Current hot topics in Iran

Since the UN Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review in last October, when Iran had the opportunity to declare what actions it has taken to fulfil its treaty obligations and to note other states’ recommendations on how to improve its human rights records, nothing has changed.

Inequality and discrimination remained major problems, which can be caught out in relation to both ethnical and religious minorities. Members of religions not recognised by the constitution are persecuted and their rights are still being systematically violated in the country. 

A good example for that is the Baha’i community. Various discriminatory measures have been applied in various parts of the public arena against them, amongst other things; the regime barred Baha’is from accessing higher education in universities by considering them “un-islamic”. The authorities have also targeted the members’ private homes and sacred sites. A Baha’i family in the city of Yazd reported that security forces have searched its home three times in the past year.

Right to Life and Liberty

amnesty.org

Despite Iran has repeatedly been reminded by other UN member states to respect its commitments and abolish the death penalty, the number of executions, including of women and political prisoners, is still increasing. At least 60 individuals have reportedly been executed in January alone, with a considerably large number of people currently on the death row. Over February, Amnesty International moved mountains to stop the authorities to execute Saman Naseem, a juvenile offender. Although his execution didn’t take place officially and openly, sadly, we don’t know anything about his whereabouts and we still fear that Saman might have been hanged secretly.

Arbitrary arrest, detention and torture

Iran is still not a safe haven for fact-hungry journalists. Indeed, some newspaper reporters have been held in prison for months without knowing why and what they committed. That happened to Jason Rezaian, a Washington Post’s Tehran correspondent, who was formally charged in January, but his charges are yet to be made public. He was allowed to meet his lawyer in the beginning of March, though that defender is not the one his family chose to represent him. 

taghato.net

Many prisoners (political or not) still face inhumane treatment while they are in jail. A recent case, which gained big attention over the last week, is that of Atena Farghadani. First, she was detained last August for her peaceful activities, and was also held in solitary confinement for 15 days. During that time, she was exposed to beatings and degrading body searches by female prison guards. After being released in November on bail, she was rearrested in January this year, possibly in reprisal for a video message that she had published after being  freed. That video explains the ill-treatments she had previously been subject to. Now, Atena Farghadani is in critical conditions, as she has been on wet hunger strike for weeks, without any medical attention. 

Women

Women in Iran remained subject to widespread discrimination under the law and in practice and to violence in the public arena. Since veiling became compulsory, hundreds of women and young girls have faced assault and detention by the State for not complying with the dress code. In October last year, several young women were attacked by unknown perpetrators. Mahdieh Golrou, who took part in a peaceful protest outside Parliament in October 2014 to condemn the violence against women and the acid attacks, has been detained since, for her peaceful activism.

In recent years, especially last year, several discriminatory policies have been implemented in universities such as gender-based segregation and gender quota systems. Indeed, the phenomenon of gender segregation has lately emerged in workplaces and even at concerts, too.

These were just some of the main human rights issues currently overshadowing the Islamic Republic. As we could see, sadly, people’s rights are violated on a daily basis. But, we still have to hope that the next session of the UN Human Rights Council in March 2015 will bring changes and find the way to induce Iran to respect its people’s rights.

For Urgent Actions, please visit the following websites:

UA 11/15 - Mahdieh Golrou: https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/MDE13/002/2015/en/

UA 49/15 - Atena Farghadani: https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/MDE13/1094/2015/en/