Category: Human Rights
20 Iranian jouranlists in exile
CPJ-CPJ’s Journalist Assistance Program supports journalists who cannot be helped by advocacy alone. In 2011, we assisted 171 journalists worldwide. Almost a fourth came from countries that made CPJ’s Most Censored list. Eight journalists from Eritrea, five from Syria, six from Cuba, and a whopping 20 from Iran sought our help after being forced to leave their countries, having [...]
Restrictions on Islamic dress for women continue to tighten in Iran
(WNN) Tehran, IRAN: With an increased crackdown on regulations for conservative Islamic dress codes for women in Iran, female security officers, known as the ‘morality police’ have been told to step up their efforts to enforce what Tehran Police Chief Hossein Sajedinia says is “bad headscarves, bad dress, and model-type women in vulgar dress.” Worries about [...]
Iran’s appalling human rights record has not deterred organised opposition
The Independent (Blog) By Mark Williams Another tragic political execution is regrettably imminent in Tehran, where the mullahs have already murdered 120,000 members and supporters of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK), the main opposition movement. This time the potential victim is 44-year-old Hamid Ghassemi-Shall, who has dual Canadian-Iranian nationality. Hamid returned to Iran [...]
Tehran police in new dress code crackdown
TEHRAN (AFP)— Police in Tehran are conducting a new crackdown on women wearing mandatory headscarves improperly or in “vulgar” dress, the city’s police chief said, according to media reports on Saturday. Such operations, which see police screening foot and vehicle traffic at major junctions and shopping centres, are conducted fairly often in Iran. The latest [...]
Iranian diplomat accused of Brazil child molestation
BBC News Brazil says it will seek an explanation from Iran after an Iranian diplomat was accused of molesting underage girls at a swimming pool in Brasilia. The Iranian official was questioned by police following complaints from parents but released after invoking diplomatic immunity. Iran’s embassy denied the allegations, and said they were the result [...]
Eviction and forcible relocation of Ashraf residents with coercion and intimidation
Only 48 hours after the transfer of the fourth group of Ashraf residents under much pressures and intolerable restrictions and while their minimum belongings are yet planned to be transferred to Liberty today, the Government of Iraq (GoI) intends to transfer the fifth group of residents through coercion, and intimidation on Wednesday, April 18. This [...]
Wife fears for Canadian on death row in Iran
CBC-The wife of a Canadian on death row in Iran says she spoke with her husband on Sunday, as he waits to learn his fate and the Canadian government pleads for his release. Antonella Mega has been fighting since 2008 to free her husband, Hamid Ghassemi-Shall. “He was in tears,” Mega told CBC News on [...]
Iranians surround Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s car in poverty protest
TheTelegraph-The remarkable show of civil disobedience occurred during what was intended as a routine tour last week of the southern city Bandar Abbas. As the president waves to crowds, standing in the car’s sunroof, an elderly man is shown holding on to the front hand side of the car shouting “I’m hungry, I’m hungry”. Panicked [...]
Iran Internet Control: Tehran Tightens Grip On Web
HuffingtonPost-TEHRAN, Iran — Iran calls it the “soft war” with the West: Battles to control, defend and monitor the Internet and other high-level telecommunications. The latest move came quietly when the powerful Revolutionary Guard recently launched what it claims is a hack-proof communications network for its high-level commanders. Largely overshadowed by the showdowns over Iran’s [...]
Ottawa asks Iran to release Canadian on death row
OTTAWA — Canada’s foreign minister on Monday called on Iran to halt the imminent execution of Canadian-Iranian Hamid Ghassemi-Shall and to release the man accused of espionage. “Canada is gravely concerned by indications that the execution of Mr. Ghassemi-Shall may be carried out imminently,” Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird said in a statement. “Canada urgently [...]
Iranian official resigns over impeachment threat-media
By Marcus George DUBAI, April 15 (Reuters) – An Iranian official accused of involvement in the torture of protesters while in custody has resigned from his post after parliament threatened the government with impeachment, Iranian media reported on Sunday. Saeed Mortazavi stands accused of involvement in the deaths of protesters detained at the Kahrizak detention [...]
Labour activist gets six years
The Iranian judiciary has sentenced labour activist Reza Shahabi to six years in jail and a five-year ban from labour activism. Shahabi was arrested in June of 2010 and has been held in custody ever since. The committee for the defence of Reza Shahabi says the activist, who was an executive member of the Vahed [...]
Tearing down Iran’s electronic curtain
Western companies have provided the technology that enables Tehran’s Internet censorship. The Wall Street Journal By MARK DUBOWITZ AND TOBY DERSHOWITZ Three hundred and sixty seconds. That’s all it would take for Iranian security services to identify and track an encrypted message sent to a mobile phone somewhere inside Iran, kick in the door, and [...]
One Iranian human rights activist released, another sentenced to jail
TheGuardian-Iranian activist Kouhyar Goudarzi has been released from jail after eight months of imprisonment with little access to the outside world, it emerged on Friday. The Committee for Human Rights Reporters (CHRR) in Iran reportedthat Goudarzi, one of its members, who was given a five-year jail term in March, has been temporarily freed on bail. An Iranian blogger has published [...]
29 Ashraf residents injured
At 11:30 am on April 8, during the inspection of belongings of the fourth group of Ashraf residents for transfer to Liberty, Iraqi suppressive forces called SWAT attacked a number of residents by stone, sticks, iron bars and electric batons and beat them strongly. 29 residents including some women were injured. Capt. Ahmad Khozeir and [...]
Kouhyar Goudarzi released from prison
by Laleh Irani on Thursday, April 12, 2012 at 1:24pm · Committee of Human Rights Reporters – Human rights activist Kouhyar Goudarzi was released today on $88,000 bail. Incarcerated human rights activist Kouhyar Goudarzi had been issued a 5-year prison sentence and exile to the city of Zabol. Today after enduring 8 months behind bars [...]
Iran threatens to totally cut Web access
United Press International TEHRAN, April 10 (UPI) — Iran may completely cut millions of Internet users in the country off from the Web, and from social networks and e-mail services, analysts said. In a statement last week, the Iranian minister for Information and Communications Technology said a national intranet would be established within five [...]
A reason to pause this Easter Sunday
The Daily Mail Camp Ashraf dissidents brave enough to stand up to Iran must be protected by the West By Lord Carlile Of Berriew Eight women were either shot at close range or crushed to death under the wheels of armoured vehicles when Iraqi forces stormed Camp Ashraf, near Baghdad, on April 8 last year, [...]
Iran pastor, still alive, passes 900th day in jail
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP) — As Christians around the world prepare to celebrate Easter, Iranian pastor Yousef Nadarkhani remains in jail — alive, yes — but having already passed his 900th day behind bars for being a Christian and still facing a possible execution. Yousef Nadarkhani Nadarkhani, whose first name also can be spelled “Youcef,” was [...]
Iran families face inflation, unemployment, Tehran Times says
Bloomberg By Ladane Nasseri Most Iranian families are grappling with inflation and youth unemployment, the Tehran Times reported, citing Parliamentary Speaker Ali Larijani. Support for domestic manufacturing can have an impact on these difficulties, the newspaper cited Larijani as saying. Domestic producers haven’t been given sufficient help during implementation of a governmental plan to phase [...]