May 17, 2022 – At least five protesters are dead amid a violent state crackdown on street demonstrations in Iran, while the authorities have blocked internet access in protest hot zones, pressured domestic media not to cover the protests, and arrested growing numbers of protesters and activists. Read more
May 9, 2022 – Government-enforced internet outages and the increased presence of state security forces throughout the Iranian province of Khuzestan, where street protests erupted on May 6, have raised fears over another deadly crackdown in the Islamic Republic. Read more
December 13, 2021 – The government of Iran should allow teachers to exercise their right to public protest without the threat of violence or arbitrary arrest, said the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) in a statement today. Teachers should be allowed to voice their legitimate demands for fair pay and the release of their unlawfully jailed colleagues. Read more
International Community Must Demand Independent Investigation and Justice for Victims
2021-11-10-Two years after Iran’s security forces violently crushed mass protests that erupted across the country, leaving hundreds of civilians killed, two officials who oversaw that repression and have committed egregious rights violations for decades—President Ebrahim Raisi and Judiciary Chief Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Eje’i—have risen to top positions of power in Iran. Read more
Champion Wrestler Executed despite Evidence of Torture and Innocence
September 12, 2020—The execution of Navid Afkari, the 27-year-old champion wrestler, by hanging at sunrise today in the southern Iranian city of Shiraz, demonstrates the Iranian judiciary’s complete disregard for law, justice and international standards of due process. Read more
Lawyer for Navid Afkari: Video Footage Proves He Did Not Commit Alleged Crime
“There is not one shred of evidence … they are looking for a neck for their rope”
September 2, 2020—The Iranian wrestling champion Navid Afkari has been sentenced to death for allegedly killing a security man in Shiraz, Fars Province at the time of the summer 2018 protests in the province—despite evidence that he did not commit the alleged crime and that he was tortured during interrogation into giving a false “confession.” Read more
Death Sentences for Three Protestors Confirmed by Supreme Court in Iran
Unlawful and Cruel Sentences Reflect Increase in Death Sentences in Political Cases
Lawyers’ Last Hope is to Seek Judicial Review, Citing “Serious Flaws” in Rulings
July 13, 2020—The death sentences against three young men for their participation in the November 2019 protests that swept through Iran have been confirmed. The sentences against Amirhossein Moradi, Saeed Tamjidi and Mohammad Rajabi, which were upheld by Iran’s Supreme Court on July 10, 2020, reflect the increasing use of the death penalty in politically motivated cases in the country. Read more
February 10, 2020 – Detainees held in Iran since the November 2019 street protests—including juveniles—are being beaten, forced to make self-incriminating statements and held in inhumane incarceration conditions, and their families are not being informed of their whereabouts and condition, the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) has learned from first-hand accounts in Iran.
Foreign Policy Chief Urges Iran to Hold Perpetrators of Protest Deaths Accountable, Provide Detainees Due Process
December 10, 2019 – The EU should lead calls for the UN to investigate Iranian state forces’ use of lethal means to repress the country’s mid-November 2019 protests which resulted in hundreds of deaths and thousands of arrests, said the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI).
