Author: admin-hr

Four Kulbars were killed or injured by police shot

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Labor and Guilds
Akam Bardel, Khaled Salimi, Kulbar, Marivan, Naser Olian, Sina Mam-hamidi, Urmia

In the past two days, two Kulbars, 23 years old Sina Mam-Hamidi and 55 years old Naser Olian were injured in Marivan and Urmia and two others, Khaled Salimi and Akam Bardel were killed by patrol police in Piranshahr.

In 2018, 48 Kulbars were killed and 104 had been injured by police patrol in the west and north west of Iran. According to this report, 300 other citizens (beside Kulbars) in 11 provinces were injured or killed by military forces.

Kulbars (carriers) are labors who are carrying goods across borders for living. The majority of Kulbars are working in West Azerbaijan, Kermanshah and Kurdistan provinces. Kulbars are carrying goods across the borders from unofficial locations, in lieu of a very low amount of money.

Amnesty International condemned the abusive forced veiling laws in Iran

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Women
Amnesty International, Mandatory Veil

“It may sound like a fictional dystopia, but it is not. This is the reality for millions of women in Iran, where the state heavily controls women’s bodies.”

Amnesty International published a report on Iranian women’s situation and condemned the abusive forced veiling laws in Iran. According to Amnesty International the morality police place 40 million women under surveillance. “They have the power to stop women and examine their dress, assessing how many strands of hair they are showing, the length of their trousers and overcoats, and the amount of make-up they are wearing. The punishment for being seen in public without a headscarf includes arrest, a prison sentence, flogging or a fine – all this for the “crime” of exercising their right to choose what to wear.”

The women’s rights movement against compulsory veil in recent years and the Iranian authorities’ response to wage a crackdown was discussed in this report. According to this report, since January 2018, Iranian authorities have arrested at least 48 defenders of women’s rights, including four men. Some have been tortured and sentenced to prison terms or flogging. The report condemned the arrest of the women’s rights defenders such as Nasrin Sotoudeh, Yasaman Aryani, Mojgan Keshavarz, Monireh Arabshahi, Vida Movahedi, Reza Khandan, and Farhad Meysami.

 

 

Heart Failure and Deprivation of Medical Treatment for Hasan Momtaz Savestani, Baha’i Prisoner of Evin Prison

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Religious Minorities
Baha'i, Baha’i Institute of Higher Education, Hasan Momtaz Sarvestani

Hasan Momtaz Sarvestani, a Baha’i prisoner of Evin prison and a citizen of Shiraz, was transferred to hospital on Tuesday for medical checkup. Although his physician has recommended hospital bed rest to undergo medical treatments, he was returned to the prison after a day. He has been sentenced to five years in prison on the charge of teaching Persian literature at the Baha’i Institute of Higher Education (BIHE). He began his sentence on December 28, 2017 in Shiraz’s Adelabad prison and was transferred to Evin prison about a year later.

Baha’i citizens of Iran are systematically deprived of religious freedoms, while according to Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, all people are entitled to freedom of religion, belief, and changes thereof, as well as the right to express and practice those beliefs as individuals or collectives, in public or in private.

Though unofficial sources estimate the Baha’i population of Iran at more than 300,000, Iran’s Constitution officially recognizes only Islam, Christianity, Judaism, and Zoroastrianism, and does not acknowledge the Baha’i faith as an official religion. As a result, the rights of Baha’is in Iran are systematically violated.

Iranian Medical Insurances Do not Cover the Charges Related to “Gender Reassignment Surgery”

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Other
Sex Change Surgery

Vice president of social relations of the state’s Welfare Organization stated that gender reassignment surgeries are considered a cosmetic operation and thus are not covered by medical insurances. He added that his organization helps the patients with some charges of the surgery but are not significant compared with the actual costs of the surgery.

Four Prisoners of the Evin Prison were Sentenced to Death and Imprisonment

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Prisoners
Abdollah Ghasempour, Abodollah Ghasempour, Akbar Dalir, Alireza Habibian, Death Penalty, Mmojahedin Khalgh, Mohammad Hossein Ghasempour

Four prisoners of the Evin prison were informed of their sentences on Sunday, May 19, 219 by the Revolutionary Court of Tehran after spending a year in prison in limbo.

Abodollah Ghasempour was sentenced to death and eight years imprisonment, Mohammad Hossein Ghasempour, Alireza Habibian and Akbar Dalir were sentenced to five years and half in prison, each. Their trial was held earlier this month in Branch 28 of the Revolutionary Court of Tehran led by Judge Moghiseh. Abdollah Ghasempour, 34, was charged with “Baghi” (armed rebellion against Islamic state) for which he was sentenced to death, was also charged with “assembly and collusion” for which was sentenced to 5 years and half in prison and finally was charged to “membership in Mojaheddin Khalgh organization” for which was sentenced to two years and half in prison.

