Category: News

Kurdistan Province: Four Citizens Detained by Security Forces in Marivan

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Ethnic Minorities, Freedom of Expression
Ako Chavegi, Foad Feizi, Kajvan Feizi, Marivan, Shirko Sohrabi

On May 4, 2021, four citizens were detained by security forces and taken to an unknown location in Marivan.

According to HRANA, the news agency of Human Rights Activists, quoting Kordpa, on the evening of Monday, May 4, four citizens from the “Darsiran” neighborhood in the city of Marivan were detained by security forces without a court order. Kajvan Feizi, Foad Feizi, Shirko Sohrabi, and Ako Chavegi were detained after they protested violent persecution from a religious extremist group. Their current location is unknown.

Pictured above: Kajvan Feizi (top right) , Foad Feizi (top left), Shirko Sohrabi (bottom left), and Ako Chavegi (bottom right)

Sistan and Baluchestan Province: Three Civilians Killed in Military Shooting on Khash Road

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Ethnic Minorities
Baluchestan, Civilians Killed, Military Shooting, Sistan and Baluchestan

Three Iranian citizens lost their lives as a result of military forces’ reckless firing in the Pigol area, close to Khash city, on May 2, 2021.

According to the Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), quoting the Baluch Activists Campaign, on Sunday, May 2, 2021, military forces’ reckless shooting killed three citizens on the Khash road, 30 km out of the Pigol area. The three killed have been identified as 45 year-old Hamid Gomshadzehi, 20-year-old Nazir Gomshadzehi, and 20-year-old Osman Gomshadzehi.
This is by no means the first incident of police brutality from Iranian military and security forces. Despite a clause in Article 7 of the Law on the Use of Firearms by Officials at necessary cases, which states that officers “should target the leg, as much as possible, and be vigilant that their actions do not cause death and/or harm third parties who are not involved in the incident”, there stands a long history of officers fatally shooting civilians.
According to the report,  the three men were pulled over in their pickup truck on suspicion of carrying drugs, and killed shortly thereafter. The indiscriminate firing was carried out by drug agents without a stop order.
 

Iranian Labor rights activists and workers face ongoing rights violations: A Statistical Look at the Situation of Iranian Workers over the Past Year

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Labor and Guilds
International Labor Day, workers

On the occasion of International Workers’ Day, or May Day, Human Rights Activists in Iran (HRA) highlights the ongoing denial of the full enjoyment of workers’ rights in Iran; namely workplace discrimination, child labour, violations of the right to form and join labor unions and the suppression of the right to peaceful assembly and association often resulting in unfair trials, arbitrary detention, and torture at the hands of Iranian officials. The following article provides a brief overview of the situation of labour rights in Iran as well as identifies several individuals known to be responsible for violating the rights of Iranian workers’ and labour rights activists. The noted violations are in stark contrast to Iran’s International human rights obligations (including ratified ILO Conventions, CRC, ICCPR, and ICESCR) and therefore should not go unpunished.

The Situation of Labour Rights in Iran

 

The Right to Form and Join Labour Unions

In the past year, a total of 593 workers’ protests and 738 trade union protests have reached the media and or civil society organizations.

Among the most important labor events in Iran over the past year the following workers’ protests can be mentioned; Haft Tappeh sugarcane workers, Kut-e Abdollah Municipality, Heavy Equipment Production Company (HEPCO) in Arak, railway technical lines and buildings, and the union protests of teachers, retirees and social security pensioners.

Over the past 12 months, various cities in Iran have witnessed various forms of protest movements by Iranian workers. A wide range of workers have taken to the streets due to non-receipt of their monthly salaries and disregard for their insurance claims, and some of these workers have gone on strike and protested for up to 30 months of wage arrears. Thus, 114 labor strikes and 3 union strikes have taken place.

The level of cohesive demand of different sections of the working class has been unprecedented in the past year. Repression and sabotage and non-recognition of the rights of trade unions and independent labor organizations, arrest and imprisonment of several labor activists, as well as the denial of the right to protest were among the reasons for the dispersal and disorder of some labor rallies and protests.

Many workers have been summoned, arrested or convicted on charges such as holding a peaceful rally on International Workers ‘Day, protesting against low wages, signing statements in support of trade unions, posting photos of workers’ demonstrations on the Internet or receiving invitations to attend world trade union meetings.

At least 37 workers and labor activists have been arrested in the past 12 months. Among the most important of these arrests are the arrests of four Haft Tappeh workers’ activists, five Kut-e Abdollah Municipality workers, six participants in a rally in support of the Haft Tappeh workers, and tens of nurses and teachers.

Additionally, 46 labor activists were sentenced to 636 months in prison and 3,108 floggings, 51 people were summoned to judicial and security authorities, 1,331 were fired or suspended from work, 4,224 were unemployed, 28,493 uninsured workers and 4,224 uncertain of their work situations.

Also, in the field of unions and syndicates, a total of 47 arrests of union activists, 30 months’ imprisonment for 2 union activists, 50 summonses to judicial-security authorities and 132 cases of closure of places have been reported.

Both the ICCPR (Article 22) and ICESCR (Article 8), to which Iran is a State party, guarantee the right to form and join labor unions. However, under Iranian law, there exists no express right to form labor unions that are independent of the State. Claiming ‘security concerns’, workers may only be represented by a select group of State sanctioned bodies. Nonetheless, groups like the Haft Tappeh Sugar Cane Workers’ Syndicate and others continue to form and gather to protest widespread violations of labour rights. The Haft Tappeh Workers’ Syndicate is a union responsible for the organization of several protests regarding violations of workers’ rights – notably, withheld wages, unfulfilled promises, and the arbitrary detention and torture of many of their members.

The violations against the Haft Tappeh Workers’ and others are not only in contrast to the core human rights treaties to which Iran is a State party but also ILO Conventions. As a founding member of the International Labor Organisation (ILO), the Islamic Republic of Iran was one of the first countries in the sub region to join the organization. Iran has ratified 13 ILO conventions including five of the eight so-called core conventions. These conventions are legally binding upon signature.

In addition to poor working conditions labor rights activists are increasingly peacefully protesting discriminatory practices in the workplace, minimum wages set below poverty lines as well as increasingly low pensions, only deepening the economic hardship felt across the country.

Discrimination in Iranian Law

Iran’s national legislation remains discriminatory as a matter of law. Although the Iranian Constitution includes protection for labour rights, all legislation must be in line with Islamic principles (Article 4). This interpretation of the law allows for women and religious and ethnic minorities to face increased discrimination in the workplace based in Islamic principles. Likely in part due to these practices, the World Economic Forum’s 2020 Global Gender Report placed Iran at number 147 out of 153 for economic participation and opportunity.

Child Labour

The number of Working Children in Iran is between 3 to 7 million, while this figure is estimated at 20,000 for Tehran, yet considering that most working children do not have proper identifications; it is not possible to provide a more accurate statistics regarding the actual number of working children in Iran.

National legislation prohibits children under the age of fifteen to work. However, in practice, child labour remains present at an alarming rate. Iran’s obligations under the Convention on the Rights of the Child prohibit child labour in any form. In addition, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child has expressed grave concern at the alarming number of children employed in hazardous conditions. Iran should ensure full compliance with international child labor standards, including in the CRC and relevant ILO Conventions.

Women in the Workplace

Prohibition of child labor and the provision of free education for children, the establishment of the highest level of safety standards in the workplace, the elimination of discriminatory laws for migrant women and workers are other demands of the working community.

Despite the fact that Iranian women workers are described as the cheapest labor force in the country, the employment situation of women is more precarious than men, and at the same time as noted above they have far less legal protections, salaries and benefits.

Female workers have less bargaining power than their male counterparts. At the same time, production and industrial units are less inclined to employ married women, and in some cases employ single women with a commitment not to marry or become pregnant.

The situation of working women in small workshops is much worse. Half of the workers in the kilns are women who work in onerous conditions.

Spreading Justice: Labour Rights Violators- at a glance

Omid Asadbeigi, Morteza Bahmani, Sadegh Jafari Chegeni, and Mustafa Nazari, all profiled in Spreading Justice are responsible for countless violations against Haft Tappeh workers, labor rights activists supporting them, and journalists documenting the unrest.

– Omid Asadbeigi, Owner and Managing Director of the Haft Tappeh Sugar Cane Agro-Industry Co (hereinafter Haft Tappeh), is known to have arbitrarily withheld wages of his employees in addition to colluding with law enforcement agencies and the judiciary of the Islamic Republic of Iran to intimidate and exploit workers. These actions are in stark contrast to obligations under the 13 ratified International Labour Organization Conventions to which Iran is a signatory. Significantly, amongst the Conventions ratified by Iran are: The Employment Policy Convention, 1964 (No. 122) and the Protection of Wages Convention, 1949 (No. 95). The ILO Conventions are legally binding upon signature. According to the legal review conducted by HRAs Spreading Justice Legal Consultant, Brian Currin, “It is evident that Asadbeigi does not only fail to comply with the most basic obligation of an employer, namely the payment of wages, but in addition he colludes with law enforcement agencies and the judiciary of the Islamic Republic to intimidate and exploit workers.”

