Iran Human Rights Monitor published its monthly human rights report on Monday, which detailed the regime’s crimes against its citizens in the month of May. The report is summarized below.

Death Penalty

Regime authorities publicly executed a man during Ramadan, despite the fact that Islam advises against execution during the holy month.

Tehran’s Revolutionary Court sentenced 34-year-old Abdullah Ghasempour to death for “waging war on God,” “assembly and collusion,” and “membership in the MEK.”

Ghasempour was arrested on May 21, 2018 for allegedly setting fire to a Basij base, filming the event, and sending the video to MEK media sources.

#Iran's Regime Sentences 4 #MEK Activists to Execution, Imprisonment
Tehran’s Revolutionary Court on Sunday sentenced four men affiliated with the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (#PMOI or Mujahedin-e Khalq, MEK) to prison and or death. https://t.co/Niq8SwzBNX pic.twitter.com/dUoFMeYIYl

— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) May 20, 2019

He was arrested along with his brother, Mohammad Hossein, Ghasempour, Alireza Habibian, and Akbar Dalir. They were each given five-and-a-half year sentences for their roles in the same incident.

Torture and Abuse

20-year-old political prisoner Ameneh Zaheri Sari is being denied hospital treatment for acute swelling. Doctors in Sepidar Prison have been unable to find the cause of her illness and have recommended that she be transferred immediately to a hospital for diagnosis.

Another woman, Ameneh Zaheri Sari, 23, was arrested by intelligence agents.
The #Iranian authorities have waged a sweeping crackdown against the Ahwazi Arab ethnic minority, arresting hundreds of people in Khuzestan, SW #Iran, in recent weeks. @AmnestyIran @hrw @USAdarFarsi pic.twitter.com/zYz2KJeabE

— IRAN HRM (@IranHrm) November 6, 2018

Ms. Sari’s family raised money and paid for a 300 million toman bail bond from the Court of Ahvaz, but prison officials refuse to grant her transfer.

Cruel, Inhumane, and Degrading Punishment

23 prisoners in Greater Tehran Prison, Fashafoyeh are currently awaiting hand amputations as part of their sentences for theft.

Due Process Rights and Treatment of Prisoners

The regime’s Majlis (parliament) crafted a draft amendment to Iran’s Criminal Code that would deny political prisoners access to legal representation during their criminal investigations.

Regime Drafts Amendment to Deny Detainees Legal Representation

The amendment would apply to those arrested on “national security” charges, a vague term which is often used to imprison journalists, human rights activists, and political dissidents.

Amnesty International said that if the amendment were approved, it would be a “crushing blow to Iran’s already deeply defective justice system.”

Freedom of Expression, Association and Assembly

At least five striking workers from the Haft Tappeh sugar factory were arrested and another fifteen were summoned for questioning on May 14th, according to the ILNA news agency. The factory workers in the city of Shush were protesting their employers’ failure to provide New Year bonuses or pensions for the past two years.

Additional workers were arrested on May 14th and transferred to Dezful Prison. Reports indicate that at least six men were arrested, but the exact number is unknown.

More than 35 labor rights protesters were arrested after a demonstration in front of the regime’s Majlis. A number of the activists who were arrested at the demonstration are still detained at Iran’s notorious Evin Prison.

Security forces raided a private yoga class in the city of Gorgan and arrested approximately 30 people. According to a local justice department official, the people who were arrested were wearing “inappropriate outfits” and had “behaved inappropriately.”

Authorities seized the social media accounts of three well-known street musicians for publishing “criminal content.” The musicians, who had a total of more than 174,000 followers, had posted videos of their performances on social media.

Singer Negar Moazzam is under investigation by authorities for singing to a group of tourists in Isfahan Province.

Human Rights Activists and Political Prisoners

The Iran Writers’ Association (IWA) released a statement on May 16th in protest of the recent sentencing of three Iranian writers to a total of 18 years in prison. The statement described the court decision as an action “against all writers and everyone struggling for the freedom of expression.”

