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Washington Post – The Israeli strike hit just before noon, a series of blasts that shook Tehran’s Evin Prison, a sprawling complex that holds thousands of prisoners and has been a symbol of the Iranian regime’s repression for more than four decades.

A former prisoner who happened to be near the complex June 23 when the rockets fell said he ran toward the explosions. As an inmate, he dreamed that he might one day see the prison gates come crashing down, but what he found that day was nightmarish, he told The Washington Post.

“Everything was rubble,” said the man, who like others interviewed for this article spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals from authorities. “It was really like complete chaos and apocalypse.”

After the strike, a spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces, Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin, said the prison complex was used for “intelligence operations against the State of Israel, including counterespionage” and the strike was “carried out in a precise manner to mitigate harm to civilians imprisoned within the prison to the greatest extent possible.” The operation in Evin was conducted one day before a ceasefire ended the 12-day conflict between the two nations.

A Post review of satellite imagery and videos shared to social media revealed damage in four areas of the complex, with structures nearly 2,000 feet apart in ruins. Among the damaged locations were an administrative building, a visitation area for families, a medical center and a solitary confinement cell block, according to two former inmates who examined the images at The Post’s request.

Iranian officials have said at least 71 people were killed. According to online death notices and internal prison records examined by The Post, along with interviews, the dead included 43 prison staff members and two conscripted soldiers who were stationed there. At least four other civilians who did not work at the prison were killed, two of them children, The Post found.

Multiple high-ranking prison officials were among the dead, death notices show, including Ali Ghanaatkar, the top prosecutor at Evin. Ghanaatkar’s prosecutions of dissidents have drawn criticism from human rights groups.

For more than 40 years, Evin Prison, which sits at the foot of the Alborz Mountains in an upscale residential area, has been one of the most visible symbols of the Islamic republic’s authoritarian rule. It is the Iranian security apparatus’s primary site for incarcerating dissidents, foreign journalists, academics and diplomats. Many of those inmates have been tortured and abused. Thousands of people are imprisoned within its walls, including at one point Nobel laureate Narges Mohammadi and Post journalist Jason Rezaian, who was held there for almost a year and a half.

Military strikes on prisons can raise humanitarian and legal concerns, in part because of the vulnerability of inmates. The Washington-based organization Human Rights Activists in Iran said two prisoners were killed, which The Post could not independently confirm. Iranian officials have said that an unspecified number of prisoners were killed.

The Post’s analysis of high-resolution imagery taken by Maxar Technologies on Monday identified at least 17 damaged or destroyed buildings across the prison grounds. The scattered locations probably indicate multiple strikes, experts in satellite imagery analysis said. The IDF declined to comment on The Post’s findings or answer questions about its intended targets.

“Based on the locations [of the damage], it appears there must have been at least four separate munitions, as nothing that was hit would seem volatile enough to cause damage to spread elsewhere,” said Sean O’Connor, an imagery analyst at the defense intelligence firm Janes.

William Goodhind, a geospatial analyst at Contested Ground, a research project that uses satellite imagery to track armed conflict, said the images indicate at least six strikes. Based on the damage locations, he said the strike appeared aimed at two outcomes: to target access points, such as the gates on the north and south sides of the complex, and to kill prison staff members who would have been in the central buildings. He noted that it looked as though a “lower yield munition was used [rather] than larger-scale airstrikes, where the intent is to level the building.”

More than 60 acres of vegetation surrounding the prison were scorched in fires in the aftermath of the attack, the satellite images show. Some of the structural damage may been inflicted by the fires.

In the center of the prison, a building that contains administrative offices was destroyed and a medical center was heavily damaged, the images show. Videos posted to social media, including ones shared by the Iranian government, show burned-out cars and tangled metal. An exterior wall on the medical center is blackened and bars on its windows are crumpled. Inside, medical equipment and beds are covered in shattered glass.

A doctor who worked at the medical center was also killed, as well as a prison social worker and her 5-year-old son, according to death notices reviewed by The Post.

The attack appears to have also damaged another building across a courtyard from the medical center, which two former prisoners said was the solitary confinement block of Ward 209. The ward is run by the Ministry of Intelligence and often houses political and high-value detainees who are typically blindfolded while they are moved through the facility.

