ANNI Letter to the Iranian Islamic Human Rights Commission

Asian NGOs Network on National Human Rights Institutions (ANNI) Letter to the Iranian Islamic Human Rights Commission (IHRC) Regarding the Closing of the Defenders of Human Rights Center (DHRC)

Workers’ Rights

Iranian workers and teachers are denied many protections of basic workers rights, as defined and articulated under longstanding international labor standards. Iranian workers are deprived of such fundamental rights both under Iranian labor law and in practice. According to several conventions of the International Labor Organization(ILO), of which Iran is a member, workers in each [...]

The Systematic Repression of the Women’s Rights Movement — May 2008

An International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran report on the various dimensions of the repression of women’s rights activists in Iran.

Acquit HIV/AIDS Doctors Prosecuted in Unfair Trial

(13 January 2009) Drs Kamiar and Arash Alaei—Iranian brothers who are known worldwide for their work as HIV/AIDS physicians – are among the four Iranian citizens cited today by Iranian authorities as attempting to overthrow the state, Physicians for Human Rights (PHR), Human Rights Watch (HRW), and the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran (ICHRCI) have learned from reliable sources.

According the Islamic Republic News Agency, Iranian Judiciary spokesperson Ali-Reza Jamshidi told a news conference today that four Iranian citizens had been arrested and brought to the court on charges of “communications with an enemy government” and seeking to overthrow the Iranian government under article 508 of Iran’s Islamic Penal Code.

Peace Activists Protesting Gaza Violence Attacked by Security Agents

(13 January 2009) Plain clothes security agents attacked and disrupted a gathering organized by the Iranian nongovernmental group Mothers for Peace to protest ongoing violence in the Gaza Strip in front of the Palestinian embassy in Tehran on 11 January, the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran reported today. Regular police forces present at the scene did not interfere and appear to have worked in tandem with the attackers.

The Campaign urged the Iranian Judiciary to immediately investigate and prosecute security forces responsible for the violence.

Six More Shiraz University Students Detained

(12 January 2009) Six more students from Shiraz University were detained, after they appeared at the Intelligence Office in Shiraz following official summonses, the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran reported today.

The newly detained students are among 10 who were summoned on 5 January. Six of those who appeared at the Intelligence Office were detained and another, Mahboubeh Khademi, was allowed to leave. The six detained students have had no contact with their families.

Hedayat Ghazali

Hedayat Ghazali is a psychology student in her final year at Tehran University and head of the authorized publication Roojameh at Tehran University (published in Kurdish). In July 2007 she was arrested with Sabah Nasri and taken to the Central Prison of Sanandaj.

Sabah Nasri

Sabah Nasri is a Masters student in political science at Tehran University who was arrested with Hedayat Ghazali in July 2007 in Sanandaj and taken to the Central Intelligence Office.

Release Detainees and Stop Prosecution of Students at Shiraz University

(5 January 2009) The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran reported that four students at Shiraz University, Abdoljalil Rezaiee, Kazem Rezaiee, Mohsen Zarinkamar, and Loghman Ghadiri Goltapeh, were arrested following summonses to the Intelligence Office in Shiraz on Saturday, 3 January 2009. The Intelligence Office subsequently informed their families that charges in their children’s cases had not yet been filed and that they would be kept in detention until the investigation ends.

Two Executed by Stoning, as a Third Escapes

(3 January 2009) Three men were subjected to stoning sentences on 25 December 2008, in the Behesht Zahra Cemetery in the City of Mashad, according to local sources, the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran said today. Two were stoned to death, while a third, an Afghani national, apparently managed to escape from the hole in which he was partially buried. His fate is unknown.

The stonings contradict an official claim that Iranian authorities had put an end to the practice, a form of capital punishment considered barbaric by the international community.