Monthly Report – An Overview of the Human Rights Situation in Iran in Jul-Aug 2016

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

An Analytical Overview on the Human Rights Situation in Iran Jul-Aug 2016

The systematic violation of human rights in Iran continued in the month of Mordad of the Persian calendar year, 1395 (Jul-Aug, 2016). The violations of human rights continued in this month with 68 executions in the provinces of Alborz, Khorasan Razavi, Khouzestan, Fars, Qazvin, Kordestan, Kermanshah, Golestan, Markazi, Gilan, Hormazgan, and Western Azerbaijan.

Execution

Unfortunately there was significant number of executions in this month. Some of the most noted reports regarding the execution of prisoners in the month of Mordad included confirmed execution of 20 prisoners; complementary report on the execution of Sunni prisoners in Rajayee-Shahr prison of Karaj; the execution of Mohammad Abdollahi and at lest 6 more prisoners in Uroumieh; the execution of Reza Abdollahi, the former police officer in Mashhad; the execution of 3 prisoners in connection with the “Hamidieh case” in Ahwaz.

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

Religious and Ethnic Minorities

The violations of the religious and ethnic minorities’ rights continued in this month. The most notable cases were the arrest and unknown location of a couple in Maragheh; the arrest of Balouch citizen in the mountain of Van; the arrest of Behzad Ghanbari in Gharaziadin in Azerbaijan; the arrest and beating of people in Ardebil.

In this month, the continuous suppression of Baha’is and violation of their rights was continued but there fewer violation reports compared to last year. Some of the most notable reports in this month include the arrest and unknown situation of Yashar Rezvani, the Baha’i citizen; unauthorized burial of a Bahai citizen  in Tabriz in a nonoperational cemetery.

Regarding the violations of Sunni minorities’ rights, there were several reports including: the missing seminary student contacted his family from the Ministry of Intelligence detention center in Chabahar.

There were also some reports on violations of rights of Christian minorities and new converts including the unknown situation of 11 Christian new converts in Isfahan; the arrest of three Christian citizens of the Republic of Azerbaijan by the Revolutionary Guard forces in Tehran.

Children

Regarding children’s rights, there were a couple of reports, the most notable of which were the trial of two teenagers in juvenile court; sever child abuse in an affair case; cases of compulsory marriages; more details on the suicide of an eleven years old girl in Kamyaran; unregistered marriage of children.

Women

In the category of women rights, there were several reports of assaults against Iranian women who have been continuously suppressed and deprived of their rights. Some of the most notable reports on women rights violations in this month were a report published by the Amnesty International regarding the continual suppression of Iranian women by the government with allegation of anti-government activities; the permanent low level of female employment in Iran; ban on female cycling in the city of Marivan.

Labor rights

In this month, there were many reports related to the labors’ rights movements or violations of labor rights including summoning of 13 employees of Iran-Chouka company to the court following employer’s complaint; 10 months overdue payment for the employees of Qazvin carpet company; many employees facing months of outstanding payments in the municipality of Khoramabad and the mineral water production factory of Damash in Gilan; workers of the Sugar company in Yasouj: “we can’t even buy bread for our families”; Ebrahim Madadi, was sentenced to 5 years and 3 months in prison; a court summoned two labor activists; the labor activists of Asphalt Tus were summoned to the court again.

Also, there were 22 reports on workplace fatal accidents in this month.

 

Unions

In the field of trade union and union rights, there were a few reports in this month including shutdown of 92 clothing businesses in Tehran; shutdown of two mine businesses in Amol; 4400 clothing stores closed because of selling the so-called “unusual dress”.

Health and Environment

In the field of health and environmental protection, there were a few reports mainly involving draught and air pollution including forest annexation under the pretext of “dedicated lands”; air pollution; thirty percent of children have rickets in Tehran; Iran’s second largest saline lake is dry; the serious risk of desertification in Fars; sixty percent of Tehran sewage discharges into farm lands.

Specific Attention to the Violation of Human Rights

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

Some of the most noted reports in this month were 4400 closed clothing stores because of selling “unusual clothing”; policing the stores advertising coats with the back post;  one dead, 108 injured, and 70 people arrested following the clashes in Boldaji; two Ardabili citizens detained and beaten; raping a teenage girls with parental consent for forced marriage; honor killing of a 20-year-old woman in Mashhad; the ban on women riding bicycles in the city of Marivan; theaters do not display “Lantoury” art; the documentary of “Mr. Prime Minister” was not released for display; addicted mother: “3-year old Baran and Bahar have a price tag of $ 5 thousands and will not sell single”.

The least underlined human rights violations

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

The least noted reports relevant to the violation of human rights include the arrest and ignorance of Yashar Rezvani the Baha’I citizen; the murder of a transsexual after learning of her sexual identity; the missing seminary student contacted his family from the Ministry of Intelligence detention center in Chabahar; 350 fatal workplace incidents over the last three months of this year; the trial of two teenagers in a juvenile court charged with murder; forests in Iran will completely disappear over the next 30 years; the execution of Mohammad Abdollahi in Orumiyeh Central prison; at least 52 young people (under 32 years) on death row in Tehran’s prison.

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