More than 900 writers, poets, essayists, and journalists in #Iran have condemned the recent harsh verdicts against three of their fellows as an "unjustified," and "severe damage to the fundamental rights of all Iranians" that "kills freedom."https://t.co/fSoiAQKmbh pic.twitter.com/3wwA05riH4

— IRAN HRM (@IranHrm) May 21, 2019

On May 13th, the regime’s judiciary announced that an Iranian woman who headed the British Council’s Iran desk had been sentenced to ten years in prison on charges of espionage. Although she was not named in the announcement, the British council later stated that the woman was likely Aras Amiri, an employee who was arrested in March 2018 while visiting her grandmother in Iran.

Freedom of Religion and Belief

Regime intelligence agents stormed a Presbyterian Church in the city of Tabriz last month, forcing its worshippers to leave and changing the locks. The cross on the building was taken down, and the church was forbidden to re-open.

Treatment of Ethnic Minorities

A young Baluchi man was shot and killed by state security forces in Sistan and Baluchistan Province after chasing him down for not having a driver’s license.

Protesters gathered in front of the governor’s office in Zahedan to protest his death. Local reports say that 30 of the protesters were arrested by security forces.

Staff writer

Iran Human Rights Monitor released its monthly report on the regime’s human rights abuses for the month of April 2019. The document makes for grim reading as the regime continues to run roughshod over the rights of Iran’s citizens on a near-daily basis.

The report revealed that in the month of April, the regime carried out arbitrary arrests and killings, tortured prisoners in its custody, violated the rights of ethnic minorities, and carried out several executions.

The Execution of Two Juvenile Offenders

Perhaps the most abhorrent act undertaken by the regime in April was the unlawful execution of two juveniles. Mehdi Sohrabifar and Amin Sedaghat, two 17-year-old cousins, were executed in Shiraz on April 25.

"The Department of State is appalled by the #Iran regime’s secret execution of two 17-year old males, Mehdi Sohrabifar and Amin Sedaghat, in Adelabad prison in Shiraz."https://t.co/hH443oc5Jo pic.twitter.com/39kuE9i2qa

— IRAN HRM (@IranHrm) May 2, 2019

In a statement issued two days after their execution, international human rights group Amnesty International condemned the regime for carrying out an unfair trial and breaking international law prohibiting the execution of prisoners under the age of 18.

In a statement, Philip Luther, Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa director, said: “It seems they cruelly kept these two boys in the dark about their death sentences for two years, flogged them in the final moments of their lives, and then carried out their executions in secret.”

Their families were able to visit them shortly before their death but were not informed of their impending execution, robbing them of their goodbyes.

The act also prompted outrage from the UN human rights chief who reminded the regime that the execution of children is banned under international law.

The Global Leader in Juvenile Executions

The Iranian regime executed more juvenile offenders than any other nation on earth. Between 1990 and 2018, the regime executed 97 inmates convicted of crimes as minors. Just last year it executed seven prisoners who committed the alleged crimes as minors.

#Raisi Appoints New #Tehran Prosecutor Known for Mass Arrests, Secret Executions of Juveniles https://t.co/psbalcyPK8 @AmnestyIran #HumanRights #FreeIran #MEK @USAdarFarsi

— MEKIran (@MEK_Iran) May 2, 2019

More than 90 remain on death row in prisons across Iran according to Amnesty International.

Torture and Arbitrary Arrest

April also saw the prominent human rights defender Nader Afshari sentenced to 74 lashes and a year in prison on charges of “disrupting public order” and carrying out “propaganda against the state.”

A further 63 volunteers were arrested after carrying out community rescue operations and providing assistance to victims affected by recent flooding in Khuzestan. Also, 25 internet activists were detained for reporting on the flooding online.

Ahvaz, SW #Iran
Shahab Siahi, 38, poet & cultural activist, Hassan Tarfi, poet, and Aref Savari, 30, also poet & cultural activist, were among those arrested by a militia unit linked to #IRGC intelligence for providing independent aid to #IranFlood hit areas. pic.twitter.com/Mi1Yk02D8x

— IRAN HRM (@IranHrm) April 20, 2019

The regime has attempted to stifle any information regarding the full death toll of the flooding out of fear it will inflame public anger. At least 250 people died after heavy rains brought widespread flooding to Khuzestan and the surrounding areas. The regime’s inaction compounded the destruction and loss of life as the mullahs refused to make boats, helicopters, and shelters available for public use in the rescue efforts. MEK sources in Iran reported widely on the damage the floods created, also the Iranian regime’s inaction during and in the aftermath of the floods.

