorities Should Denounce Threat to BBC Made by Iranian News Agency

Mizan News Agency “Incites Violence Against Our Journalists” Says BBC

August 10, 2018—The inflammatory statements against the BBC that were published on August 7, 2018 by the Mizan News Agency, which functions as the official news website of the Iranian Judiciary, pose a threat to the personal safety of BBC journalists and should be immediately denounced by the Iranian government, the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) said in a statement today.

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State TV of Iran Must End Its Use of Families to Discredit Journalists, Dissenters

State Broadcasts of Family Members Used to Silence Activists

(New York, August 9, 2018) – Iranian authorities should immediately stop harassing and threatening the families of activists and journalists as a means to silence dissent and criticism, Human Rights Watch (HRW), the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) and Justice for Iran (JFI) said in a joint statement today.

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International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute Condemns Iran’s Jailing of Nasrin Sotoudeh

Association Notes Iran’s “Unacceptable Intrusion on the Independence of the Legal Profession Which Undermines the Rule of Law”

July 18, 2018—Iran received yet another international rebuke for its persecution of lawyers trying to defend citizens’ rights and the rule of law in Iran with the open letter by the International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI) to Iran’s supreme leader calling for the immediate release of the prominent human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh.

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Rouhani Facing Widespread Outrage as Student Protesters Remain Behind Bars and Receive Harsh Sentences 

120 Academics in Iran Call on Rouhani to Immediately Suspend Judicial Cases against More than 150 Students

July 17, 2018—In a stark display of societal outrage in Iran over President Hassan Rouhani’s complicity in rights violations, 120 academics from universities across Iran, some of whom are also current or former lawmakers and cabinet members, have called on the president to order the immediate suspension of the judicial cases against more than 150 students who are still in detention for their participation in the December 2017 – January 2018 protests. 

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New Protests In Southern Iran Over Water Shortages

People protest water shortage in Borazjan in southern Iran.

July 09, 2018 – Radio Farda – Thousands of residents of Borazjan, the center of Dashtestan County in Bushehr province, southern Iran, poured into the streets on Saturday, July 7, to protest “shortage” and “chaotic” distribution of water.

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Iran executes 8 over 2017 Islamic State attack on Tehran

A man hands a child to a security guard from Iran’s parliament building after an assault of several attackers, in Tehran, Iran, on June 7, 2017. Iran said Saturday, July 7, 2018, it executed eight people convicted in the 2017 Islamic State group attack on parliament and the shrine of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in Tehran.

By AMIR VAHDAT AND JON GAMBRELL | Associated Press | Published: July 7, 2018 TEHRAN, Iran — Iran executed eight men convicted over the 2017 Islamic State attack on parliament and the shrine of the Islamic Republic’s founding ayatollah, the bloodiest terror attack to strike Tehran in decades, authorities said Saturday.

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