A few days after I arrived as a refugee in America in 1985, when I was 18, relatives already living here came to take me sightseeing. My mother and I had resettled in New York, and naturally my relatives wanted to show me the Statue of Liberty and the Empire State Building. Instead, I wanted to see Harlem.
On April 6, 2020, a letter arrived in the mailbox of the International Sociological Association, where I serve as a member of the executive committee. Signed by Hossein Serajzadeh, president of the Iranian Sociological Association, the letter calls attention to the combined impact of US-imposed economic sanctions and the COVID-19 pandemic on the profession of Iranian sociology. The situation is dire, wrote Serajzadeh, as he invited international colleagues to stand in solidarity with their Iranian counterparts against the sanctions.
The Iranian authorities are responsible for the ongoing crime of enforced disappearance against prisoner Hedayat Abdollahpour and his family, and must reveal the full truth concerning his secret execution and return his body to his family, Amnesty International said today.
Harrowing details have emerged about the treatment of three young Iranians who were reportedly sentenced to death for their presence at the November 2019 demonstrations.
The workers are being punished for protesting the non-payment of wages after the privatization of Azarab Industries. Workers have not been paid for May and June of this year. The court ruled that the workers who took part in demonstrations are guilty of disrupting public order and insulting public officials. The sentence can be appealed.
The goal is to improve the relationship among these forces, as well as to create a platform for inviting other Republican forces to join these collaborations and to unite with them.
We write as Parliamentarians to make an urgent demand for the Islamic Republic of Iran to halt the recent escalation of its persecution of the Bahá’í religious minority. Under the cover of the coronavirus pandemic, Iranian authorities have targeted dozens of Bahá’ís for persecution, threatened to “uproot” the community, initiated new prison sentences, and extended a media campaign of hatred. This targeted persecution must stop.
Farmer Reza Ashrafi may have considered the death of his 14-year-old daughter Romina in the name of family honor inevitable. But its ability to spark an uproar that is challenging Iranian traditions of patriarchy and improving women’s and children’s rights had to appear unlikely. After all, hundreds of Iranian women die each year in so-called honor killings.
Women’s rights advocate and PEN America Member Masih Alinejad, based in New York, and other leading activists based in the U.S. who are speaking out on behalf of women’s rights in Iran have faced an ongoing campaign of retaliation by the Iranian government. This includes a recent series of threats to their safety and that of their families, apparently from individuals who are linked to or within the Iranian government. PEN America regards these threats against writers and activists living in the U.S. as a contemptible assault on freedom of expression and on these individuals’ right to live free from fear.
Women’s rights advocate and PEN America Member Masih Alinejad, based in New York, and other leading activists based in the U.S. who are speaking out on behalf of women’s rights in Iran have faced an ongoing campaign of retaliation by the Iranian government. This includes a recent series of threats to their safety and that of their families, apparently from individuals who are linked to or within the Iranian government. PEN America regards these threats against writers and activists living in the U.S. as a contemptible assault on freedom of expression and on these individuals’ right to live free from fear.