32-year -old Mohammad Hossein Ghasempour (Abdollah’s brother), 30-year-old Alireza Habibian, and 34-year-old Akbar Delir who are all in Ward 4 of the Evin prion were charged with “assembly and collusion” and were sentenced to five and half years in prison.

Initially their charge was “waging war by advocacy, membership, and cooperation with Mojahedin Khalgh Organization” through setting a Basij paramilitary base on fire and distributing its footage to be broadcast on the Mojahedin Khlagh media which was later changed to “acting against national security through propaganda against the state” for the other three prisoner.

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Three Board Members of the Iranian Writers Association (IWA) were Sentenced to 18 Years in Prison

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Freedom of Expression
Baktash Abtin, Iranian Writers Association, Keyvan Bajan, Reza Khandan Mahabadi

Baktash Abtin, Reza Khandan Mahabadi, and Keyvan Bajan were charged with “propaganda against the state” and “assembly and collusion against national security.” They were sentenced to 18 years in prison, combined.

The trial of the three writers was held earlier at Branch 28 of the Revolutionary Court. They were arrested on January 22, 2019 after being subpoenaed on the “encouraging immorality or prostitution” and security-related charges. They were released from Evin prison a few days after on bail.

The trial led by Judge Moghiseh at the Branch 28 of the Revolutionary Court sentenced Baktash Abtin, Reza Khandan Mahabadi, and Keyvan Bajan were sentenced to one-year imprisonment for “propaganda against the state” and to five years imprisonment for “assembly and collusion against national security”. Their attorneys, Naser Zarafshan and Razieh Zeidi were informed of the verdict. In an announcement, the Iranian Writers Association (IWA) has condemned the verdict.

The IWA was an independent group of authors, poets, editors and translators based in Iran which was formed in May 1968 to fight against state censorship. Government have continuously persecuted its members after Islamic revoloution. In 1998, several IWA members, including opposition politicians, Dariush Forouhar and his wife Parvaneh Eskandari, and writers Mohammad Mokhtari and Mohammad Jafar Pouyandeh were murdered.

An investigation concluded that the murders had been carried out by authorities of the Intelligence Ministry. A number of ministry officials were arrested, and information about the murders was leaked to the media. During a judicial inquiry, the prosecution confirmed that the chain murders were part of a systematic policy to physically eliminate political and cultural dissidents of Iran.

 

HRAI Iran Annual Human Rights Report – 2018

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Other
Annual report, Annual report 2017, Annual report 2018

This leaflet contains the 2018’s analytical and statistical annual report on the human rights in Iran, prepared by the Department of Statistics and Publications of Human Rights Activists in Iran (HRAI). This statistic analysis report presented by HRAI, is the result of the daily efforts of this organization and its dedicated members as part of a daily statistic and census project that started in 2009 by this organization. 

This annual report on human rights violations in Iran (2018) is the collection, analysis, and documentation of 3677 reports concerning human rights, gathered from various news sources during 2018. Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) has gathered and reported 35%, official or close to the Iranian government sources 58% and other human rights news agencies 7% of all the reports analysed in this Annual Report.

Download PDF file

The following 42-pages includes statistical overviews and related charts on various sections regarding women’s rights, children’s rights, prisoners’ rights, etc. Based on this report, despite the 6% increase in human rights violations reports in provinces other than Tehran, compared to the last year’s annual report, there is still a major concern on lack of proper reporting and monitoring of the human rights by the civil society in the smaller cities.

This report is the result of endeavors made by courageous human rights activists in Iran who pay a very high cost for the realization of their humanitarian believes. However, for obvious reasons (i.e. existing governmental limitations and ban on the free exchange of information and government preventing the existence of human right organizations in the country), this report by no means is free of errors and cannot alone be a reflection on the actual status of human right in Iran. Having said that, it should be emphasized that this report is considered as one of the most accurate, comprehensive, and authentic reports on the human rights conditions in Iran and it can serve as a very informative source of information for human rights activists and organizations working on Iran, to better understand the challenges and opportunities that they may face.

Download the full report in PDF format

Human Rights Activists in Iran (HRAI)

Department of Statistics and Publications

January 2019

[email protected]

A Daily Overview of Human Rights Violations in Iran for February 10, 2019

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Other
Abbas Lesani, Ali Vaseghi, Amir Hossein Miresmaili, Atousa Ahmadaei, azerbaijani turkic ethnic minority rights activist, Caspian Institution, Golestan, Kermanshah Municipality, Mazaher Mali, Mehdi Doostar, Morteza Parvin, Poachers, Rahim Norouzi, Shahin Barzegar

The following is an overview of human rights violations in Iran on February 10th, 2019 based on the information compiled and verified by Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA).

