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High Commissioner’s First Speech to the Human Rights Council

In her first address to the Human Rights Council, the new High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay pledged to have an open-minded, frank and reciprocally reinforcing interaction with the intergovernmental human rights body.


International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran :

Iranian authorities hung juvenile offender Behnam Zare

Second Juvenile Execution in a Week Shows “a thirst for blood”
Iran Earns Medal of Shame for Juvenile Executions


(26 August 2008) Iranian authorities hung juvenile offender Behnam Zare today, who was convicted of killing an associate at age 15. A week earlier, on 19 August, Reza Hejazi, also 15 at the time of his crime, was executed.


International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran:

Threats Against Nobel Peace Laureate Escalate

Human Rights Defenders in Peril


(26 August 2008) The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran expressed serious concerns for the health and safety of Shirin Ebadi, the 2003 Nobel Peace Laureate, following increasing threats and slander by the official government organ, Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA), against her in recent weeks. The Campaign is also concerned about the continued detention and ill treatment of another human rights defender, Emad Baghi, whose health is in serious danger.


The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders:

Detention of Massoud Kordpour, a human rights defender in Iranian Kurdistan

The Observatory has been informed by the Iranian League for the Defence of Human Rights (LDDHI) of the incommunicado detention of Mr. Massoud Kordpour, one of the founding members of the Foundation for Democracy and Human Rights in Iranian Kurdistan, and a civil society activist working on human rights and environmental issues.




Amnesty International condemns the execution of juvenile offender Reza Hejazi

Public Statement


Amnesty International unreservedly condemns the execution today 19 August 2008, at 11am of Reza Hejazi, for a crime he committed when he was below 18 years old. Reza Hejazi was hanged in Esfahan central prison following his conviction for the murder, then aged about 15.


The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders:

Harsh slandering campaign against Nobel Peace Prize winner Ms. Shirin Ebadi and her family

The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), express their utmost concern over the increasing intimidation against Ms. Shirin Ebadi, Nobel Peace Prize and Secretary General of the Defenders of Human Rights Center (DHRC), since she has decided to defend in court seven members of the Baha’i minority


the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran:

a political activist, has been sentenced to eight years in prison

(7 August 2008) Abbas Khorsandi, a political activist, has been sentenced to eight years in prison by an appeals court, the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran said today. The only evidence in his prosecution is apparently based on his political beliefs and internet writings.




Human Rights Watch

Iran: Release Detained HIV/AIDS Experts

Arrested Physicians Have Not Been Charged, Whereabouts Unknown


(New York, July 21, 2008) – Iranian authorities should immediately release or charge two physicians who are internationally recognized for their work on HIV/AIDS, Human Rights Watch said today. The men, Arash and Kamyar Alaei, who are brothers, were detained without charge by Iranian security forces in late June, and their whereabouts remain unknown.


Reporters Without Borders:

Alarm over bill that would extend death penalty to online crimes

Reporters Without Borders is alarmed by a draft law that would extend the death penalty to crimes committed online. Passed by parliament on first reading on 2 July, the proposed law would, for example, apply the death penalty to bloggers and website editors who “promote corruption, prostitution or apostasy.”


IRAN: PRESS RELEASE

Arbour concerned about impending execution of four juvenile offenders in Iran

GENEVA-- United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour expressed her concern on Tuesday over reports that four juvenile offenders in the Islamic Republic of Iran are at imminent risk of execution.




Amnesty International:

60 years of human rights failure - governments must apologize and act now

Press release


Amnesty International today challenged world leaders to apologize for six decades of human rights failure and re-commit themselves to deliver concrete improvements.
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Urgent Appeal to Stop Imminent Juvenile Execution

Saeed Jazzi to be Hanged Soon

The Iranian Judiciary should immediately stop the imminent execution of Saeed Jazzi for a crime he allegedly committed while he was under the age of 18, according to the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran. The Campaign is urging the international community to act swiftly and condemn the sentence, and Iran’s continued execution of juveniles in violation of its obligations under the Convention on the Rights of the Child.




International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran:

Entire Baha’i Leadership in Iran Detained Without Charge

Health and Safety May Be At Risk


The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran is calling on Iranian judicial authorities to account, in terms of Iranian and international law, for the detention on 14 May 2008 of six leading members of the Baha’i faith, who have been taken to Evin prison. All are members of the Baha’i national coordination group, the “Friends;” the seventh member has been imprisoned in Mashhad since 5 March 2008. No charges have been announced in the cases.



