Evin Prison is a prison located in the Evin neighborhood of Tehran,Iran. The prison has been the primary site for the housing of Iran's political prisoners since 1972,before and after the Iranian Revolution,in a purpose-built wing nicknamed "Evin University" due to the number of students and intellectuals housed there. Evin Prison has been accused of committing "serious human rights abuses" against its political dissidents and critics of the government.
Haleh Esfandiari is an Iranian-American academic and former Director of the Middle East Program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington,D.C. Her areas of expertise include Middle Eastern women's issues,contemporary Iranian intellectual currents and politics,and democratic developments in the Middle East. She was detained in solitary confinement at Evin Prison in Tehran,Iran for more than 110 days from May 8 to August 21,2007.
Kian Tajbakhsh is an Iranian-American scholar,social scientist,and urban planner. He has taught at both American and Iranian universities. Tajbakhsh is an international expert in the areas of local government reform,urban planning,civil society capacity building,and international public policy research collaboration. He has also directed international projects in the areas of public health and social policy.
On July 31,2009,three Americans,Joshua Fattal,Sarah Shourd and Shane Bauer were taken into custody by Iranian border guards for crossing into Iran while hiking near the Iranian border in Iraqi Kurdistan.
Julian Paul Assange is an Australian editor,publisher and activist who founded WikiLeaks in 2006. He came to wide international attention in 2010 when WikiLeaks published a series of leaks from US Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning:footage of a US airstrike in Baghdad,US military logs from the Afghanistan and Iraq wars,and US diplomatic cables. Assange has won multiple awards for publishing and journalism.
Narges Mohammadi is an Iranian human rights activist and Nobel laureate. She is the vice president of the Defenders of Human Rights Center (DHRC),headed by her fellow Nobel Peace Prize laureate,Shirin Ebadi. Mohammadi has been a vocal proponent of mass feminist civil disobedience against the hijab in Iran and a vocal critic of the hijab and chastity program of 2023. In May 2016,she was sentenced in Tehran to 16 years' imprisonment for establishing and running "a human rights movement that campaigns for the abolition of the death penalty." She was released in 2020 but sent back to prison in 2021,where she has since given reports of the abuse and solitary confinement of detained women.
Kamal Foroughi is a British-Iranian businessman who was imprisoned in Evin Prison in Tehran,Iran. Iranian authorities arrested him in May 2011 while he was living in Tehran as a consultant for the Malaysian national oil and gas company Petronas. In 2013,he was sentenced to eight years in prison,seven for espionage and an additional year for possessing alcohol in his home.
Ahmad Reza Djalali is an Iranian-Swedish disaster medicine doctor,lecturer,and researcher. He has worked in several universities in Europe,among which Karolinska University of Sweden,where he had also attended his PhD program,Universitàdegli Studi del Piemonte Orientale (Italy),Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Belgium). He also cooperated with universities in Iran and is in contact with universities worldwide.
Fariba Adelkhah is a French-Iranian anthropologist and academic at Sciences Po who was detained in Iran from 2019 until 2023.
Roya Saberi Negad Nobakht is an Iranian-British housewife who was imprisoned after she returned to Iran to visit her family. While living in England,she wrote on Facebook that Iran was "too Islamic". The Iranian government put her in prison and accused her of "insulting Islamic sanctities",a crime that carries the death penalty.
Ana Diamond is an Iranian and British political commentator and human rights advocate who is one of the founding members of The Alliance Against State Hostage Taking. The organization was formally founded in New York on 24 September 2019.
Morad Tahbaz is an Iranian-American businessman and conservationist. He was born in London and holds British citizenship. Tahbaz is a co-founder of the Persian Wildlife Heritage Foundation (PWHF). In January 2018,Iranian authorities arrested Tahbaz along with eight other PWHF-affiliated individuals.
Anoosheh Ashoori is a British–Iranian businessman formerly detained in Evin jail in Iran. Iranian authorities arrested Ashoori in August 2017,when he was in the country to visit his mother. In August 2019,the Iranian judiciary sentenced Ashoori to 12 years in prison;10 years for allegedly "spying for Israel's Mossad" and two years for "acquiring illegitimate wealth",charges which Ashoori denies.
Hostage diplomacy,also hostage-diplomacy,is the taking of hostages for diplomatic purposes. While common in the ancient world in modern diplomacy it is a controversial practice. Modern countries regarded as having engaged in hostage diplomacy include China,Turkey,Iran,North Korea,and Russia.
Niloufar Bayani is an Iranian wildlife conservation biology researcher and activist. She was convicted in 2019 of espionage by Iranian authorities in a closed-door trial in Iran,and received a 10-year prison sentence.
Qarchak Prison is a prison for women located in Qarchak,in Qarchak County,previously part of Varamin County,Tehran Province,Iran. It is also called Persian:زندانزنانری,romanized: Rey Women Prison,"Gharchak Women’s Prison",Rey Penitentiary or Varamin prison.
Emad Shargi is an Iranian-American businessman. On April 23,2018,during a trip to Iran,Shargi and his wife were taken into custody by Iranian authorities and held in Evin prison. Emad Shargi was taken to a Tehran court on November 30,2020,where he was informed that he had been convicted of espionage without a trial and sentenced to 10 years in prison. Iran does not recognize dual citizenship,depriving prisoners like Shargi of consular assistance and diplomatic access.
Jolie King,a British Australian,and Mark Firkin,an Australian,are a couple living in Perth,Australia. Online travel bloggers who have documented their experiences on social media since 2017,they are best known for being arrested in Iran in July,2019.
Mahvash Shahriari Sabet better known as Mahvash Sabet is an Iranian poet and former educator. She was one of the Baháʼí7.