(1) More than three protests were organized across the country on February 10, 2019. The depositors of Caspian Finance and Credit Institution in Rasht, the workers of Kermanshah municipality, and peddlers in Abadan held separate protest demanding their requests to be fulfilled.

(2) The Department of Environment of Golestan province announced that a poacher was arrested in Aliabad-e Katul city. Meanwhile, according to the head of the Department of Environment of Amol, two poachers were arrested in Mazandaran. In a similar incident, two others were Arrested in the Kerman province, as confirmed by the head of the Environment Department of Jiroft.

(3) Abbas Lesani, Azerbaijani Turkic minority rights activist, has been in limbo after being transferred to the quarantine in the Ardabil prison. He is on hunger strike and is banned from visiting his family. He was sentenced to 10 months imprisonment.

(4) After being arrested for three weeks, the whereabouts of Atousa Ahmadaei, Baha’i citizen, is still unknown. She is allegedly being kept in a solitary confinement the ward 241 of the Evin prison and has not had any family visits.

(5) The attorney of Amir Hossein Miresmaili, a reporter with the Jahane Sanat daily who is sentenced to 10 years imprisonment on the charged of “insulting the sacred”, confirmed that an appeal was filed but the appeal court’s date has not been set yet.

(6) Shahin Barzegar, an Azerbaijani Turkic minority rights activist, who began his three-months imprisonment sentence in the Tabriz prison on January 31st, was pardoned and released ahead of his term.

(7) The residences and workplaces of five Azerbaijani Turkic minority rights activists have been searched by the security forces in Ardabil with ties to banners and slogans written on the walls of this city supporting Abbas Lesani. These activists are identified as Morteza Parvin, Mehdi Doostdar, Rahim Norouzi, Ali Vaseghi, and Mazaher Mali.

(8) A mine worker died in the Mazandaran province because of negligence in the oversight of safety conditions in their workplaces. Iran ranked 102 in the workplace safety among other countries.

A Daily Overview of Human Rights Violations in Iran for February 9, 2019

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Other
Abbas Hojjati, Alborz province, Baloch, Basij, Hamzeh Darwish, Hormozgan Province, Ilam, Isa Azari, kiyumars marzban, Kurdistan Province, Mostafa Shater Al-kathir, Nikshahr, Rajaee Shahr prison in Karaj, Saeed Fazel Manabi, Salman Omiyat, Sunni cleric, Tohid Ghoreishi, Walid Mallahi, workers

The following is an overview of human rights violations in Iran on February 9th, 2019 based on the information compiled and verified by Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA).

(1) Two workers were injured in Tehran and Alborz provinces and one worker was killed in Kurdistan province because of negligence in the oversight of safety conditions in their workplaces. Iran ranked 102 in the workplace safety among other countries.

(2) In an open letter, Anvar Khezri, Kurdish Sunni political prisoner in Rajaee Shahr prison, explained the torture, abuse, mistreatment, and the agony he has endured throughout his nine years in prison since 2009.

(3) Isa Azari, Sunni cleric, was arrested on Wednesday February 6th, 2018 in Urmia and transferred to an unknown place. Also, two detained citizens of Piranshahr, Shirko Ali-Mohammadi and Kamal Azad Davar were released on bail.

(4) Along with the mass arrest of the citizens in Khuzestan, four others were arrested in the last three days. Mostafa Shater Al-Kathir, Saeed Fazel Manabi, Salman Obiyat, and Abbas Hojjati were arrested and transferred to an unknown place.

(5) After the coast guards opened fire to a fishing boat suspecting she contains smuggled fuel, a Baloch fisher sailor, Walid Mallahi, was killed in Hormozgan province. The police force kills dozens of Baloch citizens in the southern provinces annually.

(6) Several Baloch Basij members were arrested with ties to the attack on a Basij paramilitary base in Nikshahr carried out on February 2nd in which one was killed and five others were injured.

(7) The attorney of Kiyumars Marzban, author and satirist, confirmed that the court session date for his client has been set on March 4th, 2019. His charges are “propaganda against the state” and “insulting the sacred”.

(8) An 11-year-old girl was married off to a 50-year-old man as his second wife in Ilam. The bride’s father received 1500 dollars in return. In the last nine months, 98 child marriages were registered in Ilam.

