Iran denies UN report on increasing human rights violations
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Iran’s deputy ambassador to the UN, Eshagh al-Habib, on Thursday denied allegations in a recent UN report that human rights violations in Iran are on the rise. Al-Habib criticized the report for being poorly sourced, non-neutral and simply untrue. The report cited an increase in persecutions among political activists and journalists, detention conditions for opposition leaders and their wives, the torture and mistreatment of detainees, the significant administration of the death penalty to people under 18 years of age and “exorbitant bail requirements” for human rights defenders and religious practitioners. However, UN Special Rapporteur on Iran Ahmed Shaheed, the author of the report, stated that he was encouraged by Iran’s willingness to cooperate with him and that Iran “needs to be seen in a better light.” He further focused on the need to maintain dialogue with Iran’s political leaders in order to improve conditions in the country. The US issued a statement on Tuesday denouncing Iran’s “‘intensified’ campaign of abuse” : “Under international law and its own constitution, Iran has committed to protect and defend the rights of its people, but officials continue to stifle all forms of dissent, persecute religious and ethnic minorities, harass and intimidate human rights defenders, and engage in the torture of detainees.”
Iran has been heavily criticized for its alleged human rights abuses. Jailed Iranian journalist Isa Saharkhiz in July urged Shaheed to investigate prison conditions in Iran. In May, rights groups decried [JURIST report] Iran’s persecution of lawyers. In January, the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran [official website] claimed that Iran is on an “execution binge” , killing one prisoner every eight hours. In January, prominent Iranian human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh was sentenced to 11 years in prison. Sotoudeh was found guilty of “acting against national security” and “making propaganda against the system” for which she will serve five and one years, respectively. She was the lawyer for Arash Rahmanipour, who was arrested for his role in the post-election protests on charges of moharebeh, or being an enemy of God. Rahmanipour was executed in January 2010. Also in January, Iranian chief prosecutor Abbas Jafari-Dolatabadi delivered a speech at Tehran University indicating that he would prosecute opposition leaders for political unrest that took place after the country’s 2009 presidential election.
via JURIST – Paper Chase: Iran denies UN report on increasing human rights violations.
UN Human Rights Expert Delivers Interim Report
Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran Ahmed Shaheed
19 October 2011 –
There were also reports of capital punishment in juvenile cases, and the use of the death penalty for cases that do not meet the level of serious crimes by international standards, he said.
“In some cases, elements of Iran’s penal code and legal practices amount to contravention of those international laws it acceded to,” said Mr. Shaheed.
He said Iran’s record seems to have gained particular attention because of the country’s “lack of substantive cooperation with the UN human rights system and because of the existence of frequent reports of suppression of those self-correcting mechanisms that deprive Iranians from freely seeking redress or reform within the parameters of their human rights.”
The “self-correction mechanisms” that are suppressed include free and fair elections, denial of freedom of expression and assembly, allegations of depravation of the right to education, harassment and intimidation of religious and ethnic minorities, human rights defenders and civil society and religious actors.
He urged Iranian authorities to provide adequate medical access to the well-known cleric Ayatollah Kazemeini-Boroujerdi, and to consider his immediate release.
He also called upon Tehran to consider releasing all individuals listed in his report, including political leaders Mir-Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, who consider themselves detainees of the Government, human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh, student and women’s rights activist Bahareh Hedayat, student activist Abdollah Momeni, and Pastor Yousef Nadarkhani.
He also urged Iran to cooperate with him as he carries out his mandate. “In the absence of this, however, my course of action will be to continue to obtain information through interaction with Iranians both in the region and in other parts of the world, as well as with non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and other parts of the UN system.”
Mr. Shaheed said he had been informed of the arrests and prosecution of at least 42 lawyers for their attempts to provide legal counsel. Charges brought against the majority of them include acting against national security; participating in illegal gatherings; insulting the Supreme Leader; and spreading propaganda against the regime.
He took notice of the positive steps taken by the Iranian authorities, including the Government’s recent decision to release between 60 and 100 prisoners, many of whom had been arrested as a result of their participation in events related to the 2009 presidential elections.
via UN
Human Rights Watch – Issues Regarding IRI
Submitted by Human Rights Watch to the UN Human Rights Committee on the occasion of its Pre-Sessional Review of Iran
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Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad addresses the United Nations General Assembly in New York on September 22, 2011.© 2011 Reuters
This memorandum provides an overview of Human Rights Watch’s main concerns with respect to the human rights crisis in Iran, submitted to the United Nations Human Rights Committee (“the Committee”) in advance of its pre-sessional review of Iran in 2011. We hope it will inform the Committee’s preparation for its review of the Iranian government’s compliance with its obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (“the Covenant”).
It has been 17 years since Iran last submitted its State Report to the Committee. During this time, the government has engaged in systematic violations of the Covenant, including extensive restrictions on the rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly, and association, and the widespread use torture, ill-treatment, and unfair trials of political detainees. The number of executions, including those of juvenile offenders, has steadily risen in recent years. The government intensified its targeting of human rights defenders following the disputed presidential election of June 2009. Pressures on civil society groups have increased sharply during President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s administration, and Iran continues to discriminate against religious, ethnic, and other minorities both in law and practice.
