In a report issued May 21, the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights found that Baha’is face “widespread and entrenched discrimination” in Iran, particularly in employment and education. The report also covered several other pressing human rights issues in Iran, including discrimination against women and ethnic minorities, as well as the lack of protection for trade unions.... read more

At least 100 new IRGC forces have been stationed in the Kurdish border regions in Western Iran in recent weeks, a local source told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran. The forces are engaged in patrolling the area and setting up inspection posts, which have limited local traffic into the mountain regions, as well as monitoring the comings and goings of the livestock owners and farmers of the region.... read more

The eleventh and final session of the trial for the deaths in Kahrizak Prison of three detainees in 2009 was held on Wednesday, May 22. Though the judge has not yet announced the adjournment of the trial, the lawyers told the press that the defendants had issued their last defense and there would be no further sessions. By law, the court must announce its verdict within 10 days. The Kahrizak court sessions ended without the summonses of any of the eyewitnesses the plaintiffs had suggested. ... read more

On June 7, Iranian-American journalist and peace activist Roxana Saberi, who was arrested in Iran in 2009 and freed after international outcry, will present the HOPE Concert at the Velodrom in Berlin in worldwide support for the Iranian people. The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran welcomes this opportunity to raise awareness of the state of human rights in Iran and to add to the voices in solidarity with the Iranian people.... read more

One day after the names of Iranian presidential candidates were announced by the Guardian Council, there was a tense security atmosphere in several areas of Tehran on May 22, following news of the disqualification of Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei as candidates, several eyewitnesses told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran.... read more

Our guest today is Dr. Nayareh Tohidi, Professor of Gender & Women Studies at California State University, Northridge, talking about Iranian government restrictions on women in higher education.... read more

The tenth session of the trial of former Tehran Prosecutor Saeed Mortazavi and two other officials for the deaths in Kahrizak Prison of three detainees in 2009 opened yesterday with the father of one of the victims withdrawing his “participation in murder” suit against Mortazavi. The eleventh and final session of the trial is being held today, and so far none of the plaintiffs’ witnesses have been summoned.... read more

Two journalists and a blogger previously released on furlough have been recalled to prison and are expected to turn themselves in today, and imprisoned lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh’s promised furlough has not been granted. Security forces have also recently summoned several other journalists in Tehran and have made telephone calls warning them not to support a candidate supported by reformists, a local journalist told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran.... read more

Mostafa Mesri, a 26-year-old Kurdish political prisoner from Oshnovieh in Western Azerbaijan Province who has been in prison for the past two years, sewed his lips shut and embarked on a hunger strike on May 19 to protest Orumiyeh Central Prison officials’ lack of attention to his request for transfer to Naghadeh Prison, a local source told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran.... read more

Mohammad Hossein Karroubi, the son of political dissident under house arrest since February 2011 Mehdi Karroubi, has written a letter to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei decrying the continued confiscation of personal items security forces took in February 2013.... read more

On May 8, 2013, world-famous political satirist Jon Stewart of The Daily Show held a discussion about censorship and power in Iran, followed by a lively Q&A, at an event hosted by the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, the Committee to Protect Journalists, and the PEN American Center.... read more

Several Mahabad citizens arrested in February have been released on bail from Mahabad Prison over the past several weeks, a local source told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran. Two detainees, Farough Samani and his cousin Reza Samani, however, remain in “temporary detention” in a state of limbo. Another Kurdish citizen, Khedr Rasoul Morovat, remains in the custody of security forces 70 days after his arrest.... read more