One of the most recent targets of Iranian authorities is journalist and labor activist, Amir-Abbas Azarmvand, who was arrested on September 1st by security agents. Azarmvand has had run-ins with Iranian security forces in the past, for his participation in labor strikes in protest in December of 2018. As a financial journalist, Azarmvand reports on matters such as poverty, the condition of Iranian workers, and labor strikes and protests. According to reports, Azarmvand is being charged with the all too familiar and vague allegation often employed by Iranian authorities to go after activists: “propaganda against the state.”

The detention and torture of Iranian-Kurdish prisoner, Heidar Ghorbani, has attracted international outrage since his arrest by Iranian officials five years ago. Now, with his execution imminent, calls are growing for the Iranian government to stay the sentence. Ghorbani was first arrested in October of 2016 for alleged involvement in the killing of three members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard in the Kurdistan province of Iran. Ghorbani has denied this charge. After Ministry of Intelligence officials raided his home without a warrant and arrested him, Ghorbani was sent to several detention centers where he endured solitary confinement and torture, in contravention of international human rights law.