Kasra Nouri
Kasra Nouri is a human rights defender, journalist, and director at the "Majzooban-e noor" website, which covered news events about the Gonabadi Dervishes, a Sufi splinter group. Nouri was last arrested with his family during 2018 Dervish protests and sentenced to 12 years in prison. He also received 148 lashes as part of his punishment.
He is serving executable 6 years and three months sentence on the charge of “gathering and collusion against the national security” in Adel-Abad prison near the central city of Shiraz, after initially being held in the Greater Tehran Penitentiary. Tehran’s Appeals Court upheld his sentence in March 2019. He has spent almost nine years in priosn so far, also on previous charges.
Hope for political reform in Iran surfaced when President Hassan Rouhani assumed office in 2013 and dozens of opposition political figures and human rights defenders were released. However, violations of the rights to freedom of expression, association, peaceful assembly and movement of HRDs continue to be prevalent.
Human rights defenders and journalists are arrested, detained and prosecuted in unfair trials. HRDs continue to receive death threats and are subjected to harassment, arbitrary arrest and detention. They are refused bail or receive extreme bail conditions. HRDs are additionally subjected to systematic surveillance and their family members are targeted. Journalists have been subjected to flogging for criticising the government.