– The Shush Security Police have been responsible for the unlawful arrests and detention of workers and have forcefully suppressed workers’ right to protest and strike. Morteza Bahmani is the head of the Shush Security Police and is responsible for and directly involved in the aggravated assault and torture of workers at Haft Tappeh as well as labor rights activists considered to be their supporters. As stated by SJ Legal Consultant, Brian Currin, “Morteza Bahmani’s actions are the antithesis of what is expected of a State that is a founding member of the ILO and should be condemned by the international community that embraces the practices, ethos and values of the ILO.”

– As the chief of the Shush Judiciary, Sadegh Jafari Chegeni has committed countless human rights violations, particularly workers’ rights violations. According to the workers of Haft Tappeh, Sadegh Jafari Chegeni was one of the main perpetrators of the repression of protesting Haft Tappeh workers. In addition, evidence of his involvement in the economic corruption involving the CEO of Haft Tappeh (Omid Asadbeigi noted above) has also been publicly mentioned by Haft Tappeh workers.

– As the prosecutor of Shousha, Mostafa Nazari has been directly involved in and responsible for widespread human rights violations, especially the rights of workers, as well as the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association. According to numerous reports, he was one of the main perpetrators of the crackdown on the protesting workers of Haft Tappeh as well as their unfair judicial treatment.

*It is of note that the violators highlighted in this report are merely a select few. For more information on the violators within, please view the profiles in their entirety by clicking on the individual names.

A Statistical glance at the Situation of Iranian Workers 2020-2021

In Iran, Labor Day comes at a time when the privatization of state-owned factories and companies continues without regard to the long-term interests of workers.

According to Human Rights Activists in Iran’s (HRA) statistics department, a review of labor reports published in the last 12 months (April 30, 2020 to April 27, 2021), indicates at least 9,367 workers were killed or injured in work accidents.

Injuries:

At least 7577 workers were injured at work in the past 12 months. In 12 official reports or comments at the national and provincial levels, officials reported that 7073 people were injured.  In addition to the official reports, Civil and labor rights activists reported another 504 cases of injuries at work.

Deaths:

At least 1790 workers lost their lives in work accidents in the past 12 months; Officials and relevant agencies reported the deaths of 1,545 workers in 9 official reports, while independent organizations reported 245 deaths of workers that were not mentioned by official reports and authorities.

Actual numbers might be a lot higher

It should be noted, even though statistics above are many, the reality might be much harsher due to lack of transparency of the responsible institutions, many of work incidents are not reported and thus do not make it to the media.

To better understand this issue, “Iran announced that 15,997 people lost their lives in work-related accidents in the last 10 years (2008-2018), 15,767 were men and 230 were women.” This means that an average of 1,600 people has lost their lives each year in work-related accidents over this decade.

According to these statistics, the main cause of death in work accidents is falling from a height. In the last ten years, that is about 41.5% of total casualties at work accidents. Iran ranks 102nd in the world in terms of occupational safety.

 

Occupational Accident Classification Chart

Occupational Accident Classification Chart
HRA’s Statistic Department: Occupational Accident Classification Chart (May 2, 2020 to April 27, 2021)

Wage Arrears

According to statistics compiled by HRA’s statistic Department, at least 34,318 workers have more than 2,313 months of wage arrears.

However, it should be noted that among the published reports on wage arrears, a large number of reports did not mention the number of workers awaiting wage arrears, which is one of the important factors in the impossibility of providing accurate statistics of workers claiming arrears.

Poverty line and low wages

On Sunday March 14, 2021, the Supreme Labor Council implemented a 39% increase in the minimum wage, that is the minimum monthly salaries were increased from 1 million and 912 thousand Tomans to 2 million and 650 thousand Tomans.

Although the Iranian government has refused to officially announce the poverty line, economic activists believe that the minimum wage is still well below the poverty line even after this increase.

Also, the members of the Supreme Labor Council increased the workers ‘food rations to 450,000 Tomans and the workers’ housing allowance to 600,000 Tomans. It should be noted that housing allowance is not implemented yet and to be implemented must be approved by the Council of Ministers and then be included in the next year’s payroll of workers.

These figures are being ratified while the head of the labor faction of the 11th parliament has previously stated that even if the minimum wage rises by 100 percent, workers purchasing power will not return to normal.

In addition, the increase of workers’ salaries by a small amount to 2 million and 650 thousand Tomans has been approved while recently the head of the Supreme Association of Trade Unions, referring to the announcement of the Central bank that poverty line is at 10 million Tomans, said: “Last year the poverty line was 6 million Tomans, which has increased by 4 million Tomans this year.”

On the other hand, Faramarz Tofighi, the workers’ representative in the wage determination committee, had previously said: the acceptable cost of essentials (food, etc) is 6 million and 895 thousand Tomans. This is while in the final agreement, the minimum wage for the year 1400 (Jalali Calendar) is set at only 2 million 656 thousand Tomans, and this is about 3 million Tomans less than what the workers representatives indicated as cost of essentials.

In addition, Ali Asgarian, Deputy of Public Participation of the Relief Foundation, announced: According to the monitoring of the monthly observation center, which defines food poverty line by 1800 sampling points, now the food poverty line is 670 thousand Tomans per person and if the family consider three people with the minimum wage, many working families are below the poverty line or at the food poverty line. He added that about 20 million people in the country need support; “Currently 6.5 million people are covered by the Relief Foundation and there are about 7 million other people who have similar conditions but are not covered by this organization. There are also another 14 million people in need in the country who are not receiving any assistance.”

The minimum wage set by the Supreme Labor Council, according to many experts and labor activists, is much lower than the real inflation rate in the country and lower than the value of the household consumption basket. This is another reason for the continuation of the protests of the working community of the country.

Obligations

Violations against labor rights activists and workers alike are in stark contrast to Iran’s international human rights obligations namely, the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), the Convention on Economic Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR), and relevant ILO Conventions. Iran should ensure full implementation of the noted mechanisms and protect the rights of workers’ by removing discriminatory barriers to workplace participation particularly on women and ethnic and religious minorities. In addition, HRA calls on the international community to hold the above and all perpetrators accountable for their actions against Iranian workers’ ending the widespread impunity enjoyed in the Islamic Republic of Iran.

This Article has been prepared by Spreading Justice team, For further inquiries please contact Skylar Thompson, Senior Advocacy Coordinator Human Rights Activists in Iran (HRA) at [email protected]

Statistical Overview of Work-related Accidents and Deaths in Iran

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Labor and Guilds
Worker died, workers

In honor of the International Day for Safety and Health at work on April 28th, 2021, Human Rights Activists in Iran (HRA) highlights the alarming number of work related deaths and accidents that took place in Iran from May 2020 to April 2021. As a founding member of the International Labour Organization (ILO) and a signatory of 13 ILO Conventions, including  5 core conventions, Iran must be held accountable for failing to comply with obligations and for continuing to allow employers to disregard employee safety in such a way that continually leads to death and injury.

Iran ranks 102nd in the world in terms of occupational safety. According to the Statistics Center of Human Rights Activists in Iran (HRA), from May 2, 2020 to April 27, 2021: work-related accidents due to lack of safety at the workplace or unsatisfactory working conditions resulted in the deaths of at least 1,790 workers. This number is drawn from HRA research pulled from media reports and organizations active in the field.

In addition to the 1,790 reported deaths due to work-related accidents, there are 7,575 reported cases of injuries at the workplace; this number is aggregated at HRAs statistics department through research compiled from media and organizations active in the field. It should be noted that the highest number of work accidents occurred in Khuzestan, Tehran, and Isfahan provinces, respectively. The below chart demonstrates the sectors most affected by the failure to ensure the safety and health of workers’.

The ongoing denial of the full enjoyment of workers’ rights leading to injury and death has also led to frequent gatherings of labor rights activists demanding change. These gatherings are often met with suppression and further exacerbate the violations of labor rights through denial of the right to peaceful assembly and association; and even sometimes leads to arbitrary detention, unfair trials, and torture. Unsatisfactory working conditions leading to alarming numbers of work-related injury and death could be mitigated by implementing domestic policies which protect workers’ safety as well as allow for the transparent monitoring of employers compliance to said policies. Iran should ensure full adherence to international labor standards and uphold the rights of all Iranians in the workplace and elsewhere.

Occupational Accident Classification Chart

Occupational Accident Classification Chart
HRA’s Statistic Department: Occupational Accident Classification Chart (May 2, 2020 to April 27, 2021)

 

Announcing Spreading Justice: A database of human rights abusers in Iran

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Other
human rights violators, Spreading Justice, Spreading Justice database

HRANA – For fifteen years HRA has maintained a victim-centric approach to documenting and reporting on human rights violations in the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI); The primary focus has been to document rights abuses and highlight the crimes perpetrated against victims. Through the years, while perpetrators have enjoyed widespread impunity, victims have endlessly struggled for justice. 

On the occasion of the International Day for the Right to the Truth Concerning Gross Human Rights Violations and for the Dignity of Victims, and alongside the adoption of the resolution on the situation of human rights in the IRI at the 46th session of the Human Rights Council, HRA launches Spreading Justice, a database of human rights violators in Iran. 

At Tuesday’s closing of the Human Rights Council, organizations, member States, and activists alike called for an end to impunity in Iran.  Spreading Justice was created to equip the international community with a tool to work towards holding perpetrators accountable, increasing both social and political pressure, and ending the widespread impunity that is currently enjoyed throughout the country.

The database, housed at www.spreadingjustice.org, includes unique profiles of both individual and institutional violators; those well known as well as those that seemingly fly under the radar. 

