International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran...

anonysamvines · Oct 3, 2012

i keep a good thought (i don't do religion or pray) that these brave people can keep strong until it gets bad enough that more of the ordinary Iranians finally stand up and say ENOUGH of this stupidity and TAKE their country back.
The government, eastern or western, should always be afraid of the people not the people afraid of the gov't..

i also keep a good thought that we in the west wake up to what is happening in our own countries before we get into such horrific conditions.

iraniam · Oct 10, 2012

Human rights groups urge UN to cease anti-drug trafficking funding until Iranian authorities renounce use of death penalty for drug-related offences

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

UNODC and Donor Countries Should Cease Funding to Iran for Anti-Drug Trafficking Purposes Until Islamic Republic Renounces Use of Death Penalty for Drug-Related Offenses
FULL STATEMENT
(10 October 2012) – Today, on International Day against the Death Penalty, groups dedicated to human rights issues inside Iran and the cessation of the death penalty have called for a moratorium on international funding to Iran’s anti-drug trafficking programs until such time Iran renounces its policy of execution for those convicted of drug-related offenses. The full text of the letter calling for the moratorium can be read here. The Farsi version of the letter can be read here.
According to reports from human rights groups that document executions in Iran from both official and unofficial sources, roughly 650 executions were carried out in 2010 and 670 in 2011. So far, in 2012, at least 330 individuals have been executed. Of these executions, it is estimated that more than 70% are of individuals sentenced to death under the Islamic Republic’s Anti-Narcotics Law, which mandates the death penalty for a wide range of drug-related offenses.

The letter—which is jointly signed by Justice for Iran, Iran Human Rights, Iran Human Rights Documentation Center, Arseh Sevom and Ensemble contre la peine de mort (ECPM)—addresses its concerns to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and country donors including Norway, Canada, the UK, France, Germany, Poland, Belgium, Ireland and Japan which provide funding to the Islamic Republic’s anti-drug trafficking programs.

Shadi Sadr, Executive Director of London-based Justice for Iran, says “Our research shows how thousands of people, including women who are the single-income providers for their children, have been sentenced to death without minimum standards of due process whilst Iranian judges and other authorities that bear responsibility in these severe violations of human rights violation enjoy absolute impunity.”
Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, spokesperson for Iran Human Rights—a Norwegian-based group that focuses on documenting executions in Iran—maintains that “the fact that Iranian authorities execute several hundred people every year on drug-related charges, and then proudly announce these executions, shows that the nature of international collaboration in combating the trafficking of illegal drugs through Iran may be sending the wrong signals to the Iranian authorities. Any aid provided to Iran to fight drug trafficking must be contingent on whether the Iranian authorities are willing to abolish the death penalty for drug-related charges.”
Gissou Nia, Executive Director of the US-based Iran Human Rights Documentation Center, further notes that “though largely cosmetic, the Islamic Republic of Iran’s recent amendments to its Islamic Penal Code that purport to abolish stoning for adultery and juvenile executions demonstrate that the IRI does care about international perceptions of its execution laws. In contrast, the IRI has only made mandatory execution laws for drug-related offenses even harsher in recent years. The international community must send a strong message, not only through words but through a cut-off of funding to Iran’s anti-drug trafficking programs, that the high numbers of executions in Iran is unacceptable.”
While human rights groups have raised concerns to the Iranian government about the mandatory death sentencing for drug-related offenses, the Iranian authorities have failed to respond to this criticism in any meaningful fashion. The letter calls on UNODC and donor countries to stop funding the Islamic Republic’s anti-drug trafficking programs until the Islamic Republic ceases its application of the death penalty to those convicted of drug-related offenses.

For further information please contact:
Shadi Sadr
Executive Director of Justice for Iran
Email: shadi.sadr@justiceforiran.org
Mahmood Amiry-MoghaddamSpokesperson of Iran Human Rights
Email: mail@iranhr.net
Phone: +47 91742177
Gissou NiaExecutive Director
Iran Human Rights Documentation Center
Email: gnia@iranhrdc.org
Phone: +1 203 654 9342
Please also visit:
Arseh Sevom – www.arsehsevom.net
Together against the Death Penalty/Ensemble contre la peine de mort – www.abolition.fr[/QUOTE]
http://persian2english.com/?p=24288

iraniam · Oct 16, 2012

Jailed Iranian lawyer, Abdolfattah Soltani, wins 2012 IBA Human Rights Award

Voice of Freedom : Imprisoned Iranian lawyer and human rights defender Abdolfattah Soltani is the winner of the 2012 International Bar AssociationHuman Rights Award.

The announcement was made at the International Bar Association (IBA) Annual Conference in Dublin, Ireland, where Mr Soltani's daughter, Maede Soltani, and fellow Iranian lawyer, Mahnaz Parakand, accepted the Award on his behalf.

A co-founder of the Defenders of Human Rights Centre (DHRC) with Nobel Peace Prize winner Ms Shirin Ebadi, Mr Soltani has been conferred with the title for his outstanding contribution as a legal practitioner to human rights. He has worked courageously and determinedly throughout his career to provide pro bono legal counsel to those in need and, as a result of his human rights defence work, has endured persistent persecution from the Iranian government and has been imprisoned on several occasions.

Mr Soltani is currently in the notorious Evin Prison in Iran serving a 13-year sentence that stems from a number of charges including co-founding the DHRC, spreading anti-government propaganda and endangering national security. The imprisonment began on 4 March 2012.

Fellow Iranian lawyer, Mahnaz Parakand, delivered Mr Soltani's acceptance speech in which he thanked the IBA for the Award, and all those gathered, in particularly 'all the free and independent lawyers'. He told 'Colleagues' that Iran has 'a collection of bad laws; but I must say that the fundamental demand and wish of many civil and political activists in Iran, is the correct implementation of even these bad laws! But the ugly truth is that the political establishment in Iran, in many cases by using a few non-independent judges has turned the whole judicial system into a tool for implementing their own wishes. They are using these courts as a heavy hammer to suppress the legitimate and legal demand of the population.' He added, 'Defending the rights of the accused for conscientious lawyers is extremely difficult, sometimes futile and frustrating.' Mr Soltani's speech concluded on an optimistic note, 'I hope that access to a just judicial process and civil rights, a guarantor of the establishment and expansion of democracy, will advance day by day.'

Mr Soltani's daughter, Maede Soltani, also addressed the IBA audience. During her acceptance speech, she said that the Iranian establishment had attempted to depict her father as a person unfit 'to join the board of the Iranian Bar Council', and that there had been a variety of accusations against him, threats, and arrests all designed to make him feel intimidated. She added that her mother was also imprisoned and that during the six-day long solitary confinement, 'my mother was pressured to confess lies against my father.' This happened in 2009 when Mrs Soltani collected, on her husband's behalf, an award from the city of Nuremberg in recognition of his continuous activities in the field of civil rights. Mr Soltani had been prevented from leaving Iran and collecting the Award in person. Shortly afterwards he was imprisoned and his sentence extended because he accepted the City of Nuremberg Award.

Maede Soltani expressed grave concern about her father's well-being, saying, 'during my father's arrest, interrogators of the Intelligence Ministry and other security agencies put him in solitary confinement for six months in the infamous section 209 of Evin Prison. Under psychological torture, they demanded that my father confess lies against the "Defenders of Human Rights Centre" and Mrs Ebadi.' She added, 'Prison life itself brings with it illness and my father, in addition to his previous health conditions, has to endure more illnesses arising from malnutrition and the appalling prison conditions. Up to now, he has not been provided with any medical care.'

