Paris-Geneva, February 6, 2013. The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) has just concluded that the detention of lawyer and founding member of the Defenders of Human Rights Centre (DHRC) Abdolfattah Soltani is arbitrary, and requested the Iranian Government to release him immediately.

Karim Lahidji, vice president of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and president of the Iranian League for the Defence of Human Rights (LDDHI), said today: “The Iranian authorities regularly impose the death penalty for all forms of dissent. The ethnic communities, and in particular the Iranian Arabs, Kurds and Baluchis, are regularly targeted for demanding their rights, and occasionally members of these communities and their family members fall victim to the vengeance of authorities. The authorities also regularly ignore the strict ban under international law on execution of children. The Iranian government must immediately revoke the death sentences of activists from ethnic communities as well as all prisoners of conscience and join the accelerating worldwide trend to abolish the death penalty."

UN experts call for an independent and impartial investigation into the death in custody of a blogger

The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), has received new information and requests your urgent intervention in the following situation in Iran.

The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), has received new information and requests your urgent intervention in the following situation in Iran.

Paris-Geneva, September 11, 2012. The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), was informed of four new cases of arbitrary detention against human rights defenders in Iran. Several rights activists and journalists have been taken into custody to serve prison sentences, while charges have been brought against others.

Shirin Ebadi, Nobel Peace Laureate, International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), and the Iranian League for the Defence of Human Rights (LDDHI) said in a joint statement today: "Conditions of prisoners in Iran are deteriorating by the day. Political prisoners and prisoners of conscience suffer a series of torture and other ill treatment during pre-trial detention, lack access to their lawyers and families and due process, and are subsequently tried under conditions far from international standards of fair trials, on charges related to their professional work, human rights work, freedom of expression, assembly and association, and other legitimate rights recognised by international human rights treaties, to which the Islamic Republic of Iran is state party".

Appeal by Nobel peace laureate Shirin Ebadi and three human rights NGOs

Paris-Geneva, May 3, 2012. The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), denounces the relentless harassment of members of the Defenders of Human Rights Centre (DHRC) and more particularly the sentencing on appeal of Mr. Mohammad Ali Dadkhah.

The authorities in Iran are relentlessly pursuing their suppression of every form of peaceful dissent including protests of families of victims and their supporters as well as moderate political activists. Supporters of the “Mourning Mothers” (see Background Information) as well as moderate political activists are being increasingly targeted.