Who is included in the database?

While all known violators will be included, Spreading Justice is primarily focused on new human rights violations. While many individuals or institutions included in the database have been committing violations for several years, there are oftentimes recent events that have contributed to their place in the database. By placing a focus on recent events, researchers are better positioned to collect, document, and fact-check information on the violations in question. 

Along with profiles of individual violators, such as Masoud Safdari, there are also profiles for institutional violators like the Tehran Islamic Revolutionary Court. Profiles of institutional violators are linked to the profiles of affiliated individuals, both individual violators, as well as individual and group victims. This feature aims to aid in establishing connections for research purposes. Similarly, when users click on a victim’s name, they are directed to a list of any violators within the database that may also be affiliated.  

While the existing profiles are complete, users are able to aid in the development of profiles by anonymously submitting additional information. Informed users are encouraged to submit both missing information and information on violators not currently included through an anonymous, easy to use and secure form. All information submitted through this form is verified for authenticity before being added to the database. Utilizing a tool created by a German University, users are also able to submit information on a wide array of physical appearance indicators. Facemaker, the tool mentioned above, mocks a virtual drawing of the violator based on user submissions. These submissions are compiled for internal comparative analyses. 

HRA researchers have spent countless hours collecting, documenting, and verifying the information within the database. All of the information included has been through a strenuous fact-checking process and is verified for authenticity prior to being added. New profiles will continue to be added to the database in real-time as information is collected and verified. 

All of the information, documents, and reports collected on violators are both online and stored internally via PDF. Requests for documents can be made through the Contact Us page. 

How are the violators profiled?

Over the years, HRA has learned what information is most necessary for stakeholders when working towards holding violators accountable. The lessons learned were taken into consideration when building out the database. The individual violator profiles, where available, include a photo or photos of the violator, evidentiary documents (including witness or victim testimony and/or relevant multimedia), verified articles written by reputable media outlets that have mentioned the violator by name, and a detailed legal review written by Brian Currin, a leading expert in international human rights. One can also find information on work history, current residency, travel history, and educational background. 

The profiles include basic information such as full name and any alternative spellings, date of birth, place of birth, and any current institutional affiliation. If a violator has known family members, such as a spouse or child, they are listed by name. Additionally, there is information on physical appearance including, eye color, hair color, height, and weight. Certain aspects of the basic and physical information are categorized into one of three levels of certainty: exact, partial, and approximated. Information categorized as exact is verified and precise. Partial is listed when some part of the information provided is unknown at the time of writing. The approximation category is used when HRA researchers have used approximating techniques with available information to offer a range. Institutional Violators are profiled similarly. Users also have the ability to toggle between both unit and date conversions. 

Violators are tagged and searchable by documented victims, identified rights violations, and any relevant institutional affiliation. All of the profiles are available in a downloadable PDF format. Download links are located at the bottom of all violator profiles alongside a form to submit any missing information. 

How does one use the database?

Spreading Justice is available in both English and Farsi. Users can search the database utilizing a variety of tagged violation indicators including torture, the right to life, labor rights, women’s rights, social rights, prisoner’s rights, the right to peaceful assembly, freedom of expression and thought, and more. These searches enable those focused on specific violation types to filter. One can also search tags by institutional affiliation such as the Tehran Islamic Revolutionary Court or the Iranian Cyber Police among others. The database is also searchable by victim name to assist lawyers or researchers working on specific cases. There is additionally an option to search by keyword. Users can find the main search tool on the Spreading Justice homepage. 

Not simply a database

Spreading Justice is not simply a database, it also offers resources on Iranian power structures and judicial systems, unique reports and analyses on human rights violators in Iran, as well as statistical overviews including a breakdown of the situation of human rights in Iran by province and violation type. 

Similarly to the profiles, all of the information found at spreadingjustice.org including statistics, resources, and reports will be updated regularly. 

 

____

HRA encourages readers to share the database with their networks. For any additional information on Spreading Justice please contact Skylar Thompson, HRA Senior Advocacy Coordinator at [email protected]

 

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After attempting suicide; A report on the latest situation of Siamak Moghimi in Great Tehran Penitentiary

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Prisoners
behnam mahjobi, Siamak Moghimi

HRANA – Siamak Moghimi, Political Prisoner imprisoned at Great Tehran Penitentiary who was arrested during the nationwide November 2019 Movements was transferred from quarantine to the public ward, today Monday March 15, 2021. Earlier on Wednesday 24th February 2021, Siamak Moghimi had attempted Suicide by Cutting his Wrist and abdomen. Although he was saved from bleeding and dying after being sent to the hospital where he recieved numerous internal and external sutures, yet he spent the last 18 days in prison quarantine in poor conditions. Despite suffering from a mental illness and a long hospital stay before his arrest, with the negligence of Authorities Mr. Moghimi is still serving his sentence in Great Tehran Penitentiary.

According to Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), Today Monday March 15, 2021, Siamak Moghimi, Political Prisoner imprisoned at Great Tehran Penitentiary who was arrested during the nationwide November 2019 Movements was transferred from quarantine to the public ward.

According to a source close to Mr. Moghimi’s Family, despite that the wrist and abodman of Mr. Moghimi had received multiple internal and external sutures after his attempted suicide, yet he has been transferred from hospital to the Quarantine Ward of Great Tehran Penitentiary, and without any facilities and medical care he has been imprisoned in harsh conditions. It is said that Mirza-Aghai the head of a division, has not signed his papers and therefore he has been kept in the quarantine.

It is said that since Mr. Mirza-Aghaei, the head of the division 9 and 10 of the Great Tehran Prison, took office, every administrative correspondence of the prisoners lasts for 20 days. This used to be done on a daily basis.

Siamak Moghimi was taken to the hospital late night on Wednesday, 24th February, following a suicide attempt by cutting his wrist and abdomen. Despite Mr. Moghimi suffering from a mental illness and his long hospitalization before his arrest, yet by the negligence of the authorities, he is still serving his sentence in the Greater Tehran Prison.

According to an informed source, Mr. Moghimi had attempted suicide being influenced by Mirza-Aghai’s Words, who had told those arrested in relation to November 2019 protests “you have no rights”. By forming a disciplinary council in the prison and disciplinary cases for these prisoners, Prison officials are threatening them with deprivation from furlough, and Not being entitled to parole. This action has created additional psychological problems for some prisoners.

Siamak Moghimi was arrested by the agents of Sarallah Base of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) during the November 2019 protests in Parand city and was transferred to the detention center of this organization. After the interrogation process, he was transferred to Great Tehran Prison.

Mr. Moghimi’s charges were delivered to him at Parand, and after his case was sent to the 24th Branch of the Revolutionary Court of Tehran headed by Judge Amouzadeh, he received 10 years of imprisonment for charges such as “gathering and collusion”, “propaganda against the regime”, “insulting the supreme leader”, and “insulting the president”.  According to Article 134 of the Islamic Penal Code, the most severe punishment, i.e. 5 years in prison, will be applicable to him.

Mr. Moghimi had previously on 25th January 2020, had attempted suicide after coming to know of the verdict of 10 years of imprisonment for him.

The arrest, conviction, and continuation of Mr. Moghimi’s detention took place while, a week before his detention he was hospitalized for a long time in a psychiatric hospital, and his imprisonment exacerbated his condition.

It should be noted that the November protests are a series of nationwide protests that began on Friday, November 15, 2019, with the announcement of an unprecedented increase in gas prices in dozens of cities in Iran with the unprecedented presence of protesters in the streets which continued for several days. Mohammad Javad Koulivand, a Karaj MP, said the protests took place in 719 locations across the country. Seyyed Hossein Naghavi Hosseini, the then spokesman of the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission of the parliament, also announced that the number of detainees in the protests was about 7,000. And according to various human rights groups, hundreds of people were killed during these protests.

Rouhani 8 Years On: The Situation of Women’s Rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran

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Prisoners, Women
8 march, Akram Nasrian, Alieh Matlabzadeh, Asrin Darkaleh, banafsheh Jamali, Child Marriage, Compulsary Veiling, FMG, Hoda Amid, International Women's Day, Maryam Mohammadi, Mojgan Keshavarz, Monireh Arabshahi, Nahid Shaghaghi, Najme Vahedi, Nasrin Sotoudeh, Nasrin Sotudeh, Raha Askari-Zadeh, Rouhani Presidency, Saba Kord-Afshar and Yasaman Aryani, Saba Kordafshari, self-immolation, women political prisoners in iran, women's rights activists in iran, women's rights in iran, Yasaman Aryani

HRANA – On the occasion of International Women’s Day, Human Rights Activists in Iran highlights the situation of women’s rights in Iran during the 8 year term of President Hassan Rouhani. The following report includes an 8-year statistical overview of the most pressing human rights issues women are facing in the country. The report also introduces the brave women’s rights activists that are currently imprisoned or are facing imprisonment.

Women and girls in the Islamic Republic of Iran face widespread and systematic discrimination in areas touching nearly all corners of their lives. Discrimination against women is abundantly present in matters of family law, criminal law, education, employment, and social and cultural life. However, in the face of state-sanctioned discrimination, women in Iran are leading the charge, playing a primary role in defending their rights, standing up and demanding change; unfortunately, this is not without consequence.