Akira Kawamura, IBA President said, 'Mr Soltani reminds us all that for many lawyers across the world, performing their professional and legitimate duties is both challenging and dangerous. As 5,000 lawyers gather in Dublin to celebrate the achievements and progression of the legal profession, we recognise and thank Mr Soltani for his noble and courageous work.'

Among Mr Soltani's high profile cases are:

Nasrin Soutoudeh, a journalist and human rights lawyer;
Akbar Ghanji a human rights activist, who exposed the involvement of several government officials in the murder of intellectuals and journalists in the 1990s; and
Zahra Kazemi, a Canadian-Iranian journalist arrested for taking photographs in front of Evin prison in July 2003. Ms Kazemi died in the same prison several days later.

Mr Soltani has also defended teachers, protesters, other fellow human rights lawyers, political activists, students, and several Baha'I (Iranian minority group) leaders. In many instances other lawyers refused to take on these cases because of the risks involved.

The IBA Human Rights Award, sponsored by LexisNexis, recognises personal endeavour in the field of law which makes an outstanding contribution to the promotion, protection and advancement of human rights and the rule of law. The 2012 Award was presented on Friday 5 October during the IBA's Rule of Law Symposium held at the conclusion of the week-long IBA Annual Conference at the Conference Centre Dublin, in Ireland.

Nigel Roberts, Senior Director, Global Associations, LexisNexis said, 'LexisNexis is proud to support this award and applauds the work of the IBA Human Rights Institute to promote, protect and enforce human rights under a just rule of law. We congratulate Mr Abdolfattah Soltani, a most worthy honoree of the 2012 IBA Human Rights Award.'

To read Abdolfattah Soltani's acceptance speech as delivered by Mahnaz Parakand click here
.

To read Maede Soltani's speech in full click here.

Source :International Bar AssociationHuman

http://nedayeazadi.org/english.php?id=164

iraniam · Oct 18, 2012

Jailed lawyer on hunger strike

Nasrin Sotoudeh, the jailed Iranian human rights lawyer, has been on a hunger strike since last week, her husband informed the Kaleme opposition website.

Free Nasrin Sotoudeh
Reza Khandan, Sotoudeh's husband, reported: "We have had ongoing problems in terms of visits, summonses, threats, especially against the family, to which my wife is very sensitive; they pick on my daughter, bar her from travelling abroad."

Nasrin Sotoudeh has been detained since September 2010, and her continual application for a furlough has been rejected by the authorities. She has refused food on two other occasions during her incarceration in protest against the handling of her case and her treatment in jail.
Her husband reports that the authorities have restricted their visits and, for more than 18 months, all political prisoners have been denied phone calls.

Sotoudeh is charged with "acting against national security, propaganda against the regime" for her links to the Defenders of Human Rights Centre. She is serving a six-year sentenced and is barred from practicing law and traveling abroad for 10 years.
... Payvand News - 10/18/12 ..
. --

http://www.payvand.com/news/12/oct/1163.html

iraniam · Oct 20, 2012

Rights group condemns treatment of jailed lawyer

Nasrin Sotoudeh

The treatment of jailed human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh in Iran has been strongly condemned by the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders.

The joint program by the International Federation of Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) issued a statement on Friday October 19, condemning “the harassment faced by Ms. Nasrin Sotoudeh” and denouncing “the policy of subjecting jailed human rights defenders to punitive measures in prison.”

The announcement cites Sotoudeh’s work “defending juveniles facing the death penalty, prisoners of conscience, human rights activists and children victims of abuse and a member of the Defenders of Human Rights Centre (DHRC)” and states that she is now serving a six-year jail term in prison.

Sotoudeh has been charged with propaganda against the regime and threatening national security.
The rights organization added that Sotoudeh is now being “subjected to increasingly restrictive and clearly discriminative and arbitrary conditions of detention.”

Her visiting days have been changed without any legitimate reason from Sunday to Wednesday. She is reportedly denied in-person family visits and is kept from making any phone calls.

The statement also reports that the punitive measures against Sotoudeh are not new and that she has been held in solitary confinement for long stretches and denied family visits. The report also claims that she was subjected to torture in order to make certain confessions. Her family is banned from travelling abroad.

Sotoudeh has once again begun a hunger strike to protest the measures taken against her in prison. Since October 17, she has refused food, and there are grave concerns regarding her health.

Souhayr Belhassen, the president of FIDH, says: “The conditions of detention imposed on Nasrin Sotoudeh are unacceptable and clearly aim at imposing additional punishment on her for her human rights activities.”

The OMCT Secretary General also condemns Sotoudeh’s treatment, saying: “The punitive measures against Ms.
Sotoudeh while in detention once more illustrate the relentless policy of the Iranian authorities to stifle human rights defenders, which should be strongly condemned by the whole international community.”

The statement calls for the unconditional release of all human rights defenders by Iranian authorities.

http://radiozamaneh.com/english/content/rights-group-condemns-treatment-jailed-lawyer

anonysamvines · Oct 20, 2012

such crimes to be convicted of indeed

defending juveniles facing the death penalty, prisoners of conscience, human rights activists and children victims of abuse and a member of the Defenders of Human Rights Centre (DHRC)

iraniam · Oct 25, 2012

Lawyer on hunger strike sent to prison infirmary

Nasrin Sotoudeh

A jailed Iranian lawyer who has been on a hunger strike for the past 12 days has been transferred to the prison infirmary.

The Kaleme website reports that Nasrin Sotoudeh went on her hunger strike to protest against her “harsh conditions” in Evin Prison. She has been in jail since September of 2010 and, despite many efforts, has not been allowed a furlough.

Her hunger strike highlights her “mistreatment in prison” and irregularities in her prosecution.
Sotoudeh’s husband and daughter have faced severe restrictions in visiting her, and her daughter has been barred from leaving the country.

Sotoudeh was sentenced to 11 years in jail and a 20-year ban from practicing law for “acting against national security, collusion and assembly against the regime through membership in the Human Rights Defenders Centre”. Her sentence was reduced in the appellate court to six years in jail and a ten-year ban from practicing law.

http://www.radiozamaneh.com/english/content/lawyer-hunger-strike-sent-prison-infirmary

Anonymous · Oct 25, 2012

'Brave' doesn't do this woman justice.

iraniam · Oct 30, 2012

UN Special Rapporteur: Iran’s Reputation Worsens Every Day Journalists Spend in Jail

“For every day [journalists] spend in jail, Iran suffers a reputational problem somewhere in the world,” UN Special Rapporteur Ahmed Shaheed said in an exclusive interview with the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran. “I signify … a heightened sense of caring by the international community about the plight of people in Iran.”

On October 24, Shaheed presented his third report on the situation of human rights in Iran, cataloguing “a wide range of human rights violations” and “the existence of widespread impunity.”

In his interview with the Campaign, Shaheed offered advice to Iran’s Human Rights Council head Javad Larijani, discussed the situation of imprisoned journalists, and expressed his broader message of hope for the Iranian people.
Excerpts from the interview follow, and the audio can be heard above.

International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran (ICHRI): You have now presented three reports about human rights in Iran, and you have raised concerns about hundreds of cases of human rights violations. What’s your message to the people who now are suffering inside prisons?

