The situation of Human Rights Defenders (HRDs) in Iran is more grave today than it has been the last three decades. The Iran Human Rights Defenders Report 2019-2020 provides a brief account on the situation of 53 HRDs. They are lawyers who were defending their clients; trade union members claiming their legal rights, environmentalists working to preserve wildlife; child rights activists -- among many others.
The report shows that most HRDs have been subjected to persecution, detention and long prison sentences solely for practicing their freedom of expression - a right afforded to them by international human rights conventions, as well as the Iranian Constitution.