Free Republic

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL Public Statement 2 February 2006 IRAN: AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL CALLS FOR RELEASE OF BUS WORKERS Amnesty International is calling on the Iranian authorities to release immediately hundreds of Tehran bus workers who were detained last week apparently to pre-empt threatened strike action. Although some of the workers have been released, hundreds are reported still to be detained without charge or trial at Tehran’s Evin Prison. The arrests began after the executive committee of the Union of Workers of the Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company, which represents workers employed by the United Bus Company of Tehran (Sharekat-e Vahed), called for...

Jailed Iranian writer barred from seeing lawyer June 13, 2006 TEHRAN (Reuters) - Canadian-Iranian philosopher Ramin Jahanbegloo, arrested in Tehran last month on spying charges, has been denied access to a lawyer during his interrogations, the judiciary said on Tuesday. Canada earlier this month asked Iran to either release or charge Jahanbegloo, who has joint nationality, and the case has further strained the icy relations between the two governments. Jahanbegloo has worked and lectured on democracy in Iran and how the Islamic Republic can engage with the West, and has written on the importance of acknowledging the Holocaust. Iran's President...

Iranian-Americans in New York called the Islamic republic’s savage massacre of anti-regime protesters “heartbreaking” – as they anxiously wait to see what action President Trump takes to back demonstrators. The death toll from the protests that were sparked over Iran’s crumbling economy has reached more than 500 protesters as the government is accused of detaining more than 10,000 people – leading Trump to threaten US military force against the authoritarian regime. “Iranian government, you can’t trust them,” said a 61-year-old Great Neck man whose wife remains in Iran.

The notorious director of Tehran’s brutal Evin Prison, Hedayatollah Farzadi, escaped the compound ahead of Israeli strikes following threats to his life – and an alleged exchange between Jerusalem and his adult son. Israeli authorities reportedly contacted Amir Husseini Farzadi, telling him that if he convinced his father to release political prisoners, his life would be spared in the impending attack. According to a series of WhatsApp messages shared with Fox News Digital by an Israeli intel source, an agent instructed Amir to tell his father to open the prison’s doors, warning that an attack would occur within "a few...

Israel picked up the pace of its attacks on Iran on Monday, targeting the regime's notorious Evin prison as well as the headquarters of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, among other targets

Israeli bombing of justice branch and guard posts at Evin prison. The gov't has lost control of the prison

Swedish diplomat accused of spying for Israel Photo credit: amnesty.se Swedish diplomat Johan Floderus, imprisoned in Iran, is being used as a pawn in a political manoeuvre, his sister Ingrid Floderus said. Floderus, was detained at Teheran airport in April 2022 following a visit to a friend working for the Swedish embassy in Iran, accused of spying for Israel and “corruption on earth” which carries the death penalty under Iran’s Islamic laws. Floderus is one of many EU and Western citizens detained on trumped-up charges to obtain concessions from their governments in return for their release. In this case, his...

Some experts believe the deal signifies an easing of tensions between Tehran and Washington. Five American prisoners held in Iran flew out of Tehran on Monday officials said, as part of a deal that saw nearly $6 billion in Iranian assets unfrozen. Despite the deal, tensions are almost certain to remain high between the US and Iran, which are locked in various disputes, including over Tehran’s nuclear program. Iran says the program is peaceful, but it now enriches uranium closer than ever to weapons-grade levels. The planned exchange has unfolded amid a major American military buildup in the Persian Gulf,...

A popular chef in Iran has been arrested after what some have alleged could be to do with a video he posted in reference to assassinated Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani. (excerpt) Navab Ebrahimi was arrested in Tehran on Wednesday and taken to the city's Evin prison, the Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) said. No reason was given for the arrest of Ebrahimi, who had some 2.7 million followers on Instagram enjoying his slickly produced videos showing how to produce classic Persian dishes without pain. But social media users said the arrest coincided with him posting a recipe to make...

A fire has broken out at Iran's notorious Evin prison, with footage posted online showing flames and smoke billowing from the area. Gun shots and alarms have been reported as coming from the jail, the primary site for detaining political prisoners. An official quoted by state media said "troubles" involving "criminal elements" were to blame for the blaze. The fire comes as Iran continues to be rocked by its most intense unrest in decades. Anti-government monitoring group 1500tasvir posted videos of the fire online, in one of which chants of "death to the dictator" - one of the main slogans...