Iransubmitted its latest report to the Committee a few months after the June 2009 presidential election and the ensuing violent crackdown against largely peaceful demonstrators and opposition activists. Violence initiated by security forces, including the basij militia affiliated with official security forces, led to the killings of dozens of demonstrators. Authorities arbitrarily arrested and detained thousands of demonstrators and opposition figures in the months after the election. Several detainees died at Kahrizak detention facility in Tehran after being subjected to torture and ill-treatment. Public street protests all but ceased by early 2010 as a consequence of the government’s crackdown, but resumed in February and March 2011 when thousands of demonstrators took to the streets to show their support for pro-democracy protests in neighboring countries and protest the arrest and detention of opposition leaders. The authorities’ violent response led to at least three deaths and hundreds of arrests. The Ministry of Interior continues to refuse to issue permits for peaceful rallies and demonstrations.
As in years past, the government, including the judiciary, has failed to hold accountable officials responsible for committing serious human rights violations. There have been no comprehensive or transparent investigations into government repression, including the killings of demonstrators and custodial deaths of detainees. Although several security personnel were tried in closed military courts for the deaths of detainees at Kahrizak, no high-level authority has yet been charged, let alone convicted, for these crimes. At the same time, the judiciary prosecuted hundreds of demonstrators, civil society activists, and members of opposition parties, some of whom were paraded on national television during several show trials on vague national security-related charges (including “propaganda against the regime”), and sentenced many to lengthy prison terms and, in some cases, to death.
Notwithstanding the numerous and serious abuses committed by state officials, Iran’s State Report does not begin to adequately address allegations concerning violation of core civil and political rights under the Covenant. There are frequently references to legal provisions in Iran’s Constitution and criminal and civil codes but no discussion of how the authorities are implementing or complying with these provisions. Rulings that may or may not address the specific issue in question are simply listed. And the portions of the report that address specific articles of the Covenant contain glaring omissions and inaccuracies, such as providing no information on Iran’s abusive revolutionary courts, which seriously distorts the current situation of human rights in the country.
Among the most serious problems with Iran’s 2009 State Report are the following:
- The report devotes little attention to the death penalty under Article 6 (right to life), even though Iran is believed to have executed 388 people in 2008, and is second only to China in the number of executions carried out annually;
- The section on torture and ill-treatment (Article 7) recounts provisions in Iranian law that prohibit the use of torture and references several cases where government officials were apparently convicted of torture, but nowhere addressing credible reports regarding the authorities’ systematic use of torture in Iran’s detention facilities;
- The section on Iran’s compliance with the prohibition on arbitrary arrest and detention (Article 9) provides some references to rulings presumably related to convictions of government officials who violated these rights, but it contains no discussion of arbitrary arrest and incommunicado detention carried out by Iran’s security and intelligence forces;
- There is significant discussion on the treatment of detainees and prisoners (Article 10), but it largely describes the systems and programs that ostensibly have been put into place. The report does not address serious problems incurred by detainees and prisoners, particularly those accused of national security-related crimes or convicted by revolutionary courts;
- The section on due process and fair trials (Article 14) fails to provide any relevant information regarding the workings of the revolutionary courts, where the state prosecutes most political dissidents and commits systematic and gross violations of the right to a fair trial;
- The report’s discussion of the right to freedom of expression (Article 19) does not address the government’s severe restrictions on peaceful dissent by using both criminal law and repressive practices;
- Regarding the rights to peaceful assembly and freedom of association (Articles 21 and 22), the report fails to acknowledge the ways in which the government systematically prevents civil society organizations – including student, women’s, labor, journalist, legal, and human rights groups – from meeting or conducting their activities.
In short, the Committee’s concluding observations with regard to Iran’s report 17 years ago unfortunately remain equally applicable today: Iran’s report provides “virtually no information about factors and difficulties impeding the application of the Covenant.”
Your Endorsement is Valuable
One Million Voices for Iran calls on all members of the international community who support and defend human rights and justice to endorse our new campaign.
The purpose of the campaign is to collect one million signatures and support for a petition demanding united global action against the human rights abuses perpetrated by the government of the Islamic Republic against its own people. Individuals and groups representing women, workers, lawyers, rights advocates, children, and ethnic and religious minorities are constant victims of repression at the hands of this government. This independent, non-political campaign echoes the demands of those seeking freedom and justice inside Iran.
We, the international community, must ensure the voice of the Iranian people is heard:
Our petition calls for European and other governments to restrict freedom of movement and freeze overseas assets of individuals in the Islamic Republic of Iran, targeting them specifically in protest of their documented human rights abuses and demanding the release of all political prisoners.
Additionally, it will demand from all potential sources of help the creation of a special court of human rights to prosecute the Islamic Republic’s leaders for their abuse of human rights, as described here by the Green Lawyers Movement.
We echo the demands of those in Iran working tirelessly for civil and political rights, and we are inspired by the many other human rights based initiatives that pursue goals in line with the One Million Voices for Iran campaign. We are open to the idea of affiliating with any like-minded individuals or complementary causes.
