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For Immediate Release
November, 08 2016, 01:45pm EDT
Contact:
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7413 5566,After hours: +44 7778 472 126,Email:,press@amnesty.org
Iran: Musicians and Activists Launch Campaign to Free Jailed Artists
Amnesty International and renowned Iranian music band Kiosk are calling on artists and members of the public around the world to join a #FreeArtists campaign to demand that Iran immediately and unconditionally release jailed artists, including a musician and a filmmaker who are on hunger strike in Tehran's Evin Prison.
Amnesty International and renowned Iranian music band Kiosk are calling on artists and members of the public around the world to join a #FreeArtists campaign to demand that Iran immediately and unconditionally release jailed artists, including a musician and a filmmaker who are on hunger strike in Tehran's Evin Prison.
The brothers, musician Mehdi Rajabian and filmmaker Hossein Rajabian, are currently serving three-year prison terms. They were convicted in 2015 after a blatantly unfair trial before a Revolutionary Court of charges that included "insulting Islamic sanctities" and "illegal audio-visual activities". On 28 October 2016, they began their second hunger strike in protest against their imprisonment.
A third artist Keywan Karimi has also been sentenced to six years' in prison for "insulting Islamic sanctities", also related to his artistic work and is at imminent risk of imprisonment.
"Expressing yourself through art is not a crime and it is outrageous that the Iranian authorities have resorted to locking up artists and musicians simply for their artistic work. Mehdi and Hossein Rajabian are prisoners of conscience who shouldn't be forced to spend a single minute behind bars. The Iranian authorities must order their immediate and unconditional release," said Philip Luther, Amnesty International's Research and Advocacy Director for the Middle East and North Africa.
"Their imprisonment is yet another nail in the coffin for freedom of expression in Iran. The human right to liberty is sadly so undervalued by the Iranian authorities that they are prepared to condemn individuals to years in jail just to silence artistic voices that they deem as 'anti-Islamic' and 'anti-revolutionary'."
The brothers have put their health at risk by going on hunger strike as a last resort to demand their freedom. They have said they will refuse intravenous drips until they are released from prison.
Since his hunger strike, Mehdi Rajabian has coughed up blood twice and says that he was punched in the stomach by a prison doctor after being taken to the prison clinic. Amnesty International is also demanding that the Iranian authorities ensure both brothers have access to a qualified health professional.
For more information about Amnesty International's #FreeArtists campaign see:
Amnesty International campaign to free jailed artists
Jailed Iranian artist brothers on hunger strike
Iran: Free Artists! Amnesty International and KIOSK unite voices blog and video
Amnesty International is a worldwide movement of people who campaign for internationally recognized human rights for all. Our supporters are outraged by human rights abuses but inspired by hope for a better world - so we work to improve human rights through campaigning and international solidarity. We have more than 2.2 million members and subscribers in more than 150 countries and regions and we coordinate this support to act for justice on a wide range of issues.
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'Your Tax Dollars Being Used to Raise Your Gas Prices': US-Israel Bomb Major Iranian Oil Depots
Scenes from Tehran on Saturday were described as "apocalyptic" and widely condemned.
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In what was described as a "major escalation" of an attack already denounced as an illegal war of choice, the US-Israeli military coalition bombed major oil depots and other fossil fuel infrastructure in and around Tehran on Saturday, unleashing huge fireballs, turning streets to fire, and sending plumes of black smoke into the night sky while garnering fresh condemnation from the international community.
"Your tax dollars being used to raise your gas prices," Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, the Michigan Democrat running for the US Senate, said in reaction to dramatic footage of the explosions circulating online.
"Scenes from Tehran look apocalyptic," said Assal Rad, a fellow at the Arab Center in Washington, DC, sharing footage of the massive fire storm.
Scenes from Tehran look apocalyptic. This is a city of 10 million people.
pic.twitter.com/gVj2GvrJBI
— Assal Rad (@AssalRad) March 7, 2026
Separate footage showed the Aqdasiyeh Oil Depot in flames with Iranian first responders trying to create a perimeter around the inferno:
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ویدیوی دریافتی از سوهانک، انتهای بزرگراه ارتش #تهران'
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"Iran is being destroyed," declared British journalist Owen Jones.
In the wake of last week's attack, ordered by US President Donald Trump and carried out in conjunction with Israeli forces, the price of crude futures jumped by 35%, which CNBC characterized as "the biggest weekly gain in the history of the futures contract dating back to 1983."
On Friday, Qatar’s energy minister, Saad al-Kaabi, told The Financial Times that crude prices could reach $150 per barrel in the coming weeks if the Strait of Hormuz remained closed to tanker traffic. Kaabi warned this could “bring down the economies of the world," though Trump has said he is not worried about gas prices, saying Thursday: "If they rise, they rise."
Meanwhile, others on Saturday shared video of a city streets of Tehran blazing with fire as oil from a destroyed depot flowed into sidewalks and sewer tunnels.
Spill of oil in the sewage system has created a flowing burning river in parts of #Tehran after oil depots were bombed earlier tonight, setting the streets in the Iranian capital on fire. pic.twitter.com/tHIFE6Z5EW
— Living in Tehran (LiT) (@LivinginTehran) March 8, 2026
"I don’t know how many times I can say this but my god," said Iranian political commentator Kev Joon in a social media post, describing what he was seeing as "apocalyptic," unprecedented, and intentionally cruel.
