Iranian Society under Crackdown
In September 2022, Iranians took to the streets to protest the death of a 22-year-old Kurdish Iranian woman in the custody of the abusive “morality police,” as well as the autocratic government’s long track record of repression and impunity. The protest movement’s leading slogan of “woman, life, freedom” connects Iranians’ struggles for social and political freedoms across generations against an unaccountable and deeply repressive state. The authorities’ brutal repression of popular demands for fundamental change has included lethal and excessive force against protesters, arbitrary arrests of activists, journalists, and rights defenders, the torture and sexual assault of detainees, and executions of people after sham trials. Human Rights Watch’s Iran blog highlights the government’s vicious crackdown and civil society activists’ attempts to confront this oppression and achieve societal demands for fundamental improvements in human rights.
Amini Family Lawyer Summoned to Court Ahead of Death Anniversary
On August 21, the Kurdistan Human Rights Network reported that Saleh Nikbakht, the lawyer who represents Mahsa (Jina) Amini’s family in the case of her death in custody, was ordered to appear before Branch 28 of Tehran's Islamic Revolutionary Court, presided over by Judge Mohammad Reza Amoozad, on August 29.
On March 11, Nikbakht had been charged with "propaganda against the state" at the 2nd branch of the Public Prosecutor's Office in Tehran and was released on bail pending his court hearing. His trial was originally scheduled for August 1 but was reportedly delayed for administrative reasons.
A source familiar with the case who spoke with the Kurdistan Human Rights Network said that the charge against Nikbakht stems from his interviews with domestic and foreign media. He also has publicly disputed the Forensic Medicine Commission's finding that Amini's death was caused by a "heart attack" attributed to an "underlying illness."
Ahead of the anniversary of the start of the nationwide protests in response to Amini’s death in custody, Iranian authorities have intensified their crackdown, arresting over a dozen activists and increasing their repression of a wide range of dissidents, including lawyers.
Dadban, a counseling and legal education center for activists, reported that on August 22 security forces arrested Amir Hossein Kohkan, the lawyer for the family of Mohammad Mahdi Karmi who was executed after an unfair trial linked to the death of a Basij militiaman during protests.
Iranian Authorities Send 90-year-old Baha’i Citizen and His Daughter to Evin Prison
Iranian authorities are once again targeting the Baha’i community. On August 13, security forces arrested 90-year-old Jamaloddin Khanjani, a former leader of the Baha'i community in Iran, along with his daughter, Maria Khanjani. Both father and daughter were sent to Evin prison according to Baha’i International Community.
According to Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), security forces arrested the Khanjanis after searching their house. Jamaloddin Khanjani previously served 10 years in prison due to his belonging to an informal Baha’i leadership group in Iran known as the “Yaran.” In 2008, all seven members of the Yaran, including Khanjani, were arrested and sentenced to 20 years in prison (later reduced to 10). All completed their sentences and were released in 2018.
On 16 August, the Baha’i International Community (BIC) reported an increase of arrests of Baha’i citizens. According to BIC, almost 60 Baha’i people were arrested in recent weeks.
Bahais are the largest unrecognized religious minority in Iran. They have been the target of severe persecution by Iranian authorities, which has impacted every aspect of their lives and severely deprived them of their fundamental rights.
This is not the first time Iranian authorities have arrested elderly members of the Baha’i community. In 2022, security forces arrested Mahvash Sabet, then-70-years-old, and Fariba Kamalabadi, then 60-years old, both former Yaran members. In 2022, they received 10-year-prison sentences, according to Human Rights in Iran.
Iranian Judiciary Requires Actresses to Undergo Psychological Treatment
In recent cases, Iran’s judiciary has ordered actresses to undergo psychological treatment, as part of their sentencing after being convicted for not complying with compulsory hijab laws. Iranian mental health associations have protested the orders. In a letter to the head of the judiciary, four mental health associations called the orders an “abuse of psychology.” The diagnoses that the judges were including in their convictions, such as “antisocial” or “antifamily personality disorder”, are non-scientific, and psychiatrists should be diagnosing mental health conditions, not judges, the letter said. No person should be subjected to coercive, involuntary treatment, including on the basis of a real or perceived disability.
On July 14, HRANA reported that, actress Azadeh Samadi was referred for psychological treatment for “antisocial personality disorder,” and required to submit her health certification when she had completed treatment. Samadi was prosecuted for refusing to comply with compulsory hijab laws; summoned in January on the charge of “injuring public morals and modesty through unveiling.”
On July 19, Fars news reported that well-known actress Afsaneh Bayegan was convicted for wearing a hat and not complying with hijab rules. In addition to two years imprisonment and a travel and social media ban, Bayegan has been ordered to visit an official psychology center once a week for treatment for “mental illness of anti-family personality.”
