July 24, 2023 – The forced psychiatric hospitalization of jailed rapper Saman Yasin in Iran shortly after he demanded due process and justice for his case highlights the Iranian government’s continued weaponization of medical treatment in order to suppress dissent, in flagrant violation of international and Iranian law.
Archive for Human Rights
Saman Yasin: Latest Victim of Iran’s Use of Forced Psychiatric Care to Punish Political Prisoners
Iran: State’s “Investigation” of Bar Association Aims to Crush Dissent
Iranian Officials Commit Rights Violations with Impunity While Parliament Votes to Further Persecute Human Rights Defenders
June 28, 2023 – Bolstering a state campaign aimed at crushing dissent, the Iranian Parliament has voted to “investigate” the Iranian Bar Association in a bid to further persecute human rights lawyers who serve as the last remaining lifeline for defendants facing politically motivated charges in the judicial system.
More Executions of Protesters in Iran Imminent after Sham Trials
Prosecution of Three Young Men Relied on Torture, Forced “Confessions”
Defendant: “They kept beating me to make me tell their version of their crime on camera”
May 17, 2023 – Three young men—Saeed Yaghoubi, 37, Saleh Mirhashemi, 36, and Majid Kazemi, 30— who were arrested amid the nationwide protests in November 2022 in Iran, tortured into making “confessions,” and sentenced to death in January 2023 after a four-day trial without a jury in Iran’s Revolutionary Court system, are now at imminent risk of being executed.
Human Rights Lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh’s Husband Ordered to Report to Prison
February 14, 2023 – The human rights activist Reza Khandan, who is the husband of the prominent human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh, has been summoned to report to prison within 30 days to begin serving a six-year sentence (five years mandatory) that was issued in 2019, according to his lawyer, Mohammad Moghimi.
Iran Protests: At Least 44 Defense Attorneys Arrested Since September
Crackdown Aimed at Destroying Any Chance of Fair Trials for Protesters
Detainees Forced to Use Court-Appointed Lawyers
January 10, 2023 – While the Islamic Republic has been gunning down and executing street protesters, it has also been arresting defense attorneys—at least 44 since September—to block their ability to seek justice for arbitrarily arrested activists and street protesters, according to research by the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI).
26-Year-Old Actor Sentenced to Death, More Than 100 Industry Members Detained
December 20, 2022 – The sentencing of theater actor Hossein Mohammadi to death in Iran after a show trial, and the arbitrary detentions of more than 100 film and theatre industry workers including superstar Taraneh Alidoosti, mark the latest chapter of the Islamic Republic’s deadly crackdown on dissent three months into the anti-state protests that have rocked the nation.
Children Beaten on Streets and in State Custody, Assaulted in Schools
December 13, 2022 – Children in Iran accused of supporting the country’s protest movement are being subjected to physical and psychological torture in Iranian custody as well as in their schools, according to interviews and research conducted by the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI).
Young People will Continue to be Killed in Iran without International Action
December 12, 2022 – The hanging in public of Majidreza Rahnavard, 23, in Mashhad today—the second execution of a young person in Iran without due process in less than a week—is a prelude to more state-sponsored murders of young people in the absence of a strong and coordinated international response, said the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI).
At Least a Dozen Labor Leaders Arrested in Effort to Crush Strikes Islamic Republic Should Be Expelled from ILO Governing Board
November 29, 2022 – More than three months into anti-state protests across Iran that state security forces have been unable to crush despite the use of lethal force, oil workers, truckers, public transportation workers, and factory workers are joining other labor groups now waging strikes across the country.
Authorities Shut Down Internet to Prevent Evidence of State’s Atrocities from Reaching Outside World
November 21, 2022 – With Iranian security forces launching a massive assault on protesters in Kurdish-populated cities in Iran, and mounting deaths being reported, the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) calls on the UN and governments worldwide to urgently communicate to the Islamic Republic that the continued use of lethal force against unarmed protesters will result in intense and coordinated international diplomatic repercussions.
“Unless Islamic Republic authorities decide the costs of massacring civilians to crush the ongoing protests in Iran are too high, they will continue to slaughter children, women, and men with impunity in a desperate attempt to reassert control,” said CHRI executive director Hadi Ghaemi.
Over the past few days, cities in the Kurdish-populated towns and cities in western Iran have seen the worst levels of violence by state security forces so far in response to growing protests. Daily killings of civilians by security forces have led to massive anti-government demonstrations at funerals in solidarity with victims’ families in each city.
Many clips on social media show extreme violence by the security forces against protesters in the city of Javanrood on November 19, 20, and 21.
On November 19, protesters reportedly took control of parts of the city of Mahabad, 181 miles north of Sanandaj, and barricaded the streets. After several hours, large military reinforcements were sent to the city. Before confronting protesters, the city’s power was shut off. The sounds of gunfire and protesters could be heard until the early morning as soldiers pursued people from house to house.
At the same time, the authorities have shut down access to the internet almost completely in the west of the country to minimize the ability to share information about the state’s violence and atrocities.
“The state’s violence against civilians in Iran is unprecedented; governments worldwide should be recalling their ambassadors for consultations and summoning Iran’s diplomats for censure to try to stop this bloodbath,” Ghaemi continued.
“All diplomatic costs and means of international isolation should be urgently employed to communicate to the authorities in Iran that this continuing slaughter of people peacefully demanding their basic human rights and freedoms must stop,” Ghaemi added.
The Kurdistan Human Rights Network reported that on November 21 alone, 17 people were taken to the hospitals in Javanrood, Kermanshah Province, after being shot by Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) units, while other wounded individuals received treatment at home to avoid arrest. There were six confirmed deaths, including 16-year-old Bahaeddin Veisi.
In Piranshahr, Kurdistan Province, people poured into the streets and were confronted by the heavy gunfire of the security forces on November 19, 20 and 21. On November 19, Taher Azizi (30), Karavan Ghader Shokri (16) and Jalal Ghorbani were among the city’s residents who died from injuries suffered during protests. Also, Mohsen Niazi, 25, was killed during protests in Dehgolan, Kurdistan Province, on November 19.
“These ruthless acts will only increase the anger of the revolutionary people,” said a group of more than 100 Kurdish Sunni Muslim religious leaders in a joint statement on November 21. “We demand that a referendum acceptable to the people be held under the supervision of trusted individuals, religious and national leaders, as well as neutral international observers in order to find a way out of the present situation.”
Meanwhile on November 19, one of the bloodiest attacks against students took place at University of Kurdistan in Sanandaj, northwestern Iran. According to social media reports, state security forces fired directly at protesting students. There are no exact figures on casualties and those arrested, who include students, professors, and university staff.
Since the start of nationwide protests in Iran in September 2022, the highest number of casualties have been recorded in Sistan and Baluchestan Province (more than 100), followed by the Kurdish regions of West Azerbaijan Province (37) and Kurdistan Province (31).
The protests began after the death in state custody on September 16, 2022, of 22-year-old (Jina) Mahsa Amini (born to a Kurdish family in Saqqez, Kurdistan Province), who was arrested on September 13, 2022, for her alleged “improper” hijab. At Least 419 people have been killed, as of November 19, according the Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), including more than 50 children, according to the Coordinating Council of the Iranian Teachers Trade Association.
This is the second time in the last three years that the authorities in Iran have responded to nationwide protests with lethal violence on a mass scale. No state official was ever held accountable for the hundreds, perhaps more 1,500, civilians killed by security forces during the state’s crushing of the November 2019 protests.
*Click here to read CHRI’s recommendations to the international community to help end the Iranian government’s violent suppression of protests in Iran.
