Spring of freedom

Families of arrested National Steel Group workers  A group of workers and family members of  apprehended National Steel Group employees  arrested by Iranian regime authorities rallied on Wednesday for the third consecutive day outside the Khuzestan Province governor’s office. They were holding a large banner reading: “Release jailed workers” “Workers belong in factories; thieves belong in prison” The protesters were also raising signs reading: “Your economic austerities; Our workers in prison” “What happened to your promises, Mr. Governor?” Workers of the National Steel Group issued a statement in this regard saying: “We are awaiting the release of our colleagues. Investors cannot play with the workers’ lives.” Families members of apprehended National Steel Group workers are outside the Khuzestan Province governor’s office. Families members of apprehended National Steel Group workers are outside the Khuzestan Province governor’s offi...

Hundreds of people, including a large number of women, were arrested in the protests gathering of dervishes in Tehran Seventy of the women arrested during the dervishes’ gathering in Golestan Haftom Ave. in Tehran, have been brutalized and taken to the Quarantine Ward 3 of the notorious Qarchak Prison in Varamin. With 40 women already detained in this ward, the addition of the new arrestees makes the ward overcrowded. There is no information available on the fate of other women arrested in the dervishes’ gathering. Hundreds of people, including a large number of women, were arrested in the protests gathering of dervishes in Tehran when suppressive forces attacked them on Monday night, February 19. The raid lasted until Tuesday morning, February 20, 2018. The Women’s Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran strongly condemns the mass and arbitrary arrests of protesters. It calls on relevant international organizations defending human rights and women’s...

Young Human Rights Defenders must be freed AI, February 2, 2018  - Responding to reports that at least six young human rights defenders, including Shima Babaei and her husband Dariush Zand, Saeed Eghbali, Leila Farjami, Mahmoud Masoumi and Behnam Mousivand have been detained in coordinated arrests across Iran on 1 February, Magdalena Mughrabi, Deputy Middle East and North Africa Director at Amnesty International said: “These human rights defenders must be released immediately and unconditionally – they have committed no crime and have been arrested purely because of their human rights work. We are extremely concerned that these individuals are now at risk of torture or other ill-treatment,' Magdalena Mughrabi, Deputy Middle East and North Africa Director declared.  “The coordinated nature of these arrests confirms our grave concerns about the grim reality for those defending human rights in Iran today, where peaceful activism is repressed and criminalized by ...

The woman who removed her headscarf is jailed hand harassed by Iranian state security forces  At the close of 2017, an Iranian woman removing her hijab and waving it like a flag became a symbol of the protests sweeping through Iran. That woman's current whereabouts are unknown, but locals claim she was arrested by police.  The woman in the video was violating Iran's so-called modesty laws, which mandate that women wear Islamic head coverings at all times.  At the time, some media reports claimed these laws were no longer enforced in cities like Tehran during the protests. However, the laws and accompanying punishments were only loosened slightly. Those wearing loose-fitting hijabs and too much makeup were assigned to mandatory Islamic culture classes, rather than the usual punishment of jail time. The illegal punishment they have had to bear has always been much more than what is foreseen in the law.   Anti-government protests raged in Iran as the n...

This young woman who defied the Mullahs dress code was arrested  According to reports, the fate of the “Girl of Enghelab Street,” a woman arrested for removing her white headscarf and waving it in the air in a sign of protest to the Islamic Republic of Iran’s compulsory hijab law is unknown. The woman’s act of bravery and defiance took place on one of Tehran’s busiest streets on December 27, just one day prior to the start of the national uprising against the Iranian government, as part of a movement known as “White Wednesday.” She quickly became a symbol of hope for the protesters. The report sites witnesses on the scene seeing her taken away and even accompanied her to the police station.  The only information available about her is that this brave woman is 31 years old and has a 19-month-old baby. The incident took place on the same day that the Iranian regime announced it was relaxing its punishment for women who do not adhere to the strict Islamic dress code....

National Council of Resistance of Iran Two other people arrested in the popular uprisings in Iran were killed by the torture of the henchmen of the Velayat-e faqih regime in Arak and Sanandaj. Seyed Shahab Abtahi, a 20-year-old young man who was arrested in Arak two weeks ago, died under the torture of the henchmen. The tormentors left the martyr’s body 10 days after his arrest in front of his father’s house, while signs of the baton blows on his body were visible. Before him, another man arrested in the popular uprising in Iran, Vahid Heidari, a 22-year-old deprived street vendor, was martyred by baton blows. The police of Markazi Province alleged in a stupid lie that he had been arrested on charges of carrying drugs and committed suicide at the detention centre of police station 12 of Arak. The detainees of the uprising in Arak were first transferred to the central prison of Arak and then to the Basij garrison in the so-called resistance square. A number of detainees ha...