These charges can carry the death penalty, especially in national security cases.4 Due to this,
minorities might face execution for practicing their culture and/or religion. Impoverished and
marginalized minorities have been over-represented among those executed for drug offenses.
Additionally, Kurdish political prisoners charged with national security offences represent
almost half of the total number of political prisoners. Overall, half of those executed for
affiliation with a political party or a banned group between 2010 and 2018 were Kurds, while a
quarter were Balochis and over one-tenth Arabs. There have also been serious concerns over the
secret executions of Ahwazi Arab prisoners in 2018, as Ahwazi Arab activists have reported that
22 men were executed in secret in 2018.5 Reports received from Kurdistan of Iran alone indicate
that between 2014 and 2019, 449 Kurdish border couriers were shot at and killed by Iranian
border authorities, with another 554 couriers injured primarily due to border shootings.6 Though
the Iranian government doesn’t publish accurate labor statistics which could be used to create
employment to population ratios by target populations, civil society reports suggest that Iran’s
minority populations are constantly being denied equal access to employment opportunities.7
B. Women and girls
Article 3 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran stipulates that it is a duty of the State
to work towards “the abolition of all forms of undesirable discrimination and the provision of
equitable opportunities for all, in both the material and the intellectual spheres.”8 Article 20
guarantees that all citizens of Iran, men and women, enjoy the equal protection of the law and of
rights, “in conformity with the Islamic criteria.” Article 21 emphasizes that “the government
must ensure the rights of women in all respects, in conformity with Islamic criteria”. While these
provisions supposedly safeguard the human rights of women and protect them from
discrimination, such legal guarantees exist as long as they are in conformity with “Islamic
criteria.” According to Article 4 of the Constitution the Guardian Council of the Islamic
Republic of Iran is entrusted with the definition and determination of the framework of what
constitutes the “Islamic criteria” or standards. Among the 12 non-elected members of the
Guardian Council, only the six male clerics directly appointed by the Supreme Leader are
responsible for such task. While the aforementioned provisions supposedly safeguard the human
rights of women and protect them from discrimination, such legal guarantees exist as long as
they are in conformity with “Islamic criteria.” The room of interpretation allowed under the
4
Human Rights Watch: https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/07/10/iran-death-penalty-protest-related-charges
5
Amnesty International, Iran: “Fears mounting for detained Ahwazi Arabs amid reports of secret executions”, 13 November
2018, accessible at: https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2018/11/iran-fears-mounting-for-detained-ahwazi-arabs-amidreports-of-secret-executions/
6
KMMK-G, Human Rights Violations in Kurdistan of Iran, April 2020, accessible at: https://kmmkge.org/sd/wpcontent/uploads/2020/05/KMMK-G-2019_Annual_Report-for-the-Attention-of-the-OHCHR-Desk-of-the-UNSpecial-Rapporteur-on-theSituation-of-Human-Rights-in-Iran.pdf
7
<https://minorityrights.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Rights-Denied-Violations-against-ethnic-and-religious-minorities-inIran.pdf>
8
Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran, https://irandataportal.syr.edu/wp-content/uploads/constitution-english-1368.pdf
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