Video – Letters from Iran
While winds of change have been blowing through the Arab world, Iranians have been forced to wait for political reform.
In 2009, in the aftermath of elections that saw Ahmadinejad’s return to power as president, millions of Iranians took to the streets to protest the result. But the demonstrations were brutally repressed and the hopes of the “green revolutionaries” dashed.
Since then Iran has closed itself off to international media, making it difficult to determine what happened to the many thousands of dissidents arrested and imprisoned during the protests, or the current scale of political opposition to the regime.
Yet this film reveals that opposition is still alive and kicking and just as eager for change as before. Letters from Iran paints a fascinating portrait of the aftermath of the Green Revolution and a country holding its breath.
Letters from Iran – YouTube.
Who Are Iran’s Political Prisoners? – Roxana Saberi
Roxana Saberi
Oct. 6, 2011
She was happy I was released but wondered how her case differed from mine and why she had to remain in prison. “What kind of justice system condemned [Roxana] to such punishment,” Ms. Rouhi asked, “and which justice freed her at such speed?”
I asked myself the same question. Why was I released after 100 days, having appealed an eight-year prison sentence for a trumped-up charge of espionage? What is clear is that as a foreign citizen, I was fortunate to receive international support, while the plights of other innocent prisoners were less known outside Iran.
Last month, two American men incarcerated in Iran on accusations of espionage and crossing the border illegally—charges they contested—were freed after being sentenced to eight years in prison. Their release is welcome news and cause for relief.
At least 28 of Iran’s prisoners of conscience are journalists, according to the media rights group Reporters Without Borders, which ranks Iran the third largest jail for journalists in the world after Eritrea and China. In addition, six Iranian filmmakers were recently arrested for allegedly cooperating with BBC Persian. (The station insists no one in Iran works for it.)
Well-known attorneys such as Nasrin Sotoudeh, who has been sentenced to six years in prison, also are locked up in Iran. Last month, Abdolfattah Soltani, who like Ms. Sotoudeh defended many political prisoners, was arrested for the third time. I first heard of his courage from my cellmates in Tehran’s Evin Prison. I requested that he represent me, but the prosecutor threatened me against retaining “a human rights lawyer.”
Mr. Soltani was arrested while he prepared to defend several Baha’is detained for providing higher education to other Baha’is barred from university in Iran because of their religion. He was also an attorney for my two Baha’i cellmates, Fariba Kamalabadi and Mahvash Sabet, who are each serving 20-year prison sentences for various unsubstantiated charges including espionage.
Most recently, the headlines have focused on Youcef Naderkhani, a Christian convert from Islam who faces possible execution after refusing to renounce his faith.
Many of Iran’s prisoners of conscience have suffered torture—both physical and psychological. It is common for them to be held in solitary confinement for months, even years. They often lack adequate access to their families and attorneys and go through sham trials. Some are coerced to give false confessions and inform on their friends.
If detainees are lucky, their captors offer them release on bail, but the amount is typically exorbitant, and prisoners who can post it tend to live in fear that they could be sent back to jail any day. At the same time, a rising number of executions has made Iran the world’s largest executioner on a per capita basis. According to Amnesty International, in 2010, at least 23 Iranian prisoners convicted of politically motivated offenses were executed.
The Iranian regime needs to address human rights violations instead of denying their existence. If Tehran has nothing to hide, it would permit the recently appointed United Nations special rapporteur on human rights to enter the country. Tehran should also grant access to several other U.N. special experts who have been blocked from visiting since 2005.
U.N. officials—particularly Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon and High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay—plus member states and other individuals must place constant pressure on Tehran just as they have in cases such as mine. This will bring attention and justice to the real heroes, the everyday Iranians in prison for pursuing universal human rights and demanding respect for human dignity.
Ms. Saberi, an Iranian-American journalist detained in Iran’s Evin Prison in 2009, is the author of “Between Two Worlds: My Life and Captivity in Iran” (HarperCollins, 2010).
Iran denies UN report on increasing human rights violations
 |
 |
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
-
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.”
Frequently Asked Questions
- How will this campaign help Iranians?
- Why another petition?
- What is the purpose of One Million Voices for Iran?
- You say your mandate is from people in Iran?
- What is the timeline for completion?
- Who runs the campaign?
- Don’t you know that sanctions only hurt Iranians?
How will this campaign help Iranians?
To date, advocacy campaigns and petitions which aim to address these issues have two main limitations: they are primarily reactive, and they have tended to focus on a single individual or specific group. Consequently, their aims tend to be short-term ones such as obtaining medical treatment or release of a particular prisoner. Others call for the attention of groups such as the UNHCR or EU Parliament. The specific request tends to be limited to calls for these organizations to issue stern statements of reprimand or to send an investigative team to Iran to review prison conditions. In the latter case, we know that permission for a UNHCR Special Rapporteur to enter Iran has been requested repeatedly since at least 2005 and continues to be denied by the Islamic Republic of Iran.
