unionists, lawyers, environmental and abolitionist activists.28293031Individuals targeted include
adherents of recognized and unrecognized religions in Iran,32 including members and leaders of
the Baha’i faith.33 34
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.35 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. Iranian officials have not
published official statistics regarding the number of prisoners charged with national security
crimes.
Since 2016, the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) has found at least 38 cases of
arbitrary detention in the Islamic Republic of Iran, including individuals accused of national
security and propaganda against the state related crimes. Although there have been sporadic
releases,36 many remain in detention as of January 2021.37
Additionally, the WGAD “has repeatedly found a practice in the Islamic Republic of Iran of
targeting foreign nationals for detention”.38 Despite the Working Group opinions concluding that
their detention is arbitrary, foreign and dual nationals Mr. Siamak Namazi39 and Mr. Mohammad
28
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
29
See more: Iran Human Rights, https://www.iranhr.net/en/reports/23/
30
See more: Iran Human Rights Documentation Center, https://iranhrdc.org/controlled-and-pursued-labor-activism-incontemporary-iran/
31
See more: Ensemble Contre la Peine de Mort, https://www.ecpm.org/wp-content/uploads/Rapport-iran-2020-gb-070420WEB.pdf
32
See more: United For Iran, https://ipa.united4iran.org/en/prisoner/
33
Center for Human Rights in Iran, https://iranhumanrights.org/2020/10/more-bahais-begin-serving-prison-sentences-in-iransimply-for-their-beliefs/
34
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
35
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
36
Recent releases include the one of Ms. Narges Mohammadi, United For Iran, https://ipa.united4iran.org/en/prisoner/2340/
37
Including but not limited to: Mr. Arash Sadeghi (Opinion no. 19/2018), Ms. Golrokh Ebrahimi Iraee (WGAD Opinion no.
33/2019), Ms. Atena Daemi (WGAD Opinion no. 83/2018). See more: United for Iran, https://ipa.united4iran.org/en/prisoner/
38
Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, Opinion No. 52/2018, para 82.
39
United For Iran, https://ipa.united4iran.org/en/prisoner/2157/
4