Although many were hopeful, 8 years on, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has done little to improve the lives of women in Iran. In fact, from August 2013 to March 2021, there have been 72 cases of self-immolation, 3,048 suicides, 20 claims of workplace discrimination, 2 reported cases of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), 553 honor killings, 33,210 child marriages (girls under the age of 18), and 460 reported acid attacks against women. On the occasion of International Women’s Day 2021, Human Rights Activists in Iran (HRAI) highlights some of the most pressing women’s rights issues today and throughout the 8-year Rouhani presidency, as well as the 22 Iranian women’s rights activists targeted over the past 8 years, who have faced harassment, torture, ill-treatment, arrest and arbitrary imprisonment for speaking out against the instruments of oppression working against them every day.

 

International Framework

 

The situation of women’s rights in Iran falls short of nearly all international human rights standards and obligations. While Iran is not a State party to The Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), they remain obligated as a State party to other international mechanisms which protect against gender inequality and discrimination, including: The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), the International Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). Despite these obligations, women and girls remain unequal in both law and practice and according to the World Economic Forum’s 2020 Global Gender Gap Report, Iran ranked 148 out of 153 countries, only coming in ahead of The Democratic Republic of the Congo, Syria, Pakistan, Iraq, and Yemen.

 

Women’s Rights in Iran

 

Compulsory Veiling

Amidst wider social upheaval, compulsory veiling is one of the more well-known women’s rights issues in Iran. The Human Rights Council has stated that any laws regulating what women wear ‘violate [a] State’s obligation under the ICCPR’. Yet, in both law and practice women who choose not to abide by compulsory veiling laws face unrelenting punishment. Under law, women can be fined up to 500,000 rials and/or face up to 2 months in prison. In practice however, they are increasingly charged with crimes such as ‘moral corruption on Earth’, a charge which carries up to 10 years imprisonment. Imprisonment in any regard relating to compulsory garments is a violation of article 9 of the ICCPR.

Cultural Rights

 Article 15 of the ICESCR recognizes the ‘right of everyone to take part in cultural life’. Nonetheless, Iranian women are banned from both singing and dancing in public and although it is not written into the law it is customary that women are also prohibited from attending sporting events. While there have been few occurrences which allow for women’s access to sporting events, access remains segregated and largely unequal.  From 2013 to 2021, at least 147 women were denied entry to sports stadiums. Additionally, 4 female athletes were deprived of traveling outside of the country to compete due to unequal and discriminatory marriage and family laws. The Committee on Economic Social and Cultural Rights has stated that ensuring the equal right of men and women to the enjoyment of cultural rights is a mandatory and immediate obligation of State parties (general comment No.16 (2005), para. 16).

Marriage and Family

Inconsistent with obligations under the ICCPR, Iranian women face discrimination in almost all aspects of family life including in marriage, divorce, custody, and guardianship. The ICCPR also protects the freedom of movement, yet women in Iran face widespread limitations. While women under the age of 40 require the permission of their husbands to travel outside of the country, married women require permission from their husbands; in fact, married women are not permitted to apply for a passport without their husbands’ prior approval—they’ve also no say in their place of residence.

Under Iranian law women are viewed as subordinates to both their spouses and male family members. This affects a woman’s right to obtain her desired employment, as husbands have the right to prevent their wives from taking up certain employment should they deem it inappropriate (against “family values”). Additionally, wives are required, under law, to provide for a husband’s sexual needs; if they should not, a husband in all cases has the exclusive right to a divorce, without question, while women face unconscionable hurdles in the same respect. Should a divorce occur, the father becomes the lawful guardian of a child; in the case of a fathers passing, guardianship is passed to the paternal grandfather as stated in Iranian Civil Code.  The Human Rights Council has stated that inequality in marriage is a violation of Article 23.4 of the ICCPR. (HRC general comment no.  28) including in the dissolution of such and with regard to the issue of custody.

 The Right to Education

 According to the CEO of the Society for Protecting the Rights of the Child (SPRC), approximately 1 million children living in underdeveloped and impoverished neighborhoods of Iran are deprived of receiving an education. In addition to being left out of school for societal reasons such as poverty, the lack of a birth certificate and the need to work in lieu of attending school are among contributing factors. Girls, in certain cases, are deliberately deprived of receiving an education. From 2013 to 2021, 4,142 female students were reportedly deprived of receiving an education due to early marriages, in certain cases as early as age 9, as well as a lack of permission from their male guardians to attend school. These numbers fly in the face of international standards as well as obligations under the CRC.

 

Women’s Rights Activists 

 

An overview

 Between August 3, 2013, and March 2, 2021, a total of 84 women’s rights activists were arrested, 8 of whom were men. Additionally, 22 were sentenced to a total of 1,627 months of imprisonment, 8,800,000 Tomans in fines, and 148 floggings. The courts in this regard, carry out sentencing in ways that fail to meet international fair trial standards.

The charges placed upon them by the judicial authorities include:

➡️ 11 charges of “assembly and collusion against the national security”

➡️ 12 Charges of “propaganda against the regime”

➡️ 6 charges of “Performing the ‘Haram’ (Forbidden) act of not wearing headscarf”

➡️ 3 charges of “inciting moral corruption through unveiling”

➡️ 3 charges of “inciting and providing the means for moral corruption”

➡️ 1 charge of “publishing vulgar content on the internet and being present in public without headscarf”

➡️ 1 charge of “spreading moral corruption through unveiling and taking a walk without headscarf”

➡️ 2 charges of “Cooperating with the Hostile Government of United States against the Islamic Republic in the field of family and women’s rights”

➡️ 1 charge of “disrupting public order, on the basis of participating in protest following the death of Farinaz Khosravani”

➡️ 1 charge of “publishing false information online with the aim of disturbing the public mind”

➡️ 1 charge of “disturbing public peace and order”

➡️ 1 charge of “assembly and collusion against national security through cooperation with dissident media.”

➡️ 1 charge of “Insulting Sanctities”

➡️ 1 charge of “being an effective member of the unlawful group the Defenders of Human Rights Center (DHRC), LEGAM (Step by Step to Abolition Death Penalty) and the National Peace Council”

 

Image 1. A Breakdown of the Charges Placed Upon Iranian Women’s Rights Activists Image 1. A Breakdown of the Charges Placed Upon Iranian Women’s Rights Activists from 2013-2021 from 2013-2021
Click on the image to enlarge the chart

 

Imprisoned Women’s Rights Activists

Yasaman Ariyani and Monireh Arabshahi (mother and daughter)

Latest Arrest Dates:

Yasaman Ariyani: 10 April 2019

Monireh Arabshahi: 11 April 2019

Charges and Sentence:

“Gathering and collusion against national security”

“Propaganda against the regime”

“Inciting and providing the means for moral corruption”

Both mother and daughter were Initially sentenced to 16 years imprisonment. Upon appeal, the sentence was reduced to 9 years and 7 months each. Article 134 of the Islamic Penal Code allows for 5 years and 6 months imprisonment in this regard.

Condition: Doctors have indicated that Monire Arabshahi requires a lumbar disc surgery and thyroid biopsy; she has been denied access to medical care.

Prison: After arrest held at Gharchak Prison of Karaj on 13 August 2019 both women were transferred to Evin prisons Female’s Ward. On 21 October 2020 they were transferred to Kachoui of Karaj.

Yasmin Ariyani was transferred to solitary cell on Friday 13 November 2020, following a positive COVID-19 test.

 

Saba Kordafshari and Raheleh Ahmadi (mother and daughter) 

Latest Arrest Dates:

Saba Kordafshari: 1 June 2019

Raheleh Ahmadi: 10 July 2019

Charges and Sentence:

Saba Kordafshari:

“spreading moral corruption through unveiling and taking a walk without headscarf”

“Propaganda against the Regime”

“Gathering and colluding against national security”

Raheleh Ahmadi:

“assembly and collusion against national security through cooperation with dissident media”

“propaganda against the regime”

“inciting moral corruption through unveiling and posting it online” (acquitted)

Saba Kordafshari: – sentenced to a total of 24 years of imprisonment for the above-mentioned charges

Raheleh Ahmadi – sentenced to a total of 4 years and 2 months for the above-mentioned charges

Condition: On 24 December 2020, Ms. Ahmadi was transferred to a hospital to receive an MRI test, which indicated her spinal cord had been damaged due to stress and shock of the news that her daughter (Saba Kordafshari) was exiled to Gharchak prison of Varamin.

Prison: On Tuesday 26 January 2021 Saba Kordafshari was transferred from ward 8 of Gharchak Prison of Varamin to Ward 6, where she was beaten. She is currently housed alongside “violent crimes” prisoners.

 

Mojgan Keshavarz

Civil rights activists opposing compulsory veiling

Latest Arrest: Thursday 25 April 2019. She was arrested at her home.

Charges and Sentence:

Sentenced by Branch 54 of the Appeals Court of Tehran

“Assembly and collusion against national security” 3 years and 6 months imprisonment

“Propaganda against the regime” 7 months imprisonment.

“inciting and providing the means for moral corruption” 5 years and 6 months imprisonment

“insulting the sanctities” received 3 years imprisonment.

Prison: On Saturday December 5th, 2020 she was transferred from the Women’s Political Prisoners Ward of Evin Prison to Gharchak Prison of Varamin.