(9) Hamzeh Darvish and Tohid Ghoreishi, Sunni political prisoners of Rajaee Shahr prison, are on a hunger strike from Wednesday. They are in a poor physical health and are denied medical care after being beaten and held in solitary confinement cells.

A Daily Overview of Human Rights Violations in Iran for February 8, 2019

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Other
Abdolazim Acharsh, Abdolnabi Shalibavi, Abdolrahman Shilavi, Adel Maniavi, Ahmad Ghalatehrash, Ali Maniavi, Ali Shalibavi, Arman Felahati, Bapir Barzeh, Behnam Ebrahimzadeh, Esmail Bakhshi, Farzaneh Zilabi, Gharchak prison, Ghazi Shalibavi, Habib Badr Mansouri, Hakim Doris, Hamoud Shalibavi, Heyar Shalibavi, Jakan Baran, Jasem Khanafri, Javad Shouiji, Kazem Shouiji, Malek Jial Heydari, Mansour Farajzadeh, Mehdi Faroughzadeh, Mohammad Jonami, Omran Gholam Khosravi, Rasoul Al-bokhanafi, Rasoul Al-bokhazir, Rasoul Shalibavi, Risan Shalibavi, Saad Shadverdi, Salman Albokhazir, Saman Bakhshi, Seyed Ebrahim Taheri Mousavi, Soleiman Mohammadnejad, Syed Khalil Taheri Mousavi, Taleb Shalibavi, Yousef Shalibavi

The following is an overview of human rights violations in Iran on February 8th, 2019 based on the information compiled and verified by Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA).

(1) A number of Kulbars (Kurdish back carriers) have been shot by border patrol in Sardasht and Baneh in West Azerbaijan province. Saman Bakhshi, Mehdi Faroughzadeh, and Arman Felahati were injured. In 2018, 152 Kulbars were killed or injured in Iran.

(2) Two alleged poachers have been arrested in Khomeyn on Thursday, February 7th. The Khomeyn county has 11 natural habitat and is located in Markazi province.

(3) Omran Gholam Khosravi was executed in Maragheh on January 29th. According to Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad’s prison chief, 11 prisoners accused of murder have been spared from hanging on gallows by consent of next of kin in this province, in 2018.

(4) Prison guards beat prisoners and used tear gas in the Shahr e-Rey prison (Gharchak). The unrest began when some prisoners protested the fact that their names were not on a list of the pardoned prisoners for the 40th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution.

(5) Four people were sentenced to prison in Piranshahr and Quchan on the charge of “cooperation with a Kurdish opposition group”. Mansour Farajzadeh, Soleiman Mohammadnejad, Bapir Barzeh, and Ahmad Ghalatehrash were sentenced to two and a half year, combined.

(6) A detained Lebanese citizen, Nazar Zaka, who was held in the solitary confinement of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Detention Center began a hunger strike to protest his illegal arrest. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison and paying 200 thousand dollars fine on espionage-related charges.

(7) A labor activist, Behnam Ebrahimzadeh, has been detained for two months, although his family provided his bail bond which has been set for 200 million Toman [approximately 20 thousand USD]. He was apprehended “en route to assist survivors of the Kermanshah earthquake.” He had been released from prison last year after finishing his seven years sentence.

(8) Esmail Bakhshi’s lawyer, Farzaneh Zilabi, was summoned to Shush Revolutionary Court. Bakhshi spoke out about abuse and torture he suffered in detention. He has been rearrested and is at risk of torture.

(9) A Kurdish poet, Hossein Bagheri known as Jakan Baran’s court was in session on Monday, February 4th. He was charged with ‘propaganda against the state and blasphemy’. He is unable to walk and lost his right kidney.

(10) Several residents of Molashiyeh and Shadegan were arrested in Khuzestan province, during the last week. HRANA has been able to obtain the identities of 27 of them: Abdolrahman Shilavi, Habib Badr Mansouri, Malek Jial Heydari, Hamoud Shalibavi, Ghazi Shalibavi, Yousef Shalibavi, Heyar Shalibavi, Rasoul Shalibavi, Ali Shalibavi, Taleb Shalibavi, Hakim Doris, Jasem Khanafri, Syed Khalil Taheri Mousavi, Abdolazim Acharsh, Risan Shalibavi, Abdolnabi Shalibavi, Rasoul Al-bokhanafi, Rasoul Al-bokhazir, Salman Albokhazir, Seyed Ebrahim Taheri Mousavi, Mohammad Jonami, Saad Shadverdi, Taleb Shalibavi, Adel Maniavi, Ali Maniavi, Javad Shouiji, and Kazem Shouiji.