International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran:

An Appeal to the EU to Act, As Human Rights Deteriorate in Iran

The European Union (EU) should deny visas to Iranian officials who have participated in grave human rights abuses and freeze bank assets held in the EU, according to an appeal made by the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran. The group also asked the EU to encourage European corporations to use their contacts with Iranian authorities to advocate for abolition of juvenile executions and other practices that contradict international human rights standards.



The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran:

Permit May Day Labor Observances

(28 April, 2008) The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran is appealing to Iranian authorities to allow independent labor activists to gather on 1 May to support fulfillment of their internationally guaranteed rights and express solidarity with one another.




Flogging and Prison Sentences for Women’s Rights Activists

“These systematic prosecutions and heavy sentences are being issued without any evidence and due process. The courts have become a vehicle for intimidating the women’s rights movement to put an end to their peaceful activities,” the Campaign said.


“These flogging sentences are in violation of Iran’s international obligations and amount to state-sponsored torture. There is no basis for these prosecutions,” the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran stated.


The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders:

Death threats against Ms. Shirin Ebadi

IRN 004 / 0408 / OBS 056
Death Threats
Iran


The Observatory has been informed by reliable sources of the new death threats sent to Ms. Shirin Ebadi, lawyer and Nobel Peace Price winner in 2003.


International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH)
Iranian League for the Defence of Human Rights (LDDHI)

Press Release

Iran/Death penalty

Child offender facing imminent execution


The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the Iranian League for the Defence of Human Rights (LDDHI) have been informed about the imminent execution of Mr. Behnam Zare, a child offender convicted of murder, committed when he was 15 years old. We strongly urge the Islamic Republic of Iran to immediately halt the execution, and to respect its obligations under international human rights law, as it is party to the International Convention on the Rights of the Child, which expressly prohibits the execution of child offenders.


New Round of Student Arrests

With the launch of yet another round of arrests of students belonging to the leftist ‎Azadikhah va Barabari-talab group (pro-Freedom and Equality), the Islamic associations ‎of 37 universities across Iran issued a joint statement in which they listed the most recent ‎suppressive measures on the universities and called for an end to the pressure tactics and ‎limitations imposed on the student movement.


Freedom and equality- seeking students of Iran:

Open Letter to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon




The World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) and
the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH)

URGENT APPEAL - THE OBSERVATORY

The Observatory: Iran: Poor health condition of the Iranian journalist and human rights defender Mr. Emadeddin Baghi





Press Release

Iran: New executions in defiance of basic human rights standards


Five persons were executed on Wednesday 5th November 2007, for allegedly having been involved in drug trafficking. The executions took place in Baft (4 persons) and Bam (one person), two cities located in the east of Iran.


HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS EXPRESSES CONCERN OVER HANGING IN IRAN

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour, expressed her grave concern over the execution of Makwan Moloudzadeh yesterday in a prison in Kermanshah Province in the Islamic Republic of Iran.


Iranian child victim of prostitution

Sold into prostitution aged nine, condemned by an Iranian judge to hang at 18, Leila was saved by a group of human rights activists.



In Different Cities of Iran

Leftist Students Targeted and Arrested

More than a dozen students were summoned to disciplinary committees and several ‎others were arrested on the eve of the annual Student Day in Iran.



"Torture, arbitrary arrest, prolonged detention in violation of right to counsel, incommunicado detention, any country that wants to equip itself either through legislation or just through its practices with these kind of tools uses the example of the United States," Louise Arbour tells Democracy Now! "If I try to call to account any government, privately or publicly, for their human rights records, the first response is: first go and talk to the Americans about their human rights violations."




The EU is deeply concerned by the news of the imminent execution of Mr Behnam Zare, who was sentenced to death by a judge of the Shiraz Court for a crime committed when he was a minor.



Iran: Amnesty International appalled at the spiralling numbers of executions


Amnesty International is appalled at the reports of the execution of 21 people in Iran this ‎morning, bringing the total number of executions recorded by the organization since the ‎start of 2007 to 210.




