• Iran: Ailing Revolutionary Icon to Be Jailed
    Press release
    Apr 27, 2012
    An 80-year-old activist who was prominent in Iran’s Islamic revolution has been ordered to surrender to serve an eight-year prison sentence. Ebrahim Yazdi, a leader of the Freedom Movement party, was convicted in December 2011 on charges solely relating to the exercise of his rights to freedom of association and speech. He suffers from both cancer and a heart condition.
  • UN Human Rights Council: North Korea Condemnation Goes Unopposed
    Press release
    Mar 23, 2012
    The United Nations Human Rights Council’s adoption of a resolution condemning human rights violations in North Korea signaled both the gravity of the abuses and the need for the new president, Kim Jong-un, to make major reforms.
  • Joint Letter Urging Support for the Mandate of the Special Rapporteur in Iran
    Letter
    Mar 16, 2012
    We believe the continuation of a country mandate for Iran is critical to allow Iranians to engage with the international community, put pressure on the Iranian government to comply with its international rights obligations, and allow international human rights bodies and mechanisms to monitor the rights situation in the country.
  • Iran: Quash Convictions and Free Rights Advocates
    Press release
    Mar 8, 2012

    Iran’s judiciary should immediately overturn a lower court ruling against a lawyer sentenced to 18 years in prison for his human rights activities and set him free, Human Rights Watch said today. Abdolfattah Soltani, a colleague of Nobel Peace laureate Shirin Ebadi and cofounder of a banned rights group, was convicted on charges that violate his rights to freedom of expression and association protected under international law. On the same day another colleague of Soltani’s, Narges Mohammadi, learned that an appeals court had sentenced her to six years in prison on similar charges.

  • Iran: Fair Vote Impossible
    Press release
    Mar 1, 2012
    Iran’s parliamentary elections scheduled for March 2, 2012, will be grossly unfair because of arbitrary disqualifications and other restrictions. The voting for 290 parliamentary seats follows the disqualification of hundreds of candidates based on vague and ill-defined criteria, and opposition leaders are either barred from participating, serving unjust prison sentences, or refusing to participate in what they consider sham elections.
  • Iran’s Greens Aim to Rise Again
    Commentary
    Feb 13, 2012

    At 80 years of age, Ebrahim Yazdi has the distinction of being Iran’s oldest political prisoner. Yazdi was one of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini’s closest confidants, accompanied him during his triumphant return to Tehran in February 1979, and briefly served as deputy prime minister and foreign minister. Authorities arrested him three times after the disputed 2009 presidential election for his membership in a political opposition group. Yazdi spent months in jail, then was released for medical treatment

  • Iran: Arrest Sweeps Target Arab Minority
    Press release
    Feb 7, 2012
    Iranian security forces arrested more than 65 Arab residents during security sweeps in Iran’s Arab-majority Khuzestan province since late 2011 according to local activists. The Iranian government should immediately charge or release those arrested. Authorities should also investigate reports by local activists that two detainees have died in Intelligence Ministry detention facilities in the past week.
  • Iran: Stop Holding Reporters’ Relatives Hostage
    Press release
    Feb 2, 2012

    The Iranian government has been intimidating and detaining relatives and friends of foreign-based Persian-language journalists to obtain information or silence them.

  • Iran: New Arrests of Labor Activists
    Press release
    Jan 30, 2012

    Iranian authorities should immediately release dozens of labor and independent trade union activists imprisoned for speaking out peacefully in defense of workers. Convictions solely for the peaceful exercise of freedom of association and assembly should be quashed, and charges should be dropped against others facing prosecution for these reasons.

  • Iran: New Assault on Freedom of Information
    Press release
    Jan 25, 2012

    Iranian authorities should immediately charge or release at least 10 journalists and bloggers arrested since the beginning of 2012. The arrests appear to be part of the government’s most recent campaign to disrupt the free flow of information ahead of parliamentary elections scheduled for March 2.