INTRODUCTION
- The outcome of 45 years long running of the theocratic political system can be summed up in 5 points:
- the massacre of thousands of opponents and a record number of executions carried out on trumped-up charges following trials that failed to meet internationally recognised standards of transparency and fairness;
- the widespread use of torture;
- the severe limitation of the freedoms of opinion, expression, peaceful assembly and association;
- the repression of ethnic and religious minorities;
- and the continuing repressive restrictions on women’s freedoms.
- In the occasion of the adoption of the third Periodic Review of the Islamic Republic of Iran in 2019, the Iranian authorities accepted 143 recommendations out of the 329 made by the members of the UPR Working Group (about 43,5%).
- The supported recommendations are merely of general nature and it is difficult, if not impossible, to measure the progresses made in fulfilling the commitments made in 2019.
- On the contrary, the Iranian authorities did not support all recommendations requesting the adoption of specific and verifiable measures.
- MASSACRES, UNFAIR TRIALS AND DEATH SENTENCES
- Iranian authorities brutally cracked down on the “Woman, Life, Freedom” protests sparked after the September 2022 death in morality police custody of Mahsa Jina Amini, an Iranian-Kurdish woman, killing hundreds and arresting thousands of protestors.
- Families’ members are victim of pressure so that they don’t ask for investigations into the disappearance or murder of one of their own.
- In many cases the defendants can get neither a proper legal representation, nor a medical assistance.
- Scores of activists, including human rights defenders, members of ethnic and religious minorities and dissidents remain in prison on vague national security charges or are serving sentences after grossly unfair trials.
- Death penalty aims at instil fear in the population. Currently there are more than 4’000 people sentenced to death penalty in the Iranian detention centres. Since the third Periodic review of the Islamic Republic of Iran, there have been more than 2’000 executions, including minors.
- 545 of the sentences were unlawfully carried out for acts that should not result in the death penalty under international law.
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- The executions disproportionately impacted Iran’s Baluchi ethnic minority who accounted for 20% of recorded executions even though they make up around 5% of the country population.
- The Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) reported and confirmed the execution of death sentences for 121 Kurdish prisoners in various prisons across the country in the past year.
- TORTURE
- People wrongly accused are subject to torture, ill or inhuman treatment in order to obtain confessions. Often families’ members are also victims of threats in such a way that the prisoner does not lodge a complaint against the prison’s authorities, who thus enjoy impunity.
- There is no independent investigation about the excessive use of force, act of torture, ill or inhuman treatments, sexual assaults and other serious abuses allegedly committed in the Iranian detention’s centres.
- Among them, Kurdish Sunni prisoners Ghassem Abasteh, Ayoub Karimi, Davoud Abdollahi, and Farhad Salimi were executed in Ghezel Hesar Prison of Karaj after 14 years of imprisonment on charges of “spreading corruption on earth” (efsad-e fel arz).
- Additionally, three Kurdish prisoners, Vafa Hanareh, Aram Omari Berdiyani, and Rahman Parhazou, as well as Nasim Namazi, an Azerbaijan-Turkic woman prisoner, were executed in Orumiyeh Central Prison on charges of “involvement in intelligence cooperation and espionage for Israel”.
- Also, Kurdish political prisoners Pezhman Fatehi, Mohsen Mazloum, Mohammad Faramarzi and Vafa Azarbar were executed on charges of “espionage for Israel”.
- Currently, at least seven Kurdish political prisoners and Sunni Kurdish religious prisoners, including Reza Rasaei, Mohammad Khezrnezhad, Yousef Ahmadi, Nayeb Askari, Khosrow Besharat, Anvar Khezri, and Kamran Sheikheh are facing imminent and definite execution in Orumiyeh, Karaj’s Ghezel Hesar, Sanandaj, and Kermanshah prisons. These individuals have been charged with “spreading corruption on earth” (efsad-e fel arz), “armed insurrection” (baghi) and “enmity against God” (moharebeh) through membership in opposition Kurdish parties or Sunni religious groups, as well as “involvement in intentional murder”.
- In the past year, at least six Kurdish civilians, Saman Darvishi, Musa Esmaeili, Peyman Galvani, Pouya Babaei, Mansour Salamat, and Payam Abdi were killed under torture in Iranian prisons and detention centres[1].
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- In the past year, at least four Kurdish prisoners died in Orumiyeh Central Prison, either due to lack of access to medical care or by committing suicide under pressure from prison officials and security services. Abdollah Badavi and Nasser Hassanpour lost their lives on 15 April 2023 and 1 May 2023 respectively due to being denied access to medical services. Prisoners Amir Shahbazi and Shahin Gallehdari committed suicide on 16 January 2024 and 26 February 2024 respectively.
