Iran Human Rights
Iran’s latest presidential election on June 12, 2009, took place against a backdrop of discrimination, worsening repression of dissent and violent unrest. Amnesty International continues to document serious human rights violations including detention of human rights defenders and other prisoners of conscience, unfair trials, torture and mistreatment in detention, deaths in custody and the application of the death penalty. Iran has one of the highest number of recorded executions of any country in the world. » Read more about Iran's post-election protests
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» Iran Activist Brief (pdf)
» Violence against demonstrators marks new presidential term (Persian) (pdf)
» Release 28 Iranians Detained for Peaceful Expression (Persian) (pdf)
Iran's 2009 Post-Election Protests
Since President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was declared the winner in the June 12 elections in Iran, there have been widespread protests against the contested election results. The Iranian authorities have responded with violence and repression.
Tell Iranian authorities that they must not torture detained political opposition figures
Human Rights Concerns
Even before the post-June 12 elections crackdown, Amnesty International had serious concerns about massive human rights violations in Iran. For the past several years, Iranian authorities have been engaged in the brutal repression of Iranian civil society. Targets include labor activists who seek to form independent trade unions, women’s rights activists, in particular those involved with the Campaign for Equality who work for equitable treatment under family law, students, journalists, bloggers, and those who advocate for cultural rights for Iran’s ethnic and linguistic minorities. Hundreds of people are in detention; many of those serving prison terms have been convicted in unfair trials before Revolutionary Courts on vague charges including “propaganda against the state” or “endangering the security of the state.” Iranian authorities have used these vague charges to suppress the right of its citizens to peaceful expression and association. Amnesty International is also greatly concerned about the use of violence by Basij paramilitary and other government agents who break up peaceful demonstrations, as well as the use of torture in detention facilities. Many people have reported having been tortured in order to force them to make public confessions that can be used against them in legal proceedings. Furthermore, Iran executes more people than any other country in the world except for China. Iran executed at least 346 people in 2008. Iran is also the only country in the world that continues to execute juvenile offenders.
CHILD EXECUTIONS IN IRAN
Iran is one of the only countries left in the world today that still executes children and child offenders (those accused of committing an offense when they were under 18 years of age). At least 137 juvenile offenders face execution, but the total number could be much higher as many death penalty cases in Iran are believed to go unreported. At least eight child offenders were executed in 2007. Iran is the only country in the world known to have executed a juvenile offender in 2008. At least eight juvenile offenders were executed in 2008. On 1 May 2009 Delara Darabi was executed by hanging. She was 17 at the time her alleged crime took place. She was the second juvenile offender known to have been executed in Iran in 2009. Behnam Zare was executed on 26 August 2008. He was only 15 at the time the alleged crime took place.
Iranian law allows for the execution of those convicted of murder and other violent offenses, of various political offenses, of drug trafficking, and for crimes against morality such as adultery. Amnesty International is deeply concerned about the unfairness of the legal proceedings that have resulted in the imposition of the death penalty in numerous cases.
On 16 October 2008 the Assistant Attorney General for Judicial Affairs in Iran issued a statement which apparently announced a moratorium on the execution of child offenders in Iran. Unfortuanately, he issued a follow-up statement on 18 October, clarifying that those juvenile offenders sentenced to qesas, or retribution, would still face execution.
» Read more and take action
» Iran: the last executioner of children
WOMEN IN IRAN
Women in Iran have been at the forefront of the human rights movement in that country, advocating on a broad spectrum of ussues. Although their advocacy has consisted of peaceful activies, they have been met with harsh repression from Iranian authorities as part of a recent pervasive crackdown on a wide range of activism. Shirin Ebadi, the Nobel Prize winner and women's rights advocate, has been subjected to increased persecution in recent months, raising concerns for her safety. Click below for more information and to take action on behalf of Ms Ebadi and other courageous human rights defenders. Click above to read Amnesty International's report on persecution of women's rights activists, released on 28 February 2008. » Women at the forefront of human rights activism in Iran
HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS IN IRAN
Bothers, Arash Alaei and Kamiar Alaei, HIV/AIDS researchers
Brothers Arash Alaei and Kamiar Alaei, doctors specializing in the prevention and treatment of HIV and AIDS, were tried on 31 December 2008 for plotting to overthrow the Iranian government and other charges in proceedings that did not meet international standards for fair trial. The Iranian government revealed on 20 January 2009 that Kamiar Alaei had been sentenced to six years in prison while Arash Alaei was given a three-year sentence. » Read more and take action
Masour Ossanlu, labor activist
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Amnesty International, together with a number of other organizations, has been campaigning to secure the release from prison in Iran of Mansour Ossanlu. Mansour Ossanlu is the leader of the Union of Workers of the Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company (Syndica Sherkat-e Vahed). He has been peacefully working to obtain better conditions for workers in Iran and to end discriminatory laws and practices that curtail workers’ rights in Iran.» Call for the release of Iranian labor activist, Masour Ossanlu
Ayatollah Boroujerdi, Prisoner of Conscience
Ayatollah Sayed Hossein Kazemeyni Boroujerdi, a 50-year-old Shia cleric, is currently imprisoned in Yazd Prison in central Iran for his peaceful religious opinions. Amnesty International considers him to be a prisoner of conscience. » Protect Iranian prisoner of conscience from further injustice
Emaddedin Baghi, journalist
Prominent Iranian journalist and human rights defender Emadeddin Baghi was detained in Tehran's notorious Evin Prison on 14 October 2007 on charges of “endangering national security.” Amnesty International believes he has been imprisoned because of his work with his organization the Society To Defend Prisoners' Rights and for his outspoken opposition to the death penalty in Iran.
» Help Iranian journalist Emaddedin Baghi
Parvin Ardalan: Iranian Women's Rights Defender
Parvin Ardalan won the prestigious Olof Palme Prize but was prevented from accepting the award in person by Iranian authorities who pulled her off a plane bound for Stockholm in early March 2008, confiscated her passport and forbade her to leave the country. She currently faces a 3 1/2 prison sentence because of her peaceful activism on behalf of women's rights in Iran. » Support women's rights in Iran
