Abdorrahman Boroumand Center

for Human Rights in Iran

https://www.iranrights.org
Newsletter
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Help Us Continue to Be the Voice of the Voiceless: We Count On You
As 2024 comes to a close and we reflect on the year, we are grateful to our supporters who make our work possible. In a year marked by turmoil and an ever-changing political landscape, with the harshening of the crackdown on citizens protesting the dress codes, and a sharp increase in the number of executions – at least 932 to date – the tireless pursuit of justice and accountability continues. 

Abdorrahman Boroumand Center for Human Rights in Iran (ABC) continued to unrelentingly document the crimes of the Islamic Republic. Its research focused on collecting data on the violation of the right to life, executions, extrajudicial killings, and killings in the framework of protests with a focus on religious minorities, as well as on cruel and inhuman punishments such as floggings and amputations. We were particularly active in supporting the United Nations human rights mechanisms, which have used our current and past research to understand the context of the current violations and included them in their publications.
I – Publications

In 2024, ABC published three reports, 9 newsletters and 134 Omid profiles and cases of death threats. 

In late October, we released a landmark report on the violations of the rights of the Baha’is in Iran. ABC believes that the first step to end these violations is for Iran to recognize the Baha’i faith. “Outsiders: Multifaceted Violence Against Baha’is in the Islamic Republic of Iran,” explores the different forms of persecution (physical, institutional, and cultural) against Baha’is in Iran throughout their history, and in particular, since 1979. The report was well received, particularly in the Baha’i community, whose members expressed their appreciation for the recognition of their persecution.

Focusing on justice for the victims of the Women, Life, Freedom protest, ABC published a much needed assessment of the outcome of the cases filed by protesters’ families in Iran. “Woman, Life, Freedom: Victims’ Fight for Accountability Amid Repression,” looks at 16 of cases of family members who had filed complaints inside Iran. The report stresses the need for accountability paths outside Iran amid the absence of safe avenues for justice inside Iran, and also aims to support the work of the Fact Finding Mission on the Islamic Republic of Iran (FFMI). 

16-year-old Abolfazl Adinezadeh, killed in Mashhad in October 2022, was among the cases ABC reviewed. In the morning of October 8, 2022, Abolfazl was caught on closed circuit tv cameras opposite his school. Abolfazl got out of his father’s car. He waited a minute, bent down and tightened his shoelaces, and went to the demonstration instead of school. At noon on that day, he was among a group of demonstrators in front of Ferdowsi University. Special Unit forces opened fire and Abolfazl was hit with 70 shotgun rounds in his right side. He got as far as the passageway under Mellat Park and collapsed.

Following the execution of Jamshid Sharmahd, a dual German-Iranian national and a vocal political activist based in the US and abducted in Dubai in late July 2020, ABC published a comprehensive report on his case. The report sheds light on his activities, the baselessness of the charges brought against him, and the violations of the minimum standards of due process throughout his detention and trial. The publication was accompanied by a video, disseminated on social media.
II – Advocacy for Justice

Data collected in the past, reports, and Omid Memorial profiles used to press Iran for change and the international community to end impunity including through universal jurisdiction:
 
Our archival research on protest killings throughout the history of the Islamic Republic was a key tool for the FFMI’s reporting on the 2022 Woman, Life, Freedom movement, and the documentation of the state’s pattern of violence against protesters. Our submissions to the FFMI also included recent cases, many of which are detailed in this newsletter.

The former Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, Javaid Rehman, relied heavily on our archival research in his July report, particularly with regard to summary politically motivated executions between 1979 and 1982.

For the 33rd anniversary of the assassination of Chapour Bakhtiar, we published a short documentary on the life and death of the pro-democracy leader who was extrajudicially assassinated in Suresne, France. The video explores the shortcomings of the prosecution in this case, and the failure to hold Iran accountable for its role in the orchestration of the assassination.
 
Throughout the year, we aimed to acknowledge other cases of extrajudicial executions and violence with impunity, such as our video about the life and extrajudicial killings of Aida Rostami and Mahsa Mogu’i.
  • Aida Rostami, a young doctor active in the 2022 Woman, Life, Freedom protests, disappeared on December 12, 2022 after leaving her workplace. 
  • Mahsa Mogu’i an athlete and aspiring dentist killed on September 22, 2022 after having participated in the 2022 Woman, Life, Freedom protests.

In May, ABC collaborated with several artists to produce a video calling for rapper Toomaj Salehi’s freedom and a reversal of his death sentence. ABC had produced an open letter calling for action in his case, and provided information about his case to the UN Special Rapporteur in the field of cultural rights – we are thrilled to see that the international campaign on his behalf has been successful.
We continue to mark executions and the death penalty on a daily basis, which this year has reached a high of 932 victims. We have also documented every case we can find since 1979 of cruel and inhuman punishments implemented by the Islamic Republic’s Judiciary, such as floggings and amputations. This year, we made progress in publishing many of our archived reports of implemented floggings, posting 304 cases encompassing more than 2,000 victims.

In addition, our extrajudicial executions map project records the killings and attempted killings at the hands of the Islamic Republic’s security and intelligence forces, both inside and outside Iran. Some of these cases include:
  • Mehdi Salmanzadeh, a 14-year-old boy murdered in his home bedroom in December 2019 after having attended protests and posted about them on Instagram. 
  • Atefeh Na’ami, who was found dead on her balcony shortly after participating in the 2022 protests. Declared a suicide by the Islamic Republic, ABC’s research, including the opinion of a forensic expert, strengthened the family’s claim that the supposed suicide was staged to cover-up an extrajudicial execution by the security forces. 
  • Nika Shakarami, a young woman shot and killed by security forces during the 2022 
ABC’s tireless pursuit of documentation, memorialization, and accountability for the crimes of the Islamic Republic would not be possible without the help of our generous supporters. Any donation makes a difference, please consider making a donation to the Boroumand Center.
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