Tirana, Albania — It is the stuff of wild nightmares. Despite the passage of three decades, for Iranian dissidents residing in a sprawling Albanian compound — far from their homeland — the torture and trauma of life inside an Iranian regime prison is still raw. “I was a university student, almost seven months pregnant, when the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) came,” Kobra Jowkar, now 59, says softly. “They raided our home at midnight and were very ruthless.” That ruthlessness, she claims, included kicking her around like a soccer ball — and walking on her bulging belly. The worst would...

Only last year, Mr Ahmadinejad confirmed the Mossad had infiltrated his intelligence ministry. He said: "Is it normal that the most senior officer responsible for the control of Israeli spies, responsible for confronting Israeli plots in Iran, himself turned out to be an Israeli agent?"... Ali Yunesi, a former Iranian intelligence minister and top adviser to President Rouhani, issued this warning in an interview: "The Mossad's influence in many parts of the country is so vast that every member of the Iranian leadership should be worried for their lives, for their safety."

The Iranian regime is not only covering up its nuclear weapons ambitions. For more than three decades, the extremist theocracy has tried to cover up one of its greatest crimes against humanity. In 1988, in what became known as the 1988 massacre, Tehran began the systematic killing of thousands of dissidents and opposition activists. Ultimately, an estimated 30,000 people lost their lives in the brutal massacre. But a court in Sweden is now ending the regime's cover-up. In November 2019, Swedish authorities arrested a man, Hamid Noury, believed to have been involved in the 1988 massacre. On July 27, 2021,...

The BBC filed a complaint Wednesday to the United Nations over Iran freezing the assets of more than 150 people associated with its Persian service, calling the Islamic Republic’s actions “a deprivation of human rights.” The British broadcaster described Iran’s actions as part of a “criminal investigation” into its staff, former employees and contributors over allegations of them fomenting a “conspiracy against national security” in Iran and abroad. Those swept up in the investigation include Iranian dual nationals from Australia, Austria, Canada, France, Germany, Britain and the United States. Iran’s mission at the U.N. did not respond to a request...

An elderly man from the United Kingdom has been held in Iran’s notorious Evin Prison for the last four years on charges of spying, according to his family, who is pushing for his release based on concern about his age and health. Kamal Foroughi, an engineer by training, was working as a consultant in the capital city of Tehran for the Malaysian national oil and gas company Petronas when Iranian authorities took him into custody in May 2011, taking him from his apartment without any warrant for his arrest, according to his family. "My dad is 76-years-old and gets no...

Newly confirmed Secretary of State John Kerry condemned Iran’s “continued violation of the universal right of freedom of religion” and urged the release of an American Christian pastor imprisoned for his religious beliefs. In a written response to Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) to questions during his confirmation hearing last week obtained by the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), Kerry, a liberal Massachusetts Democrat, said he is “deeply concerned” about Saeed Abedini, who was sentenced to 8 years in prison for his Christian faith on Sunday. … Abedini, 32, who is from Boise, Idaho, has been jailed in Iran...

An American pastor who has been jailed in Iran since September has been sentenced to eight years in prison, the U.S. State Department said Sunday. Spokesman Darby Holladay said the department is calling on Iran to respect Saeed Abedini’s human rights and release him. Earlier this month, Iran’s semi-official news agency, ISNA, quoted Abedini’s attorney, Nasser Sarbazi, as saying his client stood trial in the Revolutionary Court on charges of attempting to undermine state security by creating a network of Christian churches in private homes. The pastor, who is of Iranian origin but lives in Boise, Idaho, has rejected the...

The university term has started in Iran, but there are many students who will not be in their classes this fall. Instead, many have been banned from attending school for political reasons, and dozens are languishing behind bars. In a morbid joke, Evin prison in Tehran has been called Evin University by some government critics, because of the number of students, as well as journalists and intellectuals, who have been locked up there because of their peaceful expressions of dissent. Human rights organizations have taken up the cause of imprisoned Iranian students. Amnesty International has called on the Iranian authorities...

Blogger becomes casualty of Iran cyber-wars The Associated Press - ‎Apr 11, 2009‎ He was Iran's first known casualty in the skirmishes between bloggers challenging the Islamic regime and authorities striking back with the tools they know ...

<p>A dissident Iranian labour leader who is serving a five-year jail sentence has been hospitalised with a heart problem, a source close to him said yesterday. Mansoor Osanloo, leader of a union grouping bus drivers, was detained in July last year for "distributing statements against the system" and a judiciary official was in October quoted as saying he had been sentenced to jail.</p>