Written evidence submitted by Human Rights
Watch
Human RIghts Watch thanks the Foreign Affairs
Committee for the opportunity to submit comment towards the ongoing
inquiry, titled "Global Security: Iran".
ESSENTIAL BACKGROUND:
OVERVIEW OF
HUMAN RIGHTS
ISSUES IN
IRAN;
HUMAN RIGHTS
WATCH WORLD
REPORT CHAPTER
2007
Events of 2006
Respect for basic human rights in Iran, especially
freedom of expression and assembly, deteriorated in 2006. The
government routinely tortures and mistreats detained dissidents,
including through prolonged solitary confinement. The Judiciary,
which is accountable to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, is responsible
for many serious human rights violations.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's cabinet is dominated
by former intelligence and security officials, some of whom have
been implicated in serious human rights violations, such as the
assassination of dissident intellectuals. Under his administration,
the Ministry of Information, which essentially performs intelligence
functions, has substantially increased its surveillance of dissidents,
civil society activists, and journalists.
Freedom of Expression
Iranian authorities systematically suppress
freedom of expression and opinion by closing newspapers and imprisoning
journalists and editors. The few independent dailies that remain
heavily self-censor. Many writers and intellectuals have left
the country, are in prison, or have ceased to be critical. In
September 2006 the Ministry of Culture and Guidance closed the
reformist daily, Shargh, and shut down two reformist journals,
Nameh and Hafez. In October the Ministry shut down a new reformist
daily, Roozgar, only three days after it started publication.
During the year the Ministry of Information summoned and interrogated
dozens of journalists critical of the government.
In 2006 the authorities also targeted websites
and internet journalists in an effort to prevent online dissemination
of news and information. The government systematically blocks
websites inside Iran and abroad that carry political news and
analysis. In September 2006 Esmail Radkani, director-general of
the government-controlled Information Technology Company, announced
that his company is blocking access to 10 million "unauthorized"
websites on orders from the Judiciary and other authorities
Freedom of Assembly
The Ahmadinejad government, in a pronounced
shift from the policy under former president Mohammed Khatami,
has shown no tolerance for peaceful protests and gatherings. In
January 2006 security forces attacked striking bus drivers in
Tehran and detained hundreds. The government refused to recognize
the drivers' independent union or engage in collective bargaining
with them. In February government forces attacked a peaceful gathering
of Sufi devotees in front of their religious building in Qum to
prevent its destruction by the authorities, using tear gas and
water cannons to disperse them. In March police and plainclothes
agents charged a peaceful assembly of women's rights activists
in Tehran and beat hundreds of women and men who had gathered
to commemorate International Women's Day. In June as women's rights
defenders assembled again in Tehran, security forces beat them
with batons, sprayed them with pepper gas, marked the demonstrators
with sprayed dye, and took 70 people into custody.
Torture and Ill-Treatment in Detention
Since President Ahmadinejad came to power, treatment
of detainees has worsened in Evin prison as well as in detention
centers operated clandestinely by the Judiciary, the Ministry
of Information, and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The
authorities have subjected those imprisoned for peaceful expression
of political views to torture and ill-treatment, including beatings,
sleep depravation, and mock executions. Judges often accept coerced
confessions. The authorities use prolonged solitary confinement,
often in small basement cells, to coerce confessions (which are
videotaped) and gain information regarding associates.
In 2006 two prisoners held for their political
beliefs, Akbar Mohammadi and Valiollah Feyz Mahdavi, died in suspicious
circumstances in prison. The authorities prevented their families
from conducting independent autopsies. The government has taken
no action to investigate the cause of the deaths.
Impunity
There is no mechanism for monitoring and investigating
human rights violations perpetrated by agents of the government.
The closure of independent media in Iran has helped to perpetuate
an atmosphere of impunity.
