Archive for Human Rights

Joint Statement: U.S. Treasury’s New General License D2 Advances Internet Freedom in Iran

Now Companies Must Make Tech Products Available and U.S. Government Must Encourage Them

September 26, 2022—Today, the Public Affairs Alliance of Iranian Americans (PAAIA) and the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) welcomed an announcement by the U.S. Department of Treasury of the issuance of Iran General License (GL) D-2, which updates and expands existing exemptions under U.S. sanctions to increase support for Internet freedom in Iran. The new license follows years of advocacy by both organizations.

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Voices from Iran

As nationwide protests continue to sweep Iran, there are very few direct voices from inside Iran reaching the international stage. An understanding of the fabric of the society and its rapidly evolving outlook and demands is essential for understanding the protests and what the international community should do.

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Authorities in Iran Intentionally Deny Critical Medical Attention to Political Prisoners

September 7, 2022 – A political prisoner’s precarious health situation is raising fears of another preventable death in Iranian state custody due to the authorities’ denial of proper medical treatment, said the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) in a statement today.

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Death Sentence Intended to Dissuade Other Activists

September 6, 2022 – The international community should loudly and publicly condemn the blatantly unlawful death sentences issued without due process against two LGBTQ activists in West Azerbaijan Province, the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) said in a statement today.

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Government of Iran Has Long Targeted its Critics Abroad for Assassination

August 15, 2022 – The heinous attack in New York on the author Salman Rushdie, in which a knifeman inflicted life-threatening injuries, stems from the Islamic Republic’s longstanding policy of stifling freedom of expression both inside and outside its borders, as well as its refusal to rescind a deadly religious decree against Rushdie, said the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI).

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At Least 13 Arrested After “Supreme Leader” Threatens Repeat of 1980s Violent Repression

July 11, 2022 – Less than a month after the intelligence chief of the Iranian military’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) was replaced, a crackdown on dissent is being ramped up in the country.

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Same Efforts Applied to Nuclear Deal Can and Should Be Given to Human Rights

President Biden Has Also Remained Silent on State’s Violent Crackdown in Iran

June 27, 2022 – European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, who has traveled travel to Tehran and issued multiple public statements in an effort to restore the nuclear deal with Iran, should devote the same level of energy to address the intensifying human rights crisis in the country, the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) said in a statement today. Read more

Supreme Leader’s COVID Vaccine Ban Resulted in Thousands of Unnecessary Deaths

June 22, 2022 – For trying to sue Iranian leaders for their grossly negligent response to the COVID-19 pandemic, three lawyers and two civil rights activists have been sentenced to prison.

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Repression of Civil Society Harms U.S. Security Interests

June 14, 2022— President Biden’s silence so far on the killings and mass arrests of protesters in Iran by state security forces over the last month—the latest in a long line of lethal state responses to dissent in Iran—reflects the U.S. government’s low prioritization of human rights in the country, and the continuation of a policy that is harming U.S. national security interests, said the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) today as it released a new briefing.

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As Millions Face Poverty, Iran’s Government Dissolves Largest NGO for the Poor

May 26, 2022 – While millions of Iranians are struggling to make ends meet, the Iranian government has shut down the country’s oldest and largest independent non-governmental organization (NGO) focused on poverty alleviation, the Imam Ali Popular Student Relief Society (IAPSRS). Read more