IRAN
Islamic Republic of Iran
Head of state: Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran:
Ayatollah Sayed 'Ali Khamenei
Head of government: President: Dr Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
Death penalty: retentionist
International Criminal Court: signed
The human rights situation deteriorated, with civil
society facing increasing restrictions on fundamental freedoms of expression
and association. Scores of political prisoners, including prisoners of
conscience, continued to serve prison sentences imposed following unfair trials
in previous years. Thousands more arrests were made in 2006, mostly during or
following demonstrations. Human rights defenders, including journalists,
students and lawyers, were among those detained arbitrarily without access to
family or legal representation. Torture, especially during periods of pre-trial
detention, remained commonplace. At least 177 people were executed, at least
four of whom were under 18 at the time of the alleged offence, including one
who was under 18 at the time of execution. Two people were reportedly stoned to
death. Sentences of flogging, amputation and eye-gouging continued to be
passed. The true numbers of those executed or subjected to corporal punishment
were probably considerably higher than those reported.
Background
The rift between Iran and the international community
over the government's insistence on maintaining its nuclear enrichment
programme continued to widen. In March, the International Atomic Energy Agency referred
Iran to the UN Security Council. In December the Security Council agreed on a
programme of sanctions against Iran following Iran's failure to meet an August
deadline to suspend the programme. Iran continued to accuse foreign governments
of fomenting unrest in border areas, and in turn was accused of involvement in
the worsening security situation in Iraq. In February the US government sought
an extra
US$75 million to "support democracy" in
Iran. President Ahmadinejad continued to make statements threatening to the
State of Israel and questioning the Holocaust. The European Union-Iran human
rights dialogue remained suspended.
Local elections and elections to the Assembly of
Experts, which oversees the appointment of the Supreme Leader, were held in December.
The Council of Guardians, which reviews laws and policies to ensure that they
uphold Islamic tenets and the Constitution, excluded all but 164 Assembly of
Experts candidates, including at least 12 women who registered, on the basis of
discriminatory selection procedures. The results of both elections were
generally seen as a setback to the government of President Ahmadinejad.
The authorities faced armed opposition from Kurdish
and Baluchi groups.
In December, the UN General Assembly passed a resolution
condemning the human rights situation in Iran. Iran failed to set a date for
visits by any UN Human Rights mechanisms despite having issued a standing
invitation in 2002.
Repression of
minorities
Ethnic and religious minorities remained subject to
discriminatory laws and practices which continued to be a source of social and
political unrest.
Arabs
Arabs continued to complain of discrimination,
including in access to resources, as well as forced evictions. In October, the
Council of Guardians approved a bill allocating 2 per cent of Iran's oil
revenues to Khuzestan province, home to many of Iran's Arabs.
Scores of Arabs were detained during the year. At
least 36 were sentenced to death or received lengthy prison terms after
conviction in unfair trials of involvement in causing bomb explosions in Ahvaz
and Tehran in 2005. Five were executed including Mehdi Nawaseri and Mohammad
Ali Sawari who were executed in public in February following the broadcast of
their televised "confessions".
• At least five women were detained, some along
with their children, between February and April, in circumstances which
suggested that they may have been held in order to force their husbands to give
themselves up or make confessions. Four women and two children were believed to
be still held at the end of the year.
• Seven lawyers defending some of those accused
in connection with the bombings were summoned to appear before the Ahvaz
Revolutionary Prosecutor in October on charges of "acting against state
security". The summons was issued in connection with a letter they had
sent to the Head of the Revolutionary Court in Ahvaz complaining about
deficiencies in the trial of their clients.
Azerbaijanis
In May, widespread demonstrations took place in
mainly Azerbaijani north-western towns and cities in protest at the publication
of a cartoon offensive to Azerbaijanis in the state-run Iran newspaper.
Hundreds, if not thousands, were arrested and scores reportedly killed by the
security forces, although official sources downplayed the scale of arrests and
killings. Further arrests occurred, many around events and dates significant to
the Azerbaijani community such as the Babek Castle gathering in Kalayber in
June, and a boycott of the start of the new academic year over linguistic rights
for the Azerbaijani community.