In recent years public testimonies by numerous
former prisoners and detainees have implicated Tehran's public
prosecutor Saeed Mortazavi and his office in some of the worst
cases of human rights violations. Despite extensive evidence,
Mortazavi has not been held responsible for his role in illegal
detentions, torture of detainees, and coercing false confessions.
The case of Iranian-Canadian photojournalist Zahra Kazemi, who
died in the custody of judiciary and security agents led by Mortazavi
in June 2003, remains unresolved. Mustapha Pour-Mohammadi, the
current interior minister, is implicated in extrajudicial massacres
of thousands of political prisoners in 1988.
Human Rights Defenders
In 2006 the authorities intensified their harassment
of independent human rights defenders and lawyers in an attempt
to prevent them from publicizing and pursuing human rights violations.
In August the Interior Ministry declared illegal the Center for
Defense of Human Rights, led by Shirin Ebadi, the 2003 Nobel Peace
Prize winner. Ebadi and her colleagues provide pro-bono legal
counsel to hundreds of dissidents, journalists, and students facing
prosecution for exercising fundamental freedoms, such as peacefully
protesting or criticizing government policies. The authorities
threatened Ebadi and her colleagues with arrest should they continue
their activities in defense of human rights. Following international
protests, the government has not carried out its threat, but Ebadi
and her colleagues remain vulnerable.
In June 2006 government agents arrested Ali
Akbar Mousavi Khoini, a former member of parliament and outspoken
critic of the government's human rights record. The authorities
held him in solitary confinement without access to his lawyers
for more than four months. The Judiciary released him on 21 October,
only after he posted $300,000 bail. During a brief release to
attend his father's funeral in September, he publicly alleged
that he was being tortured and forced to "repent" for
his activities.
Juvenile Death Penalty
Iran has executed at least 13 juvenile offenders
in the last five years, more than any other nation. On 11 May
2006, Iran executed Majid Segound and Masoud Naghi Biranvand,
both 17 years old at the time of execution. Two youths scheduled
to be executed on 20 September 2006, for murders committed while
under 18 had their executions suspended when the victims' families
agreed to accept blood money in lieu of execution. About 30 juvenile
offenders are on death row.
Minorities
Iran's ethnic and religious minorities are subject
to discrimination and, in some cases, persecution. In May Iranian
Azeris in the northwestern provinces of East and West Azerbaijan
and Ardebil demonstrated against government restrictions on Azeri
language and cultural and political activities. Security services
forcibly disrupted public protests that engulfed the region. In
some protests demonstrators attacked government offices. Four
people died in clashes in the city of Naghadeh on 25 May.
In the southwestern province of Khuzistan, unrest
among Iran's Arab population intensified in 2006. Revolutionary
Courts, following secret proceedings that did not meet international
fair trial standards, condemned at least 16 Iranians of Arab origin
to death on charges of armed activity against the state.
The government continues to deny Iran's Baha'i
community permission to publicly worship or pursue religious activities.
In a letter dated 29 October 2005, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali
Khamenei instructed several government organs, including the Ministry
of Information and the armed forces, "to acquire a comprehensive
and complete report of all the activities of Baha'is for the purpose
of identifying all the individuals of these misguided sects."
In May the authorities arrested 54 Baha'i youth who were teaching
English, math, and other non-religious subjects to underprivileged
children in the southern city of Shiraz. None of the Baha'i youth
were charged with a crime. All but three were released after a
week of detention and the remaining three were released on 14
June 2006.
Key International Actors
In 2006 negotiations over Iran's nuclear program
dominated the policy of the European Union towards Iran, with
human rights concerns a secondary matter. The EU pledged to tie
Iranian respect for human rights to progress in co-operation on
other issues, but the pledge had little impact. Iran refused to
resume its "human rights dialogue" with the EU that
it had suspended in 2005, despite the EU's repeated calls to do
so.
