Although the debate over the loaded term “free election” has receded in Iran as candidates ramp up their campaigns, rights groups continue to raise the niggling question whether human rights abuses will undermine the image of a legitimate Presidential ballot in June — particularly as activists, journalists, politicians, lawyers, and protesters detained in the […]
Category: Sufi news
1200 prisoners went on hunger strike in Ghezel Hesar prison
The authorities have transferred 30 of 2100 prisoners who are on hunger strike in Ghezel Hesar prison of Karaj to the solitaries. According to a report by Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), the prisoners of the halls number 1, 2 and 3 of the section 2 of the Ghezel Hesar Karaj are on […]
Kahrizak Trial Ends: Families Await Ruling on Deaths in Prison
The eleventh and final session of the trial for the deaths in Kahrizak Prison of three detainees in 2009 was held on Wednesday, May 22. Though the judge has not yet announced the adjournment of the trial, the lawyers told the press that the defendants had issued their last defense and there would be […]
Banned Rafsanjani Blasts Iran’s Leadership
Iran’s former president, Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, has taken a parting shot at the country’s leadership days after he was disqualified from running in the upcoming presidential election. The Guardians Council, the powerful election watchdog, omitted Rafsanjani from its final shortlist of candidates. The eight men approved by the 12-member council, which vets all […]
Security Forces and Police Vehicles Increase Monitoring in Tehran
One day after the names of Iranian presidential candidates were announced by the Guardian Council, there was a tense security atmosphere in several areas of Tehran on May 22, following news of the disqualification of Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei as candidates, several eyewitnesses told the International Campaign for Human Rights in […]
Two-Year Prison Sentence Confirmed for Gonabadi Dervish, Ali Moazzami
Two-year prison term for Gonabadi Dervish, Ali Moazzami was upheld by appeals court with no changes.According to Majzooban Noor, Ali Moazzami who has been sentenced to two years’ imprisonment by the Branch 15 of Tehran Revolutionary Court presided over by judge Abolqasem Salavati on charges of “gathering and colluding against national security” (Islamic Penal […]
Open letter to the eight candidates in the Islamic Republic’s 11th presidential election
Reporters Without Borders has written an open letter to the eight approved candidates in the Islamic Republic of Iran’s 11th presidential election, requesting that they publicly commit themselves to support freedom of information. The list of eight approved candidates published yesterday by the Guardian Council – whose members are directly chosen and appointed by […]
Daughter of late Supreme Leader urges election reconsideration
Zahra Mostafavi, the daughter of the late founder of the Islamic Republic Ayatollah Khomeini, has written a letter to Iran’s Supreme Leader, urging him to reconsider the Guardian Council’s disqualification of Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani from the race for president. ISNA reports that Zahra Mostafavi’s letter to Ayatollah Khamenei mentions that on the day his […]
Ahmadinejad’s candidate will challenge disqualification
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad spoke out against the Guardian Council’s disqualification of his chief advisor from the presidential race, saying: “I will pursue the matter until the last moment through the Supreme Leader.” Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying: “I introduced Mr. Mashai and I know him… he has been wronged. But in a country where we […]
Rafsanjani won’t challenge ejection from presidential race
The head of Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani’s election headquarters announced that the moderate cleric will not challenge his disqualification by the Guardian Council from running in the presidential race. ISNA reports that in an interview, Eshagh Jahangiri confirmed that Hashemi Rafsanjani will not protest the decision. “Hashemi Rafsanjani and his supporters entered the scene with […]