Tag Archives: Iran Human Rights

Iran Determined to Impose Total Information Blackout to Stifle Dissent

February 28, 2012 at 3:51 PM
Saeed Malekpour

Saeed Malekpour

Noted blogger Mehdi Khazali knew he was in trouble with the Iranian government. He had already been arrested in the summer of 2009 and again in October 2010, and was facing pending charges from those arrests.

Nevertheless, he decided to openly express his opinion, urging a boycott of Iran’s upcoming March 2, 2012 parliamentary elections as a gesture of protest.

For that, Mehdi Khazali suffered the full brunt of the Iranian authorities’ fury. On January 9, 2012 security forces came to arrest him. They brutally beat him, breaking his arm.

He has been detained since then, apparently not receiving proper medical attention for his injuries. He has reportedly spent most of that time in detention on a hunger strike, and his family says he is poor condition. SEE THE REST OF THIS POST

Here We Go Again: Iran Condemns Yet Another "Spy"

January 10, 2012 at 2:21 PM
Amir Hekmati iran prisoner

Amir Hekmati

By now I can write the script in my sleep: Foreign citizen (but usually Iranian in origin) picked up and slapped into detention; family told to be quiet about it and things will “go well”; implausible televised confession to acts of espionage or involvement in plot to undermine the Iranian government made by weary-looking defendant is aired on Iranian television; unfair trial in Revolutionary Court; harsh sentence handed down; media fire-storm ensues.

Yes, I have been ticking off each item on my check list again. The only “surprise” in the case of Iranian-American Amir Mirzaei Hekmati is the severity of the sentence.  The death sentence imposed on him is the first time that a U.S. citizen has been condemned to be executed in Iran since the Iranian Revolution took place 33 years ago.

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Iran Resorts to Mass Executions to Deal with Its Drug Crisis

December 16, 2011 at 9:56 AM
Arrest of drug offenders in Iran

Arrest of drug offenders in Iran.

Iran faces a drug abuse crisis of enormous proportions. It has an estimated 2 million or more addicts and users, remains the world’s largest market for opium, as well as other illegal drugs, and is a major conduit for drug trafficking from neighboring Afghanistan. Further compounding the problem is the high incidence of HIV/AIDS infections among intravenous drug users in Iran.

The Iranian government’s solution to the problem is predictably heavy-handed, as well as ineffectual: large-scale executions of those convicted of drug related offenses.

In recent years, Iran has enjoyed the dubious status of being the world’s “Number Two”—it executes the second highest number of people after China. But this year’s total of at least 600 executions and counting will vastly exceed even the numbers from the previous several years. And an astonishing 81% of those executed were convicted of drug offenses.

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New Film on Persecution of Baha'is to be Released Just as Iran Slaps Harsh Sentences on Baha'i Educators

October 20, 2011 at 1:02 PM
Riaz Sobhani

BIHE teacher Riaz Sobhani

Say what you want about the Iranian government, but you just can’t fault their flawless timing.

One would think that a country that at this very moment is having its human rights record scrutinized by the UN Human Rights Committee in Geneva would be on its best behavior. But in just the past few days Iranian courts have not only confirmed the outrageous sentence against renowned film director Jafar Panahi and handed women’s rights activist Fereshteh Shirazi a prison sentence of three years, but also sentenced seven educators with the Baha’i Institute for Higher Education (BIHE) to a total of thirty years in prison. One might almost think Iran even coordinated the handing down of the sentence with the release of a new documentary that addresses the very issue of the persecution of Iran’s Baha’i community and their systematic exclusion from higher education.

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Graphic Novel About Iran's Post-Election Crackdown Catapults to New York Times Bestsellers List

October 11, 2011 at 4:00 PM

The brutal crackdown against Iran’s peaceful post-2009 presidential election protests has been the fodder for grim reports, statements and actions put out by Amnesty International and other human rights organizations.

It’s also the backdrop for Zahra’s Paradise, a new graphic novel by writer Amir and artist Khalil (they use only their first names).

Although it might be difficult to imagine that the ugly violence could be turned into a ‘comic strip’, the graphic novel turns out to be an ideal vehicle—perhaps even the only possible vehicle—to convey the extent of the horror that affected and continues to affect millions of Iranians.

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Victory: Release of Iranian HIV/AIDS Specialist!

August 30, 2011 at 12:18 PM
Dr. Arash Alaei teaching

Dr. Arash Alaei teaching © Physicians For Human Rights

On Sunday August 28, we celebrated the release from prison of Dr. Arash Alaei, an internationally recognized expert in the prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS!

Amnesty International and partner organizations such as Physicians for Human Rights had campaigned tirelessly for his release and that of his brother Kamiar, since the two were arrested in June 2008 (Dr. Kamiar Alaei was released several months ago).  The Iranian government released Dr. Alaei and dozens of other prisoners of conscience to honor the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

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The Best Way to Combat Violence Against Women in Iran: Stop Violating Them!

August 26, 2011 at 11:42 AM

Iranian Woman’s Testimony of Rape and Torture from IntlCampforHRinIran on Vimeo.

Iran has been experiencing a disturbing uptick in the incidence of gang rapes of women recently. A public outcry has gone up over the number of such attacks that have occurred in the last few months. The Iranian government has responded by, first of all, suggesting that the women’s clothing and behavior could have encouraged the attackers; and second of all, by carrying out executions of those accused of rape.

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Renowned Iranian HIV/AIDS Doctor Imprisoned For Doing His Job

August 11, 2011 at 2:29 PM

Update 8/29/11: Dr. Arash Alaei has been released! Thank you to everyone who took action!

Dr. Arash Alaei teaching

Dr. Arash Alaei teaching © Physicians For Human Rights

Brothers Kamiar and Arash Alaei, both doctors, have dedicated their lives to helping some of the most marginalized and stigmatized groups in Iranian society—HIV-infected drug users and prison inmates. They established innovative and humane public health programs and became internationally recognized experts in the prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS.

Their hard work brought rare favorable world attention to the Islamic Republic; the programs the brothers created were considered models by the international health community.

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Recent String of Human Rights Successes in Iran Welcomed

June 22, 2011 at 9:18 AM

Emadeddin Baghi

Iran human rights success stories have sadly been quite rare lately but in just the past three weeks, human rights activists have had several reasons to celebrate.

Amnesty International welcomes the release on medical furlough of labor leader Mansour Ossanlu and journalist Hengameh Shahidi, the unconditional release of eminent author and human rights defender Emadeddin Baghi, and the news of recently released physician and HIV/AIDS researcher Kamiar Alaei’s receipt of a prestigious award.

All of these four individuals had been prominent cases on which activists from Amnesty International and our partner organizations had been tirelessly campaigning. They had all been featured in our most recent Nowruz (Iranian New Year) action from this spring.

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An Azadi Square Campaign Success and a Chastening Reminder Why We Do This

June 13, 2011 at 4:09 PM

The second anniversary of Iran’s disputed presidential elections passed on Sunday June 12 without a major public observance in Iran. After having been brutally suppressed by Iran’s security forces, Iranians have not been able to engage in the massive protests of two summers ago. Some of the most memorable of those demonstrations took place in Tehran’s Azadi (Freedom) Square.

Although the citizens of Tehran have been too terrorized to return to Azadi Square to exercise their rights, activists outside of Iran continue to demonstrate their solidarity by holding their own actions in public spaces that they have renamed “Azadi Square” for the occasion.

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