A Daily Overview of Human Rights Violations in Iran for January 16, 2019

The following is an overview of human rights violations in Iran on January 16th, 2019 based on the information compiled and verified by Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA).

(1) Morteza Parhizgar was sentenced to 74 lashes and nine years imprisonment on the charges of “assembly and collusion against national security” and “insulting the president”. He was in prison for 11 months before his trial.

(2) More than five protests were held across the country. The workers of inter-city rail in Ahvaz, several teachers in Yazd, the farmers of Esfarvarin, the customers of SAIPA and Iran Khodro in Tehran and Urmia, and the workers of the maintenance contractor in oil, gas, petrochemical, refineries, water and energy (RAMPCO Group) in Assaluyeh, have organized separate protests.

(3) Six United Nations special rapporteurs requested Iranian authorities to prepare medical care for Nazanin Zaghari Ratcliffe and Narges Mohammadi. Their health conditions have been exacerbated in prison due to authorities’ refusal of medical care.

(4) Aryasb Bavand was sentenced to 22 years and six months prison term and Mahizadeh Poshtpanah has faced six years imprisonment. Their accusations are “Forming a group to act against the national security, propaganda against the state and insulting the Supreme Leader”.

(5) A worker of Iran National Steel Industrial Group (NSIG) in Ahvaz, Mohammad Reza Nematpour, was released today. Two other workers of NSIG are still in prison. More than 43 workers of NSIG have been arrested on December 16, 2018.

(6) A 29-year-old prisoner was executed on the charge of murder after spending six years in prison. He was hanged earlier today, in Babol. In 2018, at least 236 people have been executed and 195 people have been sentenced to death in Iran.

(7) Some 13 thousand children suffer from malnutrition in Sistan and Bauchestan province.

(8) A student transportation vehicle crashed leaving one dead and six injured students in Ekhtiarabad in the Kerman province.

(9) An accused individual in the Golestan province received an alternative sentencing to study and teach traffic laws to students. In the last 10 months, 3000 convicts received alternative sentences in the Golestan province.

(10) A lawyer, Hossein Ahmadi Niaz, was summoned to the Sanandaj court on the charge of “publishing lies” and “disturbing public opinion”. Several lawyers were arrested or have been under pressure for the cases they accepted to defend.

(11) The court of Azerbaijani Turkic minority rights activists, Olduz Ghasemi, Javad Ahmadi Yekanli, and Amir Sattari was in session today. They were charged with “propaganda against the state” for being present in an unlawful protest.

(12) Some 1.5 million students are studying at old and structurally unsafe schools. In the last six years, hazardous events occurred due to unsafe schools and led to 58 injuries and deaths. Moreover, 70 students died or had been injured in schools field trips.

(13) Majid Asadi, a prisoner in Rajaee Shahr in Karaj, wrote an open letter about torture, mistreatment, humiliation and abuse in prison. He has been arrested in February 2017 on the charge of “assembly and collusion against national security”. He is serving his six years sentence.

A Daily Overview of Human Rights Violations in Iran for December 28, 2018

The following is an overview of human rights violations in Iran on December 28th, 2018 based on the information compiled and verified by Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA).

(1) Zahra Abbasi, a 16-year-old pregnant girl, self-immolated and died in Dishmok city in Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad Province. Five other women have self-immolated in Dishmok in the current year.

(2) During the last few days, 24 residents of Hendijan have been transferred to hospital for drinking contaminated water. They have been diagnosed with dysentery.

(3) Two Azerbaijani Turkic rights activists, Reza Jafarlou and Akbar Gholizadeh, who had been arrested on December 10th and detained in Urmia prison were released on bail. Three other activists, Oldouz Ghasemi, Amir Sattari, and Javad Ahmadi Yaekaneli were summoned to the Revolutionary Court in Naqadeh.

(4) Mohammad Saber Malek Reisi and Shir Ahmad Shirani, two political prisoners of Ardabil prison, who were returned to the prison after 12 days of interrogation, have been transferred to quarantine. They also have been barred from having visitors or phone calls.

(5) Seyed Mohammad Mohammadi, a political prisoner in the Evin prison, has served 14 months of his 2-year sentence. He was accused of ‘propaganda against the state’, ‘insulting the Supreme Leader’, and ‘insulting the authorities’.

(6) More than 40 students of an elementary school in Babol have been poisoned. Students with food poisoning symptoms have been hospitalized for treatment. The cause of the poisoning is unknown.

(7) Zahedan prisoners suffer from lack of access to adequate medical and mental health care, mistreatment by prisoners’ staff, malnutrition, quarantined when they complained about their situation, etc.

(8) Six firefighters were injured during an incident in Jey Industrial Zone in the central district of Isfahan

(9) Three protests and strikes have been organized on December 28, 2018. Nishabur public service workers, Farmers of Isfahan province, and staff of Islamic Azad University Meybod branch, requested their demands in separate protests.