Iran Human Rights (IHR) (

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

: سازمان حقوق بشر ایران) is a

non-profit A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

international non-governmental organization focused on human rights in Iran. Founded in 2005, it is a non-partisan and politically independent organisation based in

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

. The human rights defender and neuroscientist

Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, (born 21 April 1971) is a Norwegian-Iranian neuroscientist and human rights advocate. Early life Amiry-Moghaddam spent his first few years in the city of Kerman about 1000 kilometers south-east of Tehran in Iran. He ar ...

is the co-founder and international spokesperson of the organisation . Iran Human Rights' work is focused on the

abolition of the death penalty Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...

, supporting human rights defenders, empowering civil society and promoting all human rights for all citizens. As well as reporting on breaches of human rights, IHR also publishes a bi-weekly

-language legal magazine called "Hoghooghe Ma", translated to "Our Rights", and airs a television program called "Edam Bas Ast", translated to "Enough Executions."

Abolition of the Death Penalty

Iran Human Rights is one of the NGOs working towards the abolition of the death penalty in Iran. Iran Human Rights has been publishing its annual reports on the death penalty in Iran since 2008. Because of its broad network inside Iran, Iran Human Rights receives reports regarding the death penalty cases which have been carried out secretly or have not been announced by the official media in Iran. Besides reporting on and monitoring the death penalty trends, Iran Human Rights works with the international media to create awareness about the situation of the death penalty in Iran. Iran Human Rights is an elected member of the Steering Committee of the

World Coalition Against the Death Penalty The World Coalition Against the Death Penalty is an international alliance of NGOs, bar associations, local governments and trade unions that aims to strengthen the international dimension of the fight against the death penalty. Objective and ...

Cases

Navid Afkari Navid Afkari Sangari ( fa, نوید افکاری سنگری; 22 July 1993 – 12 September 2020) was an Iranian wrestler who was sentenced to death and executed in Shiraz after having been accused and convicted of murdering a security guard duri ...

: In the case of 27 year-old wrestler and protester, Navid Afkari, IHR published the court documents and the breaches against Navid and his brothers at every stage of their detention and legal proceedings. Their lawyer of choice resigned after being threatened by judicial authorities and replaced by appointed lawyers. In recordings of his trial published by IHR, Navid can be heard defending himself and demanding to see the CCTV footage used as evidence against him. The brothers said they had been tortured and coerced through threats against their family to force them into confessing to what they called lies. IHR refuted the judiciary’s claims after the court documents and evidence were released again on 1 September 2020.

Human rights defenders

IHR publishes an annual report on the situation of human rights defenders in Iran. In its 2019/2020 report, IHR highlighted the situation of 53 human rights defenders who had altogether been sentenced to nearly 400 years of imprisonment and 787 lashes. In an article marking International Human Rights Day,

wrote about the situation of human rights defenders in Iran and said: "Ignoring human rights issues is no longer a viable solution. It is time to call on democratic nations to prioritize a human rights-based foreign policy. Not only because of the values and principles that are the basis of our rights system but because sustainable peace and stability cannot be achieved without human rights."

Protest monitoring

Aban Tribunal

On the anniversary of the 2019-2020 Iranian protests, IHR joined Justice for Iran and ECPM to establish an International People's Tribunal (the Aban Tribunal, in reference to the Iranian month of Aban when the repression took place in Iran at the end of 2019) to investigate the atrocities that were committed during and in the aftermath of the November 2019 nationwide protests on behalf of the victim's families. On its establishment, IHR Director

said: "The establishment of this Tribunal is urgent and necessary. When the international community turns a blind eye to such atrocities, those who know what happened have a moral responsibility to bring about justice and accountability."

Mahsa Amini protests

In 2022, protests erupted after public outrage over the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody. She was arrested by

Islamic religious police Islamic religious police (also sometimes known as morality police or sharia police) are official Islamic vice squad police agencies, often in Islamic countries, which enforce religious observance and public morality on behalf of national or regio ...

, Iran's political and morality police, for violating the Islamic Republic's strict dress code. Iran Human Rights has continuously monitored and reported government atrocities during the Mahsa Amini protests. As of 5 November 2022, IHR has documented 304 people killed (including 41 children) in the protests.

Magazine

Iran Human Rights publishes a bi-weekly

Persian-language Persian (), also known by its endonym Farsi (, ', ), is a Western Iranian language belonging to the Iranian branch of the Indo-Iranian subdivision of the Indo-European languages. Persian is a pluricentric language predominantly spoken and u ...

legal magazine called "Hoghooghe Ma", translated to "Our Rights". Each edition highlights a particular issue.

Television program

IHR broadcasts a Persian language television program titled ''Edam Bas Ast'', translated to "Enough Executions."

References

2005 establishments in Norway International human rights organizations International organisations based in Norway Organisations based in Iran Human rights organisations based in Iran Mahsa Amini protests Non-profit organisations based in Norway Organisations based in Oslo {{nonprofit-org-stub