Home

Iran

Iran: Women Rights Defenders Continue Undeterred by Prison Detention

Today on a daily basis, personal memoirs of ongoing encounters of dictatorship and resistance in Iran are being written in print and in cyberspace by countless Iranian civil rights activists, scholars and women human rights defenders, writes Elahi Amani. In the process of finding a new transitional global identity, Iran state authorities have steadily continued in the use of legislative delays, reversal of legal means and arrests of dissidents, activists and journalists. Younger, as well as older, women human rights defenders, are now finding themselves victim to increasing intelligence policies of non-disclosure, intimidation and repression.

UPDATE: Iran: Protestor in Danger of Execution

The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran has warned that the international community’s inaction is 'a green light for hanging protesters'. An Iranian protestor, prosecuted in a post-Ashura trials on charges of Moharebeh, or “enmity against God”, is in danger of imminent execution, the Campaign has said in a recent press release. The Judiciary issued its verdict based on a fatwa by Grand Ayatollah Makarem Shirazi. Women Living Under Muslim Laws joins other transnational civil society groups and organizations in calling for an immediate halt to the executions. Please register your protest by calling the office of the Grand Ayatollah.

Symposium Report: The Role of Sport in Resisting, Accommodating and in Remaking Muslim Women

In March of 2008, Women Living under Muslim Laws and Concordia University organized a symposium to discuss the impact of Muslim women's invovlement in sports, especially in the context of Iran. Some Muslim women athletes have used sport to inscribe resistant meanings that challenge social norms, while others have used it to express and reinforce these norms. The full report is attached.

Iran: Mourning Mothers supporters in solitary confinement at Evin prison

Based on the reports by Human Rights and Democracy Activists in Iran, many supporters of the Mourning Mothers are under medieval and excruciating solitary confinement conditions at ward 209 of Evin prison. Attacks by the Ministry of Intelligence against supporters of the Mourning Mothers began on Sunday February 7, 2010 at 10:30 pm and peaked on February 9th. It is reported that during these attacks at least seven mothers were arrested and taken to solitary confinement in ward 209 of Evin prison. Five Ministry of Intelligence agents participated in the extremely violent and barbaric attacks.

Iran: Shameful Performance Stuns the UN Human Rights Council

As the review of Iran’s human record under the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) process concluded at the Human Rights Council in Geneva, the Iranian government demonstrated its utter lack of respect for internationally accepted norms by simultaneously accepting and rejecting recommendations of UN members with regard to addressing the critical situation of human rights in Iran, the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran said today.

Iran: Amnesty Comments on National Report presented by Islamic Republic of Iran

In an Amnesty International document a number of key human rights challenges are described that must be effectively addressed to ensure concrete improvements in the situation of human rights across Iran. These include discrimination against women and minorities in law and practice, as well as entrenched failings in the administration of justice leading to arbitrary arrest, torture and other ill-treatment, unlawful killings, restrictions on freedoms of expression, association and assembly, unfair trial, and the death penalty and other cruel punishments.

Iran/UN: Shadi Sadr's testimony of her arrest and detention in July 2009

Violation of rights in Iran, a window from my experience to a broader picture, By Shadi Sadr: When I was sitting in an interrogation room, with my face to the wall, my eyes covered with a blindfold and my body with a chador, I never imagined that one day I would be at the United Nation Headquarters giving my testimony about this very day. So, I am very glad that I have the chance to be here, especially when many other political prisoners are still locked up inside the prisons or, even among those who were released, have to remain silent and neutralized out of fear. Let me start with my own experience, which is just one example of the many human rights violations that have occurred in Iran since the July 2009 Presidential Election.

Iran: Déclaration WLUML sur l'arrestation de l'avocat de Maryam Ghanbari

Dans la matinée du lundi 8 Février, 3 heures, heure locale, Maryam Ghanbari, a 27 ans, avocat et ancien membre actif de Meydaan Field (Femmes), a été arrêté à son domicile de Téhéran par cinq agents de sécurité iraniens, selon son avocat, Mina Jafari. L'emplacement dans lequel Mme Ghanbari a été prise et où elle est actuellement détenu est inconnu, ainsi que toute inculpation formelle, elle pourrait être confrontée.

Iran: WLUML statement on arrest of lawyer Maryam Ghanbari

On the morning of Monday 8 February, 3am local time, Maryam Ghanbari, a 27 years-old lawyer and an active member of Meydaan (Women’s Field), was arrested at her home in Tehran by five Iranian security officers, according to her lawyer, Mina Jafari. The location to which Ms. Ghanbari was taken and where she is currently being held is unknown, as well as any formal charges she might be facing.

Iran: URGENT call to authorities to stop imminent executions

Please write to the Iranian authorities calling on them to halt executions of nine people arrested in relation to protests following the disputed presidential elections. The Women Living Under Muslim Laws (WLUML) international solidarity network urges the Islamic Republic of Iran to halt the executions of political prisoners sentenced to death. The prisoners’ trials did not meet international or even national legal standards set up by the laws of Islamic Republic. The accused faced ambiguous charges of Mahrab, meaning “enmity against God.” Moreover, after the officially confirmed deaths of at least two while in detention, the Iranian public and the international community are greatly alarmed about the extent of torture used against Iranian political prisoners in an attempt to coerce confessions.

Syndicate content