Monthly Report – An Overview of the Human Rights Situation in Iran in May-June 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 May-June, 2016 (Persian calendar month of Khordad, 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.

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

The systematic violation of human rights in Iran continued in the month of Khordad of the Persian calendar year, 1395 (May-June, 2016). The violations of human rights continued in this month with 36 executions in the provinces of Alborz, Fars, Razavi Khorasan, Tehran, Qazvin, Kohkilouyeh-va-Boyerahmad, Mazandaran, and Hormozgan.

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 Khordad included the public execution of one prisoner in the city of Kowar; the execution of one prisoner in Mazandaran; the execution of one prisoner in Shiraz; the execution of 11 prisoners in Karaj; the public execution of 2 prisoners in Shiraz; the execution of at least 4 prisoners in the central prison of Bandar Abbas.

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 including stopping the execution of 7 prisoners convicted of drug trafficking after regretting involvement in this type of crime and asking for pardon; the pardon of a prisoner after 17 years (the crime was committed when the prisoner was a teenager); the pardon of a prisoner after 7 years.

Religious and Ethnic Minorities

The violations of the religious and ethnic minorities’ rights continued in this month. The most significant of these cases were illegal and harsh suppression of two A citizens in the city of Shoush; the arrest of a Kurd (born in Boukan – Kurdistan) in the city of Nosrat-Abad, Zahedan; lashing, arrest and torture of 26 fans of the East Azarbaijan football club, Tractorsazi – Tabriz; arrest of 6 Sistani individuals in the city of Sarbaz.

In this month, the continuous suppression of Baha’is and violation of their rights was continued with several reports including shutdown  of 25 Baha’I owned businesses in Oroumieh; the arrest of Kayvan Pakzadegan, a Baha’I citizen; The government supported Friday Prayers Imams publicly denounced the Baha’I faith in different cities in Iran.

Regarding the violations of Sunni minorities’ rights, there were several reports including the showdown of one Mosque belonging to Sunni faith in the city of Mashhad; Sunni prisoners of Rajai-shahr prison protested against officials insulting their beliefs; demolishing a Sunni mosque in the road between Kouhbirak and Saravan; the arrest of 8 Sunni citizens in the Kurdish cities of Mahabad and Boukan.

Children

Regarding children’s rights, there were a couple of reports, the most notable of which were more than 6000 students in the province of Golestan abandoned school; about 17% of girls marry in the ages younger than 18; psychological torture of a student in Tehran.

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 the female members of Shahram Nazeri group from a concert; the possibility of dismissing female employees from work; the Friday Prayers Imam of Isfahan indicated that the draught in the Zayandehrood river resulted from women taking picture by the river.

Labor rights

In this month, there were several reports related to the labors’ rights movements or violations of labor rights including dismissal of the mine workers; large number of unemployment amongst factory workers; detaining 24 municipal workers in Ahwaz; summoning and interrogation of Zahed Moradi, a labor rights’ activist; investigating the case of lashing 17 workers in the parliament.

Also, there were 17 reports on the fatal work place incident in this month.

Unions

In the field of trade union and union rights, there were a few reports in this month including shutdown of 50 businesses because of publically breaking the fast and eating in public during the month of Ramadan; beating and torture of 30 truck drivers in Boushehr; shutdown of 27 businesses by security forces in Hamedan; shutdown of 19 clothing businesses in Tabriz.

Health and Environment

In the field of health and environmental protection, there were a few reports mainly involving draught and air pollution including air pollution in the province of Lorestan reaching an alarming level of 17 times above the standard; Zayandehrood river dried out again; the entry of 600 liters per second of wastewater pollutants into the coast of Hormozgan; a village of three thousand people has accesses to drinking water only for 2 hours per day.

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 May-June 2016. It is obvious that more attention does not necessarily indicate the magnitude of the violations of human rights in that specific category.

Some of the most noted reports in this month were shutdown of 50 businesses because of eating in public during the month of Ramadan; beating and torture of 30 truck drivers in Boushehr; a review of the case of a twin brothers committing crime and their different fate; summoning and arrest of Sholeh Ghoodarzi and Rouzhin Ebrahim in the office of intelligence service of Iran in the city of Kamyaran; lashing, arrest and torture of 26 fans of the East Azarbaijan football club, Tractorsazi – Tabriz; the arrest of Kayvan Pakzadegan, a Baha’I citizen; the Friday Prayers Imam of Isfahan indicating that the draught in the Zayandehrood river was a result of women taking picture by the river.

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 execution of 11 prisoners in Rajayee-shahr prison; 6 Sunni prisoners sentenced to death in the Rajayee-shahr prison; three executions in the Ghezel-Hesar prison; the arrest of 6 individuals in the city of Sarbaz; the arrest of 8 Sunni citizens in Mahabad and Boukan; more than 6,000 students in the province of Golestan being deprived of the education.