 

Alieh Motalebzadeh

Photographer and women’s rights activist

Arrest and Prison: Ms. Motalebzadeh was initially arrested on November 26th, 2016 through a phone call by the intelligence ministry. She was interrogated at Ward 209 of Evin Prison (under the control of the intelligence ministry) she was temporarily released on bail of 300 million Toman on December 19, 2016. On October 11th, 2020 she was arrested at the Sentence Execution Unit of Evin Prison to begin serving her sentence.

Charges:

“Gathering and collusion against national security”

“propaganda against the regime”.

Sentence: Tried at the Revolutionary Court of Tehran in 2017 and sentenced to 3 years imprisonment. The sentence was upheld by Branch 36 of the Appeals Court of Tehran headed by Judge Seyed Ahmad Zargar.

 

Nasrin Sotoudeh

Human rights activists and lawyer

Latest arrest: June 13, 2018 at her home

Trial: Tried on December 30th, 2018, in absentia, by Branch 28 of Tehran’s Revolutionary Court

Charges:

“gathering and collusion against national security”

“Propaganda against the regime”

“inciting and providing the means for moral corruption”

“appearing at an interrogation branch without proper Islamic Hijab”

“disturbing public peace and order”

“publishing false information with the aim of disturbing public opinion”

“being an effective member of the unlawful group the Defenders of Human Rights Center (DHRC), LEGAM (Step by Step to Abolition Death Penalty) and the National Peace Council”

Sentence: 33 years imprisonment and 148 floggings

Condition:

– On Tuesday August 11, 2020, through a letter demanding the release of political prisoners Ms. Sotoudeh announced she was going on hunger strike.

– On September 19, 2020, following a heart condition she was transferred from Evin Prison to CCU units at Taleghani Hospital of Tehran.

– On Wednesday September 23rd, she returned to Evin Prison from the hospital.

Mr. Khandan (Ms. Sotoudeh’s husband) has stated that Ms. Sotoudeh did not receive the proper medical care during this time.

– On September 25th Ms. Sotoudeh ended her hunger strike.

* she was transferred from Evin Prison to Gharchak Prison of Varamin on October 20th, 2020

Women’s rights activists at risk of imprisonment  

  1. cases awaiting review

Nahid Shaghaghi, Akram Nasirian, Maryam Mohammadi, and Asrin Darkaleh

Arrests

Akram Nasirian: April 29, 2019

Nahid Shaghayeghi: May 15, 2019

Maryam Mohammadi: July 8, 2019

Asrin Darkaleh: July 28, 2019

All four women were summoned to prison to begin serving their sentence on March 14, 2020

Charges and Sentence: Branch 26 of the Revolutionary Court of Tehran, headed by Judge Iman Afshari, sentenced each woman to 4 years and 2 months imprisonment.

“Gathering and Collusion against national security” each received 3 years imprisonment

“Propaganda against the Regime” each received 6 months imprisonment.

“Performing ‘Haram’ (Forbidden) act of not wearing headscarf” each received 8 months imprisonment.

 

  1. cases where the initial verdict has been issued

 

Banafsheh Jamali

Women’s rights activist

Arrest: In 2017 Ms. Jamali was arrested along with others during the 8th March, International Women’s Day Rally in Tehran, she was released sometime after the arrest.

Charges: “Propaganda against the Regime”

Sentence: 1 year of imprisonment, 4 million Toman fine

Banned from using smart electrical devices (smartphones)

Mandatory attendance at MAVA Counselling in Qom City

* the imprisonment has been suspended for 5 years

 

  1. cases awaiting sentence to be executed

Raha (Raheleh) Askari-Zadeh

Journalist, photographer, and women’s rights activist

Arrest: Raha was arrested on November 29th, 2018, at the Imam Khomeini International Airport (IKIA) while attempting to depart.

Charges: “assembly and collusion against the national security”

Sentence: Initially issued by the Revolutionary Court of Tehran and later upheld by the Appeals Court. 2 years imprisonment

2-year ban from exiting the country

2-year ban from Internet activities

2-year ban from activity in political or journalist groups

 

Najme Vahedi and Hoda Amid

Women’s rights activists

Arrest: On September 1, 2018, both women were arrested separately at their homes.

Charges: “Cooperating with the hostile government of United States against the Islamic Republic in the field of family and women’s rights”

Sentence: Hoda Amid: 8 years imprisonment

2-year ban from joining political parties and groups

2-year ban from being active on the Internet, social media, and in the press

2-year ban from exiting the country

2-year ban from working as a lawyer

Najmeh Vahedi:7 years imprisonment

2-year ban from joining political parties and groups

2-year ban from being active on the internet, social media, and in the press

2-year ban from exiting the country

 

For media inquiries please contact Senior Advocacy Coordinator, Skylar Thompson at [email protected]

 

International Mother Language Day: Limitations, Challenges, and Activism in Iran

Posted on by admin-hr
Ethnic Minorities
Arab, arabic, Azari, Azeri, Baluch, International Mother Language Day, Kurd, Lor, Luri, Mother Tongue, Turk, Turkmen

HRANA – Human Rights Activists (HRA) honors the International Mother Language Day, by bringing attention to the social and legal challenges that non-Persian language speaking, and diverse dialect linguistic activists face in Iran. Iran is a country of cultural and ethnic diversity, where diverse languages, dialects, and accents are spoken across the country. Despite almost half of Iran’s population speaking a language or dialect other than Persian, there is a growing trend of marginalization of non-Persian language and non-centralized dialects and accents, as well as a growing decline of overall linguistic diversity. Some of the main languages and dialects spoken in Iran are Turkic Azerbaijani (Azeri), Arabic, Balochi, Kurdish, Turkmen, Gilaki, Luri, and Mazandarani.
Two of the main systematic discriminations and challenges that non-Persian speaking individuals have been facing in Iran in the past year include deprivation from receiving an education in their mother tongue and challenges in officially naming their children with non-Persian names. Additionally, mother tongue activists are suppressed by the security apparatus and judiciary with the false allegations and labels, including but not limited to secessionists.

Deprivation from receiving primary education in the mother tongue

Despite the diversity of languages and dialects spoken across Iran, the education system promotes Persian hegemony and deprives many non-Persian speaking Iranians from receiving a primary education in their mother language.
This discriminatory approach makes it difficult for many non-Persian speaking children to receive quality education and it deprives them from learning in their own mother languages. More so, the statistics show that access to education in non-Persian speaking regions is significantly lower than the Persian-speaking areas further disadvantaging non-Persian speaking children.
In recent years, despite many objections, the ‘Persian Language Adequacy’ policy was implemented in parts of Iran. According to this plan children’s Persian language comprehension would be assessed and would act as an entrance exam to primary schools. The evaluation is carried out by the Elementary Education Department and Organization for the Education of Children with Special Needs and is added to an existing Health Assessment of pre-school children, which assess physical and cognitive development before entering schools.
‘Persian Language Adequacy’ policy specifically targets regions where the prevalent language is non-Persian, such as West and East Azerbaijan. A mother from Maku whose child has been through this test, told a HRANA reporter last year: “they told us to enroll your child you need to get approval from the ‘Persian Language Adequacy test’. After a 20-minute interview (with the child) they told me he has failed the test and you have to enroll him in the ‘School of Children with Special Needs;’ we objected the result of the assessment. They tested him one more time and this time he passed; nothing had changed but the person who carried out the assessment.” While emphasizing that this is a clear case of oppression of non-Persian speaking people in Iran, she added: “My son has no issues, he speaks fine, he can count, he even knows the alphabet, the only thing is that Persian is not his language. Imagine if we had not insisted for another assessment, he would have been deprived of attending regular schools forever.”
Civil society activists criticize the ‘Persian Language Adequacy’ plan, saying that the implementation of this plan is a violation of Article 15 of the Iranian Constitution which clearly states that while the official Language and writing script of Iran is Persian, the use of “regional and ethnic languages” in addition to Persian is permitted in schools for teaching of literature. Some other critics of this assessment consider it a cruel act of “Language Genocide”.
In March 2020, Branch 43 of the Court of Administrative Justice, following a complaint against the Ministry of Education by lawyer, Masoud Saliti , required the Ministry of Education to carry out its legal duty of compiling, printing, and distributing textbooks and teachings of “regional and ethnic literature” until the end of middle school. This action was to be done with respect to the characteristics of languages and context appropriate to the rural, nomadic, and urban life of each ethnic group.
Some mother language activists consider this ruling important. However, it should be noted that although this verdict was issued, no effective action has been taken to teach ethnic language and literature in Iranian schools.
Despite the promises of officials, especially Hassan Rouhani, during his presidential election campaigns, no concrete and fruitful effort has been made to implement this constitutional principle.
The international community recognizes the importance and necessity of mother tongue education as a fundamental human right and in several treaties and non-binding declarations, including Article 27 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, ratified by Iran in 1975, Article 30 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, ratified in 1995, and The Declaration of the Rights of Persons Belonging to National, Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities,  adopted by the General Assembly in December of 1992 are among the international mechanisms which explicitly detail member states’ obligation to strengthen and teach the mother tongue of ethnicities and nationalities.