One inmate who spoke to a friend by phone said he saw blindfolded prisoners walking around immediately after the strike with no guards in sight, the friend told The Post.

Satellite images and videos show extensive damage to the visitor gate at the northern edge of the complex, where, according to the former prisoners and a family member of a detainee, Iranians come to visit detained relatives. The attack happened during established visiting hours, they said.

A man who said he arrived at the gate shortly after the explosions described seeing burned cars and prisoners attempting to escape while guards shot at their feet.

“I saw many dead bodies lying on the ground,” he said. “No one had come yet to cover them or to confirm if they were dead.”

The man said he carried the bodies of five people who appeared to be dead and pulled others out of the rubble. The image that stays with him, he said, was one of a father and a daughter who had brought a document for the release of a family member.

“For about two hours, her father was trying CPR,” he said. “Nothing happened, and she died.”

The strike near the visitor gate shattered the windows of apartment buildings nearby and killed 61-year-old Mehrangiz Imanpour as she walked in the area, a family member said.

The apartment building’s CCTV showed that Imanpour left her home around 11 a.m., less than one hour before the strike on the prison. She had gone to pay someone who had done work in her home, her family said. Two days later, authorities told the family her body had been found in a street near the visitor gate.

Video from near Imanpour’s apartment shortly after the strike shows the street covered in earth and dust, and damaged vehicles lining the road. In the distance, the visitor gate is destroyed. A building facade is shattered.

Imanpour’s family member said she was kind and self-made, a gifted artist and painter. “If you were to describe her, there aren’t enough positive things to say about Mehrangiz,” the person said.

Large swaths of Evin are not functional, and family members of two prisoners told The Post that some inmates have been moved to facilities where crowding is rampant and conditions are grim.

“They locked everyone up in a large hall that can hold a maximum of 30 or 40 people, but now they are keeping more than 120 people there,” said a family member of a male prisoner who was relocated to the Greater Tehran Penitentiary.

Women prisoners remained in Evin the night of the strike before being moved to Qarchak Prison, according to a former Evin prisoner who has spoken with women detainees and a report by Human Rights Activists in Iran.

“[Women prisoners] cleaned the place themselves. There were guards everywhere, pointing guns at their heads, and no water, no gas, no telephone access,” the person said. “Families were very worried.”

Qarchak has been denounced by human rights organizations for its pest infestation, contaminated water and lack of basic social services.

“In this situation, [prisoners] are the most vulnerable,” the former prisoner who ran toward the entrance said. “Who knows what is going to happen next.”

Mikhail Klimentov contributed to this report.

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The Economic Times – Satellite radar data from Oregon State University, analyzed by The Daily Telegraph, indicates that during the recent 12-day conflict between Iran and Israel, six Iranian missiles penetrated Israeli airspace and struck five military facilities, including a major air base, intelligence centers, and a logistics hub.

These impacts are in addition to at least 36 other Iranian missiles that penetrated Israel’s air defense systems, which caused damage to residential and industrial buildings.

While most Iranian missiles were intercepted, the success rate of Iran’s strikes improved as the war progressed, possibly due to improved launch tactics or the deployment of more advanced missile systems.

This analysis also reveals that Iran’s success in penetrating Israeli defenses with its missiles peaked at 16 per cent by the seventh day of the war, before declining thereafter.

Satellite data indicates that Iran adapted its attack strategy to overwhelm Israeli defenses by using fast missiles alongside slower drones to divert attention.

Despite this, about 84–87 percent of Iranian missiles were intercepted, according to various sources.

Human Rights Activists in Iran (HRANA), a US-based organization, reported that more than 900 people have been killed and over 3,000 wounded as a result of Israeli strikes on Iran.

The Iranian health ministry has stated that the number of wounded exceeds 4,000.

The post Israel hid massive damage from Iran’s missile strike; satellite images reveal 5 military bases hit appeared first on Human Right Activists In Iran.

MSN – More than 650 people have been killed in Iran following a massive Israeli bombing campaign launched a week ago, an activist group said on Friday.

