Human Rights

Canada announced a new round of sanctions on four senior Iranian officials on Monday over their alleged role in Tehran’s violent crackdown on protests and dissent.

The family of Iranian activist Pouran Nazemi says they have had no contact with her since she was violently arrested alongside Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi and other activists during a memorial service on Friday.

A prominent UK-based rights barrister has called for an independent investigation into the sudden death of Iranian lawyer Khosrow Alikordi this month after the case stoked outrage and rowdy protests at his memorial service.

An annual cultural celebration of women and mothers in Iran falling on the birthday of the Prophet Muhammad's daughter Fatimah has galvanized critics of the theocracy's rights record for women even as supporters come to its defense.

A senior Iranian cleric said the northeastern city of Mashhad should be treated primarily as a religious destination rather than a leisure tourism hub, arguing that recreational tourists should visit other provinces such as northern province of Mazandaran instead.

Iranian Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi, who was violently detained after attending a memorial service for a human rights lawyer, told her family she has been accused of cooperating with the Israeli government, according to her X account.

A study on female genital mutilation (FGM) in Iran’s southern Hormozgan province finds the practice is sustained chiefly by family dynamics, gender stereotypes and local customs that often outweigh religious mandates.

Iranian activist Masih Alinejad met Venezuelan Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Corina Machado in Norway, saying in a post on social media that Tehran menaced the South American country too.

Iranian authorities said on Saturday they had detained 39 people at a memorial ceremony for a prominent rights lawyer in the holy city of Mashhad, confirming the number of arrests after videos showed anti-government and pro-monarchy slogans at the gathering.

UN Special Rapporteur for Iran Mai Sato on Friday welcomed the release of an Iranian child bride who was on death row for killing her abusive husband, warning that the case exposes deep-rooted institutional injustices in Iran’s judicial system.

Security forces detained Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi and several other activists during a memorial ceremony in the northeastern city of Mashhad, the local governor told state media.

A campaign supported by more than 800 Iranians at home and abroad is calling for the release of detained teenager Bita Shafiee and her mother.

A relative of Rouzbeh Vadi said the Iranian nuclear scientist executed in August confessed only after severe torture and threats against his mother, describing a prosecution built on a single coerced statement.

Iranian Olympic skier Atefeh Ahmadi, who applied for asylum in Germany in 2023 after leaving Iran during a training trip to Europe, has returned to the country and publicly expressed gratitude to the Supreme Leader for facilitating her homecoming.

Barry Rosen, a hostage during the 1979 US embassy takeover in Tehran, told Iran International that the recent deportations of Iranian nationals back to Iran echoes the oppression he faced as a captive.

Iranian authorities are stepping up the use of courts and security agencies to target members of the Baha’i community through prison sentences, arbitrary detention and property seizures, the Baha’i International Community and Human Rights Watch said.

In November alone Iran executed at least 260 people, the highest monthly total in more than two decades, while officially announcing only two, the United States Department of State said in a Persian-language post on X on Tuesday.

Authorities in Iran have blocked the Instagram pages of two female singers as part of an intensifying crackdown on women’s public performances and online presence.