Baktash Abtin
Poet and filmmaker Abtin, with two other board members of the Iranian Writers Association, was convicted in 2019 for opposing state censorship policies. Abtin's six-year prison sentence was upheld,… More
Keyvan Bajan
Novelist-journalist Bajan was imprisoned on September 27, 2020 and sentenced to three-and-a-half years for his peaceful opposition of state censorship, leadership of the Iranian Writers’ Association, and commemoration of… More
Arash Ganji
Ganji, a writer, translator, and secretary of the Iranian Writers Association, was detained for 29 days in late 2019. He was sentenced in 2020 to 11 years in prison… More
Reza Khandan Mahabadi
Khandan Mahabadi, with two other members of the Iranian Writers’ Association, was arrested in May 2019 for opposing state censorship. An appeals judge upheld his six-year sentence, and the… More
Roland Marchal
French sociologist Dr. Marchal was detained in June 2019 when he traveled to Iran to visit his colleague Dr. Fariba Adelkhah. Both were charged with “collusion against national security”… More
Arzhang Davoodi
Davoodi was arrested in 2003 after participating in the production of a documentary entitled Forbidden Iran. After a series of sham trials and convictions, he faced the death penalty… More
Golrokh Ebrahimi Iraee
Iraee was first sentenced to six years in prison in 2014 on charges related to an unpublished short story criticizing the practice of stoning. Released in April 2019, she… More
Anand Teltumbde
Leading public intellectual and Dalit activist Teltumbde was charged with inciting caste violence in the village of Bhima Koregaon in 2018, though reports indicate police initiated the conflict. He… More
Arun Ferreira
In August 2018, Ferreira was arrested and detained on politically motivated charges of incitement to violence along with other leftist writer-activists in a coordinated raid. His charge sheet was… More
Vernon Gonsalves
In August 2018, Gonsalves was arrested on politically motivated charges of incitement to violence along with other leftist writer-activists connected to the Bhima Koregaon case in a coordinated raid.… More