• Prisoner of conscience Abbas Lisani was
detained in June for over three months for his participation in the
demonstrations in Ardabil against the cartoon. In September, he was sentenced
to 16 months' imprisonment and 50 lashes on charges including "disturbing
state security". At the end of October, five days after submitting an
appeal, he was redetained, and his family was later informed that his sentence
had been increased to 18 months' imprisonment with an additional three years of
enforced internal exile. He stated his unconditional opposition to the use of
violence. By the end of the year he faced two further prison sentences imposed
for his attendance at the 2003 and 2005 Babek Castle gatherings.
Kurds
In February, clashes between Kurdish demonstrators
and the security forces in Maku and other towns reportedly led to at least nine
deaths and scores, if not hundreds, of arrests. In March, Kurdish Majles
deputies wrote to the President demanding an investigation into the killings
and calling for those responsible to be brought to justice. An investigation
was reportedly set up, but its findings were not known by the end of the year.
Some of those detained later reportedly received prison terms of between three
and eight months.
• Mohammad Sadeq Kabudvand, the Head of the
Human Rights Organization of Kurdistan and editor of the banned weekly
newspaper Payam-e Mardom, had his 18-month suspended prison sentence for
"publishing lies and articles aimed at creating racial and tribal tension
and discord" increased on appeal to one year's actual imprisonment.
Although summoned to prison in September, he remained at liberty at the end of
the year, pending an appeal to the Supreme Court. Other Payam-e Mardom
journalists were also brought to trial.
Baluchis
In March a Baluchi armed group, Jondallah, killed 22
Iranian officials and took at least seven hostage, in Sistan-Baluchistan
province. Following the incident, scores, possibly hundreds, of people were
arrested; many were reportedly taken to unknown locations. In the months
following the attacks, the number of executions announced in Baluchi areas
increased dramatically. Dozens were reported to have been executed by the end
of the year.
Religious minorities
Members of Iran's religious minorities were detained
or harassed on account of their faith.
In February over 1,000 Nematollahi Sufis peacefully
protesting against an order to evacuate their place of worship in Qom were
arrested. Hundreds were injured by members of the security forces and members
of organized pro-government groups. In May, 52 Sufis, including two lawyers
representing the group, were sentenced to one year's imprisonment, flogging and
a fine, and the lawyers were banned from practising law. In August, Grand
Ayatollah Fazel Lankarani issued a religious edict designating Sufism as
"null and void".
Several evangelical Christians, mostly converts from
Islam, were detained, apparently in connection with their religious activities.
• In September, Fereshteh Dibaj and her husband,
Reza Montazemi, were detained for nine days before being released on bail.
Fereshteh Dibaj is the youngest daughter of convert Mehdi Dibaj who was
murdered in 1994 shortly after being released from prison where he had been
held for nine years for "apostasy".
Sixty-five Baha'is were detained during 2006 and five
remained held at the end of the year. In March Mehran Kawsari was released
early from his three-year prison sentence imposed in connection with an open
letter sent to the then President in November 2004.
In March, the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of
Religion or Belief expressed concern about an October 2005 letter instructing
various government agencies to identify, and collect information about, Baha'is
in Iran.
Human rights defenders
Human rights defenders faced deepening restrictions
on their work and remained at risk of reprisals. In January, the Ministry of
the Interior was reported to be preparing measures to restrict the activities
of non-governmental organizations that allegedly received finance from
"problematic internal and external sources aimed at overthrowing the
system". Students, who remained a politically active section of society,
were frequently targeted for reprisals, including arbitrary arrest and denial
of the right to study in the new academic year.
• In August, the Ministry of the Interior banned
activities by the Centre for Defenders of Human Rights (CDHR), run by Nobel
Peace Prize Laureate Shirin Ebadi and other leading lawyers, stating that it did
not have a permit. In September, the Ministry of the Interior said a permit
would be issued "if changes were made to the [centre's] mission
statement".
• Abdolfattah Soltani, a lawyer and co-founder
of the CDHR, was released on bail in March. He was later sentenced to five
years' imprisonment for "disclosing confidential documents" and
"propaganda against the system". The sentence was under appeal at the
end of the year.