The United Nations General Assembly adopted
a resolution in November 2005 noting serious violations and the
worsening human rights situation in Iran. Under a standing invitation
that Tehran issued in 2002 to the thematic mechanisms of the UN
Commission on Human Rights, the special rapporteur on violence
against women, Yakin Ertrk, visited Iran in February 2005. In
a January 2006 report she highlighted "discriminatory provisions
in both the Civil and Penal Codes, and flaws in the administration
of justice," resulting in disempowerment of women. The special
rapporteur on adequate housing, Miloon Kothari, visited Iran in
August 2005 and issued a report in March 2006. In his March 2006
report he raised several concerns about discrimination against
ethnic and religious minorities and nomadic groups, among other
things.
Iran has not responded to requests by the UN
special rapporteurs on extrajudicial executions and torture, made
in 2004 and 2005 respectively, to visit the country.
The Bush Administration remains divided on its
Iran policy, and relations between the United States and Iran
remain poor. The State Department frequently invoked Iran's human
rights record as a matter of concern. In February the State Department
budgeted US$75 million "to support democracy promotion activities
in Iran," but a vast majority of Iranian dissidents, human
rights defenders, and civil society activists inside Iran publicly
dissociated themselves from the initiative, making clear they
do not seek any financial help form the American government. The
administration did not utilize multilateral international institutions
to address human rights violations in Iran, in contrast to its
vigorous efforts to build international coalitions in response
to Iran's alleged drive to acquire nuclear weapons and its support
for Hezbollah in Lebanon and armed groups in the Occupied Palestinian
Territories.
ESSENTIAL BACKGROUND:
OVERVIEW OF
HUMAN RIGHTS
ISSUES IN
IRAN;
UPDATE TO
HUMAN RIGHTS
WATCH WORLD
REPORT CHAPTER
2007
Events of 2007
The first five months of 2007 witnessed a startling
number of crackdowns on civil society leaders and independent
activists. Iranian authorities have systematically targeted student
leaders, journalists, women's movement campaigners, teachers,
labor union activists, and scholars. The government routinely
detains individuals without warrant or charge, and uses prolonged
periods of interrogation and detention as a means of extracting
forced confessions. In recent weeks, the Iranian authorities have
extended their campaigns to target Iranian women for failing to
meet the "proper" standards of Islamic dress codes and
have carried out raids on private homes in a number of cities
to disrupt "immoral" gatherings.
The following examples further highlight the
deteriorating situation of human rights in Iran. On a number of
occasions in January of 2007, Iranian authorities confiscated
the passports of journalists, scholars, and women's rights activists
as they prepared to leave for international conferences. Such
travel bans are a part of the government's attempts to isolate
activists from international civil society and further narrow
the space of free expression and exchange. March 2007 was a particularly
difficult month for women's rights activists. On 4 March, Iranian
security forces arrested thirty-four prominent women's rights
activists who were holding a silent protest in front of a court
where four of their colleagues were being tried in relation to
a peaceful gathering in June 2006. While all of the women were
eventually released on heavy bail, the Iranian judiciary has pending
prosecution against them. March 2007 was also the beginning of
a difficult period for Iranian teachers. On 3 March in Tehran,
teachers began a peaceful gathering in front of the Iranian parliament
to protest governmental neglect of their situation. Teachers in
a number of other major Iranian cities held simultaneous demonstrations
in solidarity. Iranian authorities have responded to these gatherings
by arresting teachers and banning professional teachers' organizations
in at least one city. Finally, Iranian authorities have singled
out a number of students as part of a broader campaign to silence
independent activism on college campuses.
The worldwide focus on the Iran nuclear issue
has resulted in Iran's rapidly deteriorating human rights situation
being ignored. This has encouraged governmental authorities into
thinking that their intensifying crackdowns on various sectors
of Iranian society will go largely unnoticed. International institutions
and organizations, including the media, should give greater attention
to the widespread violations of basic human rights in Iran. The
Iranian government has used perceived threats of military action
against the country as a "national security" cover for
continuing its repressive campaigns.
We thank the committee for their interest in
these important issues.
Tom Porteous
London director, Human Rights Watch
16 May 2007
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