A Daily Overview of Human Rights Violations in Iran for January 31, 2019

The following is an overview of human rights violations in Iran on January 31st, 2019 based on the information compiled and verified by Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA).

(1) Arash Sadeghi, a detained civil rights activist, was deprived from medical care which health professionals have said he desperately requires. He is suffering from bone cancer and infection in a surgical wound on his arm. Also, he has an urgent need for chemotherapy.

(2) Of the one million phone calls the Emergency Social Services Hotline received last year, 21 thousand were regarding child abuse and domestic violence.

(3) Saba Kord-Afshar and Yasaman Aryani, political prisoners, wrote an open letter reacting to a newspaper article that described the political prisoners’ conditions ‘favorable’, giving an overview of the hardship they face in the Evin’s women’s ward.

(4) The director of the Department of Environment of Tabas announced that two poachers were arrested in Tabas city along with a carcass of a chinkara.

(5) Parvin Mohammadi, a labor activist and the vice-president of the Free Union of Workers in Iran, was transferred to the Kachoui prison in Karaj to serve her one-month detention. She was arrested on January 29.

(6) Mohammad Ali Zahmatkesh, a teacher’s rights activist in Shiraz, was sentenced to two years imprisonment and one year of exile. His accusations are  “propaganda against the state” and “insulting the Founder of the Islamic Republic”.

(7) Shahin Barzegar, an Azerbaijani Turkic minority rights activist, began his three-months imprisonment sentence in the Tabriz prison. His charge was attending the funeral ceremony of a former prisoner, Hasan Damirchi.

(8) Soroush Agahi, a Baha’i prisoner of the Evin prison, was released on bail. He and Neda Shabani, another Baha’i citizen, have been arrested in Karaj on November 28, 2018.

(9) Amnesty International requested the release of Iranian labor activists Esmail Bakhshi and Sepideh Gholian who spoke out about abuse and torture they suffered in detention. They have been rearrested and are at risk of severe torture.

(10) A prisoner was executed in Nowshahr and a 24-year old was sentenced to death in Birjand. A prisoner who was accused of murder, was spared from hanging on gallows by consent of next of kin in Karun after 12-year in prison.

(11) A member of Iranian Parliament representing Nishabur, Hajar Chenarani, confirmed that 200 workers of Khorasan Exhaust Manufacturing Company have been laid off.

(12) A 66-year old Christian converted, Esmail Maghrebi-Nejad, was arrested by security forces in Shiraz on January 15 and his whereabouts is still unknown. His home was raided, and his belongings confiscated.

(13) Saeed Sadeghifar ,an Azerbaijani Turkic minority rights activist, was released on bail. The security forces on Tuesday, arrested him in Ardabil. His court was on January 24, on the charge of “establishing illegal groups with the intention to disturbing national security”.

A Daily Overview of Human Rights Violations in Iran for January 21, 2019

The following is an overview of human rights violations in Iran on January 21st, 2019 based on the information compiled and verified by Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA).

(1) Zartosht Ahmadi Ragheb, civil rights activist and firefighter, was arrested today. He was in three day sit in by Shahriar governorate protesting his laying off after 17 years of working there. He was released after few hours.

(2) Baha’i citizens, Mahboub Habibi, Pejman Shahriari, and Kourosh Rohani, were sentenced to one-year imprisonment on the charge of “propaganda against the state”. They have been arrested last year and were released on bail in September.

(3) The case of the detained lawyer, Amir Salar Davoudi, was transferred to the Tehran Revolutionary Court. He is banned from visiting or contacting his wife. He was arrested on November 20 on the charge of “propaganda against the state” and “insulting the Supreme Leader”.

(4) Gholamhossein Karbaschi, the executives of Construction Party, was arrested earlier today. He had been sentenced to one-year prison term earlier in Isfahan court. His lawyer reported that Karbaschi was released after few hours.

(5) The judicial committee of the parliament approved on Monday a bill, according to which, children born to Iranian mothers and foreign fathers are permitted to receive Iranian citizenship.

(6) Two prisoners of Urmia prison, Mohammad Patayesh and Kamal Abdollahi have been sentenced to 14 years in prison, combined, on charges of “espionage” and “supporting a Kurdish opposition group.

(7) A Baha’i citizen, Atousa Ahmadaei, who was arrested in Tehran on Sunday, was transferred to Evin prison. The intelligent officers also searched her home and confiscated her belongings indicating that her charge is “acting against the national security’.

(8) Several lawyers wrote an open letter to Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Iran, Javid Rehman, to express their concerns about Esmail Bakhshi and Sepideh Gholian ‘s arrest. They were arrested after the broadcast of their under-torture confessions on the national television.

(9) More than five protests were organized in Iran on January 21, 2019. The workers of National power distribution Company in Tehran, the municipality workers in Lowshan, the investors of Caspian financial institution, and the customers of its branch in Mashhad, Badr Toos institution have held separate protests requesting their demands. Moreover, 300 workers of Nishabur municipality have 30 million Toman [approcimately 3000 USD] unpaid wages, each. They were protesting multiple times in January.

(10) Hamid Babaei, a detained Ph.D. student in finance at Liège University in Belgium, who is serving his six years prison sentence, returned to Evin Prison by the end of his furlough. He was arrested while visiting his family in Iran in 2013 on the “espionage” related charges.

(11) A worker died in Khorramshahr and another worker was injured in Bardaskan in Razavi Khorasan province, because of negligence in the oversight of safety conditions in their workplaces.

(12) A prisoner accused of murder, was spared from hanging on gallows by paying the blood money and consent of next of kin. He was spending 14 years in prison.