The Civil Registry Office opposes naming and registering children under the pretext of “the chosen name is not Persian”

In some cases, civil registration offices refuse to issue identity cards to children on the pretext that the name is non-Persian. This has created many problems for children who are deprived of receiving timely identity documents. Among a myriad of other things, such a deprivation often leads to infants not receiving critical vaccinations.
The Civil Registry Office acts on the basis of a booklet prepared by the government which lists acceptable names and any name out of this booklet is considered “unathorized”. The political and religious restrictions imposed while compiling this book, effectively deprive many citizens of naming their children on the basis of their religious, ethnic or cultural identities in violation of human rights norms. This is a violation of Article 7.1, of the Convention on the Rights of the Child which states: “The child shall be registered immediately after birth and shall have the right from birth to a name, the right to acquire a nationality and as far as possible, the right to know and be cared for by his or her parents.”
In the past 12 months, at least 6 children have been deprived of receiving Identification documents because the of the non-Persian name under which the child was registered. There has been graffiti spotted on walls protesting this act. The below picture reads:

Picture 1; “Children’s names, are not all in one language”

The photo below reads: “Ayil, A political concept.” The phrase was written for the child of Sajjad Jolani, an Azeri Activist who wanted to name his daughter “Ayil” meaning “Awakening” in the Azeri language. The name was rejected for identity registration. Jolani has been told he must choose another name. According to the civil registration of Ardabil Region 1, all civil registration names must be approved by 3 Persian language teachers. As a result, the child is left without registration entering her 7th month.
Ayil appears to have become a symbol for all the Turkic (Azerbaijani) children who have been rejected registrations. The below phrases document the visual protests to such discriminations, they read: “He will remain Ayil” (photo 3), “I am not afraid of Ayil (awakening)” (no picture included).
Picture 2: “Ayil, A political concept”

Picture 3: “He will remain Ayil. #Ayil”

There are many other parents who struggle to register their children with a chosen name in their mother language. Additional examples of names that have been recently rejected registration are: Aanar, meaning wise, Seougi, meaning love, Atakan, and Yaqish. Some of these children are in their 2nd and 3rd year of life still being rejected registration under their given names.

Security apparatus and judiciary oppression of the Mother language activists

Mother language activists face oppression by the judiciary and security apparatus and are often given labels which accuse them, for example, as being secessionists. Many of them are arrested and imprisoned under arbitrary charges of “propaganda against the regime” and “disturbing national security”.

Mother language activists facing charges and imprisonment:

Zahra Mohammadi, Kurdish activist from Sanandaj city was originally sentenced to 10 years of imprisonment for activities regarding teaching in the Kurdish language. This sentence was reduced to 5 years of imprisonment by the appeal court. This sentence was issued by the Fourth Branch of the Court of Appeals of Kurdistan Province, presided over by Judge Mostafa Tayari. Ms. Mohammadi is a member of the Nojin Cultural Association, which works to preserve the environment of Kurdistan, contain fires in the province’s forests and pastures, and teaches Kurdish language. More than 38 Kurdish NGO’s have signed a joint letter to Hassan Rohani, Iran’s President, protesting the 10-year prison sentence.
In part, the letter reads: “If today Zahra Mohammadi, a Kurdish language volunteer teacher, is sentenced to ten years in prison, it is a clear sign of distancing from the rights of (non-Persian) language societies. Us the signatories to this letter, as part of Kurdish civil society activists, protest this ruling, and this protest is a protest to the continued exclusion of Iranian languages from the Iranian education system and considering the language issue a security issue. Our request is your attempt to take the language issue out of the scope of national security issues, to pursue the issue of Zahra Mohammadi’s imprisonment and to take steps towards the realization of the language rights of the Iranian (non-Persian) language societies.”
On Saturday, Feb 20, 2021, a number of civil activists in Sanandaj held a protest in front of the city’s judiciary to condemn the 5 year prison sentence of Zahra Mohammadi.
Fatemeh Tamimi and Maryam Ameri were arrested by security forces on Wednesday, December 9, 2020, and taken to an unknown location. According to an informed source, the two together collected stories, lullabies and songs in Arabic to record oral history from village to village.
On Monday, January 20, 2020, Branch 54 of the Tehran Court of Appeals sentenced Behnam Sheikhi, Akbar Azad, Alireza Farshi, and Hamid Monafi to a total of 8 years in prison and 8 years in exile. Sheikhi, Alireza Farshi and Hamid Manafi currently continue to serve their sentences in prison.
Charges for one of the above defendants include:
Participating in private ceremonies commemorating World Mother Language Day, contacting activists in different cities to organize World Mother Language Day commemoration ceremonies, and launching an online petition asking authorities to prepare the ground for the celebration of the International Mother Language Day. The charges also stem from sending a letter to the Secretary-General of UNESCO in Tehran asking for help from this institution to obtain permission to hold celebrations commemorating International Mother Language Day in Tehran.
Amir Amini was arrested by security forces in Tehran on Feb 21st, 2019, during the street activism in honor International Mother Language Day. In July 2019, he was sentenced by Branch 26 of the Revolutionary Court of Tehran to a total of 9 years in prison on charges of “conspiracy to disrupt national security and propaganda against the regime.” This sentence was reduced to 7 years and 6 months of imprisonment in the appeal stage. Which according to a new law, “serving the longest sentence” 5 years of this sentence are required to be carried out.
Kianoosh Aslani was arrested by security forces in Tehran on 21st February 1997, during activism on street for International Mother Language Day. He was sentenced to 5 years in prison by Branch 36 of the Court of Appeals of Tehran Province in February 2020 on charges of “conspiracy to disrupt national security.”

A photo report on International Mother language day activism in Iran

Despite all the oppression and difficulties mother language activist continue to fight for the protection of diversity of languages as well as demarginalization of non-domiant-Persian languages and dialects. As the International Mother language day approached many graffities in various languages popped up on the walls and streets of Iran. Many of these are written in non-Persian languages. In the City of Tabriz, the mouth of statues were symbolically taped. Some Turkic Azeri language activists have published Azeri textbooks and distributed them to the children of cities of Ardabil, Meshkin, and Urmia.
Graffities:
“Education in mother language is a fundamental right of any human”
“Where is my mother tongue”
“Life without language is impossible”
“Happy International Language Day”
“My language told the truth, they left me without language”
“Mother Language, is dear like mother”
 
.




On Saturday, Feb 20, 2021, on the eve of International Mother Language Day, a number of Azerbaijani civil activists distributed educational books in the Turkic (Azeri) language throughout the city of Urmia.


At the same time, civil activists in Ardabil province distributed educational books in Turkic (Azeri) language in the cities of Ardabil and Meshkin.

 
—
For media inquiries please contact Skylar Thompson, Senior Advocacy Coordinator Human Rights Activists (in Iran) at [email protected]

International Day of Education; an overview of the right to education in Iran in 2020

Posted on by admin-hr
Children, Other, Students
Baha'i, bahaie, barred students, Education, freedom of assembly, International Day of Education, Shad, shad application, studentds, Teachers

Hrana- This report prepared by Human Rights Activists (HRA) honors the International Day of Education by bringing attention to the state of education in Iran, specially during the Covid-19 pandemic and consequent challenges of online education. Furthermore, this report includes a statistical overview of the violations of the fundamental rights of students and teachers, as well as violations of the right to education that took place between 24th January 2020 to 20th January 2021 in Iran.

“Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit.” (UDHR Article 26)

The right to education is a fundamental right that should be available to everyone free of charge, at least for children in the elementary and fundamental stages. However, many students in Iran have been deprived of their right to education due to the lack of facilities and educational spaces, and dilapidated schools. According to managing director of Society for Protecting the Rights of the Children (SPRC), there are approximately 1 million children living in underdeveloped or in impoverished neighbourhoods in Iran, who are deprived of education. Also 49 thousand children do not attend schools because they lack documents such as birth certificate or are active part of the workforce. This statistic does not fluctuate greatly each year however, during the Covid-19 pandemic there has been approximately a three-fold increase in the number of children deprived of basic education, due to lack of proper infrastructure for online education and a sudden shift from classrooms to online schools during the pandemic.

In the university level, in addition to many systematic challenges for getting into universities, many students have been banned from attending higher education due to their religious belief. Students that believe in Baha’i faith are amongst those that are often deprived of either entering universities or completing their university degrees. In addition, on banning students from completing their higher education in Iranian Universities, many teachers and students or individuals that have any connection to the Baha’i Institute for Higher Education (BIHE) have also been arrested and given long prison terms.

Many student and teachers have also been arrested, suspended, expelled, or reprimanded for expressing their thoughts and opinions or for holding peaceful assemblies and publications.

These acts are violation of Freedom of thought and religion, Freedom of opinion and expression, Freedom of Assembly, and the right to education. It is worth mentioning that the right to education includes equal access to higher education for all on basis of merit.

Primary and basic education

Access to basic and primary education has not been equal for all because of various factors, including lack of infrastructure, lack of access for undocumented children, poverty, and cultural and language discriminations. According to the managing director of Society for Protecting the Rights of the Children (SPRC), there are approximately 1 million children living in underdeveloped or in impoverished neighbourhoods in Iran, who are deprived of education. Additionally, 49 thousand children do not attend schools because they lack identification documents such as birth certificate or are part of the workforce.

This statistic does not fluctuate greatly each year however, during the Covid-19 pandemic due to lack of proper infrastructure for online education and a sudden shift from classrooms to online schools across the country, there has been approximately a three-fold increase in the number of children deprived of basic education. According to Minister of Education 3 million and 225 thousand children are deprived of education because of lack of access to internet or devices such as smart phones, tablets and computers.

