Iranian courts have handed down a new wave of prison terms and other punishments against protesters, activists and citizens accused of national security offenses, as the judicial crackdown that followed January’s nationwide protests continues months later.
Security forces used cultural venues and medical clinics as firing positions, ammunition stores and sites for holding bodies during Iran's January 2026 protest crackdown in Alborz province, according to material reviewed by Iran International.
Iranian authorities have sealed at least 42 cafés, restaurants, shops, sports clubs and other businesses across the country in the past three weeks, over compulsory hijab rules and what officials describe as violations of Islamic norms.
The child understands every word her grandmother says in Persian. She answers in English. She can ask what's for dinner in her parents' language, but not describe her anxiety, her love or her future in it. She calls herself Iranian. Persian is no longer the language of her life.
Iran has carried out at least 916 executions since the start of 2026, including 15 so far in August, the Abdorrahman Boroumand Center for Human Rights in Iran said on Tuesday.
Iranian security forces shot protester Farid Ramezani during the January protests in Tehran, then targeted his Pahlavi crown tattoo as he lay wounded before killing him with a shot to the forehead, a source familiar with the case told Iran International.
Iran marked its annual Journalists’ Day this week as reporters remained behind bars, others faced lengthy prison sentences and rights groups warned that a crackdown on independent reporting has intensified since nationwide anti-government protests erupted earlier this year.
Iran’s Supreme Court has upheld the death sentence of 28-year-old protester Rasoul Rezaei, who was arrested during nationwide protests in January, US-based rights group HRANA reported on Sunday.
Nearly 100 prominent Iranians, including artists and filmmakers, have been summoned by security agencies or judicial authorities after speaking out against a new wave of executions, particularly the public hanging of protesters in Isfahan, a rights activist said.
Late last month, Iran's finest striker sat across from the country's judiciary chief and asked him to help her find a job. Last week, two of her former teammates became Australian citizens. Between those two scenes lies everything the Islamic Republic offers its sportswomen.
Dozens of people detained over Iran's January protests remain in a security ward in the country's northwest, with more than half still awaiting hearings or serving prison sentences of up to five years, the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) reported on Friday.
Iran has opened a second case against Ahmad Seyyed-Abdollahi, who is serving a prison term after posting a video urging Donald Trump to protect demonstrators during January’s nationwide protests, sources familiar with the case told Iran International.
Five people detained over Iran’s nationwide January protests have been sentenced to death or are at risk of receiving death sentences in the northeastern city of Mashhad and nearby Shandiz, sources familiar with their cases told Iran International.
President Masoud Pezeshkian drew angry reactions from Iranians after rejecting higher estimates of those killed in Iran's January protests and calling those who cite such figures "traitors" in an interview published on Wednesday.
Iran has intensified its repression of ethnic minorities, particularly Kurdish and Baluch communities, through arbitrary arrests, enforced disappearances and executions, a group of UN human rights experts said on Thursday.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian rejected reports that tens of thousands of people were killed in the January protest crackdown, accusing those publishing higher death tolls of misleading the public.
The public execution of two protesters in Isfahan has renewed calls for the German city of Freiburg to end its 25-year twinning with the Iranian city, with activists arguing the partnership lends legitimacy to a state punishing dissent with death penalty.
Two former members of Iran’s women’s national football team who refused to sing the Islamic Republic’s anthem during the AFC Women’s Asian Cup became Australian citizens in Brisbane on Wednesday.
Six years after Iranian-German dissident Jamshid Sharmahd vanished during a trip to the United Arab Emirates, many questions surrounding his abduction, imprisonment and death in the custody of the Islamic Republic remain unresolved.
Iran has executed at least 56 people on national security-related charges since March 19, including 27 in cases linked to protests earlier this year, UN human rights chief Volker Türk said on Wednesday.
Angered by a wave of early-morning executions of protesters and political prisoners, some Iranian social media users have directed their anger at Islam and the morning call to prayer, prompting an IRGC-linked campaign demanding their prosecution.
Iran International's Negar Mojtahedi has won Canada's 2026 Bill Good Award, part of the Jack Webster honors regarded as western Canada's preeminent journalism awards, cited for reporting that bridged the gulf between the West and Iran, often at risk to her own safety.