Morteza Keymanesh
Morteza Keymanesh is a human rights defender, the head of the public relations and a board member of the IAPSRS. He has been working with the IAPSRS in different capacities since 2005, including as head of the media department, editor-in-chief of the IAPSRS internal journal (2009- 2017) and the IAPSRS liaison in Mashhad and Isfahan provinces. Creative story telling, professional skills training, campaigning for child offenders on death row and representing IAPSRS are among the activities he is involved in.
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.