UN Special Rapporteur Ahmed Shaheed: The world cares. The world cares about the people of Iran. My office is a very strong statement that the world cares about the plight of victims of Iran, that they will not be forgotten, and that the world views, in its method of doing things—what it can—to protect the people of Iran. And I think my office is a voice for the voiceless: it documents things that have not been documented before, and it will ultimately make the government of Iran take notice of its actions and be willing to look at other ways of doing things. Because I am not alone. I am mostly working in concert with some of the other rapporteurs, thematic rapporteurs, because they share similar concerns. So what I signify is a heightened sense of caring by the international community about the plight of people in Iran. Of course, things are very difficult. They will remain difficult for a number of time, but the work we are doing is to try to ease those difficulties and find ways forward to get out, to arise from them.

ICHRI: You try to stay positive about Iranian officials’ communication, even when they use very bad language towards your mandate and you as a person, as a diplomat. How do you think this might reach a kind of negotiation, communication, dialogue?
AS: Iran’s response doesn’t surprise me at all because that is how a lot of times countries in that situation respond. It doesn’t foreclose from my point of view the door for negotiations. They can call me all sorts of things that they like. You know, we are adults. When you are an adult, you don’t take things personally, and you look at how things can move forward. And I am sure Mr. Larijani should look at trying to make his own office independent, in the sense that he gets recognized as a credible champion of human rights within the Asia Pacific Forum, where he attends. So I think it serves his stature, or such of his council, to do the job that it’s designed to do, which is to uphold human rights in Iran.

ICHRI: There are two imprisoned couples who are all journalists: Masoud Bastani and Mahsa Amrabadi, and also Jila Baniyaghoub and Bahman Ahmadi Amouee. They have been deprived of their basic rights; they cannot visit each other. What’s your message for them, who are inside prison, and how your reports could be a sign of hope for them?
AS: As a journalist, the constituency of their reach is quite wide. So I think globally, journalists take notice of what happens to their number elsewhere. So I think talking about the situation, giving publicity to their plight, will galvanize other reporters to talk about their case as well. I think most countries will find arresting journalists becomes the biggest headache for them. So I think if countries try to retain journalists in prison it causes them all sorts of problems because everywhere journalists will speak about the situation and Iran will suffer a very bad reputation for that.

ICHRI: How much they should keep their hope?
AS: I think they should remain very strong because they are part of a very strong community, it is a community of journalists, and they should know that for every day they spend in jail, Iran suffers a reputational problem somewhere in the world. So I think at the end of the day, Iran will find this is too much of a burden for them to carry on.

ICHRI: Any message for Javad Larijani, for the future?
AS: Very simple, yes. I think he has, he, in fact, bears the simplest avenue of resolving issues in Iran. And that would be, he has to become a head of an organization that is accepted by the Asia Pacific Forum on human rights.

ICHRI: Why there?
AS: By the Asia Pacific Forum on human rights. He must accredit himself to the UN body to become an independent institution. That’s the way forward for him and for the country as well.

ICHRI: Isn’t he independent now?
AS: No, he’s not, because the Paris—if he was, then his office would be recognized as being compliant with the Paris principles that the UN speaks of, and he would have been accepted as a Category A member in the Asia Pacific Forum of human rights.

http://www.iranhumanrights.org/2012/10/shaheed_interview/

iraniam · Nov 4, 2012

Nasrin Sotoudeh, Incarcerated Human Rights Lawyer on Hunger Strike, Transferred to Solitary Confinement

November 4th, 2012 – According to reports received by The Peace Activists in Exile Campaign, in the latest attempt to coerce Nasrin Sotoudeh to break her hunger strike, the incarcerated human rights lawyer now on the 18th day of her hunger strike was reportedly transferred to solitary confinement last Wednesday October 31st, 2012.

Soutoudeh’s husband Reza Khandan, confirmed that he was informed that he and other family members have been banned from visiting with Nasrin when he arrived at the visitation area at Evin today. It looks as though Sotoudeh’s transfer from the general female ward to solitary confinement was preplanned.

Nasrin Sotoudeh is a lawyer, human rights and civil rights activist. She is a member of the Defender of Human Rights Center in Iran, a member of the One Million Signature Campaign (seeking to end legalized discrimination against women) and The Society for the Protection of Children. Prior to her arrest and incarceration, Sotoudeh was legal council for a large number of human rights activist, women’s rights activists, victims of child abuse and children on death row.

Soutoudeh has been on hunger strike since October 17th, 2012 protesting the harassment and illegal treatment of her family members during their prison visitations, in addition to the illegal banning of her young daughter from leaving the country.

It looks as though this latest transfer to solitary confinement is designed to further increase pressure on Sotoudeh. Given the past history of death of political prisoners such as Hoda Saber while on hunger strike in solitary confinement, it goes without saying that there is much concern regarding her Soutoudeh’s well being.

The recent wave of news regarding Sotoudeh’s hunger strike has attracted the attention of the international community. In fact the Iranian authorities cancelled a European Parliament delegation’s trip to Iran after they requested to meet with Soutoudeh while in the country.
Source: The Peace Activists in Exile Campaign

Read more: http://www.persianicons.org/human-right/nasrin-sotoudeh-incarcerated-human-rights-lawyer-on-hunger-strke-transferred-to-solitary-confinement/#ixzz2BGfGg9WD

iraniam · Nov 12, 2012

Iran's longest-held political prisoner receives prestigious Human Rights award

Source: International Center for Human Rights (ICHR)
Toronto, Canada (November 11, 2012) - The International Center for Human Rights (ICHR) announced today that Mr. Abbas Amir Entezam, the longest-serving political prisoner in Iran, is the recipient of 2012 prestigious human rights award from ICHR for his human rights activities.

Ardeshir Zarezadeh, ICHR president and Nazanin Afshin Jam, member of advisory board presented this award to Mr. Nikahang Kousar, Iranian prominent journalist, who has accepted the award on behalf of Mr. Abbas Amir-Entezam and conveyed Mr. Amir Entezam’ acceptance message to the audience.
Professor Irwin Cotler, Member of Parliament in Canada and a former Minister of Justice who also is a veteran human rights advocate, Ms. Nazanin Afshin Jam, an international human rights and democracy activist, and Mark Arnold renowned human rights lawyer, who were guests speakers at the event.
Addressing the audience all speakers reported rapidly deteriorating human rights situation in Iran and its neighbouring countries.
Time and again during the event Nasrin Sotoudeh, imprisoned prominent human rights lawyer, who is on hunger strike since two weeks ago, was also remembered and praised as one of the persistent and active human rights advocate at the event.

Mr. Abbas Amir Entezam (file photo)
Related Article: Perseverance and honor: Interview with Abbas Amir-Entezam
Mr. Abbas Amir Entezam’s over 30 years political struggle for democracy in Iran was also acknowledged for his outstanding contributions to human rights issues in that country.
Amir-Entezam had joined the “National Resistance Movement” led by Dr. Mohammad Mossadegh's supporters in mid ‘60s. Mr. Amir Entezam was the spokesman and Deputy Prime Minister during the Interim Government of Mehdi Bazargan in early 1979.

He was arrested on charges of spying for the U.S. on December 18th 1979 right after the U.S. embassy take over in Tehran and subsequently sentenced to life in prison after a sham trial in 1981. Currently he is under house arrest in Tehran.
Last year, Heshmatollah Tabarzadi, imprisoned secular democrat opposition leader, was the recipient of ICHR Annual Human Rights Award of 2011. Mr. Tabarzadi has endured more than 16 years of physical and psychological abuse in the Islamic Republic’s prisons and before its mock courts.
For more information please contact 1-888-908-7317 or 1-647-860-8485.
Background information:
Abbas Amir Entezam is the winner of ICHR 2012 human rights award. He is being recognized for his outstanding contributions to human rights issues in Iran.
Abbas Amir-Entezaam, the spokesman and Deputy Prime Minister during the Interim Cabinet of Mehdi Bazargan in 1979, is this year’s award recipient. His political struggles began when he was a high school student. After the coup in August 1953, Mr. Amir-Entezam had joined the National Resistance Movement led by Dr. Mohammad Mossadegh's supporters.
On December 18, 1979 he was arrested on charges of spying for the U.S, and in 1981 he was sentenced to life in prison.

