Iran Focus

London, 30 Apr – Human rights experts from the United Nations have issued a warning over the fate of more than a dozen political prisoners in Iran. Aside from torture and abuse at the hands of prison guards, lawyers, activists and journalists are facing death due to the Iranian government’s refusal to provide medical treatment.

Iran Focus

London, 30 Apr – The UK Representative of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) has said that the rate of executions is rising during Hassan Rouhani’s presidency despite his claim to ‘moderation’. In an interview with the ncr-iran.org website on Tuesday 26 April Dowlat Nowrouzi said that recent visits to Tehran by European leaders had not lead to any improvement of the human rights situation in Iran.

Iran Focus

London, 29 Apr – Four Iranian journalists and media workers received a cumulative total of 27 years jail time. David Asadi was sentenced to 10 years for gathering information, colluding to disrupt national security and having ties to foreign governments. Despite not actually being a journalist himself, Asadi is the brother of Houshang Asadi co-founder of the exiled Rooz Online opposite website. Mahmoud Alizadeh-Tabatabaee who represented three of the defendants told the state-run Tasnim News agency Saman Safarzai, who writes for the Andishey-e Puya magazine and Afarin Chitsaz, an actress and columnist, were given five year sentences. Ehsan Mazandarani, a managing-director of the Farhikhtegan newspapers received a seven year sentence.