The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) reported that 657 people had died and 2,037 injured in the nationwide airstrikes.

The Iranian government does not publish daily figures on casualties.

The HRANA relies on a broad network of informants and publicly available sources.

The group said the dead included at least 263 civilians and 164 members of the military.

Another 230 fatalities remain unidentified.

The network also reported damage to civilian infrastructure, including a projectile striking a children’s hospital in Tehran, which did not result in injuries.

In the western province of Ilam, a fire station was damaged, HRANA said, while an Israeli attack on a car factory in western Iran triggered a large fire.

Israel maintains that its objective is to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, which it considers an existential threat.

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The Indian Awaaz – A fragile ceasefire has brought a much-needed reprieve to millions of civilians caught in the deadly crossfire of the Iran-Israel conflict, which has reportedly claimed close to 900 lives. U.S. President Donald Trump, who characterized the intense hostilities as a “12-day war,” announced that both nations had simultaneously sought his administration’s intervention for peace.

The truce was declared after Iranian state media reported that a ceasefire had been “imposed on the enemy,” following what Tehran described as a military response to “U.S. aggression.” This announcement came just hours after Iran launched missile strikes on the U.S. Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, a retaliatory move that significantly escalated the conflict by directly involving American forces.

The Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) reported a staggering toll of at least 865 fatalities in Iran as of June 22nd. This includes 215 military personnel, 363 civilians, and 287 unidentified individuals. More than 3,300 people have also been injured. These figures are considerably higher than those released by Iranian health authorities, which reported 224 deaths and over 2,500 injuries. Both sources, however, underscored that the majority of casualties were civilians.

The humanitarian crisis in Iran has deepened dramatically. Initially targeting military infrastructure, Israeli airstrikes increasingly struck residential areas and even prisons. This escalation has led to massive internal displacement, forcing millions to abandon their homes. Among the deceased were aid workers, children with disabilities, and nuclear scientists, highlighting the widespread and indiscriminate impact of the violence. Iran’s judiciary specifically noted that parts of Tehran’s Evin Prison, known for holding political detainees, were also targeted by Israeli forces.

In Israel, the human cost has also been severe. Iranian missile strikes have resulted in the deaths of at least 24 civilians and nearly 600 injuries. The southern city of Beersheba bore the brunt of attacks in the final hours before the ceasefire, with emergency services confirming at least three deaths and multiple injuries. Rescue teams are currently sifting through rubble in damaged buildings, searching for survivors.

President Trump confirmed that his diplomatic and security teams worked tirelessly overnight to broker the truce, which reportedly took effect around 4 a.m. local time. Israeli strikes on Iranian cities ceased shortly before the ceasefire, despite a significant intensification of hostilities in the lead-up to the agreement.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has yet to issue a public statement regarding the ceasefire. However, reports indicate that he convened an emergency meeting of the Security Cabinet, instructing ministers to refrain from public comments on the agreement’s terms.

The rapid escalation over the past 12 days has overwhelmed emergency services in both nations. Hospitals are struggling to cope with the influx of wounded, while rescue teams continue their efforts to clear debris and provide assistance to those affected. The UNHCR and other international humanitarian agencies have urgently called for immediate de-escalation, robust protection for civilians, and unhindered access for critical relief operations.

Despite the declared truce, an air of uncertainty persists. Iran has stated its willingness to halt its responses if Israeli attacks cease, but Israeli officials have largely remained silent on the agreement’s specifics. The conflict has starkly illustrated how quickly regional tensions can spiral into full-scale warfare, with ordinary citizens disproportionately bearing the devastating consequences.

The post Ceasefire Brings hope to War-Weary Civilians as Iran-Israel Conflict Claims Over 900 Lives appeared first on Human Right Activists In Iran.

All Israel News – Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian congratulated the Iranian people for their “historic punishment” of the “enemy aggressor” during a speech to celebrate Iran’s victory over Israel in a victory parade in Tehran, according to the regime-affiliated Fars News Agency.

“After the courageous resistance of your great and history-making nation, we are witnessing a ceasefire and cessation of the 12-day war that was imposed on the Iranian nation by the adventurism and incitement of the Zionist regime,” Pezeshkian stated.

