Iran Suspends Sentences for Activist, Youth

Following advocacy by Human Rights Watch, the head of Iran’s Judiciary, Ayatollah Shahrudi, suspended the sentence of a jailed women’s rights activist on November 10. The activist, Delaram Ali, was detained in 2006 after participating in a peaceful demonstration for women’s rights. We released a press statement that drew attention to her case, and we were the only organization specifically calling for her two-and-a-half year sentence to be suspended. In a separate case, we publicly raised the plight of a 20-year-old who was sentenced to death in May based on questionable evidence for a crime supposedly committed when he was 13 years old, despite retractions from his accusers during the trial. On November 17, the head of Iran’s judiciary stayed the execution pending review of his case.