55 Lawyers Summoned in Bukan
According to the Kurdistan Human Rights Network, an independent news website, judicial authorities summoned 55 lawyers to Branch 2 of the General and Revolutionary Prosecutor’s office in Bukan, in the Kurdistan province in Iran. According to the Kurdistan Human Rights Network, the Bukan prosecutor filed a complaint against these lawyers for signing a statement announcing their willingness to provide legal assistance to Mahsa (Jina) Amini’s family in pursuing justice for her case.
Authorities responded to the nationwide protests sparked by Amini’s death in custody of Iran’s abusive morality police on September 16, 2022, with brutal force, killing hundreds and arresting thousands of protesters and dissidents.
According to Kurdistan Human Rights Network, Bukan’s prosecutor, Ali Zahed, summoned the lawyers who signed the statement and pressured them to deny issuing it. After the lawyers refused to do so, the prosecutor reportedly proceeded with filing charges against them, and on July 11, the lawyers were notified that they had five days to appear in the prosecutor’s office.
Student Protestors on Trial
On Monday, July 10, Hasti Amiri and Zia Nabavi, students and activists from Tehran’s Allameh Tabatabai University, appeared before Branch 26 of Tehran’s Revolutionary Court, according to United Students Union Telegram channel, a news channel related to the Islamic student association in Iran.
Amiri and Nabavi are being charged with “propaganda against the state,” according to Harasswatch, based on their participation in a March 7 protest. The protest, which involved a gathering at Allameh University, came in response to what is alleged to be widespread poisoning of students at schools. Iran’s reformist Etemad news agency reported on March 1 that over the past three months, hundreds of schoolgirls had been poisoned in at least 58 schools in 10 provinces across the country. The authorities have failed to credibly investigate the alleged poisoning, causing significant stress among parents.
Nabavi, a former member of Students’ Islamic Association at Babol Noshirvani University, previously served nine years in prison due to his peaceful activism, according to Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA). HRANA reported that Nabavi was arrested in June 2009, then sentenced to a 10-year prison term in exile.
Amiri was previously arrested on July 31, 2022, and detained in Evin Prison in Tehran for six months, according to HRANA. She was released on February 7, after the government issued an amnesty. Iranian authorities have recently been summoning, arresting, and sentencing activists and journalists, including those who were released from detention and granted amnesty only months ago.
Security Forces Arrest Family Members of Human Rights Defender Fariba Molazehi
On June 18, 2023, Fariba Molazehi (Balouch), a Balouchi human rights defender based in London, reported that security forces in Iranshahr in the Sistan and Baluchistan province arrested her 18-year-old son, Amer Daad Afarin, and her 25-year-old brother, Mohammad Molazehi.
In an interview with BBC News, Fariba Molazehi said that authorities arrested her son upon his return to Iran from the UK. He had been visiting her. Authorities also arrested her brother, she said, who was at the airport to welcome her son home. She told BBC News that she believed both her son and brother were arrested because of her activities. The security forces told some of her other family members, she said, that they would only release her son and brother if she stopped her activities.
According to Haal Vash human rights group, the authorities have not released information about the reasons for the two men’s arrest nor the possible charges against them.
The Iranian authorities have previously arrested family members of activists and journalists to pressure them to stop their activism or reporting. In 2019, for example, the authorities arrested three family members of Masih Alinejad, a US-based Iranian journalist and activist, as retribution for her women’s rights activism, Amnesty International reported.
Iranian Authorities Summoning and Re-arresting Activists and Protesters
Iranian authorities are summoning, arresting, and sentencing activists who were released from detention and granted amnesty only months ago.
In February 2023, Iranian authorities announced a broad amnesty, which included releases, pardons, or reduced sentences for those arrested, charged, or detained during Iran’s widespread protests. Iranian authorities brutally cracked down on the protest movement. Following the amnesty announcement, Iranian authorities released many of those who had been detained.
Now, according to media reports, Iranian authorities are summoning, arresting, and sentencing several activists and protestors just recently released. It is unclear whether these people are being picked up on old or new charges.
Human Rights Activists News Agency reported that activist Kamiyar Fakour was granted amnesty and released from detention in February. Yet, in March, Branch 26 of Tehran’s appeal court sentenced Fakour to three and a half years in prison. Alireza Ramezani was reportedly granted amnesty in February, but in May, the Qazvin revolutionary court sentenced him to one year of imprisonment and two years of exile to Barazjan for "propaganda against the state."
Abbas Sharifi, Reza Mohammad Hosseini, Farhad Sheikhi, Hamideh Zarai, who were all granted amnesty and released in February, were arrested once again in April and May 2023. Armita Abbasi and Alireza Fazeli, both arrested during the protests and released following the February amnesty, have recently been summoned to the revolutionary court in Tehran. According to Committee Follow up Iran, in May, Branch 28 of Tehran's revolutionary court sentenced Ruhollah Nakhai, a journalist, who was released in January, to two years and 7 months in prison. Saeid Khalili, Nakhai’s lawyer, tweeted that he was sentenced even though he satisfied the conditions of the amnesty.
