Monthly Report – An Overview of the Human Rights Situation in Iran in June-July 2016

HRANA News Agency – The Department of Statistics and Publications of the Human Rights Activists Association of Iran has published the following monthly report on the human rights situation in Iran during the period of June-July, 2016 (Persian calendar month of Tir, 1395). This report cannot perfectly and comprehensively reflect the details of human rights concerns in Iran for obvious reasons including the existing governmental limitations and ban on the free exchange of information. It should be noted that in addition to the monthly reports, the Department of Statistics and Publications of the Human Rights Activists Association of Iran publishes a comprehensive and analytical annual report at the end of each year.

An Analytical Overview on the Human Rights Situation in Iran June-July 2016

The systematic violation of human rights in Iran continued in the month of Tir of the Persian calendar year, 1395 (June-July, 2016). The violations of human rights continued in this month with 39 executions in the provinces of Alborz, Sothern Khorasan, Markazi, Gilan, and Western Azerbaijan.

Execution

Unfortunately there was significant number of executions in this month. Some of the most noted reports regarding the execution of prisoners in the month of Tir included the execution of 9 prisoners in Ghezel-Hesar prison; the execution of 2 prisoners in Rasht; the execution of 5 prisoners in Arak with drug trafficking charges; the public execution of 6 prisoners in Rajayee-Shahr prison; the execution of 3 prisoners in the correction center of Karaj.

In contrast to the executions, there were a few cases of pardon and forgiveness in this month when the families of victims exonerated the criminals.

Religious and Ethnic Minorities

The violations of the religious and ethnic minorities’ rights continued in this month. The most significant of these cases were the arrest of Afshin Hussein-Panahi in the city of Dahlegan; confirming the imprisonment decree of a Kurd in Sardasht; the arrest of an individual in Saqez; arrest and lack of news about four Arab citizens in Ahwaz; the arrest of more than 25 people in Ardebil; massive wave of arrests in the Kurdish speaking areas by the security forces of the Revolutionary Guard.

In this month, the continuous suppression of Baha’is and violation of their rights was continued with several reports including very short appeal court (only few minutes) for the Baha’i’s condemned to 193 years imprisonment; the arrest of Afshin Seyyed-Ahmad the Baha’i citizen in Rajayee-Shahr prison; five years imprisonment decree of a Baha’i citizen in Shiraz; destroying Bahai’s cemetery in the city of Ghroveh.

Regarding the violations of Sunni minorities’ rights, there were several reports including the arrest of a Sunni clergy in the religious school of Darololoum Makki in Zahedan; the attack of security forces to the Sunni Mosque of Pounak in Tehran; Summoning the Sunni Friday Prayer’s Imam to the office of intelligence service in Zahedan.

Children

Regarding children’s rights, there were a couple of reports, the most notable of which were a women raping a 12 years old boy; selling girls and boys for only 10 million Touman (about $3000); a father continuously raping his daughter and lack of reaction from the local court; raping children in football schools.

Women

In the category of women rights, there were several reports of assaults against Iranian women who have been continuously suppressed and deprived of their rights. Some of the most notable reports on women rights violations in this month were honorary killing of a 20 years old girl by her brothers in Mashhad; Judicial retort with respect the female cyclists who are considered “Bad-Hijab” (i.e. not having appropriate clothing) in Torghabeh-Shandiz.

Labor rights

In this month, there were many reports related to the labors’ rights movements or violations of labor rights including dismissal of 211 workers; uncertainty amongst 200 workers following the temporary closure of Kashi-Zarin factory; imprisonment of the workers, who were seeking their wage, in a dog cage by the employer; only 17 steel worker of Zagros Kurdistan are working; designing the reform of labor law in favor of employers; 180 employees of two factories lost their job.

Also, there were 12 reports on the fatal work place incident in this month.

Unions

In the field of trade union and union rights, there were a few reports in this month including shutdown of Shiraz Greenland entertainment center because of involvement in MedLink project; one year imprisonment for the truck drivers’ representative protesting against corruption in the national transportation system; shutdown of a daycare center because of having a swimming pool in the schedule.

Health and Environment

In the field of health and environmental protection, there were a few reports mainly involving draught and air pollution including draught in the Nehbandan wetland in South Khorasan; draught in the Hash-Dasht Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari; the residents of 150 villages in the city Babil do not have clean drinking water.

Specific Attention to the Violation of Human Rights

In this section of this monthly report, we highlight the most controversial and publicly sensitive cases of violations of human rights in Iran in the month of June-July 2016. It is obvious that more attention does not necessarily indicate the magnitude of the violations of human rights in that specific category.

Some of the most noted reports in this month were shutdown of a daycare center because of having a swim pool; a 16 years old bride was murdered by her husband; the supreme leader’s representative prohibited women from attending the sport complexes; Mitra Hajjar, the famous actress, is banned from appearing in the National TV; the government associated movie licensing agency banned the movie “Delighted; Eradtmand Nazanin, Bahareh, Tina” playing in the theater; the judge told the mother of a tortured newborn baby: “go live with him. I will take care of the problem if he kills the baby”; raping the children in football school; concurrence with the time of President’s trip, some of the Yaresan activists started a protest by sewing their lips; Azita Rafizadeh, a mother was imprisoned because of her religious belief.

The least underlined human rights violations

In contrast to the reports indicated in the previous section, many human rights reports received little or no attention from social media, bloggers, Internet activists, who are considered key contributors of the public opinion. It should be note that this unintentional or intentional negligence has resulted in further spread of human rights violations in Iran.

The least noted reports relevant to the violation of human rights include massive wave of arrests in the Kurdish speaking areas by the security forces of the Revolutionary Guard; the arrest of 25 Azeri citizens in Ardebil;  the arrest of 6 individuals charged with spying allegations; the execution of 6 prisoners in Rajayee-Shahr prison; the execution of 9 prisoners in the Ghezel-hesar prison; the execution of five prisoners with charges of drug trafficking in Arak prison; 190 cases of child abuse; %40 increase in violence against spouse in the Soutern Khorasan province.

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