After Mr. Amir-Entezam had gained national recognition and become a symbol of resistance, the Iranian regime offered him amnesty if he accepted the guilty verdict. Mr. Amir-Entezam refused the offer, stating that it was the fundamentalist judicial system that was guilty and it was him who had to forgive his captors. Instead, Mr. Entezam made multiple requests to the Iranian authorities for a public trial to no avail. He wanted the chance to prove his innocence.

On January 1998, Mr. Amir-Entezam was awarded the prestigious "Bruno Kreisky" prize for his courage and outstanding achievement in the field of human rights. Other previous winners of the award include Benazir Bhutto, Nelson Mandela, Amnesty International, and Palestinian non-violent activist Faisal Husseini.

Heshmatollah Tabarzadi, a secular democrat opposition leader, was the recipient of the first annual Human Rights Award of ICHR in 2011. Mr. Tabarzadi has endured more than 16 years of physical and psychological abuse in the Islamic Republic’s prisons and before its courts.
Mr. Tabarzadi has been arrested several times on charges related to his political activities, most recently in December 2009 after Iranian green movement. In October 2010, a court sentenced him to nine additional years in jail and 74 lashes, a sentence that was reduced to eight years on appeal.
Nasrin Sotoudeh is a prominent Iranian lawyer and human rights activist, currently on hunger strike. She is being held in the notorious Evin prison, and sentenced to six years in prison and banned from practicing law for ten years. Her crime is defending her clients who are mainly human rights activists arrested and abused following the June 2009 Presidential election. She has also defended numerous child execution cases.

Nasrin Sotoudeh is a member of the Defenders of Human Rights, the One Million Signatures Campaign to Change Discriminatory Laws Against Women, and the Society for Protecting the Rights of the Child.
Nasrin Sotoudeh was arrested in September 2010, and has endured the torture of long durations in solitary confinement. Since her arrest, Nasrin has launched multiple hunger strikes to protest the illegal behaviour of the Iranian authorities.
Nasrin Sotoudeh is the recipient of the 2011 PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award. The resilient lawyer is one of ICHR’s award winners for her strong defence against human rights violations in Iran
International Center for Human Rights (ICHR) is a non-governmental, non-profit international organization dedicated to promoting and defending human rights and democratic values. Its goal is to secure a peaceful and equitable life for members of the society.

The ICHR team is made up of experienced human rights activists. ICHR campaigns against massive and systematic human rights violation in Iran. In the near future we will be expanding our work to include human rights issues from other Middle Eastern counties.

At ICHR our overall aim is to educate, raise awareness, and gain international support for people suffering from inhuman and unjust treatment by corrupt governments and dictatorships.
We are looking to expand our team. Please feel free to contact us for more information. Our local office provides community services, legal assistance to refugees, and youth education.
In the past year, between August 2011 and September 2012, ICHR has organized and presented numerous projects and campaigns, including panel discussion on challenges facing democracy in Iran.
For the earthquake victims in Azrebaijan ICHR raised more than $9,000 in funds that were used to purchase relief aids in Iran. ICHR has played an active role in supporting hundreds of Iranian refugees, specifically in Turkey. During the earthquake in Van, Turkey, ICHR raised more than $10,000 dollars in funds for Iranian refugees left homeless after the natural disaster.

Additionally, ICHR has played an active role in raising awareness on the plight of Iranian political prisoners, including student activist Bahareh Hedayat, Canadian citizen Hamid Ghassemi-Shall, and journalist Ahmad Zeidabadi. When Saeed Malekpour was issued a death sentence ICHR worked closely with the campaign for his release to organize protests in Ottawa and Toronto.
ICHR worked hard to contact world government officials and other human rights groups urging support for the release of the Canadian resident on death row. Today, Saeed Malekpour is still in imminent danger of execution. We plan to continue being his voice and the many other people held in Iranian prisons.

http://www.payvand.com/news/12/nov/1107.html

iraniam · Nov 21, 2012

Jailed Iranian Rights Lawyer On 'Unlimited' Hunger Strike

View attachment 531DB3CC-E827-4E6E-A826-E2A4AF20FC02_w640_r1_s_cx0
Nasrin Sotoudeh defended political activists, opposition members, and juvenile offenders on death row before she was jailed in September 2010.

Jailed Iranian human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh, who has reportedly been on hunger strike for more than a month, appears determined to continue the act of protest indefinitely.

The lawyer's husband, Reza Khandan, has written on his Facebook page that Sotoudeh told him on November 20 that she was on an "unlimited" hunger strike.

"I asked her, 'How long will you continue your hunger strike?'" he wrote. "She said: 'The hunger strike is unlimited. You know what 'unlimited' means?'"

Khandan said he was allowed to meet Sotoudeh a day after she was transferred from solitary confinement to the general ward of Section 209 in Tehran's notorious Evin prison. He said that his wife's weight had dropped to 43 kilograms.

When he is allowed by the authorities to visit, Khandan has informed the public about the conditions of his jailed wife via Facebook, which has in recent years become a platform for news that is censored or ignored by the state-controlled media.

Sotoudeh, who was awarded the European Parliament's Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought this year, defended political activists, opposition members, and juvenile offenders on death row before she was jailed in September 2010.

She was sentenced to six years in prison and banned from working as a lawyer for 10 years on charges that include acting against Iran's national security and spreading propaganda against the Islamic regime.

Sotoudeh's courage and outspokenness have earned her the respect of many inside and outside of Iran and turned her into a symbol of resistance against the establishment.

A mother of two, Sotoudeh reportedly stopped eating in mid-October after prison authorities prevented her relatives from visiting her. Her husband and 12-year-old daughter have also been barred from leaving Iran.

"I can't sit here and do nothing and let them do whatever they want with my child and family," Sotoudeh was quoted by her husband as saying in their prison meeting this week.

An October 24 editorial in Britain's "The Guardian" compared Sotoudeh to Burmese pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, who was also once separated from her children.

Iranians wanting to express solidarity with Sotoudeh, whose first name means "jonquil" in Persian, have posted images of that white flower on their social-media profiles in recent weeks.

-- Golnaz Esfandiari

http://www.rferl.org/content/iran-jailed-lawyer-sotoudeh-on-unlimited-hunger-strike/24777814.html

iraniam · Nov 25, 2012

European Parliament urges Iranian authorities to stop human rights violations

The Iranian blogger Sattar Behesht was arrested and tortured to death by Iran’s cyber-police known also as Fata. Sattar Behesht had been accused that he was acting against the national security. The European Parliament published yesterday a new resolution on human rights situation in Iran.

The European Parliament urges the Iranian authorities to conduct a new investigation into the exact circumstances of Behesht’s death and demands exemplary punishment for perpetrators. Furthermore, the resolution condemns the use of corporate violence and the use of the death penalty in Iran and calls on the authorities to “institute a moratorium on executions pending the abolition of the death penalty, in accordance with UN General Assembly Resolutions 62/149 and 63/138”. The Iranian Government must submit reports with statistics on the death penalty cases and guarantee that it would provide legal support to all detainees.