Remembering the Execution of 10 Baha'i Women in Shiraz
Forty years ago, on June 18, 1983, Iranian authorities executed 10 Baha’i women in a square in Shiraz. Iranian authorities executed the 10 Baha’i women, who were between the ages of 17 and 57, at night, without notifying their families. This week, Baha'i International Community is launching a campaign, “Our Story Is One,” to commemorate this cruel mass execution and to remind the world of the abuses that the Baha’i community in Iran continues to face.
Mona Mahmoudnejad, Shahin Dalvand, Akhtar Sabet, Simin Saberi, Mahshid Niroumand, Zarrin Moghimi-Abyaneh, Tahereh Arjomandi Siyavushi, Nosrat Ghufrani Yaldaie, Roya Eshraghi, and Ezzat Janami Eshraghi were arrested for teaching religious classes to Baha’i youth in Iran. In the months leading up to their execution, as the #OurStoryIsOne campaign page states, all the women were interrogated and tortured. After the execution, wounds were still visible on the women’s bodies as they lay in the morgue, the campaign statement said.
These 10 women were not the only members of the Baha’i community executed in June 1983. An additional 6 members of the Baha'i community living in Shiraz were executed in June 1983, some were the family members of the 10 women, all on charges of espionage and connection with the US and Israel.
The Baha’i community in Iran has long faced grave abuses. After the 1979 revolution, authorities in Iran executed or forcibly disappeared hundreds of Bahais, including their community leaders. Thousands more lost their jobs or were forced to leave their homes or their country.
Journalists Niloofar Hamedi and Elaheh Mohammadi’s Trial before Revolutionary Court
After more than seven months of pretrial detention, Niloofar Hamedi and Elaheh Mohammadi, two journalists from the Shargh and Ham-Mihan Iranian newspapers, have appeared in front of a revolutionary court trial for their journalist activities.
The two journalists were among the first journalists who reported on Mahsa (Jina) Amini’s death in custody of the morality police in September 2022, which sparked nationwide anti-government protests demanding fundamental change. Authorities have charged the journalists with “collaborating with the hostile American government,” “colluding against national security,” and “engaging in propaganda activity against the regime.” The two women denied the charges and insisted that they were doing their jobs as journalists.
The first session of the Elaheh Mohammadi trial was on Monday, May 29, 2023. It was a closed trial session at Branch 15 of the revolutionary court, chaired by Abulghasem Salavati, who has a long track record of overseeing unfair trials and has been sanctioned by US authorities for violating Iranians’ free speech rights. Ham Mihan newspaper reported that Elaheh Mohammadi’s lawyers, including Shahab Mirlohi, were not allowed to speak during the session.
Mohamad Hosein Ajorloo, Hamedi’s husband, also said that her trial was held on Tuesday, May 30, at the same revolutionary court branch. He posted on his Instagram account that family members were not allowed to attend the court session, and Hamedi’s lawyers did not get a chance to present their defense.
The continuation of the trials of both cases was postponed to the next sessions, the date of which is not yet known.
Authorities Jail, Fine, and Suspend University Students for Peaceful Dissent
Iranian authorities recently have imposed jail sentences, fined, and suspended university students for their peaceful dissent, as well as judicially ordered some students into internal exile.
According to Harraswatch, in the last month, at least 35 students at the Alzahra University have been suspended from their studies for one to two semesters due to allegedly violating Iran’s abusive mandatory hijab laws and have been banned from the dormitories until the end of their studies. Out of this number, the sentences against seven of the students were implemented, with five students immediately expelled from the dormitory. Alzahra University also recently suspended one of its art students, Sepideh Rashnu, for two semesters for refusing to wear the mandatory veil.
After the March 7 protests in Tabriz University of Medical Sciences in protest of suspected serial poisonings of schoolgirls, at least 40 students have faced punishments from the Central Disciplinary Council of the Ministry of Health., including “banishment.”
According to the United Students Organization, among the students banned from education for two to four semesters and exiled to the cities of Urmia, Kashan, Ardabil, Ahvaz and Semnan are: Elaha Ashrafpour, Mirmehdi Mousaviyan, Mohammad Amin Sultanzadeh, Soheila Sepideh Dam, and Ali Parvin.
On May 13, Shargh daily, after interviewing some students of Allameh University, stated that in addition to issuing “illegal orders” and not respecting students’ rights to be informed of new restrictions, the university administration has directly filed cases against three students with the Evin Prison prosecutor's office.