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 Sep-Oct, 2016 (Persian calendar month of Mehr, 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 Sep-Oct 2016
The systematic violation of human rights in Iran continued in the month of Mehr of the Persian calendar year, 1395 (Sep-Oct, 2016). The violations of human rights continued in this month with 50 executions in the provinces of Alborz, Khorasan Razavi, West and East Azerbaijan, Semnan, Fars, Lorestan, and Hormazgan.
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 Mehr included execution of 8 prisoners in Central Prison of Orumieh; execution of one prisoner in public in Neishabour; execution of 11 prisoners in the prison of Rajayee Shahr; the execution of several prisoners in Ghezel Hesar Prison.
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 of 3 Arab citizens in Ahwaz; the arrest of dozens of Kurdish citizens in the city of Boukan; 19 Arab speaking citizens sentenced with imprisonment and fine.
In connection with the violation of rights of Baha’i citizens, there were several reports on discrimination and harassment of Baha’is including a list of 27 Baha’I individuals deprived of higher education; the arrest of 17 people during one week in Shiraz; the arrest of Manouchehr Kholoosi, the Baha’I prison in Mashhad.
There were some reports regarding the violations of Sunnis’ rights including the arrest and unknown situation of one individual in Serik.
Children
Regarding children’s rights, there were a couple of reports, the most notable of which were murder of a 6 years old child in Mashhad; the death of a 12 years old girl in Mashhad; child abuse, poverty, lack of proper education, torture and dismissal of students; forced marriage of kids and trading triplicates.
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 banning female journalists from reporting female footstall matches; two waitresses raped by the owner of one the most famous restaurants in Iran.
Labor rights
In this month, there were many reports related to the labors’ rights movements or violations of labor rights including one report on five dredgers missing in the city of Sabzevar; more than 100 workers fired in two business units; beating the municipal workers by the employees of Refah Bank employees; the arrest of two protesting workers of construction company of Tehran-North Highway.
In this month, there were also 17 reports on workplace fatal accidents resulting from improper safety measures.
Unions
In the field of trade union and union rights, there were a few reports in this month including shutdown of five photography service shops; the arrest and interrogation of 20 citizens; the arrest and shutdown of active Modeling Business units in Zahedan; shutdown of 80 traditional Café in Zahedan.
Health and Environment
In the field of health and environmental protection, there were a few reports mainly involving draught and air pollution including accelerated process of dryness of Anzali Lagoon; air pollution in Ahwaz reached 17 times above the safe limit; three thousand people die every year due to air pollution in Tehran; the amount of dust reached 10 times above the safe limit.
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 Sep-Oct 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: the arrest and shutdown of active Modeling Business units in Zahedan; shutdown of 80 traditional Café in Zahedan; omitting the name of Balouchestan from school books which resulted in some reactions from the members of parliaments; the arrests of 17 Baha’I citizens in Shiraz; publishing a list of 47 Baha’I citizen banned from higher education; the murder of two six years old kids in Mashhad following domestic violence.
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 of 3 Arab citizens in the city of Ahwaz; the execution of a prisoner in the city of Miandoab; issuing execution decree for two prisoners in Hormozgan; the execution of 7 prisoners in the central prison of Minab; the execution of one prisoner in Taybad; the gradual death of forests in the province of Mazandaran following the transfer of the local water sources; the arrest of two protesting workers of a construction company in Tehran-North highway.
