Iran Focus

London, 14 Oct – In January and February 2018, eight environmental activists were detained in Iran without clear charges. Human Rights Watch reports that Taher Ghadirian, Niloufar Bayani, Amirhossein Khaleghi, Houman Jokar, Sam Rajabi, Sepideh Kashani, Morad Tahbaz and Abdolreza Kouhpayeh, have all been in detention for eight months, and have not yet been charged. Human Rights Watch says that Iranian authorities should either immediately release them, or charge them with recognizable crimes and produce evidence to justify their continued detention.

Iran Focus

London, 14 Oct – Political prisoners in Hall 10, Ward 4 of Gohardasht Prison in Karaj are experiencing increased pressure as their medical records are destroyed, which prevents them from being transferred to a hospital or even prison clinic. This is both physical and psychological torture.

– Political prisoner Majid Asadi suffers several diseases, especially an unbearably painful acute digestive disease.

Iran Focus

London, 13 Oct – Three Iranian political prisoners have penned a letter to United Nations Special Rapporteur Javaid Rehman on the World Day Against the Death Penalty (October 10), urging him to visit Iran and see the human rights violations for himself.

Maryam Akbari Monfared, Golrokh Irayee, and Atena Daemi, all held in the Women’s ward of the notorious Evin prison, gave him a brief, but chilling summary of the countless human rights violations that have taken place in Iran in just the last decade.

This includes the use of the death penalty for non-violent crimes like drug offences or political activism and against juvenile offenders, despite it being in violation of international law. Many of these people are subject to unfair trials, without legal representation, and forced to give “confessions” under torture.