For days, Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani was like ‘a ghost wandering in shock’ after receiving death penalty
A former cellmate of a woman sentenced to death by stoning in Iran, who spent two years in prison with her and accompanied her to the court when …
The lawyer defending Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani himself faces re-arrest as his wife and brother-in-law are held by Iran authorities
Authorities in Iran have issued an arrest warrant for an acclaimed Iranian lawyer and arrested his wife and brother-in-l…
Mother interrogated in prison over photograph and children advised to stay silent or face arrest
Iran has put fresh pressure on the woman it last month sentenced to death by stoning, demanding the names of those involved in the campaign for her release…
Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani will not be stoned, the regime has said, but family fear she will be hanged instead
Iran has imposed a media blackout over the case of a 43-year-old mother of two who was sentenced to be stoned to death and whose fate is stil…
Iranian family say adultery conviction was bogus and that woman has already been subjected to 99 lashes
A 43-year-old Iranian woman is facing death by stoning unless an international campaign launched by her children forces the authorities to quash wha…
In response to revelations of abuse and killing at Kahrizak detention centre, Tehran has resorted to punishing scapegoats
Faced with undeniable evidence of a scandal, one solution is to blame others. But picking out a few expendable scapegoats from you…
One year ago, after a disputed election, a popular uprising almost brought down the Iranian regime. Saeed Kamali Dehghan risked his life to report on the green revolt – but then he made the agonising decision to flee to the UK
A gloomy Saturday morn…
Saeed Kamali Dehghan, who reported for the Guardian from Tehran in the aftermath of Iran’s disputed election last year, speaks about making the documentary For NedaSaeed Kamali Dehghan
The Iranian regime is trying to neutralise the impact of protest victim Neda Agha-Soltan’s death. The real story has to be told
Last November I went to Iran to film the family of Neda Agha-Soltan in secret for a documentary, which is now circulating virally in Iran even before its public release on 14 June. Neda was killed in the aftermath of the disputed presidential election in Iran last June and a video of her death was circulated around the world in a matter of minutes.
The film – entitled For Neda – looks at her life and death through a series of firsthand interviews with her family, together with amateur video footage both before and after she was killed. Directed by the British…
Iranians who work for foreign media come under threat
Etemaad, Iran’s most prominent reformist daily paper, was closed along with two weekly publications, Irandokht and Sina, a week ago today. Since the disputed election in June, Iran has shut eight newspapers and has imprisoned more than 100 journalists and bloggers. At least 65 remain in jail – more than any country has imprisoned since 1996.
At the beginning of February, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) found vague anti-state charges against detained journalists such as “Propagation against the regime” or insulting authorities and disrupting public order. Despite this, detainees have been sentenced to years of…
Under Ahmadinejad’s government increasing numbers of journalists have been imprisoned and publications closed down
More than 100 journalists and bloggers have been imprisoned in Iran since the disputed election last June, making it the world’s leading enemy of free expression. At least 65 remain in jail – more than any single country has imprisoned since 1996.
Two of those imprisoned, Mehrdad Rahimi and Kohyar Goodarzi, have been labelled “mohareb” (enemies of God) – a heresy charge punishable by death under the Iranian law. One other journalist is on death row.
Recently, the world’s leading international journalists’ and other human rights organisations announced a mega-campaign for the…
As Iranian protesters gear up online again, the state is clamping down with a new state service replacing foreign email accounts
Since the disputed election last June, Ahmadinejad’s government has sought different ways to further crack down on the internet in Iran. Now, access to almost all reformist websites is blocked, including those of the reformist candidates, Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karoubi.
Last week Iran launched a national webmail service via iran.ir, intended to replace free foreign webmail services with a domestic one that is easier to control. All government employees are being urged to use it instead of foreign webmail providers. According to the Iranian official figures,…
Extending sanctions and increasing support for external opposition is no solution to Britain’s troubled relations with Iran
The Conservative MP Brian Binley is wrong about Iran. In his article for Cif yesterday, he uses the British government’s handling of the Peter Moore case as proof of its appeasement policy towards the Iranian regime. The Foreign Office can be reproached for denying Iran’s involvement in Moore’s kidnapping, but this doesn’t mean that it has a softly-softly approach to Tehran in general, nor that Britain has “a blinkered view” of Iran’s negative role in the Middle East.
Nevertheless, it is true that Iran is strengthening its influence in the Middle East. It is providing…
I would love to see freedom in Iran in the coming decade – freedom from oppressive laws, but freedom from sanctions too
As an Iranian, my biggest hope for the coming decade in my country is freedom. A free Iran is what many people are hoping for. Freedom was the main goal for many protesters who were killed during the demonstrations after the disputed Iranian presidential election on 12 June 2009. It was also the main dream of Neda Agha Soltan, who became the symbol of Iranian opposition, as well as many other young Iranians who were killed in the protests such as Ashkan Sohrabi, Sohrab Arabi and Kianoush Asa.
As an Iranian journalist, a free press in my country would be my next hope. Iran…
