Category: News

Amir Salar Davoudi was sentenced to 30 years in prison

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Other
Amir Salar Davoudi, Tannaz Kolachian

The wife of Amir Salar Davoudi confirmed that he was sentenced to 30 years in prison of which the highest penalty is 15 years imprisonment for the charge of “establishing a channel in the Telegram app”. Davoudi has been detained since November 2018 on the charges of “insulting officials”, “propaganda against the state”, “cooperating with enemy states through interviewing with Voice Of America (VOA) television channel”, and “forming a group to overthrow the state”. Tannaz Kolahchian, Davoudi’s wife, wrote on her personal page that he has been sentenced at Branch 15 of the Revolutionary Court to 30 years in prison for several charges which according to the Article 134 of Iran’s Islamic Penal Code, he should serve the sentence for the charge with the highest penalty which is 15 years in prison on the charge of “establishing a channel in the Telegram group app”. He has decided not to appeal this sentence.

Agents of the judiciary’s security and intelligence center arrested Davoudi—a 27-year-old lawyer and civil rights activist who has been retained as counsel by several detainees held on politically motivated charges in Iran—in his office on November 20, 2018. The security agents also searched Davoudi’s home and office and took away some of his personal belongings. He had been taken in for questioning on previous occasions and had been warned not to inform the public about his clients’ politically sensitive cases. The second session of his trial was held on May 4, 2018 at Branch 15 of the Revolutionary Court.

Saba Kord-Afshari was arrested

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Freedom of Expression
Saba Kord-Afshari

Saba Kord-Afshari, former political prisoner, was arrested at her home by security forces and was transferred to Vozara detention Center. Her house was searched by security forces and some of her belongings such as her cell phone and her laptop were confiscated. There has been no information on the reason of her arrested and the arresting authorities.

She was arrested along 50 others during last July-August uprising protesting the current economic deterioration and corruption on August 2, 2018 and was transferred to Varamin’s Gharachak prison. She was transferred to Evin prison’s women’s ward in October 2018 and was charged with “disrupting the public order” and was sentenced to one year in prison at the Branch 28 of Tehran’s Revolutionary Court led by Judge Moghiseh.

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.

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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.

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, Publications
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.

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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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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.