Iran’s presidential election on 18th June is considered one of the most remarkable political events this year, yet not one that brings much change for Iranians. Shiva Mahbobi, human rights defender and former Iranian prisoner, Farian Sabahi, journalist and professor, and Mehdi Kouhestani, labour activist, discuss the impact of this election on human rights in the country and beyond.

Human Rights activist and former Iranian prisoner, Shiva Mahbobi discusses the implications of the Iranian presidential election.

Yonah Diamond, legal counsel at the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights worked in collaboration with The Newlines Institute for Strategy and Policy and over 50 international experts on a report to identify if China bears State responsibility for committing genocide against Uyghurs, in breach of the 1948 Genocide Convention.

Yemen is the world’s most contaminated country. The laying of over 1 million mines near hospitals, schools, local villages and in farmland has prevented thousands of people from playing, going to school, make a living and plant crops.

Forensic physician and human rights defender Şebnem Korur Fincancı, journalists Erol Önderoğlu and Ahmet Nesin are once again on trial in Turkey facing charges of “propagandizing for a terrorist organization”, and “openly inciting to commit crimes” simply for supporting press freedom. Sebnem joined IOHR at the UN in 2020 to speak about her work with victims of torture in Turkey.

On private diplomacy tables, Iran plays by murky rules. Since 2015, the Iranian regime has detained at least 30 individuals with foreign ties for use as leverage. Testimonies by victims and their families reveal what really happens behind closed doors and prison bars. Nizar Zakka, Ana Diamond and Xiyue Wang tell how they were suddenly detained.

Uyghur American Attorney and activist, Nury Turkel, has been nominated one of the 100 most influential people of 2020 by TIME. Last year, IOHR TV interviewed him at the Oslo Freedom Forum.

The arbitrary detention of dual and foreign nationals for use as political bargaining chips has become a favoured tool of Iranian statecraft. IOHR put together an expert panel to discuss why this happens and what must happen next.

In a rare audio interview from prison, Iranian-Swedish scientist Dr. Ahmadreza Djalali calls on the Swedish government to intervene to help free him

A new report published by Minority Rights Group International and the Ceasefire Centre for Civilian Rights has examined how Iran invokes national security as a justification to suppress human rights.

Syrian-Kurdish journalist Hisham Arafat gives an insight into the horrific incidents of sexual violence in Syria, where Turkish backed militias and Islamist groups are using rape as a weapon of war against Kurdish women. The cases recorded are innumerable, but the perpetrators who have been accountable so far are none.

26 June marks the United Nations International Day in Support of Victims of Torture. Sir Malcolm Evans has been the UN champion for the prevention of torture but calls on more action, funds and commitment to ensure his legacy can continue when he retires at the end of 2020.

At a time when the world needs disaster medicine experts, Swedish/Iranian academic Dr Ahmadreza Djalali begins his 5th year in an Iranian prison on death row. Robert Quinn, founding Executive Director of the International network, Scholars at Risk, describes their work to secure the release …

Authorities around the world are granting temporary or early release to prisoners to address the spread of the coronavirus in overcrowded prisons. The Turkish government has drafted legislation to give almost 100,000 prisoners this respite, but that will not include any political prisoners …

COVID-19 could prove a death sentence for prisoners trapped in Iran with no medical care. Sherry Izadi, wife of the British-Iranian Anoosheh Ashoori, calls for her husband’s immediate release. In Evin prison, hygiene is extremely poor. When Mr Ashoori was recently transferred to a ward …

Coronavirus Pandemic: from inside Iran’s Evin Prison, British dual national Anoosheh Ashoori appeals to the UK government to help free him as the virus runs unchecked through the prison.

Amal de Chickera, Director of the Institute on Statelessness describes the abuse, rape and murder suffered by the Rohingya people that has brought Myanmar’s de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi to represent her country against the charge of genocide at the world’s highest court for Human rights.

An eyewitness to the Turkish invasion, Qamishli resident Farhad Hussein tells IOHR about life in northeastern Syria under the offensive, how it has affected his daily life, and what he thinks of the deal struck between Kurdish forces and the Syrian government.

Nizar Zakka, a Lebanese national and US permanent resident was arrested in Iran in 2015, and accused of spying for the US. He was released in 2019 after the intervention of the Lebanese president.

India’s decision to revoke Article 370 has received drastic responses from the international community and its long-time nemesis, neighbouring Pakistan. Mobile phones and the internet have been effectively blocked leaving the region under a dark cloud of uncertainty. For the second time …

Investigative journalist and filmmaker Benjamin Best exposes the plight of Nepalese migrant workers in Qatar in his latest documentary. “Trapped in Qatar”. He uncovers the death of 1,426 Nepalese workers mainly employed in Qatar’s construction industry racing to build the …

Shiva Mahbobi – Human Rights Advocate, Spokesperson for Campaign to Free Political Prisoners in Iran and former political prisoner speaks out against the Dutch government’s decision to invite Iranian authorities to The Netherlands for talks while other countries call for political prisoners to …

Thirty years after the Tiananmen Square protests, the world except China remembers the brutal crack down on students and activists. Thousands of people lost their lives while demanding democratic reforms. Yang Jianli was one of the students protesting in Beijing. He recalls his …

After years of criticism, the Canadian Museum for Human Rights has now recognised the plight of Indigenous Peoples in Canada as an act of genocide. To what extent can the word genocide be used? How can genocide related trauma impact Indigenous communities today? Laith Marouf …

Julie Ward a member of European Parliament shares her efforts to counter human rights violations in Turkey. An advocate for refugees, women’s rights, and freedom of expression Ward explains how she was arrested in Turkey in 2016 as she arrived to attend a conference on human rights in a country where more than 200 journalists…

The Chinese Government stands accused of ethnic cleansing of the Uyghur people in western China. Over one million people have suffered unlawful detention and forced into re-education camps. The Uyghur community and IOHR protest outside the Chinese Embassy in London against the cultural genocide, persecution and the killing of Uyghurs in China.

Award winning American journalist Lindsey Snell had been living in Turkey before Al Nusra Front, Al Qaeda’s former affiliate in Syria kidnapped her in 2016 while reporting in Syria. Upon escaping her captors who held her in a cave prison she returned to Turkey and was jailed and accused of being a CIA agent. She…

Amnesty Canada joins IOHR and Comedian Maz Jobrani during his tour in Toronto to call on Iran to release Canadian resident Saeed Malekpour jailed since 2008 on fabricated charges. The audience signed petitions and shouted #FreeSaeed

The International Observatory of Human Rights organised a protest outside the Myanmar embassy in London to protest the baseless 7-year sentence given to Reuters journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo for breaching the country’s hardline Official Secrets Act while reporting on the genocide committed against the Rohyinga during the military crackdown in Rakhine state.

Helen Lackner, Research Associate at the London Middle East Institute, speaks about the human rights violations in Yemen, the internal and external factors, and the ongoing war making it the world’s worst humanitarian crisis