‘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 […]

 

Teachers, Environmental Activists Arrested Across Iran

Thousands of teachers, both active and retired, took to the streets in Tehran and several other Iranian cities May 10 to protest their paltry salaries and what they view as a lack of investment in education on the part of […]

Trump sabotages Iran nuclear deal

9th May 2018 Jane Green, on behalf of the Committee for the Defence of the Iranian People’s Rights (CODIR), assesses the impact of US withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal. US President, Donald Trump, has ended the engagement of the […]

Trump revives worries of war with Iran

Posted by Saeed Kamali Dehghan at The Guardian, 20:37: Ordinary Iranians were on tenterhooks, monitoring the developments closely, particularly any immediate impact on the country’s national currency, which hit an all-time low last month, prompting panic-buying of hard-to-find dollars amid […]

Netanyahu’s Performance Only Proves Exactly Why Iran Nuclear Deal Needs to Remain in Place

CounterPunch by PATRICK COCKBURN The trove of Iranian documents about its nuclear programme presented by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as proof of Tehran’s duplicity contain nothing of substance that was not known before. Though the disclosure was made in order to justify […]

Iran: New evidence reveals deliberate desecration and destruction of multiple mass grave sites

Bulldozing, road construction, mass rubbish dumping and new burial plots used to compromise and destroy mass graves Iranian authorities deliberately eradicating vital forensic evidence that could hamper the rights to truth, justice and reparations At least 4,000-5,000 people secretly buried […]

Iranian teachers’ leader on hunger strike

Jailed Iranian teachers’ leader Esmail Abdi has gone on hunger strike in protest at his continuing unlawful detention and the “massive violations of civil rights of teachers and workers in Iran”. Mr Abdi, of the Trade Association of Teachers in Tehran, was […]

Imprisoned Iranian teacher, Esmail Abdi, to begin hunger strike as of 17th April 2018

Esmail Abdi: “I will start hunger strike in protest against widespread violation of civil rights of teachers and workers.” This spring of 2018 is also the fortieth spring since the revolution, a revolution which promised overcoming dictatorship, establishing democracy, creating […]

Solidarity with hunger strikers demanded

8th April 2018 Press release For immediate use The Committee for the Defence of the Iranian People’s Rights (CODIR) has called for the immediate release of hunger striking human rights activists unjustly held in Iranian prisons. Following their arrest without […]

“When God Sleeps”: An Iranian musician critiques his society

Till Schaudner’s new documentary When God Sleeps is a robust, thoughtful account of punk rocker Shahin Najafi’s struggle to have his music and ideas heard despite death threats from the Iranian government. Shahin grew up in a small northern Iranian town near […]

Jailed Iranian teacher wins major solidarity award

1st April 2018 Press release For immediate use The Committee for the Defence of the Iranian People’s Rights (CODIR), has today welcomed the conferring of an International Solidarity Award upon a jailed Iranian trade unionist by one of the UK’s […]