• Human Rights in Iran
    In 2012, Iranian authorities prohibited opposition candidates from participating in parliamentary elections. They have held prominent opposition leaders under house arrest for more than a year-and-a-half. Executions, especially for drug-related offenses, continued at a high rate. The government targeted civil society activists, especially lawyers, rights defenders, students, and journalists. It also continued to clamp down on Baha’is and other minorities, and announced plans for the first phase of a halal (legitimate) internet. Authorities continued to block access to the United Nations special rapporteur on Iran.
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Iran

  • Human Rights Watch Daily Brief, 14 June
    Jun 14, 2013
  • Iran: Proposed Penal Code Retains Stoning
    Jun 3, 2013
    Iran’s judiciary should not implement provisions of the new penal code that violate basic rights, including execution by stoning.
  • Iran: Threats to Free, Fair Elections
    May 24, 2013
    Serious electoral flaws and human rights abuses by the Iranian government undermine any meaningful prospect of free and fair elections on June 14, 2013. Dozens of political activists and journalists detained during the violent government crackdown that followed the disputed 2009 presidential election remain in prison, two former presidential candidates are under house arrest, and authorities are already clamping down on access to the internet, having arbitrarily disqualified most registered presidential and local election candidates.
  • Struggle Against 'Dire' Conditions for Iran Workers
    May 3, 2013
    On April 29, just ahead of International Workers' Day, Iranian authorities summoned Behnam Ebrahimzadeh to discuss the terms of his temporary release from Tehran's notorious Evin prison. Ebrahimzadeh, a labour activist and blogger who is almost three years into a five-year prison sentence, was given leave from the prison after many pleas to care for his ailing son, who suffers from a serious blood disorder.
  • Iran: Government Trampling Workers’ Rights
    Apr 30, 2013
    The Iranian government is increasingly violating workers’ rights to peaceful assembly and association. Dozens of labor and independent trade union activists are in prison for speaking out in defense of workers.Human Rights Watch called for the government to end the crackdown and free labor rights advocates in anticipation of International Workers’ Day on May 1, as part of a joint campaign by Iranian and international rights groups to highlight the plight of workers.
  • The Dark Side of Iran's Drug Policy
    Apr 12, 2013
  • Letter to UN HRC on Renewal of Mandate of Special Rapporteur on Iran
    Mar 12, 2013
    On 21 or 22 March 2013, the United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC) will vote on the renewal of the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran. The situation has continued to deteriorate since the adoption of the last resolution by the Council in March 2012. Yet the government of Iran has refused to cooperate with the UN Special Rapporteur on Iran. It remains critical that the Human Rights Council affirm that the abuses in Iran should end and continue to mandate an in-depth monitoring of the situation in the country, in particular ahead of the presidential election scheduled for June 2013.
  • Iran: Prosecute Officials in Detained Blogger’s Death
    Mar 7, 2013
    Iran’s judiciary should conclude a speedy, independent, and transparent criminal investigation followed by prosecution of those believed responsible for the death of the blogger Sattar Behesht. Beheshti died in the custody of Tehran’s cyber police in November 2012. Iranian officials should stop harassing his family and hampering their efforts to seek justice and ensure that those responsible for the blogger’s death are held to account.
  • Iran: Guarantee Rights of ‘Terror’ Suspects
    Feb 23, 2013
    (Beirut) – Iranian judiciary authorities should allow at least 20 detainees charged with terrorism, in connection with the murder of Iranian nuclear scientists, access to their lawyers and family members. Iran’s judiciary has failed to provide basic information about these cases, even to their families, despite the seriousness of the charges, which carry severe punishments, including death.
  • Iran: End House Arrests of Mousavi, Karroubi, and Rahnavard
    Feb 14, 2013
    The Iranian authorities should immediately release from arbitrary house arrest two former presidential candidates Mehdi Karroubi and Mir Hossein Mousavi, and his wife, Zahra Rahnavard, an author and political activist, the Nobel Peace laureate Shirin Ebadi and six leading human rights groups said today. The authorities should also stop harassing or detaining without cause the couple’s two daughters and Karroubi’s son.
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