"I have never seen something like this," he added. "These are gutters and streams that run the sides of streets on almost every street and alley in Tehran. They are destroying a city in ways we haven’t witnessed before."
According to the New York Times:
Iran’s Ministry of Oil said in a statement that multiple oil storage depots in the provinces of Tehran and Alborz had been targeted.
The Israeli military confirmed in a statement that it had attacked several fuel storage and energy complexes in Tehran, saying the facilities were being used by Iran’s armed forces. Israel’s military called it a “significant strike” aimed at dismantling the military infrastructure of the government.
"What is happening tonight is that US and Israel are targeting oil depots and desalination plants," said Joon. "These aren’t military targets. They’re the infrastructure of everyday life. This isn’t a liberatory war. It’s an attempt to break the backs of Iranian people."
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In a statement issued quietly on Friday night, the State Department said 12,000 BLU-110A/B general purpose, 1,000-pound bombs had been determined for approval, noting that Secretary of State Marco Rubio has "provided detailed justification that an emergency exists that requires the immediate sale to the Government of Israel of the above defense articles and defense services is in the national security interests of the United States, thereby waiving the Congressional review requirements under Section 36(b) of the Arms Export Control Act."
Not included in the statement, according to the New York Times, were additional parts of the sale that "include 10,000 bombs of 500 pounds each and 5,000 small-diameter bombs."
"This is an emergency of the Trump administration's own creation." —Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.)
According to the Times:
The State Department did not mention these details in the announcement, but two current US officials and a former, Josh Paul, who worked on weapons transfers at the State Department, said they were part of the emergency sale. The current officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive arms transactions.
This is the first time that the second Trump administration has formally declared an emergency, allowed under the Arms Export Control Act, to bypass Congress to sell arms to Israel. The administration has bypassed the informal approval process in Congress three times to sell arms or send weapons aid to Israel, but previously has not declared an emergency.
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Rep. Gregory W. Meeks (D-N.Y.), ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, denounced the move by the Rubio in a Friday statement.
“Today's invocation of the Arms Export Control Act's emergency authority to bypass congressional review for two munitions cases to Israel exposes a stark contradiction at the heart of this administration's case for war," said Meeks. "The Trump administration has repeatedly insisted it was fully prepared for this war. Rushing to invoke emergency authority to circumvent Congress tells a different story. This is an emergency of the Trump administration's own creation."
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Meeks, in his statement, argued that key questions about Trump's war in Iran remain unanswered.
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"Trump loves putting his name on things, but this should be the only building for which he is remembered by history."
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The bombing of a primary school by US-Israeli coalition forces in southern Iranian town of Minab that killed an estimated 160 or more civilians—mostly children—on February 28 should be investigated as a possible war crime, Human Rights Watch said on Saturday.
After reviewing satellite footage from before and after the strike on the Shajareh Tayyebeh school—as well as reviewing video taken in the wake of the bombing and other materials—the international human rights group said the available evidence indicates "that the attack was carried out by highly accurate, guided munitions, rather than errant weapons whose guidance or propulsion systems failed or were otherwise disrupted and randomly struck the area."
The attack on the school would be among the deadliest war crimes against civilians by US forces in years. Occurring on the first day of bombings of what President Donald Trump and US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth dubbed Operation Epic Fury, the slaughter of schoolchildren—though the US has denied responsibility thus far—coincides with Hegseth repeatedly bragging that the US military would no longer follow "stupid rules of engagement" in the execution of its operations.
"The school was in use, and children were in attendance on the day of the attack," the group said. "Human Rights Watch found no evidence that would indicate that the school was being used for military purposes, though researchers were not able to speak to witnesses of the strikes, families of those killed, or other informed sources."
President Trump should hold Secretary Hegseth and everyone else responsible for killing Iranian children accountable, and bring this illegal, unnecessary war of choice to an end.”
According to HRW:
The United States should immediately assess its responsibility for this strike and make the findings public. If the US military carried out the strike, it should conduct a full investigation into the operational and policy failures that led it to strike a school, fully account for the civilian harm caused, hold those responsible accountable including through prosecution, and commit to changes that would ensure such failures will not be repeated in future operations.
Analyses of the bombing by various news outlets have provided strong evidence that US forces were the most likely culprits of the attack. HRW was told by an Israeli military spokesperson that it was “not aware of any [Israeli military] strikes in the area.” Hegseth said during a Wednesday press conference that the Pentagon was investigating the matter, but offered no further indication of concern in the matter.
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"This mass killing of children is unconscionable. It bears the hallmarks of a war crime," said Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) on Friday after a New York Times investigation found that US forces were likely behind the strike. "Trump and Hegseth must answer for the US's role and they must be held accountable. People deserve the full truth. There must be an immediate and transparent investigation."
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"The American people do not want their tax dollars spent on killing children in Iran, just as they did not want their tax dollars spent on killing children in Gaza," said the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) in a statement. "The latest U.S.-Israel attacks on schools in Iran are blatant war crimes. So was the original slaughter of 180 schoolgirls that the Pentagon refuses to take responsibility for."
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While the war continues and Trump on Saturday said the people of Iran should expect bombing and destruction to increase not decrease over the weekend, voices for peace continued to demand a swift end to the violence and said the US president should forever be held responsible for unleashing such unnecessary bloodshed—including the specific devastation unleashed on the school in Minab.
"Trump loves putting his name on things, but this should be the only building for which he is remembered by history," said Dylan Williams, vice president for government affairs at the Center for International Policy, referencing the school where the massacre took place.
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