In Brief On December 29, 2016, the renowned writer and linguist Necmiye Alpay was released from Bakirkoy prison in Istanbul, 120 days after she was arrested on alleged terror charges as a part of an ongoing investigation into the closed daily newspaper Özgür Gündem. Case History On August 31, 2016, Istanbul’s Eighth Criminal Judgeship of Peace ordered the arrest of Alpay on charges of “being a member of a terror organization” and “disrupting the unity of the state;” charges s

In Brief Mohammad Hossein Rafiee, a retired Tehran University professor and member of the Meli-Mazhabi (National-Religious) Alliance and Iran’s National Peace Council, was sentenced to six years in prison on May 25, 2015. He was released on September 21, 2016. Case History Rafiee, 71, was charged with leading propaganda against the state and with active membership in the Council of Nationalist-Religious Activists, which had been deemed illegal. However, because Rafiee suffers

In Brief Homa Hoodfar, a professor at Concordia University in Montreal, Canada, was detained in Tehran’s infamous Evin prison on June 6, 2016. She was released on September 26, 2016. Case History Hoodfar, who is Iranian-Canadian and was 65 years old at the time of her detention, suffers from a rare neurological disease that causes severe muscle weakness. She was hospitalized at one point before being returned to her cell, according to her family. She was detained by authoriti

In Brief Bahareh Hedayat, a student activist and women’s rights defender, was arrested on December 31, 2009. After nearly seven years in Evin prison, Hedayat was released in September 2016. Case History At the turn of the new year, Hedayat, an active campaigner for women’s rights, was sentenced and charged for two years for “insulting the Supreme Leader,” six months for “insulting the President,” and five years for “acting against national security and publishing falsehoods.”

Faran Hesami, one of the imprisoned teachers from the Bahai Open University (BIHE), was released from Evin Prison in Tehran today at the end of a four-year sentence for educational activities. Hesami and her husband, Kamran Rahimiyan, were arrested in September 2011. Both were charged with membership of the Bahai community, with assembly, and with collusion to undermine national security in relation to their work for the Bahai Open University, which offers courses to Bahai st

According to Amnesty International, student leaders Phyoe Phyoe Aung and Lin Htet Naing (aka James and Aung Thant Zin) were released on April 8 after all charges against them were dropped by courts in Myanmar. The releases follow the government's announcement on April 7 that it would work to free all prisoners of conscience at the first possible opportunity. Phyoe Phyoe Aung is the secretary general of the prominent All Burma Federation Student Union. Such unions are illegal