Report: Human Rights Defenders in Iran 2021

Dec. 16, 2021, 7:42 a.m.

The suppression of human rights defenders (HRDs) has continued with greater intensity by the Islamic Republic authorities in 2021. This report provides a brief account of over 100 human rights defenders in Iran. While this list may seem extensive, they only represent a fraction of human rights defenders who have faced rights breaches. Defenders who have struggled by peaceful means to attain the most fundamental human rights for themselves and the people of Iran. In response, they have been sentenced to a total of 479 years imprisonment and 907 lashes. Arbitrarily arrested and stripped of their right to a lawyer, due process and a fair trial, prison terms and degrading punishments like flogging are accompanied by prolonged solitary confinement, denial of medical care, familial punishments and other forms of physical and psychological torture, as well as prison exiles that ensure the defenders’ families have as little access to them as possible. Heavy fines and high bail amounts, bans on practicing their profession or losing their jobs, post-sentence exile and fabricated new charges, are used as a means of exerting additional pressure on the HRDs. 

Full Report (pdf)