Monthly Report – An Overview of the Human Rights Situation in Iran in September-October, 2015

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 September-October, 2015 (Persian calendar month of Mehr, 1394). 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 Sep-Oct, 2015

The systematic violation of human rights in Iran continued in the month of Mehr (Sep-Oct, 2015) of the Persian calendar year, 1394. This month began with the executions of 23 individuals in the cities of Ardebil, Bandar Abbas, Shiraz, Rasht, Kazeroon, Qazvin, and Yazd demonstrating a terrible start for the human rights situations in Iran. Some of the most noted cases of executions in this month include the public execution of three prisoners in the prison of Kazeroon; the execution of six individuals in Yazd, most of which were carried out in secret and without public media coverage.

One of the most controversial and noted human rights violations report was the execution of Fatemeh Salbehi, who had killed her husband when he was only 17 years old. Fatemeh was executed when he reached adult age despite the requests and criticisms of local and international human rights organizations. After the implementation of the new so-called Islamic punishments law, this execution was one of the first cases of executions of children who committed crime.  Fatemeh’s executions significantly worsened the human rights situation in Iran.

The good news of this month was suspension of death sentences of 16 individuals one of whom was pardoned after receiving support from a number of celebrities including musicians. In addition, one prisoner was forgiven after spending 12 years in prison.

On the other hand, the violations of the religious and ethnic minorities rights continued in this month, and the most significant of these cases were six months imprisonment for a religious rights activists in the city of Astara; the arrest of a civil rights activist in Meshkin-Shahr; exclusion of more than 400,000 Afghan kids from registration in the Iranian schools.

In the category of violations of Baha’is rights, the human violations continued in this month as usual, and several reports were highlighted in this regard including the trial of three Baha’i citizens in the city of Gorgan and the imprisonment of two Baha’i citizens in the city of Yazad.

In one of the most prominent recent reports about the violations of Baha’i citizens’ rights, there was a report about the annexation of Baha’i’s farms in the city of Semnan.

Regarding the violations of Sunni minorities’ rights, there were a few reports including the arrest of Mamousta Mohammad Baraei and the arrest of six Sunni individuals in Golestan province.

Regarding children’s rights, there was a couple of reports, the most notable of which were trading a one year old girl in the city of Mashhad; the death of two children because of electrical shock; 75,000 kids being deprived of education.

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 in this category were the national soccer team player, Niloufar Ardalan, still trying to retrieve her passport to attend international matches; the arrest of a singer and fashion model in the province of Alborz; the rebuttal of government’s plan to amend the regulations around women rights to leave the country, which was refuted by a parliament representative; Ameneh Bahrami’s request from authorities to receive help and support to improve her deteriorating health conditions after being injured by acid attacks.

In this month, there were several reports related to the labor rights movements or violations of labor rights including fatal incidents at work that resulted in the death of 137 workers in Tehran in the first five months of this year (11 reports only in this month); the imprisonment of Hasan Rasoulnezhad; dismissal of 50 workers of the Carbonate Sodium manufacturing complex; the gathering of discharged employees of the Karoun Sugar Production Company in front of the office of the governor of Khouzestan in Shoushtar; the arrest of a labors rights activists in Tabriz.

In the field of trade union and union rights, there were a few incidents in this month including the arrest of Ramin Zandni, a member of Teachers Union Association; imposing more restrictions on the Clothing Union; taking money off the government employees’ paychecks in the name of supporting the people of Yemen.

In the field of health and environmental protection, there were few reports mainly involving the air pollution and environmental problems including very alarming level of the pollutants and particles (8 times the normal level) in the cities of Abadan and Khoramshahr.

Specific Attention to the Violation of Human Rights

In this section of this monthly report, it is necessary to highlight the most controversial and publicly sensitive cases of violations of human rights in Iran. It is obvious that more attention does not necessarily mean that it is a measure of the magnitude of the violations of human rights in that specific category.

Some of the most noted reports in this month include the arrest of Morteza Nematollahi, one of the members of the international network of Spiritual Leadership – Marjaeiat; acid attach of an Afghan man on his wife in Moshirieh; the arrest of employees of a medical and health support center with charges of torturing and harassing the patients with disabilities; deporting three employees of the Khatamolanbia Hospital of the city of Iranshahr; serious injury of four people after acid attacks in the city of Jolfa.

Moreover, the execution of Fatemeh Salbehi was one of the most notable and controversial reports on the violations of human rights in this month.

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 some of these unintentional or intentional negligence has resulted in further spread of human rights violations in Iran.

Perhaps the least noted violation of human rights report is more than six years of undecided case of seven Sunni prisoners. The following reports also did not receive proper attention: the six prisoners awaiting death row in Karaj; a prisoner who is about to be executed despite receiving pardon from the family of the victim; the execution of six prisoners in Yazd; a prisoner waiting to be executed after 60 days or should pay about $120,000.

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