More Rain Forecast while Victims of Precious #IranFloods Struggle to Recover without Aid from Regime https://t.co/buMxDkUPJ0 #IranFlood #FreeIran #MEK @USAdarFarsi

— MEKIran (@MEK_Iran) March 31, 2019

On April 16, the Prosecutor’s Office in Tehran also issued an indictment for the arrest of Amir Salar Davoudi on charges of “cooperating with hostile governments” and “establishing a group to overthrow the system” after he participated in an interview with VOA and partook in a Telegram messaging group sharing information about news and events pertaining to the Iranian judicial system.

Inhumane Conditions in Iranian Prisons

Iran Human Rights Monitor also describes the despicable and abhorrent treatment of prisoners in Iranian prisons. It reported the withholding of medical treatment for Alireza Shirmohammad-Ali in Great Tehran Penitentiary. Shirmohammad-Ali was beaten by guards and has been suffering from acute abdominal pain. He has received no treatment for his condition.

Mojtaba Dadashi, an imprisoned university student also went on hunger strike after being denied treatment for his respiratory tract infection he contracted last week.

#Iran – Imprisoned university student Mojtaba Dadashi has started a hunger strike since April 23, in protest against the denial of urgently needed medical care, including for respiratory tract infection he has been suffering since last week.

https://t.co/zkmoU4JRzH

— IRAN HRM (@IranHrm) April 24, 2019

In another incident, an inmate was encouraged to assault another inmate by the prison agents. An inmate convicted of drug offenses was promised a case review if she assaulted her fellow inmate, Sima Entesari.

The Fate of Ethnic Minorites

Ethnic minorities continue to suffer under the clerical regime. State security forces arrested 88 Ahwazi Arabs, 12 Kurds, and three Baluchi people. They also killed nine Kurdish porters

Staff writer

 

Human rights situation in Iran deteriorates in February 2019. Iran Human Rights Monitor released its February report on human rights in Iran on Wednesday, March 6, 2019. The report includes data on executions, torture, denial of medical treatment, imprisonment and suppression of lawyers and human rights activists, violations of women’s’ rights, and persecution of religious and ethnic minorities. The report is summarized below:

Death penalty

• Total executions in the months of February: at least 12;
• Public executions: one.

The actual numbers are most likely much higher, but it is difficult to obtain accurate data because the regime carries out most of its executions in secret.

Three young men who were sentenced to death for crimes committed while they were minors face imminent execution.

Mohammad Kalhori

Mohammad Kalhori was arrested in December 2014 for the murder of one of his teachers. He was 15 years old. Kalhori has been diagnosed with several mental and emotional disorders.

His lawyers have asked for a pardon from the victim’s family, citing his lack of mental maturity at the time of the crime, due to his age. This is allowed under the rules of the presiding court in

Borujerd, Lorestan Province.

Barzan Nasrollahzadeh

Barzan Nasrollahzadeh was arrested in May 2010 in Sanandaj, Kurdistan Province by Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) agents. He was 17 years old at the time of his arrest. Nasrollahzadeh was severely tortured in an MOIS detention facility for months and denied access to his family or an attorney.

Nasrollahzadeh was convicted of “enmity against God” in August 2013 and sentenced to death. His request for judicial review of his case was denied, placing him at risk of imminent execution.

Shayan Saeedpour

Shayan Saeedpour turned himself in at a police station for killing another person in a fight in August 2015. He was 17 years old at the time of his arrest. He was sentenced to death in October 2018 for first-degree murder and received 80 lashes for consuming alcohol.

Amnesty International issued a statement calling on the Iranian regime to halt the executions of all three of these young men. The statement, written by Saleh Hijazi, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa, read, in part, “The Iranian authorities must act quickly to save these young men’s lives. Failing to stop their execution would be another abhorrent assault on children’s rights by Iran.”

