Amirhossein Mirbahari
Amirhossein Mirbahari is a human rights defender and the director and co-founder of the Iranian Society for Defending Street and Labour Children (ISDSLC), also known as Jamiat Defaa. He has been active in the field of children’s rights since 2000, predominantly by advocating for the most vulnerable groups of child labour and Afghan refugee children. Since the establishment of ISDLC in 2002, Amirhossein Mirbahari has supported vulnerable children with education and other protection needs such as health care.
Hope for political reform in Iran surfaced when President Hassan Rouhani assumed office in 2013 and dozens of opposition political figures and human rights defenders were released. However, violations of the rights to freedom of expression, association, peaceful assembly and movement of HRDs continue to be prevalent.
Human rights defenders and journalists are arrested, detained and prosecuted in unfair trials. HRDs continue to receive death threats and are subjected to harassment, arbitrary arrest and detention. They are refused bail or receive extreme bail conditions. HRDs are additionally subjected to systematic surveillance and their family members are targeted. Journalists have been subjected to flogging for criticising the government.