“During this period, the world watched the authority of the great Iran, which enjoyed the support of its people, and although the beginning of this imposed war was a terrorist enemy, its end was marked by the will and authority of the great people of Iran. Today, in a situation where the enemy aggressor agreed to stop fomenting war, he suffered a severe and historic punishment,” Pezeshkian continued.

Iranian Quds Force Commander Esmail Qaani was also seen for the first time since the start of the campaign against Iran, when he participated in the victory celebrations in Tehran.

Later on Wednesday morning, during an Iranian cabinet meeting, Pezeshkian said, “The Zionist regime’s actions made us realize more than ever that it is all the people of Iran – not just one party, one minority, or one group – who are capable of defending the country.”

Despite Pezeshkian’s statements, reports coming out of Iran prior to the regime’s decision to cut off internet access in the country, indicated that the government has begun to use the Basij Force, a kind of paramilitary force, infamous for cracking down on dissent and for violent oppression of Iranian protesters.

Iranian accounts on social media posted messages detailing police and Basij checkpoints set up throughout Tehran, in an attempt to find people protesting the regime, taking pictures of Israeli strikes, or engaged in other anti-regime behaviors.

In his speech to the cabinet, President Pezeshkian personally thanked the Basij Force.

The Public Relations Department of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) announced the details of the funeral ceremony of the IRGC commanders killed by “the brutal Israeli aggression” during Operation Rising Lion.

According to the Fars News Agency, the public funeral ceremonies for “the senior martyred commanders, along with other martyred commanders of the Zionist regime’s brutal aggression” will be held on Saturday, June 28, in Tehran, while the funeral for IRGC commander Hossein Salami, and Brig,-Gen. Haj Masoud Shanei, his office director, will be held June 26 in their hometown of Golpayegan.

Meanwhile, the Far News Agency claimed that three Mossad spies were executed by hanging earlier this morning, in the Urmia Prison in the western part of the country.

“Three spies affiliated with the terrorist intelligence agency of the Zionist regime, Mossad, were executed by hanging in Urmia,” the site reported.

Fars News said the three men, Idris Ali, Azad Shojaei, and Rasoul Ahmad Rasoul, were accused of smuggling assassination equipment into Iran. The three were charged with “‘waging war against God’ (moharebeh) and ‘spreading corruption on earth’ (efsad fel-arz) through collaboration with hostile foreign governments.”

However, despite the accusation of contributing to the assassination of government figures, the three were not connected to any of the recent assassinations during Operation Rising Lion.

Iran International, a news site affiliated with opposition movements, said the three Kurdish [men] were implicated in the killing of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, an Iranian nuclear physicist and scientist who headed Iran’s nuclear program until his surprise killing in November 2020.

Fakhrizadeh was killed by a remotely-operated machine gun, rigged with facial recognition software, and satellite uplinks. While the operation is largely believed to have been carried out by the Mossad, it required willing participants to bring in the components, assemble them, and make sure the system was operating properly.

The three men, who ran a liquor smuggling operation, are accused of smuggling the components into Iran.

However, Iran International cited sources familiar with the families in Iran, who claimed the men were forced into giving a confession through torture.

The Human Rights Activist News Agency (HRANA) reported that so far, 823 Iranian citizens have been arrested on security charges since the start of the war. HRANA said that 286 individuals were arrested for activities on social media or for publishing posts about the Israeli attacks, while 537 were arrested for “security reasons.”

Iranian police announced that checkpoints will continue throughout Iran despite the end of the conflict, according to Iran International.

The news outlet cited the spokesperson of the Internal Affairs Commission, who said in a speech that the police deputies have called for the strengthening of checkpoints.

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NEWS AZ – The death toll in Iran from Israeli military strikes has risen to 1,054, with 4,476 others injured, the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) announced.

Of those killed, 417 were civilians, and around 2,000 of the wounded were non-combatants, according to HRANA, News.Az reports, citing Iranian media.

A ceasefire between Iran and Israel took effect earlier in the day and remains in place.

Since the start of the conflict, at least 823 people have been arrested in Iran, the human rights group added.