THE OBSERVATORY for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders

URGENT APPEAL - THE OBSERVATORY

Iran: Death sentence / Arbitrary detention / Hunger strike / Ill-treatment

The Observatory has been informed by reliable sources that Mr. Adnan Hassanpour and Mr. Abdoulvahid (also known as Hiwa) Boutimar, two Kurdish journalists and active members of Iranian civil society, have been on a hunger strike for 30 days, to protest against their arbitrary detention, their ill-treatment in prison as well as their sentencing to death.

Death penalty in Iran : stop executions now!

The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and Iranian League for the Defence of Human Rights (LDDHI) strongly condemn the execution of 12 Iranian citizens, hanged in Tehran on 22 July 2007. The men were charged with a variety of offences arising out of the Government’s May 2007 "crack down on immoral behaviour".

Death penalty sanctions expression of opinion

Following the sentencing to death of two journalists belonging to the Kurdish minority, the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the Iranian League for the Defence of Human Rights (LDDHI) express their deep concern regarding the serious violations of freedom of expression and the conditions of administration of justice in Iran.

Two Kurdish journalists sentenced to death

Reporters Without Borders voiced deep concern today on learning that journalists Adnan Hassanpour and Abdolvahed “Hiva” Botimar were sentenced to death by a revolutionary tribunal in Marivan, in Iran’s Kurdish northwestern region, on 16 July.

High Commissioner deeply concerned over reported stoning in Iran, urges halt to further similar executions

Geneva, 10 July 2007: United Nations High Commissioner Louise Arbour expressed serious concern today over reports that a man was stoned to death on 5 July in Takestan, in the Ghazvin Province of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The man, Jafar Kiani, and his companion, Mokarrameh Ebrahimi, had reportedly been in prison for more than 11 years accused of adultery. The couple was originally scheduled to be killed by stoning on 21 June 2007, but that execution was stayed.

More Student Activists Arrested on Anniversary of Student Uprising

Several young students were participating in a civil and peaceful gathering, carrying placards that read, “We are gathering to celebrate 18 Tir [the anniversary of the 1999 student uprising] and to protest university conditions and the continued detention of eight Polytechnic University students.”



Press release

International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH)
Iranian League for the Defence of Human Rights (LDDHI)



Iran: End Harassment of Dual-Nationals

Human Rights Groups Protest Detentions and Travel Bans




Two new security arrests

Ali Shakeri and Kian Tajbakhsh imprisoned in Tehran



Human Rights Watch:

Iran: National Security Laws Used to Jail Women’s Rights Activists


Six Women’s Rights Advocates Receive Lengthy Prison Sentences



Reporters without borders:

Four women get jail terms in crackdown on “cyber-feminists”





The Police Demonstrates its Power by Attacking Women





Baha'i schoolchildren in Iran increasingly harassed and abused by school authorities



During a 30-day period from mid-January to mid-February, some 150 incidents of insults, mistreatment, and even physical violence by school authorities against Baha'i students were reported as occurring in at least 10 Iranian cities.





UN Experts Deeply Concerned About Arrest of Women's Rights Defenders





Ebadi Calls Charges against Women Baseless



In an interview with Rooz, Nobel Peace Laureate Shirin Ebadi spoke about the status of the jailed women’s rights activists.








Celebrating Norooz at the Gates of Evin



“Teachers will not have a new year this year if their imprisoned colleagues are not freed,” say members of the teachers union’s central committee, who announced plans to celebrate Norooz [Iranian New Year] at the gates of the Evin Prison in northern Tehran, along with the families of imprisoned teachers.






High Commissioner for Human Rights Concerned over
Arrests of Women Activists in ‎Iran



United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour today expressed strong concern over the arrest by the security police of at least 31 women activists during a peaceful gathering in front of the Islamic Revolutionary Court in Tehran on 4 March.





Amnesty International:
Arrests of women may be an attempt to prevent
International Women's Day calls for equality



Amnesty International today called for the immediate and unconditional release of over 30 women activists who were arrested on Sunday, 4 March while staging a peaceful demonstration in Tehran. The organization believes the arrests may be intended to deter activists from organizing events to mark International Women's Day on 8 March.




Iran: End Executions After Unfair Trials



The Iranian Judiciary should immediately halt all executions of people who have been sentenced to death in secret following unfair trials that do not meet minimal international standards of justice, Human Rights Watch said today. In the past year, at least a dozen Iranians of Arab origin have been condemned in this way.





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