‘Shad’ online education platform asking for national identification number. Photo: Social Media

Covid-19 pandemic and unequal access to online educational platform of ‘Shad’

With the outbreak of the covid-19 virus and the closure of schools, Education Ministry announced that it would resume educating students via the Internet and using a platform called ‘Shad’. The online platform, which requires Internet, has been criticized by teachers and civil society activists from the beginning of its announcement. The problems of online education in Iran and sudden closure of schools without providing any significant support to deprived students includes, lack of access to reliable internet in many parts of the country specially in rural areas, and lack of financial ability of students and their families to purchase necessary devices such as smart phones for this type of education .

Undocumented children: Another major discriminatory aspect of ‘Shad’ platform is that it requires students to register with their national identification number, which leaves undocumented children without access to primary and basic education.

Children in rural areas: There are also reports from various areas of the country that with lack of proper internet connection children have to climb to high points near their cities to be able to connect to internet and the Shad platform to attend classes.

Children from poor-housing or margins of cities: a great proportion of Iran’s population live on the margins of cities or are living in poor-housing conditions. Children living in these conditions are disproportionately affected by the sudden shift to online education and are further discriminated. According to Assembly of Spatial Planning of the Land, in 2020, 45% of Iran’s population were living in poor-housing or on the margins of cities. He continues, “if we calculate 45% of the 85 million population of the country that is today 38 million people living in the margins of cities or in poor-housing.”

Considering these statistics, almost half of the population of the country are living in conditions that makes online-education inaccessible for them.

Photo: IRNA

University and higher education

Higher education in Iran has limited sits available through a national examination system, where all students who wish to enter university have to pass this exam to enter into universities. Based on participants rank in this exam students will be placed into universities and majors of their choices. This exam is highly competitive and often students do not get accepted into their chosen university or majors. In recent years Supreme Leaders office had announced lower sits available to female students, however female students continue to take up more than half of university sits by higher acceptance rate compared to male students. According to the head of Sanjesh institute responsible for carrying out the national university entrance exam (operating under Ministry of Science, Research and Technology), in 2020, 101 thousand and 912 women passed the national university entrance examination that is 53.6% of all the those who registered.

Photo: FARARU

The following section consist of statistics by the statistics department of Human Rights Activists (HRA)

Methodology: The following statistics have been gathered and prepared by the statistic department of Human Rights Activists (HRA). These statistics consist of aggregation of data from HRA’s exclusive reports and documentation efforts, as well as data gathered from public sources. All the gathered information are fact checked to assure their authentication. This data is not exhaustive as many information and statistics are not available or HRA has not been able to verify their authenticity. However, this is a comprehensive report of the available data that HRA has been able to verify.

University Students

In the one-year period, between January 24, 2020 to January 20, 2021, 7 students were arrested, 3 student’s homes were raided by authorities and their personal belongings were confiscated, and 11 student activists were sentenced to a total of 512 months of imprisonment and 222 floggings.

Violation of the Right to Education: 23 Baha’i students were deprived of continuing their education because of their faith.

Violation of the Right to Freedom of Expression and Peaceful Assembly: 20 students of the Mohaghegh University of Ardabil were reprimanded and suspended from university for gathering and attending the memorial of the victims of flight #PS752 tragedy.

Additionally The student publication of ‘Zed va Forough’ was shut down by authorities.

There has been reports of injuries resulting from the neglect and lack of proper infrastructure at universities and student residencies. On 28th January 2020, 4 students were taken to medical facilities after being poisoned by a methane gas leak from a sewage well at the Buein Zahra Technical University (BZTE) of Qazvin.

In this reporting period 21 student protests took place across the country.

Teachers and Union Activists

In the period of one year between January 24, 2020 to January 20, 2021, 3 teachers were arrested, 13 teachers were sentenced to a total of 334 months of imprisonment, 45 floggings and twelve million and hundred Toman in fines.
On August 10, 2020, a teacher at Jared and Balade a part of Kazeroun city of Fars Province committed suicide by drinking poison and lost his life. The reason behind his suicide has been attributed to failing the adult literacy exam.

 

For media and other inquiries please contact Skylar Thompson, Senior advocacy Coordinator at Human Rights Activists (HRA), Email: [email protected]

HRA Annual Statistical Report of Human Rights Conditions in Iran – 2020

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Annual report, Annual report 2017, Annual report 2018, Annual Report 2019, Annual Report 2020

This report contains the 2020’s analytical and statistical annual report on human rights in Iran, prepared by the Department of Statistics and Publications of Human Rights Activists (HRA). This statistical analysis report presented by HRAI is the result of the daily efforts of this organization and its dedicated members as part of a daily statistic and census project that started in 2009 by this organization.
This annual report on human rights violations in Iran (2020) is the collection, analysis, and documentation of 4472 reports concerning human rights, gathered from various news sources during 2020 [January 1st to December 20th]. Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) has gathered and reported 42%, official or close to the Iranian government sources 45% and other human rights news agencies 13% of all the reports analyzed in this Annual Report.
The following 45-pages includes statistical overviews and related charts on various sections regarding women’s rights, children’s rights, prisoners’ rights, etc. Based on this report, despite the 4% decrease in human rights violations reports in provinces other than Tehran, compared to the last year’s annual report, there is still a major concern on lack of proper reporting and monitoring of the human rights by the civil society in the smaller cities.
This report is the result of endeavors made by courageous human rights activists in Iran who pay a very high cost for the realization of their humanitarian beliefs. However, for obvious reasons (i.e. existing governmental limitations and ban on the free exchange of information and government preventing the existence of human right organizations in the country), this report by no means is free of errors and cannot alone be a reflection on the actual status of human right in Iran. Having said that, it should be emphasized that this report is considered as one of the most accurate, comprehensive, and authentic reports on the human rights conditions in Iran and it can serve as a very informative source of information for human rights activists and organizations working on Iran, to better understand the challenges and opportunities that they may face.

Download the full version of the report

Monitoring

The following map illustrates the number of reports per province made by the human rights organizations and news agencies, this is a direct reflection of the capability of the civil society in each province of the country (2020).

As indicated in the distribution map, there exists a major discrepancy between Tehran, the capital, and other parts of the country in terms of the number of published reports. This is while the census of 2016 reported a population of 13,267,637 in Tehran, compared to a population of 66,658,633 in the rest of the country.

 

Ethnic Minorities

In the field of national and ethnic minorities’ rights, a total of 234 reports registered by the department of the statistics and publication of Human Rights Activists in Iran (HRAI) in 2020. According to these reports, at least 286 people were arrested, and 39 people were sentenced to a total of 1721 months of prison term. from the total of 1721 months of prison terms issued, 1699 months were imprisonment sentences for 36 individuals, and 22 months were suspended imprisonment sentences for 3 individuals. And a total of 88 individuals were summoned by the security and judicial institutions.

Compared to the previous year there has been a 16.6% decrease in the arrest of ethnic minorities and a35 % decrease in imprisonment sentences.

Religious Minorities

In this category, 136 reports have been registered by the Department of Statistics in 2020. According to these reports, 77 arrests, 49 cases of prevention from economical activities, 126 cases of summon by the judicial and security institutions, and 22 cases of depriving and preventing from education, and 69 cases of police home raids, has taken place.
98 individuals of the religious minorities were sentenced by the judicial institutions to a total of 4351 months of imprisonment. Additionally, the ministry of cultural heritage of Tehran and the Municipality of Tehran demolished the Adventist church of Tehran in the past year.

In the field of religious minorities, the Baha’is constitute the highest of the Human Rights reports on religious minority violations with 45%, Sunnis 26%, Christians 15%, Dervishes 4%, Jews and Yarsans 1%, and others 9%, of the total reports. Note that the reports labeled as “Others” are those that did not belong to a specific group of religious minorities.

The number of citizens arrested in the category of religious minorities has decreased by42 % in 2020 compared to 2019, and the imprisonment sentences issued by the judiciary has increased by28.9 %.

Freedom of Expression

In the category of freedom of thought and expression, in 2020, 883 reports have been registered by the Department of Statistics that included 928 arrested individuals; 287 summonses to the judiciary and security authorities; 4 reports of publication banning; 8 cases of conviction for publications.
In 2020, 420 arrestees were sentenced to a total of 22271 months of imprisonment, that includes 386 individuals sentenced to a total 21523 months in prison and 34 individuals received a total of 748 months of suspended prison terms.
34 people to 191 billion and 765 million rials in financial fines, 85 people get 5844 lashes, and 21 cases of deprivation from civil rights have been reported in this category. Additionally, there has been 40 police home raids recorded.

In the field of Freedom of Expression, there has been a decreased of88.8 % in the reports of arrests compared to the previous year. Similarly, sentences issued by the judiciary have increased by46.5 % based on the number of people being tried, and imprisonment sentences were increased by 52.9 % compared to 2019.

Trade Unions and Associations

In the category of the rights of associations and trade unions in 2020, 359 reports have been registered by the Department of Statistics and Publications. This includes 47 members of the trade union were reported being arrested. Also, in this category, 10 individuals have been sentenced to a total of 554 months in prison, 51 cases of summoning to the judicial and security institutions, and 3930 cases of closing the facilities have been reported.
In 2020, at least 329 protests and 3 union strikes were held. Most of these protests were related to salary/wage demands from corporations, bad economic conditions, and lack of proper management of corporations.
In the category of Trade Unions and Associations, there has been a 31 % decrease in the number of arrests and there has been an 89 % increase in the issue of sentences compared to the previous year.