Torture,  Inhumane, or Degrading Punishment

• Flogging sentences issued: 20
• Flogging sentences carried out: 5

On February 8th, twenty prisoners at Gharchak Women’s Prison, including five Sufi political prisoners were sent to solitary confinement or transferred to Evin Prison after being violently attacked by prison security. The attack occurred after women in two of the wards asked that prison officials provide medical care to a fellow inmate and were denied. The women protested this neglect and were subsequently attacked.
The women were then placed in unheated cells and denied food and fresh air breaks for two days. Several of the inmates were beaten severely.

Human Rights Activists

On February 4th, regime Judiciary Chief Ayatollah Sadeq Amoli Larijani announced that there were no longer any political prisoners in Iran. This claim came after he pardoned 50,000 prisoners in honor of the 40th anniversary of the Islamic regime’s rise to power.

#Iran security forces detained Sirwan Ghorbani, an environmentalist & a central council member of the Kurdistan National Unity Party, at his home on Tuesday.#Iranian authorities have tightened their grip on environmental activists in recent months. pic.twitter.com/OuWQPBy3zF

— IRAN HRM (@IranHrm) February 17, 2019

Iranians on social media were quick to react to Amol Larijani’s pronouncement, noting that the Judiciary uses the term “security prisoner” in place of “political prisoner.” International human rights groups have also observed that political prisoners in Iran are generally charged with “acting against security,” most likely in order to avoid being accused of having political prisoners.

Denial of Medical Treatment To Prisoners

Mohammad Banazadeh Amirkhizi

72-year-old political prisoner Mohammad Banazadeh has been denied medical attention for a meniscus tear in his leg. The elderly man also suffers from untreated prostate issues, sleep disturbances, and memory problems.

Hassan Sadeghi

Political prisoner Hassan Sadeghi is being denied medical care that could save his eyesight. Sadeghi was tortured by intelligence agents when he was arrested, which led to a variety of injuries and illnesses. He also has glaucoma and is now in danger of losing his sight altogether.

Sadeghi also has infections in his stomach and small intestine and a gastric ulcer.

Sadeghi was arrested and tortured in 1981 for his membership in the MEK. He served six years in prison and was released. He is once again a political prisoner and still suffers from the torture that was inflicted upon him in the 1980s.

Saeed Shirzad

Saeed Shirzad has been banned from receiving urgently needed hospital care for severe damage to his kidneys. The political prisoner’s condition has deteriorated due to the lack of treatment for his condition, which requires sophisticated care in a hospital setting. Both of his kidneys are damaged, and his right kidney has shrunk by 25%. His family has paid for his hospital treatment, but regime officials have denied his request for a transfer.

Arash Sadeghi

Imprisoned human rights activist Arash Sadeghi has been denied chemotherapy or hospital treatment for a rare form of bone cancer.

Prison officials allowed him to have a tumor removed from his hand after a long delay, but they refuse to allow him to complete the cancer treatment. He also developed an infection in his hand after the surgery, which destroyed the nerves in his right hand.

Shahram Pourmansouri

Political prisoner Shahram Pourmansouri has been denied hospital treatment for spinal disk inflammation and problems with the muscles in his back. He is in urgent need of surgery to treat these problems and the resulting pain.

Hamzeh Savari

Hamzeh Savari has been denied hospital treatment for a tumor behind his right knee that is causing severe pain and is impairing his ability to walk. Doctors have said that the tumor needs to be removed to prevent further damage.

Christians

Six Christian converts were arrested during the month of February. All of the arrests occurred in the city of Rasht.

Persecution of Ethnic Minorities

Arrests of Ethnic Minorities in February:

• Ahvazi Arabs: 70
• Baluchis: 20
• Kurds: 20
• Turks: 2

Women’s Rights

The Provision of Security for Women against Violence, otherwise known as the PSW bill, was rejected by the regime’s judiciary and sent back to the regime’s parliament to be “fundamentally revised.”

The bill, which has been blocked from the passage for 13 years, would criminalize domestic violence, penalizing some violent abusers with prison sentences.