The resolution calls on the Iranian authorities to set free all political prisoners and prisoners of conscience, including Sakharov Prize winners Nasrin Sotoudeh and Jafar Panahi. All the prisoners must have access to legal support and medical care. Iran must accept and facilitate peaceful protests and respect religious freedom. The European Parliament forces the Iranian authorities to collaborate with the international community in order to improve the human rights situation in the country and allow the UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in Iran, Dr Ahmed Shaheed to visit the country.

All the EU political bodies must re-engage the Iranian government in a human rights dialogue. EU must continue its dual track approach to Iran, which combines sanctions with diplomacy. Concretely, the Council must take immediate actions against individuals and entities that are responsible for or involved in human rights violations.

http://www.freedomessenger.com/archives/52761

iraniam · Nov 26, 2012

Statement by Mr Ahmed Shaheed, UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights situation in Iran

Statement by Mr Ahmed Shaheed, UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights situation in Iran Press Conference – Oslo – 22 November 2012
Good afternoon.

I would like to first of all offer my thanks to the governments of Germany, Sweden, and Norway for unconditionally accepting my request to conduct my latest fact-finding mission in their countries. The mission has been very successful, as I was able to collect a wealth of valuable information on subjects relevant to my mandate in Berlin, Stockholm, and Oslo.

Over the past twelve days, I have met and spoken with several dozen individuals of Iranian origin, human rights workers, government officials, and academic experts. I would like to thank everyone who took time to share information with me, particularly those who were able and willing to offer first-hand witness testimony related to the situation of human rights in Iran.
I have and will continue to apply rigorous standards in assessing the credibility of every individual account and piece of testimony I encounter. With that said, the credible testimonies I did receive on this trip have largely confirmed patterns I had previously encountered, and paint a very concerning picture of the human rights situation in Iran.

I speak at a time when the execution rate in Iran seems to have accelerated to an alarming pace in recent weeks and months. There are credible reports, in many cases corroborated by the government itself, that the number of executions carried out in just the past two weeks is at least 32, and possibly as high as 81. In October, the government executed 10 individuals, including Mr. Saeed Sedighi, despite impassioned calls from the international community to halt the executions in light of serious concerns regarding due process. I am extremely alarmed by this apparent spike in executions, and I reiterate my call on the government of Iran to adhere to its own international legal obligations in guaranteeing due process and ceasing the use of the capital punishment, except in cases narrowly defined as acceptable by the UN Human Rights Committee for the ICCPR.

I am troubled by the treatment of various minority groups in the country, who all too often bear the brunt of repressive policies. These include unrecognized religious minorities like the Baha’i and Yarsan, as well as recognized but increasingly suppressed religious communities like Christians and certain Sunni Muslim communities. I am also deeply concerned about ethnic minorities, including the Baluch, Kurdish, Ahwazi Arab, Turkmen, and Azerbaijani peoples, whose plights are often compounded by linguistic and cultural subjugation, in additional to political repression.

The situation for women in Iran has worsened in recent months, as new segregationist education policies have been implemented, and women’s rights activists are being harassed and sometimes arrested for various forms of free expression, including for the defense of women’s rights or for educational or cultural expression. A new bill, currently in the Parliament, would extend the age required for women to obtain the consent of a parental guardian for a passport to 40.

The situation for sexual minorities in Iran is also extremely alarming, as the government tightly controls all forms of consensual relations.

The Iranian government continues to harass, detain, and imprison human rights defenders, who are often themselves lawyers, raising serious concerns about the independence of lawyers and of the judiciary in the country. While I was pleased that the government released Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani in September, I was disappointed that only days later, authorities summoned his lawyer, Mohammad Ali Dadkhah, to serve a prison sentence for spurious charges. Ms. Nasrin Sotoudeh, another lawyer and human rights defender currently in prison, is on a hunger strike related to the authorities’ treatment of her family, and I am worried about her condition.

Of course, I am extremely troubled by reports that Mr. Sattar Beheshti, a blogger imprisoned for exercising his legitimate right to free expression, died while in custody, possibly because of injuries sustained from torture. I expect the Iranian government to conduct a comprehensive, impartial, and transparent investigation into his death, to make the methodology and results of that investigation public, and to punish anyone responsible and compensate his family appropriately. I also once again extend this call for investigations to cases dealt with by previous mandate holders, and to the events following the 2009 presidential elections. In this regard I echo the concluding observations made by the Human Rights Committee in their review of Iran last year.

Unfortunately, it appears that the space is narrowing for any independent thought or expression that

Iranian government authorities do not approve of, for any reason, in contravention of Iran’s international legal obligations and, indeed, some of its own laws.
I remain hopeful that the government of Iran will substantively engage the specific findings that I have outlined today, and in more detail in my reports, and that we can work together to reverse these trends and promote respect for human rights, freedom, and rule of law.
I would now be happy to answer any questions you might have.
Source: http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-885428[/QUOTE]
http://www.freedomessenger.com/archives/52764

iraniam · Nov 26, 2012

Time for Brazil to Change Its UN Vote on Iran

(November 25, 2012) In an oped published today in the Brazilian newspaper, O Estado de São Paulo, Camila Lissa Asano and Hadi Ghaemi discuss why Brazil should change its upcoming vote from Abstention and positively support an annual UN General Assembly resolution on the situation of human rights in Iran.

Asano is the Coordinator of Foreign Policy and Human Rights Project at the Brazilian NGO, Contectas Direitos Humanos. Ghaemi is the Executive Director of the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran. The vote on this resolution is expected to take place in the coming week at the UN headquarters in New York.

This article is part of the Campaign and Conectas’ extensive advocacy in Latin American countries, particularly Brazil as a major emerging power, on the situation of human rights in Iran. The following is the English version of this article:

Time for Brazil to Change Its UN Vote on Iran
(Published originally in Portuguese in O Estado de São Paulo on November 25, 2012)
Camila Lissa Asano and Hadi Ghaemi
In the coming days, the UN General Assembly (GA) will vote on a resolution calling on the Iranian government to stop its massive human rights violations. Brazil has the chance and the duty to reconsider its vote on Iran this year and avoid the risk of reinforcing a message of “carte blanche” for years of abuses.

The Brazil-Iran relationship is a topic that demands a nuanced and thorough analysis, but when it comes to human rights, it is expected that Brazil adopt a principle-driven policy.

On one hand, President Dilma has partially improved Brazil’s foreign policy towards the situation of human rights in Iran by supporting, in 2011, the creation of a special UN mandate at the Human Rights Council (HRC) to document and report Iran’s violations and by expressing support for the renewal of the mandate in 2012.

On the other hand, President Dilma has maintained the practice of her predecessors and has not supported important resolutions on the situation of human rights in Iran at the GA. Since 2001, with the exception of 2003, Brazil has continued to abstain on such resolutions, even though they have great significance since they demonstrate international concerns over the worsening of the crisis in the country and Iran’s lack of cooperation with the UN system.

The question is, why might President Dilma even consider giving the Iranian government the green light on its well-documented and widespread human rights violations? Has the situation improved inside Iran at all? Certainly not.

The UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran has produced three comprehensive reports in the past two years which note “a striking pattern of violations.” He has documented hundreds of cases of torture and abuse, a widespread culture of impunity, and a skyrocketing number of executions that claimed the lives of 670 people in 2011 alone.

Brazil is not doing the Iranian people any favor by helping to undermine efforts at the UN. The Iranian government’s crackdown on dissidents, journalists, women’s rights activists, workers, and minorities has created a highly unstable and dangerous situation.

