Fear of Physical and Psychological Pressure on Journalist Inside IRGC’s Ward 2-A

A month after his arrest, judicial authorities informed the family of detained journalist Amir Ali Allamehzadeh that he is held in a solitary cell inside Ward 2-A of Evin Prison, a friend of Allamehzadeh told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran. “Mr. Allamehzadeh was arrested on Sunday, 18 September in Tehran, along with [...]

UN Human Rights Committee Grills Iran on Treaty Violations

Iranian Delegation Pushes Back Without Substance Declares “Multiculturalism” Legitimates Violations  The UN Human Rights Committee, the expert treaty body tasked with reviewing countries’ compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), confronted the Iranian government delegation with grave violations of the treaty on 17 and 18 October in Geneva. Aaron Rhodes, spokesperson [...]

Iranian Filmmakers Call for International Boycott of State-Run Film and TV Organizations

A month after the arrest of five independent Iranian filmmakers on charges of working for BBC Persian, 21 Iranian filmmakers and actors living outside of the country signed a statement asking the international community to boycott official Iranian film and television organizations and impose sanctions on Iranian media officials. The statement criticizes Iranian government and [...]

UN Human Rights Committee Sharply Criticized Increasing Flogging Sentences in Iran

As flogging sentences issued and carried out by Iranian judges and judicial authorities are on the rise, during a meeting of the UN Human Rights Committee today in which the Iranian government’s compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) is under review, members of the Committee sharply criticized Iranian authorities at the meeting for Iran’s use of inhumane punishments such as flogging. According to the representative of the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran who is currently at the meeting in Geneva, UN officials criticized Iran’s refusal to provide statistics about flogging sentences to the Human Rights Council while continuing to routinely dole out flogging sentences.

UN Report Documents Iran’s Human Rights Crisis

(15 October 2011) The Iranian government should immediately allow access to the UN appointed Special Rapporteur Ahmed Shaheed to address Iran’s ongoing human rights crisis, the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran said today, following the release of Shaheed’s interim report.

The interim report by the Special Rapporteur documents the multi-faceted human rights crisis gripping Iran. It provides details of the persecution and prosecution of civil society actors, including political activists, journalists, students, artists, lawyers, and environmental activists

Report of the Secretary General on the Situation of Human Rights in Iran

[Sec Gen report] On 15 September 2011, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon published a report on the situation of human rights in Iran. The report describes the situation of human rights in Iran and provides recommendations for the Iranian government’s compliance with UN resolutions.

“My Father Was Charged With Helping The Baha’i University”

In an interview with the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, Naim Sobhani, son of Riaz Sobhani, an Iranian Baha’i imprisoned at Evin Prison for the past four months on the charge of providing financial assistance to the Baha’i University in Iran, spoke about his father’s case. Naim Sobhani told the Campaign that following [...]

Mothers of Killed Protesters Seek UN Support to Find Their Children’s Murderers

Only two weeks before the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran is to present his report, two mothers of the post-election 2009 victims told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran that their search for the murderers of their children has not produced any results. Parvin Fahimi, mother of 19-year-old victim Sohrab Aarabi told the Campaign that if the United Nations cannot do anything in this area, “everything is over then and it’s all pointless.” “From the day Sohrab died, I said that if I cannot find answers in my own country and [if I find that] the official sources in my country are unaccountable, I would have to use international sources,” Fahimi told the Campaign.

Actress Sentenced to One Year in Prison and 90 Lashes for Pretending to Drink Alcohol and Shaving Head

A source close to the case of actress Marzieh Vafamehr spoke with the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran about her sentence of one year in prison and 90 lashes. According to the source, charges against Vafamehr are “participation in production of a vulgar film,” and “anti-Sharia conduct,” such as pretending to drink alcohol [...]

Prisoner of Conscience Brutally Flogged for Insulting Ahmadinejad

Just a few minutes before his release from prison on Sunday, 9 October, student activist Payman Aref received 74 lashes on the charge of insulting Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Aref’s is the second case, after young activist Somayeh Tohidloo’s September flogging, of recent floggings of political prisoners. Various sources also reported yesterday that Iranian actress Marzieh Vafamehr has been sentenced to one year in prison and 96 lashes for her role in a film. In an interview with the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, Payman Aref said that the lashes he received were delivered a lot more harshly than stipulated, and that several judicial authorities were present in the room laughing when he was flogged. After his flogging sentence was carried out, he filed a complaint against the judicial officer from the “Sentence Implementation Unit” for his failure to carry out the sentence correctly.