IRAN - Javaid Rehman’s new report on human rights situation in Iran

IRAN - Javaid Rehman

15 February 2022 :

Javaid Rehman’s new report on human rights situation in Iran
This report is scheduled to be presented at the next meeting of the UN Human Rights Council, February 28 – April 1, 2022.
The human rights center of “No to Prison- No to Execution” quoting UN website on Thursday, February 10, 2022, reported that the new report of Mr. Javaid Rehman, the Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Iran was published. The report focuses on responding to human rights abuses.
Some of the issues covered in this report are the imposition of the death penalty, arbitrary deprivation of the right to life, arbitrary detention, restrictions on freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association, deprivation of the right to adequate living standards, government response to coronavirus pandemic, status of women and minorities.
UN Special Rapporteur Javaid Rehman’s new report also cites the government’s widespread use of lethal force, including in peaceful demonstrations in 2009, 2019, 2020, and 2021, which have led to alarming numbers of deaths, arrests and enforced disappearances, trials, and executions.
The report also refers to the 1988 massacre and the 1981 executions, which have not been the subject of any investigation or response to date. But the government is pursuing a formal policy to erase these events from the memory of the history.
The report also points to the downing of the Ukrainian airliner.
In its report, “The Special Rapporteur urges the international community to call for accountability with respect to long-standing emblematic events that have been met with persistent impunity, including the enforced disappearances and summary and arbitrary executions of 1988 and the November 2019 protests.”
The introduction to Mr. Javaid Rehman’s new report, states:
The present report is submitted to the Human Rights Council pursuant to Council resolution 46/18. In the report, which contains information collected up until 1 December 2021, the Special Rapporteur provides an overview of some of the most pressing human rights concerns in the Islamic Republic of Iran and examines key obstacles to accountability for gross violations of human rights. This is followed by recommendations to the Government and to the international community.
The Special Rapporteur would again like to highlight that, despite repeated requests, he has not yet been granted access to the Islamic Republic of Iran. He reiterates his request to the authorities to allow him to undertake visits to the country in accordance with his mandate.
The Special Rapporteur was able to engage with victims, their families and members of civil society and collect information, most notably through submissions and interviews. The Special Rapporteur emphasizes his support for the vital work being done by civil society actors and organizations despite the harassment and intimidation to which they have been subjected. Their work is indispensable to the Special Rapporteur as he seeks to fulfil his mandate.
The high risk of reprisals that individuals and organizations face for engaging with international human rights mechanisms represents in itself a serious human rights concern but is equally a distressing sign of how the authorities view international human rights mechanisms and the individuals engaging with them. The Special Rapporteur calls on the Government to open the space for engagement, particularly with domestic actors and civil society.
In the report, the execution of juvenile offenders is addressed, and the two minors executed, Sajjad Sanjari and Arman Abdul Ali, are mentioned.
The report also points to the excessive use of force. Including the use of live ammunition in peaceful demonstrations, including the “Uprising of the thirsty” in mid-July 2021 in more than 20 cities in Khuzestan, in which at least eight people, including two children, were killed.
“9 Testimonies, photographs and video footage show widespread use of unlawful force against protesters, many of whom belong to the Arab minority. Security forces, riot police and armed plain-clothes agents fired live ammunition, leading to the killing of at least eight individuals, including two children, and the injuring of a large number of others.” Isfahan’s demonstration in November 2021 is also recalled in which military agents used tear gas and weapons, leading to head and eye injuries of protesters with pellet bullet and arrest at least 200 people.”
The report also mentions the killing of fuel and border porters in the Baluchi and Kurdish borders of Iran, and the suspicious deaths in Iran regime’s prisons, including the death of Shahin Nasseri in late fall of 2011 and the murder of Amir Hossein Hatami under torture. It has mentioned 11 Kurd prisoners who have lost their lives at prison due to unknown reasons.
Prison conditions are another subject of this report. It specially focuses on two elite students, Ali Younesi and Amir Hossein Moradi, who are arbitrary kept in ward 209 of Evin Prison under the control of the Ministry of Intelligence and security (MOIS) since their time of their detention in early spring of 2020: “Individuals arbitrarily arrested on national security charges are held in these facilities for long periods of pretrial detention. Students Ali Younesi and Amirhossein Moradi have remained arbitrarily detained in section 209 of Evin prison, under the control of the Ministry of Intelligence, since their arrest in April 2020.”
“The Special Rapporteur is concerned at the lack of measures to guarantee the security of inmates, including from attacks by other prisoners. In October 2021, political prisoners Shapour Ehsanirad, Pouya Ghobadi, Esmail Gerami, Akbar Bagheri and Akbar Shirazi were seriously injured after being attacked by violent-crime prisoners.”
Addressing the confinement conditions of Afkari brothers the report says: “The Special Rapporteur reiterates his grave concern at the situation of Vahid and Habib Afkari, who have remained in solitary confinement since September 2020, reportedly to prevent them from sharing information about their situation and that of their brother Navid Afkari, executed in September 2020. The brothers have been denied telephone contact with their family, access to a lawyer and medical care.”
“The Special Rapporteur underlines that this form of treatment amounts to torture under international human rights standards, and regrets that the authorities, in their response to a communication on the situation of the two brothers, did not address this issue. The Special Rapporteur remains concerned at the harassment of their family members, in particular in the context of their attempts to hold a memorial service.”
The report also names five other prisoners of conscience Mohyeddin Ebrahimi, Mohyeddin Tazehvared, Davoud Jabbari, Ebrahim Khalil Sedigh Hamedani and Salar Khalil Sedigh Hamedani – and three non-political prisoners – Farzin Ghaderi, Amir Mohammadi and Kamal Khakzad – are still being held in the detention facility.
Another part of Javaid Rehman’s new report speaks of arbitrary detentions and the status of lawyers and human rights defenders including Javad Ali Kurdi and Payam Dorafshan a human right lawyer.
The report mentions: “Nosrat Beheshti, Hashem Khastar, Mohammadhossein Sepehri and Kamal Jafari Yazdani remain in prison after being convicted to lengthy prison sentences for signing a letter calling for the resignation of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
In the last, the seventy-first paragraph of Mr. Javaid Rehman’s new report, the Special Rapporteur on Human Rights, has stated: “The Special Rapporteur urges the international community to call for accountability with respect to long-standing emblematic events that have been met with persistent impunity, including the enforced disappearances and summary and arbitrary executions of 1988 and the November 2019 protests.”