Today the case of the female political prisoner in Iran, Nasrin Sotoudeh, should be a powerful reminder to President Dilma, herself a former political prisoner and victim of torture. Sotoudeh, a 45-year-old human rights lawyer, is serving a six-year prison sentence just for defending her clients, most of them human rights activists. On October 17, she began a hunger strike to protest her ill treatment and the denial of her rights.

As an emerging democratic power, Brazil has every responsibility to demonstrate its commitment to international human rights norms. Its upcoming vote at the GA on Iran can be a strong indication of this commitment.

Real and solid leadership should be rooted in principles. Another abstention this year, considering the lack of improvement in the human rights situation in Iran and the fact that the Iranian government has dismissed UN appeals so far, is not acceptable.

It is high time that Brazil makes clear that the human rights of Iranians are not negotiable. The eyes of the Iranian people are on Brazil, watching to see how committed it is, as a global player, to upholding international human rights standards in its foreign policy.

Camila Lissa Asani is the Coordinator of the Foreign Policy and Human Rights at Contectas Direitos Humanos. Hadi Ghaemi is the Executive Director of the International Campaign for HUman RIghts in Iran.

http://www.iranhumanrights.org/2012/11/brazil_oped/

iraniam · Nov 29, 2012

Jailed lawyer in critical health

Nasrin Sotoudeh

Jailed Iranian human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh, who has been on a hunger strike for more than a month, is now in critical condition, her husband Reza Khandan reports.

The International Campaign for Human Rights published an interview with Reza Khandan on Wednesday November 28 in which he conveyed the latest news of Nasrin Sotoudeh’s condtion in Tehran’s Evin Prison.

Sotoudeh has been on a hunger strike since October 17 in protest against the violation of her rights as a prisoner, including the right to make phone calls to her family and to have in-person visits with her children. She is also protesting against the travel ban imposed on her husband and daughter.

So far, the Iranian judiciary has been indifferent to Sotoudeh’s demands and, on October 30, had her transferred to solitary confinement.

Reza Khandan reported that his last visit with his wife was on November 27, the fortieth day of her hunger strike. He added that she was down to 43 kg last week, and this week she had lost even more weight. “Since yesterday when we saw her, I realized that she has reached a critical stage.”

Khandan added that Sotoudeh is now ready to break her strike if the ban on her daughter’s travel abroad is lifted.
Sotoudeh’s daughter is a minor and, according to her father, has committed no crime and is being persecuted without any justification.

The head of the Iranian judiciary’s human rights commission, Mohammad Javad Larijani, told a press conference yesterday that Sotoudeh recently met with her family and is in good health.
He claimed that Sotoudeh has acted against the regime and “abused” the legal profession.

Sotoudeh was arrested in September of 2010. She is serving a six-year prison term and has been banned from legal practice for her membership in the Defenders of Human Rights Centre of Iran, a prohibited Iranian NGO extending pro bono legal services in human rights cases.

http://radiozamaneh.com/english/content/jailed-lawyer-critical-health

iraniam · Dec 12, 2012

Iran Human Rights – Two Empty Seats Tell The Story

Stop Fundamentalism – Iranian human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh and Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi, winners of this years European Parliament's Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, were absent at the awards ceremony today at the parliament's Strasbourg headquarters. The two winners are barred from leaving the country and Sotoudeh currently is serving a six-year prison sentence for defending dissidents and speaking out against juvenile executions.

The award presentation symbolizes European Parliament's recognition of struggle to defend human rights by the two.

Designated representatives of the winners received the award in their place at the ceremony today.
"The situation in Iran is critical," said European Parliament Persident, Martin Shultz. "The root of the problem suffered by these proud people is a fanatical regime," he added at the ceremony.

Shultz condemned Iranian regime's unaccountability for its actions as people are "imprisoned for saying their opinion."

Shultz stressed that, "the Iranian regime should know this institution stands on the side of the repressed."
In her acceptance speech delivered by Dr. Shirin Ebadi, Iranian 2003 Nobel Peace prize winner, Nasrin Sotoudeh said, "I have only one dream, the dream of the realization of justice and I believe that this dream will be realized in my country." Sotoudeh added, "Governments should know that in order to maintain their existence, they have no choice but to observe the rights of every individual."

Jafar Panahi, represented by Costa-Gavras, President of the Cinémathèque Française, said "History is the narrative of the few, making the lives of the many miserable, while using the most unacceptable excuses: difference of sex, language, religion or political ideas."

Nasrin sotoudeh, just recently ended a 49 day hunger strike, leaving her weak and health wise in critical condition. She started the hunger strike to protest prison conditions and a foreign travel-ban imposed on her daughter and husband after she was nominated to received the Sakharov Prize. She ended the strike after the travel ban on her daughter was lifted by the government.

Panahi is not in prison currently but he faces a six year prison sentence and is banned from leaving the country.
President Shultz called for the immediate release of Nasrin Sotoudeh adding that the European Parliament is honoring these people who are standing up for a better Iran.

Former Sakharov Prize winners include Nelson Mandela, Aung Sang Suu Kyi, Kofi Annan. The prize is awarded to exceptional people who take a stand against intolorace, fanaticism, and oppression. It is to defend human rights and freedom of expression.

Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought was named after the Soviet scientist Andrei Sakharov and is awarded annually by the European Parliament.

http://www.stopfundamentalism.com/i...ell-the-story&catid=44:human-rights&Itemid=39

iraniam · Dec 13, 2012

Activists tell colleagues to stand up for rights

Six Iranian human rights activists in Iran have called for resistance against all forms of human rights violations in the country because of the “widespread problems” they cause.

Their statement calls on all activists to put in “greater effort to spread an understanding of human rights and the protection of human dignity in society.”

Signed by Mehdi Khodayi, Mohammad Ali Dadkhah, Nasrin Sotoudeh, Abdofattah Soltani, Mohammad Seifzadeh and Mostafa Nili. all currently jailed by the Islamic Republic authorties, the statement stresses that “the promotion of fundamentals stipulated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights can guarantee growth, development, peace, stability and a healthy society and requires active social participation and an informed approach to issues of collective living in the modern world.”

The statement goes on to list instances of human rights violations in Iran, including “violating political freedom and supressing political dissidents and civil and human rights activists, the lack of free, open and competitive elections, the house arrest of opposition leaders and cracking down on protesters of the 2009 election, as well as violating freedom of the press, threatening and arresting journalists and limiting the media, blocking websites, persecuting bloggers, confiscating satellite dishes, jamming satellite programs, monitoring private phone calls and internet communications, restricting freedom of assembly, cracking down on independent organizations, religious, ethnic and gender discrimination, lack of attention to children’s rights as well as the rights of the accused and the persistence of the death penalty.”

The statement refers to the use of the death penalty in a “widespread and continued manner” as the “most regretful” instance of a human rights violation.

Iran has the second-highest rate of execution in the world, and drug-related crimes, murder, armed robbery and enmity against God are punishable by the death penalty, according to Iranian jurisprudence.

http://radiozamaneh.com/english/content/activists-tell-colleagues-stand-rights

iraniam · Dec 22, 2012

United for Iran welcomes the UN General Assembly’s condemnation of human rights abuses

NEW YORK – (December 21, 2012) – Yesterday, the United Nations General Assembly overwhelmingly voted to condemn the Iranian Government for “serious ongoing and recurring human rights violations” in the country. Member states deplored abuses against the Iranian people, which include mass executions, torture, arbitrary arrest and detention, intimidation, and a wide range of other tactics to suppress dissent and activism. The important move by the world body strengthens international pressure on Iran to release political prisoners, cooperate with UN monitors, and comply with all of its human rights obligations.

