Watchdog

A group of United Nations officials have expressed outrage about the conviction and sentencing of a leading human rights activist in Iran on charges that include membership in a campaign for the abolition of the death penalty.

Narges Mohammadi, the deputy head of the Defenders of Human Rights Center (DHRC) co-founded by Iranian Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi, was sentenced to 10 years in prison on May 18.

Her sentence comes on top of a six-year-prison sentence she already is serving.

Ahmed Shaheed, the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Iran, said on May 20 that there is "absolutely no reason why Narges Mohammadi should spend one more hour in prison, let alone 16 years."

Shaheed called on Iran's President Hassan Rohani and other Iranian officials to do everything they can to ensure Mohammadi is "immediately and unconditionally released from prison and allowed to access adequate and timely medical treatment."

Mohammadi suffers from a critical neurological condition.

Experts from the UN's Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council on May 20 also urged Tehran to release all journalists and rights defenders who have been "arbitrarily and unlawfully arrested" in Iran.

Police in St. Petersburg have detained two Tajiks on suspicion of recruiting fighters for the Islamic State (IS) militant group in Syria.

The Investigative Committee's directorate in St. Petersburg said on May 20 that the suspects had been detained after police found religious literature and other materials that might carry extremist content.

The two suspects are expected to be charged with "support of terrorism," the directorate said.

In recent months, several men and women have either been detained or jailed in Russia and former Soviet republics in the Caucasus and Central Asia for recruiting militants for Islamic groups in the Middle East.

Russian officials have said at least 5,000 Russians and citizens from other former Soviet republics have traveled to Syria and Iraq to join the IS group in Syria and Iraq.

Based on reporting by TASS and Interfax