Spotlight
A message from CHRI's Executive Director Hadi Ghaemi
Since President Rouhani first took office in 2013, he and high-level members of his cabinet have used Twitter, which is filtered in Iran, to prop up the image of the Islamic Republic. This holiday season the message came from Foreign Minister Zarif, who tweeted a “very happy and peaceful Christmas to all.” His words don’t apply to Christian converts in Iran, who are arrested and sentenced to long prison terms for their faith.
Iran’s Constitution recognizes Christians as an official religious minority, but the state continues to persecute the faith, especially converts, as a threat to the prevailing Shia order. Zarif’s tweet doesn’t reflect the reality on the ground in Iran; the fact that 11 converts were arrested during the course of two months in 2017 can’t be hidden by seemingly warm messages on social media. It’s long past time for the Rouhani government to take steps to address this pressing issue, as well as work to guarantee the rights of all religious minorities in Iran.
Press Releases
December 21, 2017–The husband of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has stated that the Iranian-British dual national, who is currently serving a five-year sentence in Tehran’s Evin Prison, is now eligible for “early release” and that her lawyer was “hopeful” when he visited her.
The decision by the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to repeal net neutrality rules has given a green light to repressive countries like Iran to continue trampling on internet freedom at home. Activists based abroad have also lost a powerful ally.
December 20, 2017–United Nations human rights experts* have appealed to Iran to annul the death sentence against an Iranian academic, saying they are deeply “disturbed” by ongoing reports of due process failings during his trial.
December 19, 2017—The Iranian judiciary should immediately free ailing trade unionist Reza Shahabi, who recently suffered a stroke in Rajaee Shahr Prison, and allow him to receive full medical attention, the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) said in a statement today.
December 18, 2017—The forced confession broadcast December 17 on state TV and used to validate the death sentence against Ahmadreza Djalili is illegitimate and in no way validates the unlawful process used to convict the Iranian-born Swedish resident on espionage charges.
Articles
A source told CHRI: “The police violently attacked us with batons, fists, and kicks, and we threw stones at them. We did everything we could. It was an uprising. It’s just the beginning. We cannot hold back because we cannot feed our families with silence.”
“This bill defends prostitutes rather than chaste, oppressed women,” wrote Zahra Ayatollahi, the head of the Women’s Cultural and Social Council, in an op-ed. “You can predict where our Islamic traditional society will end up: in the same swamp that brought the downfall of the West,” she added.
Protests erupted in several Iranian cities on December 28, as citizens peacefully spoke out against the rising cost of living. In Mashhad, police confronted the demonstrators with water cannons and tear gas. An eyewitness in Neishabour said the protests were organized via announcements shared on social media.
“When worshippers arrived for prayers at the Hadash and Kashi synagogues on Monday, they noticed that books and scrolls had been torn,” Kermanian told the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) on December 27. “Some texts were found in the toilet and valuable items have gone missing.”
“My husband was asked if he handed information to Mossad agents and he said no. Yet they have framed him for a crime he did not commit and sentenced him to death. It’s shocking and unfortunate. I don’t know how to respond,” Djalali’s wife, Vida Mehran-nia, told CHRI.
“As soon as I arrived at Tehran’s international airport [on September 11, 2017], two individuals came to me at the passport checkpoint and took me to a room where they confiscated my passport and personal belongings,” Rasoulof told CHRI on December 23, 2017.
Detained after criticizing a powerful local lawmaker, Sina Ghalandari, an independent journalist based in the city of Kuhdasht, Lorestan Province, has been released on bail.“Every journalist or political activist who has criticized him has ended up in court and prison,” a source with knowledge about the case told CHRI.
Anti-vice police arrested more than 230 young men and women at two private parties in Tehran during the festival of Yalda. Anti-Vice Police chief Colonel Zolfaghar Barfar said the raids took place in the Farmanieh and Lavasan neighborhoods in northern Tehran after partygoers posted images on Instagram.
With only two opposing votes, Iran’s Parliament has overwhelmingly passed the outlines of a bill designed to better protect the rights of people living with disabilities in the country. The lawmakers will soon begin deliberating the bill's 35 articles before a final vote.