The resolution on the situation of human rights in Iran, which passed by a wide vote margin of 86 to 32 with 65 abstentions, expresses deep concern for “ongoing, systematic, widespread, and serious” abuses. It delineates vast and troubling restrictions on freedom of association, peaceful assembly, and freedom of opinion and expression, as well as the systematic targeting of human rights defenders, activists, religious and ethnic minorities. Further, the resolution describes pervasive gender inequality and failure to uphold the rule of law.

United for Iran joined the world’s leading human rights and press freedom organizations advocating for the passage of a robust resolution in a letter campaign calling on UN member states to support the resolution. “The Islamic Republic of Iran has increasingly and systematically repressed its population and committed widespread abuses with impunity,” wrote the authors of the most recent letter, sent to states ahead of yesterday’s vote. “Until the Islamic Republic of Iran stops its repressive practices against its people and begins cooperation and compliance with its international human rights obligations, the international community has a responsibility to stand up for the Iranian people and hold their government to account for its vast transgressions.”

While applauding the demonstrative show of support for the measure, United for Iran also expresses disappointment that many non-Western democratic powers abstained or even opposed the resolution. In a recent report issued by United for Iran, the organization specifically urged South Africa, Brazil, Turkey, Indonesia, Nigeria, and India to take leadership and begin supporting critical human rights resolutions on Iran.

“For Iran to make progress on human rights and begin the process of democratization, countries around the world, including states that enjoy close ties to Iran, must demonstrate a clear commitment to advance the legitimate democratic demands of the Iranian people,” the report stated. Sadly, not one of these countries supported the measure yesterday, shirking their international duties to uphold basic standards of human rights. United for Iran urges these and other non-Western states to join the responsible community of nations in supporting future resolutions at the UN Human Rights Council and General Assembly.

The resolution, which was offered by the Canadian Government and cosponsored by 43 other states, represents the 25th resolution on the situation of human rights in Iran to make its way through the UN General Assembly since 1985. The continued passage this essential resolution by wide margins shows Iran’s leaders that world will not stand idly by in the face of the stark human rights violations perpetrated against innocent Iranians.

http://www.united4iran.org/2012/12/...assemblys-condemnation-of-human-rights-abuses

iraniam · Jan 2, 2013

Three Iranians receive human rights grant

Three Iranians are among those awarded Hellman/Hammett grants by Human Rights Watch for 2012.
Issa Saharkhiz, Keyvan Samimi and Hila Sedighi are among 41 winning writers from 19 countries.

According to Human Rights Watch, the grants are given to people “for their commitment to free expression and the courage they showed when facing political persecution.”

The Hellman/Hammett grant program was set up in the name of Lillian Hellman and her companion Dashiel Hammett. During the McCarthy era, the two writers were aggressively interrogated by U.S. congressional committees about their political beliefs and affiliations. Hellman was blacklisted and had difficulty finding work, while Hammett was even imprisoned.

Hellman had left provisions in her will to start such a program, and in 1989, Human Rights Watch was asked to set up the program to help writers around the world who are persecuted for expressing their views.

The three Iranian winners of the grant this year -- Issa Saharkhiz, Keyvan Samimi and Hila Sedighi -- were arrested after Iran’s controversial 2009 election, which led to mass protests and a severe government crackdown on all who challenged the legitimacy of the results.

Human Rights Watch describes Issa Saharkhiz as “a veteran journalist in Iran who has consistently voiced his criticism of the government crackdown against reformists, particularly in stifling media freedom in Iran.” Shaharkhiz has been in jail since 2009, and his health is reportedly deteriorating gravely.

Keyvon Samimi is another journalist and human rights activist who, according to the rights organization, has continuously defended freedom of speech and the right to education for all. Charged with propaganda against the regime, Samimi is currently serving a six-year sentence and he has been in Evin Prison since 2009.

Hila Sedighi is a young Iranian poet who, according to Human Rights Watch, was arrested and interrogated by the Iranian authorities after the 2009 election protests for her poetry and has been given a “postponed” sentence of four months in jail.

http://radiozamaneh.com/english/content/three-iranians-receive-human-rights-grant

iraniam · Jan 17, 2013

Jailed Iranian Lawyer, Nasrin Sotoudeh Temporarily Released

Nasrin Sotoudeh

Jailed Iranian lawyer and human rights activist Nasrin Sotoudeh has been temporarily freed by the authorities.

Sotoudeh was released on January 17 for three days.

She is serving a six-year sentence after being convicted in September 2010 of spreading propaganda and conspiring to threaten national security.

Iranian authorities have not said why Sotoudeh was freed.

Iran's judiciary, however, occasionally grants a furlough to prisoners convicted of nonviolent crimes, especially for national holidays.

Sotoudeh has represented several high-profile journalists and human rights activists, including Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi.

Sotoudeh staged a hunger strike last year for almost 50 days to protest authorities' mistreatment of her young daughter.

The European Union awarded Sotoudeh with its Sakharov Prize in October in recognition of her courage in defending human rights.
Based on reporting by Reuters and kaleme.com

http://www.rferl.org/content/jailed-iranian-lawyer-temporarily-released/24861738.html

iraniam · Mar 12, 2013

Human Rights abuses spiral in Iran: U.N.

Human rights violations in Iran spiraled in 2012 according to the U.N. (Reuters)

Human rights violations in Iran spiraled in 2012, a United Nations monitor said Monday, spotlighting abuses including repression of freedom of speech, torture and secret executions.

“The prevailing situation of human rights in Iran continues to warrant serious concern,” Ahmed Shaheed told the U.N. Human Rights Council.

“The situation for individuals in Iran who advocate for the advancement of human rights or those that document, report, or protest against human rights violations is grave and continues to deteriorate,” he added.

Those who speak out “continue to be subjected to harassment, arrest, interrogation, and torture and are frequently charged with vaguely-defined national security crimes, which are seemingly meant to erode the frontline of human rights defense in the country”.

In a written report to the Council -- the U.N.’s top human rights body -- Shaheed pointed to an “apparent increase in the degree of seriousness” of violations in the Islamic republic.

He highlighted “frequent and disconcerting” reports about “punitive state action” against a number of groups, including the jailing of opposition politicians, journalists and human rights campaigners.

He also expressed concern about rights violations affecting women and religious and ethnic minorities, and retaliatory action against individuals that Tehran suspects of cooperating with U.N. monitors.

Such abuses remain “widespread”, “systemic” and “systematic”, said Shaheed, former foreign minister of the Maldives who was named the UN’s Iran monitor in 2011.

Shaheed, whose requests to visit the country have been denied by Iran, said he regretted Tehran’s unwillingness to cooperate, despite his repeated efforts. He wrote his report by contacting campaigners, exiles and victims of the abuses.

“Moreover, a lack of government investigation and redress generally fosters a culture of impunity,” he said, emphasizing that this undermined global human rights accords signed by Iran.

The torture of detainees was also an ongoing concern which Shaheed said he had raised in a previous report.

“The Iranian government maintained that allegations of torture in the country are baseless since the country’s laws forbid the use of torture and the use of evidence solicited under duress,” he said.

“The existence of legal safeguards does not in itself invalidate allegations of torture, and does not remove the obligation to thoroughly investigate such allegations,” he added.

Turning his focus to executions, Shaheed said that while 297 were officially announced by the government -- 58 of them carried out in public -- some 200 “secret executions” had been acknowledged by family members, prison officials or members of the judiciary.

