sects”.39 The same year, President Hassan Rouhani issued a Charter on Citizens’ Rights, a government-endorsed declaration providing guidance for the implementation of the principles, norms and laws stipulated in the Constitution. 40 In 2019, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, despite noting that measures have been taken to improve the situation of minorities, said that they “do not alter the fundamentally discriminatory nature of the Constitution, legislation and Islamic Penal Code of the Islamic Republic of Iran, in particular in relation to the country’s unrecognised minority communities.”41 The authorities frequently resort to provisions under the Islamic Penal Code, which restrict the rights to freedom of expression, assembly and association,42 43 in order to intimidate, arrest and prosecute individuals who peacefully exercise their rights to freedom of expression, association and assembly. These provisions have also been used against journalists and media workers, trade unionists, and lawyers. 44 45 46 47 NGOs have reported that these violations disproportionately target members of minority or marginalised groups, who attempt to exercise their rights to freedom of expression, association and assembly.48 49 50 51 52 53 For example, non-Persian speakers face arrests and prosecution for advocating for education and cultural activities carried in minority languages.54 39 Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, 18 July 2019, https://undocs.org/pdf?symbol=en/A/74/188 40 Report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review Islamic Republic of Iran, 27 December 2019, https://undocs.org/A/HRC/43/12 41 Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, 18 July 2019, https://undocs.org/pdf?symbol=en/A/74/188 42 Articles 262, 286, 498, 500, 513, 610, 639, 700, Islamic Penal Code (2013), English translation, Iran Human Rights Documentation Center, https://iranhrdc.org/english-translation-of-books-i-ii-of-the-new-islamic-penal-code/ and https://iranhrdc.org/islamic-penal-code-of-the-islamic-republic-of-iran-book-five/ 43 See more: ARTICLE 19, Small Media, Human Rights Activists in Iran, Impact Iran, Human Rights Committee, 129th session (Geneva) 29 June – 24 July 2020, https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/Treaties/CCPR/Shared%20Documents/IRN/INT_CCPR_ICS_IRN_42315_E.pdf 44 Ibid. 45 See more: Iran Human Rights, https://www.iranhr.net/en/reports/23/ 46 See more: Iran Human Rights Documentation Center, https://iranhrdc.org/controlled-and-pursued-labor-activism-incontemporary-iran/ 47 See more: Ensemble Contre la Peine de Mort, https://www.ecpm.org/wp-content/uploads/Rapport-iran-2020-gb-070420WEB.pdf 48 See more: Association for the human rights of the Azerbaijani people in Iran, http://www.ahraz.org/association-for-the-humanrights-of-the-azerbaijani-people-in-iran-ahrazs-repot-regarding-the-current-situation-of-the-azerbaijani-arrestees-that-arearrested-during-the-recent-protests-nove/ 49 See more: Kurdistan Human Rights Geneva, https://kmmk-ge.org/sd/annual-report-2020/ 50 See more: United For Iran, https://ipa.united4iran.org/en/prisoner/ 51 Center for Human Rights in Iran, https://iranhumanrights.org/2020/10/more-bahais-begin-serving-prison-sentences-in-iransimply-for-their-beliefs/ 52 See more: Joint submission to the Human Rights Committee from All Human Rights for All in Iran, Association for Human Rights in Kurdistan – Geneva, Association for the Human Rights of the Azerbaijani People in Iran, Iran Human Rights Documentation Center, OutRight International, Siamak Pourzand Foundation, Small Media, Impact Iran, 2020, https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/Treaties/CCPR/Shared%20Documents/IRN/INT_CCPR_NGO_IRN_42317_E.pdf 53 “Iran arrests 29 linked to protests against compulsory hijab laws”, New York Times, 2 February 2018. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/02/world/middleeast/iran-hijab-protests-arrests.html 54 For more, see , The Association of Human Rights in Kurdistan-Geneva’s (KMMK-G) : https://kmmk-ge.org/sd/ and Association for the Human Rights of the Azerbaijani people in Iran (AHRAZ): https://t.me/AhrazHumanRights 5