Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions
A/HRC/14/24/Add.1 para 459
Full recommendation:
Finally, without expressing at this stage an opinion on whether the arrests of protestors on 27
December 2009 are arbitrary or not, we would like to appeal to your Government to take all
necessary measures to guarantee their right not to be deprived arbitrarily of their liberty and
to fair proceedings before an independent and impartial tribunal, in accordance with articles
9 and 10 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and articles 9 and 14 of the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
Assessment using Impact Iran human rights indicators 1
A. The right of protestors on 27 December 2009 not to be deprived arbitrarily of
their liberty should be guaranteed.
On 27 December 2009, marking the Ashura holyday as well as the seventh day of mourning
for the cleric Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, mass demonstrations in Iran were met
with violent governmental crackdown.2 3 While the Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial,
summary or arbitrary executions noted about 300 arrests were made on that day,4 other
reports estimated more than 1,000 arrests. 5 Additionally, by the end of the year 2009,
reportedly over 5,000 people were detained after the contested presidential elections in June. 6
Article 32 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran stipulates that “No one may be
arrested except by the order and in accordance with the procedure laid down by law.” 7 This is
reiterated in Article 4 of the revised Code of Criminal Procedure (2015). However, restrictive,
broad and/or vague provisions within the Iranian legal framework fail to fully and effectively
protect the right of individuals not to be deprived arbitrarily of their liberty.8
NGOs have reported a large number of arbitrary arrests against protestors following the
demonstrations during Ashura.9 10 On 30 December 2009, then-UN Human Rights High
Commissioner expressed concern about reports of arrests of political activists, journalists and
human rights defenders. 11 The Working Group on Arbitrary Detention considered cases of
1
CCPR.9.1.S.1; CCPR.14.1.S.1; CCPR.14.1.S.2; CCPR.14.2.S.1; CCPR.14.3.S.1
CCPR.9.1.P.1; CCPR.14.2.P.1; CCPR.14.2.P.3; CCPR.14.3.P.1
CCPR.9.1.O.1; CCPR.14.2.O.2; CCPR.14.1.O.4; CCPR.14.1.O.8
2 https://iranhrdc.org/violent-aftermath-the-2009-election-and-suppression-of-dissent-in-iran/#_Toc252545048
3 UNGA report, September 2010, https://www.ecoi.net/en/file/local/1042102/1226_1291059004_n1053532.pdf
4 https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/G10/145/06/pdf/G1014506.pdf?OpenElement
5 See more : Iran Human Rights Documentation Center, https://iranhrdc.org/violent-aftermath-the-2009-election-andsuppression-of-dissent-in-iran/#_Toc252545048
6 https://www.iranhumanrights.org/2010/07/malek-mohammadi-nasim-ghanavi/
7 https://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6b56710.html
8
See more: Amnesty International, https://www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/MDE1327082016ENGLISH.PDF
9 https://www.iranhumanrights.org/2009/12/release-arrested/
10 https://www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/40000/mde130202010eng.pdf
11 https://news.un.org/en/story/2009/12/325452-iran-un-rights-chief-shocked-deadly-violence
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