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

(1) More than four protests were organized on January 8, 2019. The workers of city services in Dezful, customers of SAIPA and other automakers in Tehran, shareholders of the bankrupt Caspian Finance Institution in Rasht, and residents of Kerman held separate protests to request their demands.

(2) A 24-year-old nurse, Saeed Alian, died due to working long hours in Larestan county in the Fars province. Shortage of nurses in Iran impacts patient care and nurses’ health.

(3) Gharib Hoveizavi and Meisam Ali Ghanavati, workers of Iran National Steel Industrial Group (INSIG), were released on bail in Ahvaz. More than 43 workers of INSIG have been arrested on December 16, 2018.

(4) In the last week, Milad Rahimi, Mehdi Kanisoori, and Barezan Babakri, all 17 years old, were beaten and arrested by the security forces in Baneh in Kurdistan province. Their whereabouts are still unknown.

(5) Elham Ahmadi, a detained Gonabadi Dervish, sentenced to 148 lashes. She is serving her sentence of two years imprisonment and is accused of ‘defamation and insulting prison officials’ because of publishing a voice recording in which she describes the disastrous life of the prisoners in Gharchak prison.

(6) A Kurdish poet, Hossein Bagheri known as Jakan Baran, was summoned to a court and charged with ‘propaganda against the state and blasphemy’. He is unable to walk and lost his right kidney.

(7) Zahra Navidpour who accused a member of parliament of repeatedly raping her, was found dead. She reported that there were several women who have been raped by Salman Khodadadi but did not file a complaint about this, fearing for their lives.

(8) Esmail Faghir Dadzehi and Khalil Shahbakhsh, prisoners of Zahedan prison, were severely beaten and injured by prison wardens.

(9) An indictment charged an elementary school official with ‘child molestation’. He threatened and sexually abused several students in the school in the district four of Isfahan.

(10) Seven residents of Jabbarand village, have been sentenced to 17 years imprisonment, combined. Jafar Rasoulpour, Bahman Dandansaz, Mohammad Leilaneh, Mohammad Soyrou, and Rasoul Mohammad Amini were sentenced to one-and-a-half-year imprisonment. Vafa Heydari and Ayob Ahmadi were sentenced to five years in prison. They were accused of ‘cooperation with a Kurdish opposition group’. Jabbarand is a village of Sardasht county in the West Azerbaijan province.

(11) Arsham Rezaei and Mohammad Hassanzadeh were arrested by security agents in Tehran. Their whereabouts are still unknown.

(12) Employees of the South Pars gas field were going on a strike since January 1st to protest not being paid for several months. In addition, 280 thousand people were laid off and 150 thousand were suspended in auto part manufacturing units in last year.

(13) The New York Times reported the arrest of a US citizen in Mashhad. Michael R. White, 46, was arrested in late July while he was visiting his Iranian girlfriend.

(14) Salah Sharifzadeh, a detained Bukan resident, has been transferred to Urmia prison after four months of interrogation in detention. He was accused of ‘cooperation with Kurdish opposition groups’.

(15) Sahar Kazemi was transferred to Sanandaj prison and Madeh Fathi is undergoing interrogation in the Intelligence Department. They were arrested in November and the reason of their arrest is still unknown.

(16) Hossein Miri Nazarlou, a cyber activist, is serving his sentence of eight years imprisonment in Evin prison. He is accused of ‘propaganda against the state’ and blasphemy related charges.

(17) A Kulbar (Kurdish back carriers), Hoda Feqh Mahmoudi fatally fell off the mountains in Sardasht. He was escaping from border patrol agents.

(18) Environmental Protection Agency reported catching 345 poachers in Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad Province in the last nine months.

(19) Three workers were injured in a fire at their workplace in Gachsaran because of negligence in the oversight of safety conditions.

(20) A prisoner charged with murder in Miandoab was saved from gallows by the victim’s family’s consent after spending 10 years in prison. Miandoab is a city in the West Azerbaijan province.