Six days after Iran’s Parliament passed an amendment reaffirming the right of minorities to run in local council elections, the Guardian Council’s Spokesman Abbasali Kadkhodaei announced the council had rejected it.
Political prisoner Ali Shariati is being denied specialist medical treatment by Evin Prison’s medical chief Abbas Khani despite exhibiting symptoms of severe dental issues. “Ali has a lot of pain in his teeth and he has severely inflamed gums,” said a source.
“Blankets, warm clothes, and vitamins brought for the prisoners by their relatives have also been turned away,” said the source. “In the new Ward 10 located on the third floor where political prisoners and prisoners of conscience are held, there is almost never any hot water,” added the source.
“We want him to explain why at least 100 students have been banned this year,” added Dorri, who was imprisoned for his activism. “Why is this happening? We haven’t gotten a response from any of the officials. I will go back to the ministry and stand in protest.”
Baha’i leader Behrouz Tavakkoli has spoken out about the Iranian government’s “misunderstandings” about his minority faith. “Those in charge of the country knew how the Baha’i community operated but there were some misunderstandings that led to the charge of ‘acting against national security,’” he said.
After finally receiving approval to screen his movie “I’m Not Angry” in Iran, director Reza Dormishian’s film was suddenly removed from theaters before its scheduled national premiere. The announcement came one day after Guidance Minister Reza Salehi Amiri received a warning from a radical religious student organization.
The Tehran prosecutor’s office has ignored a request by imprisoned Iranian-Austrian dual national Kamran Ghaderi for an urgent back operation, his wife told CHRI. “Kamran has been suffering from a herniated spinal disk for a long time and now constant neck pain has been added to his problems as well.”
“Is the judiciary seeking to find documents linking them to terrorism or underground activities? If not, why has their temporary detention been extended after four months?” asked Mohammadi. “If there is evidence against them, why haven’t they been put on trial?
Blood money should be calculated on the basis of actual costs and inflation, not the market price for camels, according to a civil rights lawyer. According to Islamic law, “blood money” is paid as financial compensation to victims or heirs of a victim in cases of murder or harm.
Mohammad Saber Malek-Raeisi, imprisoned in Iran for the last eight years solely because of his brother’s alleged links with a terrorist organization, has gone on hunger strike in Ardabil Central Prison in northwestern Iran. The Intelligence Ministry’s office in Zahedan told me to hand him over in exchange for Mohammad Saber.
“In the case of the two innocent girls who died from burns in this terrible incident, the Diyah allocated for them has been cut in half because of their gender,” Hossein Ahmadiniaz, a lawyer representing victims of the fire, told CHRI. “That’s discriminatory and unfair.”
“Regarding the behavior of the security agents, it is worth noting that unlike in previous years, they did not show up in large numbers with many vehicles but instead resorted to hostage-taking to show they are still afraid of any event marking this anniversary, even in a graveyard.
Iranian singer and songwriter Hossein Zaman, a former Revolutionary Guards commander who has been banned from producing or performing music for more than 15 years, says the ban was put in place because Iran’s Intelligence Ministry wants to intimidate him.
Zahra Rahnavard, who has been under extrajudicial house arrest for nearly seven years, has offered to take the place of political prisoners who are mothers. “Release all the mothers as soon as possible and put me in jail in their place to serve the remainder of their sentences."
Multimedia
What are the major issues and developments in Iran related to human rights? Why are activists imprisoned and what is the state of women's, labor, and children’s rights? This fact sheet provides a bird's eye view of these issues.
"Our insistence on the rule of law is what brings the law to life," wrote previously imprisoned human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh in a letter to her children in October 2011.
Abdolfattah Soltani spent years defending activists and dissidents in cases that few lawyers in Iran would touch. Now he is a political prisoner himself, but even the walls of Evin Prison can't stop him from speaking out for justice.
We can’t stand idly by while Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe loses hope in Evin Prison. Join actress and CHRI board member Nazanin Boniadi in urging British officials to put their citizens before politics and demand politicians put #PeopleBeforePolitics and free Nazanin now.
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