Month: March 2019

Iran: Annual report on the death penalty 2018

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The 11th Annual Report on the Death Penalty in Iran, by Iran Human Rights (IHR) and ECPM, coincides with the 40th anniversary of the Islamic revolution of 1979. The Islamic revolution marks the start of an era where the death penalty became a “normal” part of the people’s everyday lives. The first death sentences were carried out only three days after the victory of the revolution, as four of the Shah’s generals were executed by firing squads on the roof of “Rafah School”, which was Ayatollah Khomeini’s headquarters at that…

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Iran’s Intelligence Ministry Slaps Azeri Rights Activist With New Charges, Claim He’s Organizing Protests from Prison

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Iran’s Intelligence Ministry is pressing new charges against prominent Azeri ethnic rights activist Abbas Lesani, claiming he has been organizing protests from inside the prison in the city of Ardabil where he is incarcerated. Since January 15, 2019, the 57-year-old activist has been serving a 10-month prison sentence in the capital of Ardabil Province, 373 miles northwest of Tehran, for speaking at the funeral of Hassan Damirchi, a prominent Azeri musician. For practicing free speech, Lesani was convicted of “propaganda against the state” “When he was put in jail there…

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Britain To Grant ‘Diplomatic Protection’ To Dual Citizen Imprisoned In Iran

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Britain says it will grant “diplomatic protection” to Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a U.K.-Iranian dual citizen imprisoned in Tehran since 2016, citing “unacceptable treatment” during her three years of detention. “I have today decided that the U.K. will take a step that is extremely unusual and exercise diplomatic protection,” Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said in a statement on March 7. “This represents formal recognition by the British government that her treatment fails to meet Iran’s obligations under international law and elevates it to a formal state-to-state issue.” Hunt added, however, that it…

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