‘I am ready to return whenever they say’: Nasrin Sotoudeh on prison, the hijab, and violence in Iran

Exclusive: the human rights lawyer, temporarily released from jail on medical grounds, describes her love for her family, and why she keeps going despite brutal treatment at the hands of the regime Iran’s Qarchak jail has been called many things: […]

Director Mohammad Rasoulof flees Iran ahead of Cannes premiere

CANNES (Reuters) – Mohammad Rasoulof, a celebrated Iranian director whose latest film is competing in the Cannes Film Festival, has fled Iran after being sentenced to eight years in prison and flogging. In a statement dated Sunday, Rasoulof said he […]

Iranian filmmaker flees to Europe after prison sentence ahead of his Cannes premiere

Story by JAKE COYLE, AP Film Writer CANNES, France (AP) — After being sentenced to eight years in prison, the award-winning Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof says he’s fled to Europe shortly ahead of the Cannes Film Festival premiere of his latest film. “I arrived […]

NEU General Secretary calls on the Islamic Republic of Iran to save musician Toomaj Salehi from execution!

His Excellency Ayatollah Sayed ‘Ali Khamenei Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran By email: contact@leader.ir 30 April 2024 Your Excellency, Tomaj Salehi I write as General Secretary of the National Education Union (NEU), the largest education trade union […]

Who is Toomaj Salehi? Coldplay and Sting call for release of Iranian rapper sentenced to death

About 100 figures in music, culture and human rights activism have signed a statement calling for the release of the Iranian rapper Toomaj Salehi, who was sentenced to death in Iran after protesting in support of women’s rights. The statement calling for Salehi’s release was […]

 

Iranian women’s rights defender, Ms. Narges Mohammadi, stands defiant: “I do not recognise the verdict of the Revolutionary Court!”

Narges Mohammadi’s letter from Qarchak Prison: “During the sixty-four days I was held in Ward 209 [of Evin Prison], a prosecution was initiated against me and I was hastily investigated, tried, and sentenced, in a completely illegal, illegitimate, inhuman, and […]

CODIR Calls for the Release of Teacher Trade Union leader from the notorious Evin prison in Tehran, Iran:

CODIR today reiterated its call for the immediate and unconditional return of Mr. Mohammad Taghi Fallahi to his family, as well as the release of Mr. Esmail Abdi, the former General Secretary of the ITTA, and all other trade unionists, […]

Joint Letter of Nobel Laureates and Academics to UN for Release of Elite Students

23 January 2022: Several Nobel laureates & distinguished scholars have asked António Guterres and Michelle Bachelet to make every effort to ensure Ali Younesi and Amirhossein Moradi, two students at Sharif University arbitrarily detained in Iran since April 10, 2020, are released […]

Firefighters protest for their rights

Thursday, 20 January 2022 – Marking the fifth anniversary of the horrific Plasco Building fire, which took the lives of sixteen of the firefighters who went to tackle the blaze in extremely hazardous conditions, and which saw the collapse of […]

Iran nuclear talks deadlock risks dangerous vacuum

A man walks past barriers in front of the Palais Coburg hotel in Vienna, where the Iran nuclear deal talks are taking place. Photograph: Alex Halada/AFP/Getty Images

Analysis: As clock runs down on Vienna talks, key obstacles remain to be cleared by Tehran and the west The countdown to the end of the six-month-long talks in Vienna on the future of the Iran nuclear deal has begun. No deadline […]

What’s at Stake in the Iran Nuclear Talks

GEORGE PERKOVICH,  KARIM SADJADPOUR While the United States needs Tehran to stop its enrichment program, the Islamic Republic is fighting for survival. Nuclear talks with Iran have resumed in Vienna, after former president Donald Trump pulled the United States out of the Joint […]

Press Statement: “Death in custody of Iranian filmmaker and poet constitutes extrajudicial killing” says CODIR

Saturday, 8 January 2022 CODIR has joined the Iranian Writers’ Association (IWA) and other progressive and labour movement organisations in Iran to condemn the theocratic regime’s direct role in the death of political prisoner, Bektash Abtin, the renowned filmmaker, writer, […]

Communiqué of the Iranian Writers’ Association:
The “freedom-killer” regime has murdered Bektash Abtin!

People of Iran! Freedom-lovers of Iran and the world! Bektash Abtin (1974-2022), poet, filmmaker, and distinguished member of the Iranian Writers’ Association, has been murdered by the “freedom-killer” regime. On 3 December, Bektash Abtin presented himself to Evin Prison’s medical […]

The Looming Threat of a Nuclear Crisis with Iran

The Biden Administration faces a potential confrontation with a longtime rival that is better armed and more hard-line than at any time in its modern history. By Robin Wright December 27, 2021 Shortly after his Inauguration, Joe Biden appointed Rob Malley […]

New Year greetings from the Central Executive Council of CODIR