For 40 yrs, #Iran have placed enmity w/ women at core of its crimes, intimidating entire society through repression of women. 40 yrs of crimes aginst Iranian women under mullahs’ rule is a matter of security & ideological.
On #IWD2019 stand w/ Iran's women#InternationalWomensDay pic.twitter.com/tT5cVUyMfg

— IRAN HRM (@IranHrm) March 8, 2019

When questioned about the regime’s refusal to pass the current bill, Gholam-Hossein Mohseni Eje’ii, First Deputy Minister and spokesman for the Judiciary Branch, replied, “The PSW bill contained numerous problems so much that it could not be reformed. The solution is to draft a totally different bill or to reform the existing bill only in collaboration with the government,” according to the state-run IRNA news agency.

Eje’ii went on to say, “One of the problems is that our general policy is de-imprisonment. In the PSW bill, however, imprisonment has been predicted as a punishment for every minor violation in this regard. And in doing so, it jeopardizes the foundations of families.”

The idea that the regime has a policy of de-imprisonment is false on its face. Iran Human Rights Monitor and MEK-Iran.com have written dozens of reports on arbitrary arrests and overcrowding in Iranian prisons. Iran is responsible for half of the world’s executions.

Eje’ii also made earlier comments claiming that the anti-domestic violence bill would not protect women, saying, “The objective of adopting this bill is to fortify the family environment so that women, spouses, and others, would feel secure in every respect. Now, the question is whether the articles contained in the PSW bill provide such security or not.”

The Judiciary’s Cultural Deputy, Hadi Sadeqi, went even further, saying, “The PSW bill against violence is apparently drafted to support women, but in essence, it strikes the greatest blow to women and families. When a woman sends her husband to jail, then that man can never be a husband for her again, and the woman must accept the risk of getting divorced in advance.”

Staff Writer

On Tuesday, June 12th, hundreds of steelworkers gathered outside of the governor’s office in Khuzestan Province to demand the release of the 36 workers who were detained on Monday night. The steelworkers chanted, Detained workers must be freed!”

 

Sources in the MEK network inside Iran reported that at least ten more workers were arrested on Tuesday when suppressive forces attacked the protesters calling for the release of detainees of the initial protests.

 

The protests began on Sunday when authorities refused to pay workers’ delayed salaries and meet their outstanding demands. The workers responded by raising roadblocks on the Ahwaz-Tehran rail tracks.

 

On Monday morning, 400 workers from the Iran National Steel Industrial Group gathered in front of the Governorate in Ahvaz to ask for consideration of their status in their company and to demand payment of their salaries, which have not been paid on time.

 

The protesters marched from the Governorate to Kianpars and then on to Mahin Street while surrounded by a heavy police presence. The marchers shut down the street, bringing traffic to a standstill for several hours. The workers then marched to the offices of some members of parliament in the city, chanting:

 

“Compatriots be aware, Ahvaz has no owner!” and “We do not want an inadequate governor!”

 

Sources in the MEK network inside Iran also reported that the steelworkers chanted against the mullahs’ regime during their protest.

 

Iran Human Rights Monitor was able to obtain the names of some of those who were detained in their initial protests. Their names are listed below:

1. Hassan Javid Hamoudi,
   2. Peyman Shajirat,
   3. Mohammad Naghizadeh,
   4. Ali Jama’ati,
   5. Rahman Sam’ak,
   6. Karim Siahi,
   7. Ali Aghabeh,
   8. Ali Taheri,
   9. Mostafa Zargani,
   10. Behzad Alikhani,
   11. Seyyed Mohammad Mousavi,
   12. Amir Sha’abani,
   13. Seyyed Razzagh Mousavi,
   14. Hadi Vaeli,
   15. Farzad Gharaji,
   16. Younes Amiri,
   17. Seyyed Ali Moradi,
   18. Nour Ali Khan Mohammad,
   19. Amir Harirzavi,
   20. Ahmad Afrawi,
   21. Hossein Efri,
   22. Ebrahim Farsi,
   23. Mohammad Allawi,
   24. Seyyed Javad Mousavi,
   25. Alireza Mohreb,
   26. Javad Eskandari,
   27. Ali Daghalegheh,
   28. Ebrahim Borumand Nia,
   29. Ali Hezbi Pour,
   30. Faisal Sari,
   31. Shahin Baba Ahmadi,
   32. Kazem Heydari