In all cases, the aims of these campaigns are based on assumptions made by people outside of Iran about what needs to be done for those inside of Iran. One Million Voices for Iran is different: It takes its mandate from people inside Iran’s prisons, and has concrete, achievable goals.
Top of List
The petition is central to the campaign, but it is not the only facet. The people most interested in this work certainly include international human rights activists, but in the course of the campaign ordinary citizens will be educated about human rights violations, the international courts, and social activism. Activists throughout the world have been drawing attention to the Iranian regime’s flagrant and repeated violations of human rights, but these abuses have tended to be overshadowed by geo-political considerations in the region. The One Million Voices Campaign is sharply focused on building support for the prosecution of these unconscionable abuses of human rights. In doing so, it will forge a global chorus to amplify the Iranian people’s own compelling demands for international justice.
Top of List
What is the purpose of One Million Voices for Iran?
The purpose of this campaign is to deliver on the demands of those in Iran whose message we are relaying. They want increased sanctions specifically related to human rights issues and a recourse to legal action. In the course of our work we will raise awareness about the campaign goals, educate the public about the atrocities occurring in Iran, and promote social activism. Through these efforts, we will help to fulfill the Iranian people’s mandate and bring those responsible for human rights abuses to justice.
Top of List
You say your mandate is from people in Iran?
The people of Iran are no longer asking for their votes back. Nor are they asking for a major Western power to invade the country and wrestle control from the regime by force. They remain peaceful and resolute in their desire to be masters of their own fate.
What they do ask is:
- for world governments to support increased humanitarian measures, for example restricting travel to their country and freezing assets of individual regime leaders who are guilty of human rights abuses.
- that countries maintain and if necessary strengthen those humanitarian actions until all prisoners of conscience and political prisoners are free
- to find support for them from human rights defenders to press charges against these individual regime leaders in an international court so they can be brought to justice for their human rights crimes and violations.
The creation of an international court could either be approved by the UN Security Council, or by the government of a country which has ratified the Rome Statute and is sympathetic and supportive. This method, too, requires states to be members of the UN Security Council. A coordinated, systematic campaign would be essential to convince the UN or a national government to champion the creation of such a court. One Million Voices for Iran is intended to be just that campaign.
The One Million Voices Campaign echoes the demands of human rights activists, prisoners of conscience, political prisoners, and ordinary Iranian citizens seeking their deserved rights. Those demands are documented here.
Top of List
What is the timeline for completion?
To obtain a million signatures on anything naturally requires a lot of time. However, the petition is only one aspect of the campaign. That portion of the timeline ends when the campaign’s goals are met.
To create an arbitrary timeline would hurt the campaign and limit its effectiveness. We cannot predict what international actors (governments, human rights organizations, and the Iranian authorities) will do, or when. We will continue to advocate for the Iranian people until they are granted their deserved rights.
Top of List
The campaign is independent, non-political and run by volunteers of different nationalities and based in different countries. The campaign’s work is not designed to exist in one geographic area; in fact, the international nature of the campaign lends to its strength. By working in the global arena, the campaign stresses that human rights violations are unacceptable to the world community and no single government or culture directs this initiative. None of the people volunteering their time on this campaign are looking for personal publicity. Some of them are Iranians and they or their families would almost certanily be placed at risk if their identities are revealed.
Top of List
Don’t you know that sanctions only hurt Iranians?
There is evidence to suggest that broad economic sanctions do only strengthen the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), who are quickly becoming the strongest economic power in Iran.
The One Million Voices Campaign does not call for sanctions. What we advocate is humanitarian actions, applied to individuals within the government who are documented human rights abusers, for example barring them from receiving travel visas and freezing their assets. These actions are powerful because they prevent the responsible individuals from doing business in foreign countries, or from representing the regime in the international scene, but do not punish ordinary Iranians. Furthermore, they are a recognition by the country taking the action that human rights abuses are occurring in Iran and that government leaders are aware of and responsible for the atrocities.
It is worth noting that we are strongly opposed to any form of military intervention or aggression against Iran.
Healing the Green Soul
As a therapist who specializes in the treatment of survivors of trauma, I hold a hope one day my services will not be needed because no one has to endure abuse or torture. One of the ways I work to achieve this goal is to speak for those whose voices are not heard. Please join me in supporting the One Million Voices for Iran Campaign to speak for the brave people who have survived the grievous human rights abuses inflicted by the Iranian Regime and bring an end to the oppression of the courageous people of Iran.
- Julianne Davis, creator of Healing the Green Soul, an English-and-Persian-language handbook for supporting victims of violent trauma.