- During this period, at least 14 Kurdish civilians, Armita Geravand, Behzad Azizi, Azad Rezaei, Azad Sattar-Panah, Eynollah Ghadernezhad, Qazi Mustafa Ali, Sirous Shokri, Ali Nazari, Rahman Shams, Mohammad Mehrdadi, Hamed Bagheri, Vahed Ghaderi, Kaveh Goyli and Kavan Amjadnia were killed by the police, Revolutionary Guards, and morality police forces in the provinces of Kermanshah, Kurdistan, West Azerbaijan, Tehran, and Alborz.
- LIMITATION OF THE FREEDOMS OF OPINION, EXPRESSION, PEACEFUL ASSEMBLY AND ASSOCIATION
- The Iranian government, under the control of the Supreme Leader and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), maintains strict control over political dissent and freedoms. Freedom of expression, press, and assembly are severely restricted.
- Challenging internal and external policy of the Government can easily lead to tight surveillance, threat and even arrest, conducting to a dangerous spiral described above of torture – confessions – condemnation by a tribunal.
- Free press is inexistent in the Islamic Republic of Iran.
- Article 24 of the Constitution guarantees freedom of the press, but the 1986 Press Act (amended in 2000 and 2009 to take account of online publications) allows the authorities to check that journalists do not “undermine the Islamic Republic”, “offend the clergy and the Supreme Leader” or “disseminate false information”.
- Civil society organisations, in particular those working on the promotion and protection of human rights are under the strict control of the authorities and prevented from acting when they try to take public action.
- REPRESSION OF ETHNIC MINORITIES
- Ethnic and religious minorities in Iran, including Kurds, Balochs, Bahá’ís, and others, face significant discrimination and human rights abuses. Improvements in minority rights need broader political and social reforms.
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- In the past year, at least 650 Kurdish civilians and activists were arrested on political grounds by the security forces or judicial institutions of the Islamic Republic of Iran in different cities of Ilam, West Azerbaijan, Kurdistan, Kermanshah, Tehran, East Azerbaijan, Khuzestan, Razavi Khorasan and Mazandaran provinces. The highest number of arrests took place in West Azerbaijan, followed by Kurdistan, Kermanshah and Ilam provinces.
- In 2023, at least 170 Kurdish civilians and activists received verdicts from Revolutionary, Criminal, and Special Clerical courts in the provinces of West Azerbaijan, Kurdistan, Kermanshah, Ilam, Tehran, Hamadan, Mazandaran, Razavi Khorasan, East Azerbaijan, and Khuzestan. These verdicts included death penalty, imprisonment, suspension of prison sentences, flogging, exile, monetary fines, revocations of clerical status and bans on leaving the country, dismissals, and more. The judgments were either issued or confirmed in appellate courts.
- In 2023, at least 39 Kurdish kolbars (worker who carries goods on his/her back across the borders of Iran, Iraq, Syria and Turkey) died in the border areas of West Azerbaijan, Kurdistan, and Kermanshah provinces. Among them, 27 kolbars, including a child, were directly shot by the military forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and one person was shot by Iraqi border forces. Additionally, a kolbar was tortured to death by the military-security forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran, who then threw his body down from the mountain.
- REPRESSIVE RESTRICTIONS ON WOMEN’S FREEDOMS
- Women’s rights remain a critical issue, with ongoing struggles for equal rights, freedom from discrimination, and against mandatory dress codes.
- Authorities have expanded their efforts in enforcing abusive compulsory hijab laws.
RECOMMENDATIONS
- In the light of the facts outlined above, MRAP and Kurd-CHR recommend that the Islamic Republic of Iran:
- fully respect the provisions of the Treaties it has adhere to;
- adheres to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms Discrimination against Woman;
- adheres to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment;
- adheres to the International Convention for the Protection of all Persons from Enforced Disappearance;
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- allows independent investigations on alleged massacres and disappearances;
- takes the necessary measures to stop the use of torture in the detentions centres and ensures independent and impartial investigations of all allegations involving the torture and other ill or inhuman treatment of prisoners;
- guarantees, in law and practice, the right to a fair trial;
- immediately releases all Iranian prisoners of conscience;
- abolishes death sentences for persons under 18, establishes a moratorium on death sentences and commute the sentences of persons sentenced to death;
- takes the necessary measures to respect and guarantee the rights of all minorities, prevents and eradicates discrimination in law and practice against religious and ethnic minorities;
- guarantees the rights to freedom of opinion and expression, the freedom of peaceful demonstration and association and the freedom of the press;
- ensures the protection of human rights defenders, lawyers and others exercising their rights to freedom of opinion and expression, assembly and association;
- eliminates obstacles to the employment of women and reforms the legislation relating to the status and rights of women, in order to reach, in law and practice, gender equality.
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[1] https://kurdistanhumanrights.org/en/news/2024/04/05/kurdistan-human-rights-networks-annual-report/
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