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Worldcrunch – When rockets began raining down on Tehran the night of June 13, and open military conflict between Israel and Iran erupted, it wasn’t just the skies that went dark. Almost immediately, internet speeds in Iran dropped sharply. Access to already-blocked platforms and websites became even more restricted. Then, on June 18, the government cut off nearly all connections to the outside world. For 72 hours, 91 million people were plunged into a digital void: no WhatsApp, no Google, no email, no VPN, no way to reach beyond the country’s borders.

It was the most severe internet blackout in the history of the Islamic Republic, and full access still hasn’t been restored. At present, network connectivity remains at just 20% of normal levels. NetBlocks, the organization that tracks global internet disruptions, reported almost no data traffic flowing between Iran and other countries between June 18 and June 21. Not even during past crackdowns, like the November 2019 protests or the 2022 “Women, Life, Freedom” movement, was the digital shutdown so complete. Back then, at least some inbound data traffic still trickled through.

Officially, Iran’s Ministry of Communications claimed the blackout was a defensive move, designed to shield the population from Israeli cyberattacks. And there had indeed been attacks in the days leading up to it, targeting banks, government servers, and military infrastructure.

The cyber war between Iran and Israel, however, didn’t start last week. It goes back much further.

A “National Internet” megaproject
One early turning point came in 2010, when the Stuxnet virus sabotaged Iranian centrifuges in the Natanz nuclear facility, setting back the country’s atomic program by years. In response, Tehran’s leadership began working to safeguard its digital infrastructure from outside attacks.

That’s when the so-called “National Internet” megaproject was born. At its core, the plan is to build a nationwide intranet, cut off from the rest of the world. The idea is that the government can flip the switch whenever it sees fit. Some observers now fear that what was meant to be an emergency measure could become the new normal. The system was first deployed during the 2019 protests, not just to block demonstrators from organizing but also to stop videos and photos from spreading. The blackout ended up lasting longer than the unrest itself, likely to stress-test the system and find weak spots.

“Since 2019, all international traffic has been routed through a single hub,” says Azadeh Akbari, Assistant Professor of Digital Transformation at the University of Twente in the Netherlands. “The state has completely centralized the infrastructure. It makes surveillance easier and serves as a show of authoritarian power.”

The National Internet was largely developed under former Communications Minister Mohammad-Javad Azari Jahromi, a one-time intelligence officer. The idea was to create a self-contained infrastructure, complete with domestic search engines, messaging apps, email services, and online banking, modeled on China’s system.

This network has now been reactivated. For the most part, it’s still running. Iran has homegrown alternatives to nearly every major online service, from a ride-hailing app to its own version of Amazon. But one thing is notably absent: social media and messaging platforms. Iranian alternatives do exist, but hardly anyone trusts them.

As a common joke goes: “Iranian messengers have three checkmarks: one for the sender, one for the recipient, and one for the guy reading over your shoulder.” Many Iranians would rather stay out of touch for days than risk using those apps. Even when the government announced on June 19 that foreign numbers could now be registered, supposedly to let people abroad contact loved ones inside Iran, few people took the offer seriously.

A 72-hour blackout
While the government pitches the shutdown as a protective measure, many people experience it as a terrifying loss of control. In brief conversations with those who’ve managed to get online, one word keeps coming up: “powerlessness.” For Iranians abroad, the 72-hour blackout meant total silence from family members, just as bombs were falling.

For the first time, even telephone lines were restricted. Calls from foreign numbers to Iranian phones were blocked, cutting off what was often the last reliable line of communication. While the Israeli bombs and missiles were striking, that silence caused widespread panic.

From a strategic standpoint, shutting off the internet may have made sense. Reports suggest that high-ranking officers were located and killed using the GPS data from their phones. Akbari, who specializes in digital surveillance, suspects the regime may have used the total blackout to move Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei to a safe location. Israel’s Defense Minister had openly threatened to target him.

But this digital blackout didn’t just sever family ties. It stripped civil society of its most vital tools in an instant. Despite years of war rhetoric, the government had no warning system in place for missile attacks, something that was standard even during the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s. In the early days of the conflict, it was civil society that stepped in, using Telegram channels and Twitter accounts to share air raid alerts. That too disappeared when the shutdown took full effect.