• Prisoner of conscience Akbar Ganji, a
journalist who implicated government officials in the murder of intellectuals
and journalists in the 1990s, was released in March after completing his
six-year prison sentence.
Torture and cruel,
inhuman and
degrading punishments
Torture remained common in many prisons and detention
centres, particularly in the investigative stage of pre-trial detention when
detainees are denied access to a lawyer for indefinite periods. At least seven
people reportedly died in custody, some in circumstances where torture,
ill-treatment or denial of medical care may have been contributory factors.
• Political prisoners Akbar Mohammadi and
Valiollah Feyz Mahdavi died in July and September respectively after going on
hunger strike to protest at their continued detention.
• Fourteen-year-old Mohammad Reza Evezpoor, an Iranian
Azerbaijani, was arrested in April after writing "I am a Turk" on a
wall. He was reportedly tortured during his three days in detention, including
by being suspended by his feet for 24 hours and denied food and water. He was
beaten again when rearrested in September.
At least two amputations were carried out and one
person was sentenced to eye-gouging. Flogging remained a common punishment.
• Leyla Mafi received a flogging of 99 lashes in
February before being released from prison into a women's rehabilitation
centre. Forced into prostitution as an eight-year-old and raped repeatedly, she
was arrested in early 2004 and charged with "acts contrary to
chastity" for which she was sentenced to flogging followed by death.
Following international pressure, her death sentence was overturned.
Impunity
Victims of human rights violations and their families
continued to lack redress.
• A re-examination, ordered in 2001, of the
cases of Ministry of Intelligence officials accused of the 1998 "serial
murders", remained incomplete. Nasser Zarafshan, lawyer for the families
of some of the victims, continued to serve a five-year prison sentence
following his conviction on politically motivated charges.
Death penalty
At least 177 people were executed in 2006, including
one minor and at least three others who were under 18 at the time of the
alleged offence. Death sentences were imposed for a variety of crimes including
drug smuggling, armed robbery, murder, political violence and sexual offences.
Following domestic and international protests, the death sentences of some
women and of some prisoners aged under 18 at the time of the alleged offence
were suspended or lifted; some were sentenced to death again after a retrial.
Two people were reportedly stoned to death despite a moratorium on stoning
announced by the judiciary in 2002. Others remained under sentence of stoning
to death. In September, Iranian human rights defenders launched a campaign to
save nine women and two men sentenced to death by stoning and to abolish stoning
in law. By the end of the year the stoning sentences of at least three of the
11 had been quashed.
Freedom of expression
and association
Freedom of expression and association was
increasingly curtailed. Internet access was increasingly restricted and monitored.
Journalists and webloggers were detained and sentenced to prison or flogging
and at least 11 newspapers were closed down. Relatives of detainees or of those
sought by the authorities remained at risk of harassment or intimidation.
Independent trade unionists faced reprisals and some academics, such as Ramin
Jahanbegloo, were detained or dismissed from their posts.
• Up to 1,000 members of the independent, but
banned, Sherkat-e Vahed Bus Company Union were arrested in January after
striking to demand recognition of their union and to protest at the detention
of the union's head Mansour Ossanlu. All were later released, but dozens were
still forbidden from returning to their jobs at the end of the year. Mansour
Ossanlu was released on bail in August after being held for over seven months
in connection with his trade union activities, but was redetained for one month
in November, reportedly after attending meetings organized by the International
Labour Organization.
Women's rights
Demonstrations in Tehran in March and June demanding
an end to discrimination in law against women were broken up harshly by the
security forces. Some protesters were injured.
• Former Majles deputy Sayed Ali Akbar
Mousavi-Kho'ini was arrested at the June demonstration and held for over four
months before his release on bail in October. He reported that he had been
tortured in detention.
In August, women's rights activists launched a
campaign to gather a million signatures to a petition demanding equal rights
for women.
AI country
reports/visits
Reports
• Iran: Human rights defender at risk ? appeal case:
Abdolfattah Soltani (AI Index: MDE 13/009/2006)
• Iran: New government fails to address dire human
rights situation (AI Index: MDE 13/010/2006)
• Iran: Defending minority rights ? the Ahwazi Arabs
(AI Index: MDE 13/056/2006)
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