The Persecution of Teacher Activists in Iran: A Report on Sacking and Disciplinary Actions, Including the Forced Exile of Esmail Abdi

A recent report by prominent labour union the Coordinating Council of Iranian Teachers’ Trade Associations (CCITTA) has drawn attention to the continuing disturbing, indeed escalating, trend of teachers and education workers being targeted for persecution by the authorities in Iran […]

Fire at Rajaee Quay; Completely Charred Bodies Retrieved

CODIR: Thousands of port workers were victims of a catastrophe waiting to happen… Last week, CODIR published a detailed account of the catastrophe that hit Rajaee Quay, the Iran’s principal national seaport for international trade in the vicinity of Bandar […]

Labour activists have been arrested! Prison is Not a Place for Labour Activists!

CODIR has received verified reports and information from inside Iran that May Day and events to mark International Workers’ Day have yet again served as the precursor to the arrest of scores of labour activists and a wider clampdown by […]

CODIR demands justice for Iranian workers following the deadly blast at Bandar Abbas!

On this International Workers’ Memorial Day, Iran is reeling in the immediate aftermath of the latest in an all too long line of disasters to have befallen its long-beleaguered working people. Over the weekend just passed, international news outlets have […]

CODIR welcomes initial signals from US/Iran talks

23rd April 2025 Press release The Committee for the Defence of Iranian People’s Rights (CODIR) has welcomed the progress made so far in talks between the United States and Iran as a step towards limiting the possibility of a military […]

 

Elections in Iran – The great candidate cull

Choose any candidate you like—after the mullahs have excluded reformers THE Islamic Republic of Iran, as its name suggests, has been a curious amalgam of people-power and theocracy from the start. For most of its 37 years clerics have firmly […]

A portrait of Iran’s incomplete revolution

Nearly four decades after the 1979 revolution in Iran, the story of two cellmates from the first political women’s prison symbolises an incomplete revolution, argues Soheil Asefi.

Iran: Rejected female candidates risk backlash in small towns

Source: Radio Zamaneh The Iranian president’s advisor on women’s affairs, Fahimeh Farahmanpour, has expressed grave concern over the Guardian Council’s widespread disqualification of women running in the parliamentary elections. Farahmandpour told ISNA on Tuesday February 9 that the widespread elimination […]

IndustriALL Global Union calls on Government of Iran to intervene at Khatoon Abad Copper Mines

  Mr. Hassan Rouhani President Islamic Republic of Iran Email:  [email protected]; [email protected]   Dear Mr. President Hassan Rouhani,   I am writing to you on behalf of  IndustriALL Global Union, which represents more than 50 million workers in mining, energy […]

IndustriALL demands release of Iranian workers

03.02.2016 IndustriALL Global Union is calling on the government of Iran to immediately release 28 workers arrested on 26 January. The workers from Khatton Abad Copper Mines, were seized after taking part in a peaceful demonstration demanding the reinstatement of […]

Teachers’ Trade Union Leader – Trial begins in Tehran

The trial of Ismail Abdi, the imprisoned General Secretary of the Iranian Teachers’ Trade Association (ITTA), opened on Saturday 30 January at Branch 15 of Tehran’s Revolutionary Court according to latest reports from Iran. The charge sheet against Mr Abdi […]

Women’s Rights in Iran – Human Rights Watch

Women’s rights are severely restricted in Iran, to the point where women are even forbidden from watching men’s sports in stadiums. That ban includes Iran’s national obsession – volleyball. Human Rights Watch is launching a new campaign, #Watch4Women, to support […]

Iran Events of 2015 Produced by Human Rights Watch

Repressive elements within the security and intelligence forces, as well as the judiciary, retained wide powers and continued to be the main perpetrators of rights abuses. Executions, especially for drug-related offenses, increased sharply from previous years. Security and intelligence forces […]

Iranian elections – the illusion of democracy

With Iranian Parliamentary elections scheduled for 26th February attention will once again focus upon the Islamic Republic for any signs of change following the recent rapprochement with the West.  Jane Green reports. Iran’s return to the international fold has been […]

Iranian filmmaker Keywan Karimi sentenced to 6 years in jail, 223 lashes

Conviction follows similar punishments for other artists and filmmakers in Iran An award-winning Iranian filmmaker whose work focuses on the travails of modern life and political expression in the Islamic Republic has been sentenced to six years in prison and […]