Nearly 500 executions -- both official and unofficial -- were carried out in 2012, compared to 661 in 2011, and 542 the year before.

Despite that drop, the number of executions had nevertheless risen progressively in recent years, Shaheed said, having stood at less than a hundred a year a decade ago.

He said he was “alarmed” by the escalating rate “especially in the absence of fair trial standards” and for offences which did not warrant capital punishment including alcohol consumption, adultery and drug-trafficking.

Iran’s delegate at the Council, Mohammad Larijani, who heads his country’s human rights body, blasted Shaheed’s findings.

“The report before this august body today is the product of an unhealthy, non-objective and counter-productive exercise initiated by the United States of America and its European allies,” he said, adding that it was a “compilation of unfounded allegations”.

But the U.S. ambassador to the Council, Eileen Donahue, dismissed Larijani’s comments, saying “there are indications of an intensifying crackdown on human rights defenders and civil society actors”.

“We see this as an effort to quash remaining dissent before the Iranian presidential elections” in June, she told reporters. “This is a very ominous sign.”

http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/2013/03/12/Human-Rights-abuses-spiral-in-Iran-U-N-.html

Anonymous · Mar 13, 2013

Bill and Melinda Gates foundation most recent program is birth control as a support of women's employment/ financial well being. Y
The restrictions of women's rights is addressed head on but by allowing access to birth control. It's a problem in many Islamic states. I hope they work with Iran. It's empowering women a politically. One can hope.

dongcopter fruitcake · Mar 14, 2013

Birth control is paramount. The other factor is a culture that criminalizes rapists and not the victims.

Shout out to Jacky Blue- you're said to be here still, in albeit a differing avatar/incarnation.

Cheers and thanks!

iraniam · Jun 20, 2013

Pew Study Finds Broad International Disapproval of Iran’s Human Rights Record

As Iran’s pr esident-elect Hassan Rowhani prepares to take office in Tehran, he faces growing international concerns about the lack of personal freedoms in Iran. According to a new study by the Pew Research Center released on June 11, 2013, majorities in most of the countries polled asserted that Iran does not respect the rights of its citizens.

While Western diplomacy remains almost exclusively focused on the issue of Iran’s nuclear program, citizens across the world are increasingly concerned by violations of human rights in Iran. The Pew study, Global Views of Iran Overwhelmingly Negative, surveyed respondents in 39 nations from March 2 to May 1, 2013. Of the 39 countries polled, majorities in 24 countries—and pluralities in 4 additional countries—agreed with the view that “the government of Iran does not respect the personal freedoms of its people.”

In Latin America, half or more of the respondents in the seven countries Pew surveyed agreed that the government in Tehran does not observe or protect the rights of Iranians. In Brazil, 82% of respondents held this view; in Chile the figure was 65%, and in Argentina and Mexico, respectively, 56% and 55%. In Venezuela, one of Iran’s closest allies, 53% of respondents agreed.

Majorities in most nations surveyed in the Middle East and North Africa also disapproved of Iran’s rights record, with 66% of Egyptians, 61% of Jordanians, and 61% of Lebanese stating that Tehran does not respect the rights of citizens. In Iran’s neighbor Turkey, a clear majority (68%) of respondents to the Pew study agreed that Iran’s people lack personal freedoms.

Strong majorities asserting that Tehran does not respect personal freedoms also emerged in countries in the Asia-Pacific region: 81% of Australians, 75% of South Koreans, 69% of Japanese, and 59% of Filipinos held this view.
Overall, the study noted, “Compared with six years ago, unfavorable views of Iran have intensified in a number of countries,” citing double-digit increases since 2007 in Egypt, Jordan, the Palestinian territories, South Korea, Turkey, and Spain.

http://www.iranhumanrights.org/2013/06/pew_study/

00anon00 · Jun 22, 2013

Wht is your educated guess- Will things get better or worse? Is it going to stay the same until the old bastard pops off?

iraniam · Jun 22, 2013

User Name Change said: ↑

Wht is your educated guess- Will things get better or worse? Is it going to stay the same until the old bastard pops off?

Nothing will change.

iraniam · Sep 19, 2013

Iran Human Rights Welcomes Release of Nasrin Sotoudeh and Urges For Release of All Prisoners of Conscious in Iran

Iran Human Rights, September 18: The prominent human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh was released from jail on Wednesday along with several other political prisoners who had been jailed in connection with the post-election protests in 2009.

According to the state run Iranian news agency ISNA, along with Nasrin Sotoudeh several other prisoners have been released. These prisoners include the reformist politicians Feizollah Arabsorkhi, Mohsen Aminzadeh, Mirtaher Mousavi, Mehdi Mahmoudian, Mohammad Ali Velayati and Hassan Zarinpour, said the report. The ISNA report also said that "according to unconfirmed reports the women prisoners Mahsa Amrabadi, Mahboubeh Karami, Maryam Jalili, Mitra Rahimi, Farah Vazehan, Zhila Mahvandi and Kefayat Malekmohammadi were also released.

The Opposition website Kaleme (close to Mirhossein Mousavi) reported on Wednesday that seven other women political prisoners had also been released in the previous 24 hours, including the dissident journalist Mahsa Amrabadi, and at least four men, including reformist politicians Feizollah Arabsorkhi, Mirtaher Mousavi and former deputy foreign minister Mohsen Aminzadeh.

Iran Human Rights (IHR) welcomes the release of the human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh and other political prisoners and urges for release of all prisoners of conscious in the Iranian prisons. Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, the spokesperson of IHR said: " We are very glad that these prisoners are released after spending several years behind the bars just of their political and civil activities, but we should remember all the other prisoners of conscious who are still in prison, such as: the Christian Pastor Saeed Abedini, the student leader Majid Tavakoli who was sentenced to 8 years in prison just for expressing his opinions is still in Rajai Shahr Prison of hasn’t had furlough in four years, the activist Hossein Ronaghi is still in prison despite his serious health condition, the five Azeri civil rights activists Latif Hassani, Mahmoud Fazli, Shahram Radmehr, Ayat Mehralibeiglu and Behboud Gholizadeh were recently sentenced to 9 years of imprisonment only for starting an NGO, Five Arab activists Mohammad Ali Amourinezhad, Seyed Jaber Alboshokeh, Mokhtar Alboshokeh, Hashem Sha’bani Nezhad and Hashem Rashedi are still under danger of execution, and the Kurdish prisoners Loghman and Zanyar Moradi who were sentenced to death based on their confessions under torture, are still on the death row, and there are many more".
"We urge the international community and the Iranian civil society to continue their efforts until all prisoners of conscious are released from the Iranian prisons".

"Iranian people’s human rights must be the first priority in any dialogue between the members of the international community and the Iranian authorities", He ended

http://www.iranhr.net/spip.php?article2886

Anonymous · Sep 19, 2013

Glad she is out. Why did that happen now?

iraniam · Sep 19, 2013

Anonymous said: ↑

Glad she is out. Why did that happen now?

The new president let go of some political prisoners before his trip to New York for general UN assembly.

iraniam · Aug 2, 2017

Iran vilifies human rights defenders as ‘enemies of the state’

https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/n...011342109&utm_campaign=Human Rights Defenders

iraniam · Feb 18, 2022

Rights Groups: Human Rights Sanctions on Iran Must Not Be Lifted to Reach Nuclear Deal

https://www.iranhumanrights.org/202...ran-must-not-be-lifted-to-reach-nuclear-deal/

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International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran...

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