Iran ranks near the bottom (176 out of 180) in Reporters Without Borders’ press freedom index. Trust in state media is virtually nonexistent, and the national broadcaster is seen as a mouthpiece for propaganda. The war was barely covered, with most airtime dedicated to boasting about supposed victories over Israel. In that vacuum, independent news outlets and social media often serve as the only real sources of information. Without access to them, the public is left completely in the dark.

Some government offices, however, managed to stay online. This was discovered by internet activist Mark Pashmforoush and his team, who have been working on digital freedom tools since the 2019 shutdown. He developed a VPN service called Oblivion. According to his findings, some government agencies began selling VPNs at inflated prices during the blackout. But these connections were under state control. Anyone who used them became traceable, and therefore, vulnerable. A double win for the surveillance state.

False hope in Starlink
Many have pinned their hopes on Elon Musk’s satellite internet system, Starlink. But this, too, has proven misleading. “Starlink is not legally authorized in Iran,” says Pashmforoush. “Right now, about 30,000 receivers are active in the country, but the price has shot up to around $3,000 per device.” Before the war, they went for about $850. On top of that comes a monthly fee of roughly $100, a steep price for most Iranians.

The risks are just as high. Starlink hardware must be smuggled in, dodging countless checkpoints along the way. Using it can lead to espionage charges in kangaroo courts. In the worst cases, it could result in the death penalty. Even forgetting to turn on a VPN when logging into a government website could make a user identifiable. The fear of being tracked is real.

And yet, the need to connect to the outside world is stronger. Pashmforoush, who monitors Telegram groups dedicated to Starlink sales, has seen demand steadily rising.

The so-called war-related shutdown, along with the entire National Internet project, is being marketed by the state as a show of “digital sovereignty.” In reality, it targets the very digital spaces that hold society together, says Azadeh Akbari. Having once been a women’s rights activist in Iran, she is intimately familiar with the government’s methods. What she sees now is a shift from digital authoritarianism to full-blown digital totalitarianism.

“The digital sphere is just an extension of social life,” Akbari says. “Cutting it off destroys support networks, neighborhood bonds, grassroots organizing: everything that keeps a society functioning during a crisis.”

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In 2024, Iran executed at least 930 individuals, the majority for charges that failed to meet the threshold of “most serious crimes” required under international law.

Furthermore, given the systemic lack of fair and transparent trials within the Iranian judiciary, even executions for crimes that may meet this threshold constitute arbitrary deprivations of life, in clear violation of international human rights standards. Currently, 54 political and security prisoners in Iran face the death penalty, including two women. One of these women is being persecuted for her humanitarian work in refugee camps, where she supported individuals forcibly displaced by the Islamic State. These cases underscore the urgent need for robust international action to hold Iran accountable for its widespread and unlawful use of capital punishment as a tool of repression.

Pakhshan Azizi, a female resident of Mahabad, was arrested on August 4, 2023, and detained in Tehran’s Evin Prison under harsh conditions. Accused of “Baghi” through alleged membership in opposition groups, she was sentenced to death and four years of imprisonment by the Tehran Revolutionary Court, presided over by Judge Iman Afshari, sanctioned by the United Kingdom and Canada for his role in serious human rights violations, particularly for violations for the right to a fair trial and the right to freedom of expression of political protesters. Judge Afshari also sentenced three of Azizi’s family members to one year in prison for the charge of “assisting a criminal to evade trial and conviction’. They were initially arrested alongside Azizi but were released on bail. 

The Supreme Court has recently upheld the sentence imposed by Afshari, raising urgent concerns about the imminent threat to Azizi’s life. 

Her lawyers have highlighted that the evidence presented to the Supreme Court demonstrated that she had had no involvement in military activities. Further, Ms. Azizi has been solely engaged in humanitarian efforts, providing services to vulnerable women and children, namely to those directly impacted by the Islamic State in Sinjar. Numerous pieces of evidence support Ms. Azizi’s claim that she has worked in refugee camps housing displaced Yazidis in Syria. Certification Letter from the Kurdish Red Crescent and Shams Rehabilitation Organisation detail her service caring for women and children survivors of conflict. These letters confirm her volunteer role at multiple camps including Al-Hol and Nowruz. Numerous pieces of evidence supporting Ms. Azizi’s humanitarian activities have been presented. Her lawyers have expressed concern over the rushed handling of the case and called for a thorough and fair review of the evidence.