By focusing on human rights, and echoing the demands of those inside Iran, this is a campaign that transcends political or religious boundaries, and relies on recognition from prominent human rights organizations and activists.
As part of our activitives, we are actively seeking statements of support or endorsement from individuals and organizations that we can publish. We also appreciate your help in sharing or publicising this campaign with humanitarian and media contacts, and any assistance in gathering support for our cause.
Please send your message of support using the contact page, or add a Comment here on the website.
We are happy to receive feedback, comments, and suggestions on any aspect of this campaign, as our only goal is to make it a success.
How and where to prosecute the Iranian Regime?
This has been written after the [US State Department's] named 8 individuals involved in criminal activity of the last year and a half in Iran in their initial list of human rights abusers. Looking the list of names against whom the US is imposing financial sanctions, and regardless of questions about why names such as Mr. Ali Khamenei’s and his allies are missing, or why only financial sanctions are being applied, many people raise the question of how, and under which authority, these individuals and their allies could be prosecuted?
An abstract and simplified answer, sparing the technical details of the process, follows. First, we need to mention those international authorities who, contrary to common assumption, are not authorized to try these individuals for their crimes:
1) International Court of Justice, also known as the Hague (Den Haag) Court is only authorized to settle international legal disputes between States and is not authorized in criminal cases of individuals even if they happen to be the head of State.
2) International Criminal Court, which is also located in the Hague (Den Haag) in the Netherlands, is also not authorized to investigate the crimes of the above mentioned listed names and their allies. This court, based on the Rome Statute which was signed by many members of the United Nations on 17 July 1998, and entered into force on 1 July 2002, is only authorized to exercise jurisdiction over criminal acts which took place after 2002, the year of its establishment (as a result, investigation of the Islamic Republic regime’s crimes of its fist two decades cannot be pursued by this court).
Furthermore, this court is only authorized to exercise jurisdiction over the countries who have finalized ratification of the Rome Statute. Therefore, since Iran has not ratified the Rome Statute in its Parliament yet, and until it happens in Iran, crimes which take place in this country cannot be prosecuted in the International Criminal Court (except for the case issued in the article 4 below). Ultimately, the court’s authority is of a “complementary authority” which, under certain circumstances, can exercise its jurisdiction against the consignatary countries. Due to the limitation on scope of this article these circumstances are not mentioned here.
3) There is another court in the Hague called the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). This is the first criminal court that, after ratification by the Security Council of the United Nations in 1993, was established to exclusively investigate the war crimes, genocides and crimes against humanity that took place in the 1990s in the Balkan countries. Following the establishment of ICTY, other similar courts were established by the U.N. Security Council regarding some other countries such as Rwanda and Sierra Leone, whose authority was uniquely specific to the particular circumstances of these countries. As a result, none of these specific international tribunals which are known as “third generation courts” or “specific criminal courts” (Ad hoc) have the authorities to investigate the crimes of the heads of the Islamic Republic.
4) Currently only two methods are available to address the crimes of the leaders of the Islamic Republic of Iran:
A) via the approval of the United Nations Security Council for the formation of special criminal court, or
B) granting special authority to the International Criminal Court under the authority contained in paragraph b, Article 13, of the Rome Statute. This requires the scheme to be proposed by member states of the Security Council.
It requires action from liberal organizations, political parties & groups, and human rights advocates, to demand world governments to take action.
Everyone must tirelessly pursue this matter.
Charges can be brought by victims (whether Iranian nationals or citizens of other countries) or their representatives in the case of criminal damages or abuse of their rights and also cases of crimes against humanity can be brought to trial in countries where international law is upheld. Most European countries and North America are members of this group, which defends International Law.
In such a case, sentences issued by these Courts can be enforced in these countries in the first place and in other countries under certain circumstances.
The important point to note is that both these paths can be pursued simultaneously by whomever is able to do so.
Moreover, it should be mentioned that criminials condemned for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes cannot escape the responsibilities associated with these crimes in relying on rights of a governing regime and/or the national law of their country. This has been established by various treaties (including the Geneva treaties, documentations of the preliminary negotiations regarding these treaties, the international judiciary procedures including stipulations of the trials of Nuremberg, Tokyo and higher international criminal courts mentioned above). It is backed by statements and resolutions of an individual or group of countries together with other sources and authorities of international law. Justice has closed the escape door for these perpetrators.
On our part, we try to prepare documentation and evidence to present to the international audience. In some cases we try to provide help to our compatriots to present their complaints in other countries. In order to succed in this task and have a real and genuine impact, we need continuous and extensive efforts by a broad group of people, as well as by political, social and human rights institutions. We should all call loudly for the trial of these criminals, such that our voices are heard everywhere. We do not doubt that these criminals will be tried in a court of justice either abroad or in the country after the fall of this dictatorial regime. The progress of this work relies on the hard efforts of every freedom-loving and justice-seeking individual. Let us include this task in our individual and social agenda until we reach a fully successful result.
Signed
Green Lawyers Movement
October 2010
Source : [Farsi] http://bit.ly/9tz7iL
