Freedom of thought and expression

Last updated:

July 5, 2026

Freedom of thought and expression

Red Iran; From “Disconnection of Contact” to “Disconnection of Life”/ Nafiseh Laleh

Tehran, evening of January 18, 1404, around 8:00 PM His excited voice echoes in the echo of the desperate voices of the street and my heart skips a beat. The call is cut off around the first minute and remains cut off for the following days and weeks; like ourselves, from life. We do not […]...

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Created By: Nafiseh Laleh
February 20, 2026

Words in Black Bags/Alma Fazeli

It has been more than sixteen years since the first image of Neda Agha Soltan’s last look was released, and about forty days since the first film of the pile of black bags for human corpses was released. Let me not go back any further, because to write about the experience of these days, I […]...

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Created By: Alma Fazeli
February 20, 2026

When the Internet Was Shut Down, the Image Spoke/ Raha Sabet Sarvestani

The release of videos related to the events of Kahrizak, at a time when the internet was widely shut down inside Iran, triggered a wave of shock and reaction among public opinion abroad—particularly among the Iranian diaspora, international observers, politicians, and human rights activists. This phenomenon cannot be regarded merely as a media event; rather, […]...

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Created By: Raha Sabet Sarvestani
February 20, 2026

Penal System or System of Belief? / Sina Yousefi

Repentance (tawba) has long been regarded in Islamic jurisprudence as a moral and devotional concept, and over time, it has also gained a significant role in criminal proceedings. Islamic jurisprudence, by linking the realm of religious ethics with the domain of punishment, has created an institution in which inner transformation can lead to the annulment […]...

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Created By: Sina Yousefi
November 22, 2025

Hope or fear after the ceasefire?/ Majid Shia Ali

  The twelve-day war has ended, but the war conditions have not ended. The shadow of war still looms over Iranian society. The threat of war, missile attacks, explosions, assassinations, and Israeli security operations in Iran are still serious. The continuation of the war situation, the inability of the government to take action to address […]...

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Created By: Majid Shia’ali
August 23, 2025

Cold peace as a model of governance in the post-crisis era/ Mina Javani

After the end of the twelve-day war, the situation in Iran has seemingly entered a phase of stability; a phase that in political discourse is referred to as “mutual restraint” or “controlled tension”, but at a structural level, it is not only a sign of a return to normalcy, but also a continuation of the […]...

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Created By: Mina Javani
August 23, 2025

What is the ‘Defense Council’ and why was it approved and formed? / Sina Yousefi

In the month of Khordad of this year, Iran witnessed one of the shortest and most expensive military confrontations, known as the 12-day war. This war not only targeted vital infrastructure of Iran, including sensitive nuclear facilities and defense systems, but also exposed deep-rooted weaknesses in the structure of the Islamic Republic’s defense and security. […]...

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Created By: Sina Yousefi
August 23, 2025

New Control Tool: Critics’ SIM Card Disconnect/ Fereshteh Goli

Nowadays, having a SIM card is one of the necessities of life in the digital and virtual world, and any deprivation of this right for anyone can be considered a tragedy. The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has emphasized the importance of access to communication tools as a human right in several official documents, especially in […]...

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Created By: Fereshteh Goli
August 23, 2025

The right to access the internet is suspended/ Mohammad Hadi Jafarpour

A few days before the start of the twelve-day war, the issue of internet classification caused some political and civil activists to criticize the decision, referring to the president’s promise to remove filtering. Such restrictions on citizens’ rights are being imposed while in the country’s political-judicial structure, various rules and laws have been formulated and […]...

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Created By: Mohammad Hadi Jafarpour
August 23, 2025

Legislating in the Shadow of War / Neda Qanbari

When asked about the 12-day war and its consequences, my mind doesn’t go to anything but images of destruction and the sound of bomb explosions. I think more about the days when “silence” after the war was heavier than any explosion, engulfing the entire country. In those moments, just when we expected peace after the […]...

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Created By: Neda Ghanbari
August 23, 2025

Legal Authoritarianism for Social Control/ Nasrollah Lashani

The importance of the constitution in establishing and solidifying democracy is a legacy of the American Revolution. After the victory of the American Revolution and the independence of this country from British monarchy, the revolutionaries emphasized and focused on the drafting and regulation of the constitution, striving to carefully and skillfully design a national covenant […]...

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Created By: Nasrollah Lashni
August 23, 2025

Espionage: The Regime’s Worn-Out Tool to Silence Dissent/ Reza Alijani

Onstage and Behind the Scenes of the Ratification of Article Nine of the Constitution Article 9 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran states: “In the Islamic Republic of Iran, freedom, independence, unity, and the territorial integrity of the country are inseparable, and preserving them is the duty of the government and all […]...

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Created By: Reza Alijani
July 23, 2025