The post Female Humanitarian Aid Worker Among 54 Political Prisoners, 2 Women, Facing Execution in Iran appeared first on Human Right Activists In Iran.

Human Rights Activists in Iran (HRA), through the dedicated efforts of its Department of Statistics and Publications, publishes its annual Gregorian calendar-based analytical and statistical report on the human rights situation in Iran for the one-year period (January 1, 2024, to January 1, 2025). This report is the culmination of the organization’s daily endeavors in recent years, forming part of a daily statistical project that began in 2009. It provides an analytical-statistical overview of human rights in Iran.

This annual report on human rights violations in Iran represents a synthesis of 9,487 human rights reports, gathered from 116 NGOs and news sources within the past calendar year. HRANA (Human Rights Activists News Agency) contributed 38.91% of the reports utilized in this publication, with 26.63% originating from official or government-affiliated Iranian sources, and the remaining 34.47% from other news or human rights sources.

Click on the image to download the full version of the report.

In this 86-page report, various aspects such as women’s rights, workers’ rights, children’s rights, prisoners’ rights, etc., are briefly examined and statistically analyzed, accompanied by relevant charts for enhanced reader comprehension. According to this report, the focus of human rights monitoring in Iran, in comparison between the capital and other areas, remains unequal. This long-standing inequality shows that in the last year, reporting from non-central areas has decreased by 8.8% compared to the capital. This situation continues to indicate the lack of adequate monitoring of other areas of the country relative to the center by civil society.

Although this report predominantly reflects the extensive efforts of courageous human rights defenders in Iran, who bear significant costs in pursuit of their humanitarian ideals, it inevitably has limitations. These include restrictions on the activities of human rights organizations by the Iranian government and governmental impediments to the free flow of information. Consequently, while this report strives for accuracy, it cannot be considered entirely error-free or a complete reflection of the human rights situation in Iran. Nevertheless, it stands as one of the most precise, comprehensive, and well-documented reports on human rights violations in Iran, offering valuable insights for organizations and defenders of human rights to better understand the human rights situation in Iran, its challenges, and potential opportunities.

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The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has long been a shadowy force, with its operations largely hidden from the international community. Its influence on Iran and the broader Middle East has been both profound and destructive. Now, after two years of intensive research, the Pasdaran Documentation Project (PDP) is launching an unparalleled resource that seeks to bring transparency to the IRGC’s activities. This project marks the culmination of extensive work involving thousands of documents and the identification of key IRGC units and personnel alongside a legal analysis of incidents attributed.

Available at www.iranpdp.org, this database provides unprecedented access to detailed information on the IRGC.

Origins and Purpose

Founded by Human Rights Activists (HRA), the Pasdaran Documentation Project was established to shed light on the structure, operations, and influence of the IRGC—a state within a state in Iran. The IRGC’s activities have not only shaped Iran’s political landscape but also contributed to widespread human rights abuses and violations of international law.

The project’s core objective is to identify the IRGC’s personnel, units, and key players as a step toward dismantling the regime’s power structure. By exposing the individuals and entities involved in abuses across decades, the project helps create a roadmap for judicial and quasi-judicial accountability, including international targeted sanctions, and state-led prosecution under international law.

The project’s underlying philosophy stems from the belief that public awareness—and open-source accessibility to underlying information—is the key to change. For decades, the IRGC has operated behind a veil of propaganda, with many Iranians and global observers unaware of its extensive illicit activity. This project intends to break this cycle by offering transparent, accessible, and meticulously researched information on the IRGC’s structure and activity.

Research Methods and Technological Innovation: NALA

In the project’s first phase, the structure and chain of command were created through an in-depth analysis of books derived from Iran, first-hand accounts, open-source data, and more. This comprehensive research would not have been possible without a pioneering technological solution developed by HRA.