Academia/ Right to education

In the category of violations of academic rights in 2020, 24 reports have been registered by the Department of Statistics and Publication of Human Rights Activists in Iran. This includes 6 students arrested, 20 students were suspended, and as it was also mentioned in the religious rights section of this report 22 students were prevented from continuing their education because of their religion.
In the category of academia and the right to education, there has been a a94 % decrease in the number of arrests. And based on these reports 1 student was sentenced to 60 months in prison.

Right to Life (Death Penalty)

In the category of right to life, in 2020, 241 reports have been registered by the Department of Statistics and Publication of Human Rights Activists Association in Iran. This included 95 death sentences, 236 death sentences were carried out (including 1 execution in public). Based on the announced identifications of some of the individuals executed, 205 were male and 8 were female.
In addition, 2 juvenile offenders have also been executed in 2020 who were under the age of 18 at the time of committing the crime.
According to these reports, 80% of the executions were based on murder charges. Moreover, 5% charged with rape, another 9% with drug-related charges. 4% were charged with “Waging war against God”, also 1% charged with armed robbery,1% Consumption of alcohol.

The highest number of all death sentences issued are comprised of 80% on murder charges, followed by Drugcharges which make up 9% of the cases.

The province of Alborz ranking first in death sentences in Iranian provinces with 19% of all the death sentences issued, that is due to its two populated and important prisons, followed by Razavi Khorasan province with 12% of all the cases.

The Rajai Shahr prison and Vakil Abad Prison holding the highest number of executions in all prisons in Iran.

According to the statistics, about 0.42% of the executions were carried out in public.

Of those executed in 2020, 3% were female, and 87% were male, while the gender of the other 10% is unknown.
These executions reported by independent sources and human rights associations, indicating that 72% of executions are carried out in secret or without any public notice.

In the category of the death penalty, the execution carried out in comparison to 2019 has decreased by4.8 %. The number of execution sentences issued also has decreased by 12%, and the number of public executions has decreased by 92%.

 

Cultural Rights

In the category of violations of cultural rights in 2020, 21 reports have been registered by the Department of Statistics and Publication of Human Rights Activists Association in Iran. This included reports on 27 arrests and 4 individuals were sentenced to 257 months of imprisonment, from this number 3 individuals were sentenced to 253 months of imprisonment, while 1 person was sentenced to 4 months of suspended prison term.
1 individual was summoned to the judiciary and security organizations. Moreover, 2 licenses were revoked, 1 person was banned from public speaking or performing, and 1 person was banned from working.
In this category, arrests have increased by51 % compared to the previous year.

Workers’ Rights

In the category of violations of workers’ rights in 2020, 1318 reports have been registered by the Department of Statistics and Publication of Human Rights Activists Association in Iran. This included 30 arrests. 45 workers activists or workers were sentenced to 183 months in prison, and 42 people received 3108 lashes, and 42 people were summoned to judiciary and security organizations.
During 2020, a total of 2011 months of overdue payment of salaries to workers has been reported. 2105 workers were laid off or fired, 2240 cases of unemployment, 18049 lacked work insurance, 3082 workers waiting for work-related decisions. In addition, 1187 people have lost their lives in work-related accidents, and 3259 workers have been injured while at work. On a global scale amongst other counties, Iran ranks 102nd in work safety.
Also, in 2020, at least 473 worker protests and 99 workers strike took place. most of these protests were regarding wages.
Based on these reports the arrest of workers has increased by56 % compared to 2019.

Children’s Rights

In the category of violations of children’s rights in 2020, a total of 176 reports have been registered by the Department of Statistics, however, it should be mentioned because of secretly in the matter of reporting these incidents there is no accurate statistic in this field. These reports included at least 2205 cases of child abuse, 9 cases of rape and sexual abuse of children, 9 cases of murder of childre, 2 self-immolation, 94 cases of child suicide, and more than
1 million students are deprived of education.
Lack of access to devices for virtual education, Child marriages, poverty, cultural context, population density, etc. in Khuzestan province has led to the highest number of deprivations from education in the country.
As mentioned in the right to the life section, at least 2 minor offenders have been executed in Iran during 2020. Additionally, 3 teenagers were sentenced to a total of 264 months of imprisonment.

During the nation-wide protests, 19 children and 1 children’s rights activist were arrested.

Women’s Rights

In the category of violations of women’s rights in 2020, a total of 81 reports have been registered by the Department of Statistics. These reports reflected. At least 572 women were physically and sexually abused, 13 cases of honor-killings,6 self-immolation, 4 cases of acid attacks, and 1 cases of summoned women’s rights activists to judiciary and security organs.
Based on this report 5 women have been detained for reasons related to women’s rights. At least 2 women’s rights activists were sentenced to 180 months in prison.

Prisoners’ Rights

In the category of violations of prisoners’ rights in 2020, a total of 542 reports have been registered, 53 reports on physical assault of prisoners, 366 reports of deprivation
/neglected of medical care, 109 reports of illegal transfer to solitary confinement, 533 attempted hunger strikes, 289 cases of forced transportation or exile, 228 cases of threatening prisoners, 126 cases of banning prisoners of having visitors, 18 cases of torture, 25 case of deaths by diseases,10 arrestees were killed by prison authorities, and 17 prisoners committed suicide, 40 cases of lack of access to lawyers, 1678 reports of prisoners being held in unsuitable circumstances. Also, in this category, there have been 147 cases of keeping prisoners in an unsure state about their sentence and situation.

Security Forces’ Violence and Citizens’ Safety

Death of civilians

This section is dedicated to the killing or injuring of civilians by the police or military institutions. In 2020, a total of 204 people were shot by the military forces; 74 of the victims lost their life including, 36 Kulbar, 5 fuel-Carriers, 33 civilians. 130 people were also injured by the shots of the military forces, including 109 Kulbar, 16 civilian, 5 Fuel-carriers. Addititonally, 9 Kulbers were affected by climate and geographical factors such as freezing and falling from heights, 4 of whom were injured and 5 Kulber lost his life.

Victims of landmines and explosions

The landmines left from the war threaten the lives of civilians of the border cities each year. Iranian government continues manufacture and planting of the anti-personnel mines, and against the international agreements, it believes that the use of these type of landmines is the only effective way in keeping its vast borders safe.

Based on reports, in the past year at least 10 civilians have lost their lives by landmines in the border areas and 14 other civilians have been injured.

Floggings

The International Covenant on civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) has explicitly banned the use of inhuman, or degrading punishments, such as flogging. However, based on the gathered reports in 2020, flogging sentences were carried out for at least 14 accused who were sentenced to a total of 874 floggings. The sentence of 3 of the accused for a total of 222 floggings were carried out in public.

It should be noted that, the judiciary has also issued a total of 23946 flogging sentences in the past year.

Intervention in personal affairs of civilians

In 2020, at least 209 civilians were arrested for attending or hosting personal gatherings and parties. This number is based on 8 official reports of the country.

Additionally, in 2020, at least 180 group of civilians –mostly consist of those who have lost money (exacerbated economically) or those whose civilian rights have been violated– have organize protests for not being able to fulfill their asking and demands. These protests took place in 24 provinces. Tehran, Eastern Azerbaijan, Khuzestan, and Khorasan Razavi were the provinces with most protests.

Sentences

In 2020, the judiciary of the Iranian government, including the initial court and appeal, issued 29841 months of imprisonment. These reports included; 1721 months of imprisonment for the ethnic minorities, 4351 months of imprisonment for religious minorities; 22271 months of imprisonment in the category of freedom of expression, 554 months of imprisonment in the category of Unions, 183 months of imprisonment for workers, 257 months of imprisonment in cultural category, 264 months of imprisonment in children’s rights category, 180 months of imprisonment in women’s rights category, and 60 months of imprisonment for students.
These statistics only include the court sentences that indicated detailed information or characteristics of the verdicts.

A total of One hundred and ninety-four billion and seven hundred and forty-six million rials in fines and 9182 lashes has been issued in 2020.

In 2020, the number of convictions of citizens or activists has increased by35 %. Moreover, the convictions of religious minorities increased by 28.9%, ethnic minorities decreased by 35%, and freedom of expression has been increased by 52.9%, unions increased by 89%, in the cultural field increased by 38%, workers decreased by 73%, women’s rights decreased by 80%, and in the students category decreased by 89%.

Arrests

In 2020, the security forces arrested 1426 individuals because of political or civil rights-related activities.
The statistical analysis exhibited 47 case of arrest in the trade union category, 286 arrests in the category of ethnic minorities, 77 arrests in the category of religious minorities, 928 arrests in the category of freedom of expression, in the children’s rights category 20 arrests, 6 arrests of students in the category of Academia/right to education, 27 arrests in the field of culture, and 30 arrests in the category of workers’ rights.
Moreover, 5 women were prosecuted for their activities, and promotion of their lifestyle; 3 of whom were arrested for modeling, and the other two for participating in sports.

In 2020, the number of arrests decreased by84 %. According to these reports, the number of arrests decreased in ethnic minorities by 16.6%, culture increased by 51%, religion minorities decreased by 42%, unions decreased by 31%, students decreased by 94%, workers’ rights increased by 56%, and in the category of freedom of expression decreased by 88.8%.

 

This is the brief version and the full report is available for download in PDF format.

Human Rights Activists (in Iran)

Department of Statistics and Publications

December 2020

For media inquiries please contact Skylar Thompson, [email protected]