In his July 2020 report, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran raised serious concerns over recurrent arrests and detentions of HRDs solely for carrying out their legitimate work. 34 35 36 The Special Rapporteur also stated that he was “alarmed at the ongoing repression of women human rights defenders who object to compulsory veiling.”37 Since 2016, the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) has found at least 38 cases of arbitrary detention in the Islamic Republic of Iran. Despite these opinions, many remain in detention as of January 2021.38 Individuals found to be arbitrarily detained in the Islamic Republic of Iran by the WGAD include but are not limited to: Mr. Arash Sadeghi (Opinion no. 19/2018), Ms. Golrokh Ebrahimi Iraee (Opinion no. 33/2019), Ms. Atena Daemi (Opinion no. 83/2018) notably based on the exercise of their right to freedom of opinion, expression and peaceful assembly. Despite the existence of several mechanisms that ostensibly accept complaints regarding violations of citizens' rights, such as the Article 90 Commission of the parliament (established based on Article 90 of the Constitution, offering a mechanism to citizens to file complaint against any of the three branches of power) and the Oversight Bodies for the exercise of Citizenship Rights in the country's provincial courts, there is no evidence to suggest that complaints to these bodies are independently reviewed and investigated.39 Additionally, as the State relies on the Iranian legal framework to repress the rights to freedom of expression, assembly and association, access to justice is particularly limited. The Islamic Republic of Iran has not released all those arrested for the peaceful exercise of the rights to freedom of assembly and of opinion and expression, including those arrested during the protests in December 2017 and January 2018. Individuals linked to the 2017 protests continue to face reprisals from Iranian authorities. For example, Mr. Ruhollah Zam was executed in December 2020 on the charge of” spreading corruption on earth” on the basis that he allegedly inspired the 2017 protests.40 34 Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, January 2020, https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Countries/IR/Report_of_the_Special_Rapporteur_on_the_situation_of_human_rights_in_the_ Islamic_Republic_of_IranA4361.pdf 35 See more: United for Iran, database of Iran’s prisons and political prisoners available at https://ipa.united4iran.org/en/ 36 See more: EN-Human Rights Activists News Agency, https://www.en-hrana.org/?s=activists 37 Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, January 2020, https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Countries/IR/Report_of_the_Special_Rapporteur_on_the_situation_of_human_rights_in_the_ Islamic_Republic_of_IranA4361.pdf 38 See more: United for Iran, https://ipa.united4iran.org/en/prisoner/ 39 Joint submission to the Human Rights Committee, Abdorrahman Center, Iran Human Rights Documentation Center (IHRDC), Impact Iran and Human Rights Activists in Iran, 2020, https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/15/treatybodyexternal/Download.aspx?symbolno=INT%2fCCPR%2fICS%2fIRN%2f42313 &Lang=en 40 OHCHR News, https://www.ohchr.org/en/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=26603&LangID=E 4