HRA has designed an innovative software called NALA, a multilingual research facilitation tool specifically created to enhance data analysis and streamline content discovery. NALA processes data in multiple languages, identifies key themes using custom keyword lists, and retrieves relevant material with precision. Its advanced filtering system minimizes errors and saves time, making it an indispensable tool with sustainable applications that extend far beyond its original purpose. The integration of NALA into the PDP has enabled a level of depth, accuracy, and efficiency that would otherwise be unattainable.

The Importance of Identifying the IRGC

Understanding the IRGC is critical not only for those directly affected by its actions but also for the global human rights community. The IRGC was established in 1979 to protect and export Iran’s Islamic Revolution. Over time, it has morphed into a militarized and economic juggernaut with unparalleled influence over Iranian politics, military actions, and regional affairs. Its tentacles reach far beyond Iran’s borders, impacting conflicts in Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, and Yemen and extending its ideological and military support to Iran-backed groups such as Hezbollah and Hamas.

What makes the IRGC particularly dangerous is its multifaceted approach to control—using both brute force through its military wing, the Quds Force, and soft power through an intricate web of economic, political, and media influence. It has committed or facilitated endless human rights violations, including torture, unlawful detention, extrajudicial killings, and the repression of political dissent.

The Pasdaran Documentation Project’s Capabilities and Tools

At the heart of the Pasdaran Documentation Project is its public-facing website, a powerful tool that offers an in-depth look into the IRGC’s operations. This online database will be the first of its kind, providing easily accessible and verifiable data on the IRGC, including:

• Detailed Profiles of IRGC Units and Personnel: The PDP has compiled over 90,000 profiles on the IRGC’s units and personnel, ranging from high-ranking commanders to mid-level operatives. These profiles outline the responsibilities, activities, and, when available and thoroughly investigated by our legal team, crimes committed by each unit or individual. Researchers, journalists, policymakers, and legal experts can use this data to track the IRGC’s operations across various domains. At the website’s initial launch, many profiles remain partially complete and will be filled with detailed information over time.
• Dynamic Charts: One of the most unique features of the PDP website is its interactive tools, which visually represent the IRGC’s chain of command from 1979 to the present.
• Searchable Databases: The website offers a powerful search function, enabling users to filter data by region, type of activity, or individual names or units. This allows for targeted research into specific members or units of the IRGC.
• Human Rights Violations and Violations of International Law: The PDP has recorded a range of human rights violations attributed to the IRGC, including incidents of torture, unlawful detentions, forced confessions, and more. This section also covers the IRGC’s role in suppressing civil unrest, particularly during the 2009, 2017, 2019, and 2022-23 protests, during which numerous civilians were killed or arbitrarily detained. At the website’s initial launch, the PDP had documented at least 100 individual incidents, which are currently under review and available for public examination. Twelve of these incidents have been fully reviewed in accordance with human rights and international law.
• Partnerships and Collaborations: HRA has collaborated with international criminal lawyers and other civil society organizations ensuring the accuracy and reliability of the data. These partnerships also enable HRA to present strategic reports on legal accountability pathways, presenting potential avenues for bringing IRGC members to justice in several emblematic circumstances. These publications are forthcoming.

Why This Project Matters: Objectives and Broader Impacts

The Pasdaran Documentation Project is more than just an archive—it is a living resource designed to empower activists, policymakers, and legal experts. By providing open access to verifiable data, the PDP will serve as a cornerstone for human rights advocacy and lay the groundwork for initiating investigations into the IRGC and its members for future prosecutions.

More to Come

The Pasdaran Documentation Project is an invaluable resource for anyone seeking to understand or challenge the IRGC’s power. HRA encourages human rights activists, legal experts, and policymakers to explore the website, use its tools, and help shine a light on the IRGC’s activities. By working together, we can build a future where the IRGC’s influence is curbed, and justice is served.

For media inquiries, detailed reports, or additional information, please contact us at [email protected]. The PDP team is available for interviews, in-depth briefings on methodology and contents unveiled, and to assist in the preparation of news reports and background understanding regarding the IRGC.

This is just the beginning. The work of exposing the truth and ensuring justice continues as PDP is updated daily with new information.

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