The following is an overview of human rights violations in Iran on December 16th,2018 based on the information compiled and verified by Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA).
(1) Negin Ghadamian, a Baha’i prisoner of conscience wrote an open letter about her social deprivation as a Baha’i citizen. She is a teacher at the Baha’i Institute for Higher Education (BIHE) who was arrested on December 16, 2017, at the airport as she and her husband Pouya were about to board a plane bound for Switzerland. Ghadamian was first arrested in 2011 after Intelligence Ministry agents raided the homes of staff and faculty members of the BIHE. In 2013, Ghadamian was summoned to the Revolutionary Court at Evin prison and was sentenced to five years in prison on charges of “acting against national security through membership a the Baha’i deviant sect” and working with the “illegal” BIHE.
(2) More than 11 protests had been held in Iran. National Steel Company workers in Ahvaz continued their protest for the 37th day. Moreover, shareholders of the bankrupt Caspian Institution, Unemployed youth in Pariz, 400 of retired workers of long distance communication in Shiraz, 200 of Borujerd municipality employees and workers, the workers of Farabi Petrochemichal Company n Bandar-e Mahshahr, retired employees of Ahvaz University of Medical Sciences, relinquished parliament member of Isfahan, farmers in Isfahan, Urmia University students, participants of Iranian universities’ entrance exam (Konkour), and hawkers in Sanandaj
(3) A few detained Bahai citizens, Sunni clerics and activists were released on bail. Five Baha’i citizens, Monica Alizadeh, Shabnam Isakhani, Shahriar Khodapanah, Kambiz Misaghi, and Kheirollah Bakhshi, have been released on bail in Tabriz. Another two Baha’i prisoners, Elham Salmanzadeh and Parvan Manavi, were released on bail. Moreover, two Sunni clerics, Molavi Ayyub Ahmadi, and Molavi Hashem Jafarzadeh, were released on bail. Mohammad Reza Ramezanzadeh, a detained teacher, was released on bail. He was arrested at the teacher’s strike in Bojnord. Finally, Asghar Firouzi, a former political activist, was released on bail on December 16, 2018. He was in prison before and after the Islamic Revolution.
(4) Shargh Daily and Cheshmandaz magazine were convicted. They were charged with “publishing articles deemed offensive to Islam”.
(5) Two converted Christians were arrested, beaten, and tortured by intelligence agents in Ahvaz.
(6) A 50 years old prisoner was executed at Mashhad Central Prison. He was accused of murdering his wife because of a family conflict in 2011.
(7) Two Baloch youth were killed while driving, by police. The cause of shooting is still unknown.
(8) Ali Madani, a civil activist, was summoned back to Evin to begin serving his sentence of three and half years’ jail time and 74 lashes.
(9) A detained labor activist, Behnam Ebrahimzadeh’s whereabouts is still unknown.
(10) Mostafa Daneshjou, lawyer of the detained Gonabadi Dervishes, was sentenced to eight years in prison. A Baha’i citizen, Yekta Fahandezh Saadi, was sentenced to 11 years in prison in the Shiraz Revolutionary Court.
(11) An accused individual in the city of Neka received an alternative sentencing to get a membership at a local library and have an active engagement in reading ethical and religious books.