Iranian blogger Vahid Sayyadi Nasir, a 28-year-old estate specialist and social media activist, died in prison on December 12, 2018, following a 60-day hunger strike. He was charged with “insulting the sacred” and “propaganda against the state” and sentenced to 5 years in prison over social media posts deemed to be critical of the regime. He was released in March, but was later…
Saeed Malekpour, a 43-year-old engineer and web designer, has been imprisoned in notorious Evin prison in Iran since 2008. He was sentenced to death following a conviction of masterminding an online pornography network. According to Malekpour’s supporters, he developed an Internet photo-sharing tool which was used without his knowledge to share pornographic photos. He was accused by Iranian authorities to “discredit the country’s…
Roya Nobakht, a UK-Iranian citizen who was jailed in Iran over criticizing government on Facebook, was released on Friday, August 25, 2017, after serving 5 years in prison. She is currently subjected to a 2-year travel ban until her reduced 7 years imprisonment sentence will be completed. Roya Saberinejad (also spelled “Saberi-Negad”) Nobakht is a 49-year-old Iranian-British woman, who served time…
Iranian cartoonist “Eaten Fish” has been detained in the Australian-run Manus Island detention centre since 2013. As Canberra aims to close the controversial site in Papua New Guinea in October, activists are campaigning for his resettlement; but his fate remains unclear. Trauma tends to mute the most piercing of ordeals. But Iranian cartoonist Eaten Fish still manages to draw the unspeakable,…
In advance of the Iranian presidential elections on 19 May, which will take place in a largely restrictive environment, we, the undersigned organisations, urge that the Iranian government to fulfil its international human rights obligations and cease the systematic targeting of human rights defenders (HRDs). Scores of HRDs have been arrested and remain in prison on arbitrary charges, simply for…
Sina Dehghan, a 21-year-old man, was sentenced in Iran to death over criticizing Islam. He was arrested by security forces on October 21, 2015, at a military barracks in Tehran. Dehghan was charged under article 262 of Iran’s Islamic Penal Code for ‘insulting the prophet’ of Islam; a criminal charge which is punishable by death. Dehghan was convicted at the Penal Court of the…
Golrokh Ebrahimi Iraee, an Iranian 36-year-old human rights activist and writer, was sentenced to six years in prison over charges of ‘insulting Islamic sanctities’ and ‘spreading propaganda against the system’ for her Facebook posts supporting political prisoners in Iran. Golrokh was arrested at her home by Iranian security forces without official summons on October 24, 2016. She was taken to the notorious Evin prison, where…
