Impact Iran

The Special Rapporteur is grateful to the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran for its responses concerning Mr. Arzhang Davoodi and Mrs. Yeganeh Salehi. He is following closely further developments on the cases mentioned in the communication. Therefore, the Special Rapporteur would appreciate receiving information on the proceedings against Mr. Arzhang Davoodi and Mr. Jason Rezaian, as well as additional details on the case of Mrs. Yeganeh Salehi, who according to the information provided by the Government was released on bail on 1 October 2014. The Special Rapporteur regrets that the Government did not provide information on the allegations regarding the detention of the other two journalists on the evening of 22 July 2014. He urges authorities in the Islamic Republic of Iran that all proceedings fully comply with international law standards.

Restrictions on the rights of religious minorities in the Islamic Republic of Iran remain deeply concerning. Adherents of recognized and unrecognized religions continue to report arrests and prosecution for worship and participation in religious community affairs, including in private. Measures that exclude religious minorities from legal protections for civil, political, social or economic rights, or that impose special restrictions on the practices or manifestations of religious beliefs continue to violate the obligations of the Islamic Republic of Iran under the Covenant and should be addressed.

Furthermore, the Special Rapporteur would like to refer to General Assembly resolution 63/181, in which the Assembly urges States to step up their efforts to protect and promote freedom of thought, conscience, religion or belief, and to this end, to exert the utmost efforts, in accordance with their national legislation and in conformity with international human rights law, to ensure that religious places, sites, shrines and symbols are fully respected and protected and to take additional measures in cases where they are vulnerable to desecration and destruction. As mentioned, inter alia, in paragraph 4 of the Human Rights Committee's general comment no. 22, places of worship are an essential element of the manifestation of the right to freedom of religion or belief to the extent that the great majority of religious communities or communities of belief need the existence of a place of worship where their members can manifest their faith. Moreover, unlike other forms of violations of the right to freedom of religion or belief, attacks or other forms of restriction on places of worship or other religious sites and shrines in many cases violate the right not only of a single individual, but the rights of a group of individuals forming the community that is attached to the place in question

The Special Rapporteur regrets that she has so far not received a reply from the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran concerning the above mentioned allegations. She would like to recall that the Human Rights Council in resolution 6/37 urges States to take all necessary and appropriate action, in conformity with international standards of human rights, to combat hatred, intolerance and acts of violence, intimidation and coercion motivated by intolerance based on religion or belief, as well as incitement to hostility and violence, with particular regard to religious minorities.

The Special Rapporteur is grateful that the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran replied to the joint communication of 17 October 2008. She would like to reiterate the observations and concerns in her previous report (see A/HRC/10/8/Add.1, paras. 94 and paras. 111-112). The Special Rapporteur again urges the Government to ensure that the Baha'i members, who have been detained for more than 20 months so far, receive a fair trial and in this regard she would like to recommend the presence of independent observers during the trials. Reportedly, the trial of Ms. Fariba Kamalabadi, Mr. Jamaloddin Khanjani, Mr. Afif Naeimi, Mr. Saeid Rezaie, Mr. Behrouz Tavakkoli, Mr. Vahid Tizfahm and Ms. Mahvash Sabet began on 12 January 2010 in Tehran, however, no observers were allowed inside the court at that session

Furthermore, she would like to recall that the General Assembly resolution 63/181 urges States to step up their efforts to eliminate intolerance and discrimination based on religion or belief, notably by taking all necessary and appropriate action, in conformity with international standards of human rights, to combat hatred, discrimination, intolerance and acts of violence, intimidation and coercion motivated by intolerance based on religion or belief, as well as incitement to hostility or violence, with particular regard to members of religious minorities in all parts of the world. In this regard, the Special Rapporteur is very concerned by the continued violations of freedom of religion or belief suffered by members of the Baha'i community. She urges the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran to ensure that the Baha'i members who are currently detained receive a fair trial and she would like to recommend the presence of independent observers during the trials.

The Special Rapporteur urged the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran to take all necessary measures to guarantee that the rights and freedoms of Mr. Mahmoud Mohammad Matin-Azad, Mr. Arash Ahmad-Ali Basirat and Mr. Ramtin Soodmand are respected. She also requested that the Government ensures the compatibility of any new legislation adopted by the Iranian Parliament with international human rights law.

He encourages the Government to amend laws that continue to undermine women’s full enjoyment of civil political, social, and economic rights, including rights in family law, the right to equal access to education and the right to work. Draft legislation currently under consideration that appears to infringe on these rights raises serious concern, and should be reconsidered.

The Special Rapporteur regrets that the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran has not responded to seven communications sent during the reporting period. In the absence of a response and clarification on the cases addressed there in and given the irreversible nature of capital punishment, the Special Rapporteur urges the Government to take all necessary measures to prevent the execution of the subjects of these communications.

The Special Rapporteur thanks the Government for its response, in which it is indicated that the case was under reconsideration and the final verdict had to be issued. Therefore, he would like to urge the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran not to execute Ms. Razieh Ebrahimi.

The Special Rapporteur thanks the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran for its response to this communication. In its response, the Government indicated that Mr. Ali Chibshat and Mr. Seyyed Khaled Mousavi were arrested on charge of conducting terrorist acts. According to the information provided by the Government, their file was considered in a Court in the city of Ahvaz and the verdict was appealed. The appeal Court reconsidered the case and reaffirmed the verdict. In interpreting article 6(2) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the United Nations Human Rights Committee has consistently rejected the imposition of a death sentence for offences that do not result in the loss of life, finding that only cases involving murder meet the threshold of the most serious crimes provision. The Special Rapporteur urges the Iranian authorities to bring its domestic legislation into conformity with the most serious crimes provision under international law, and refrain from any further death sentence or execution in violation of these standards.

The Special Rapporteur notes that 17 communications were sent to the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran during the period under review. He thanks the Government for the responses received to five communications. At the same time, he regrets that the Government did not provide replies to 12 communications, and encourages it to respond substantively to all of them. The Special Rapporteur is particularly concerned about the high number of cases regarding the imposition of the death penalty in the Islamic Republic of Iran in contravention of international human rights law, namely of the most serious crimes provision and the standards on fair trial and due process safeguards. Should these allegations be corroborated, he strongly encourages the Government to stay all executions and commute without delay the death sentences. He also calls upon the Government to bring its domestic legislation and practice in conformity with the international law requirements regarding the imposition of the death penalty in the countries which have not yet abolished it.

He calls upon the authorities to ensure a thorough, prompt and impartial criminal investigation of the death of Mr. Satar Beheshti, as well as to criminally prosecute and punish all those responsible.

He calls upon the authorities in the Islamic Republic of Iran to ensure the highest level of respect of the rights and freedoms of Mr. Younos/Yunes Aghayan.

Should any of the alleged violations of procedural safeguards in the proceedings conducted against him be confirmed, the Special Rapporteur calls upon the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran not to execute Mr. Behrooz Alkhani Aghbarzeh (Mr. Behrouz Alakhani), and commute without delay his sentence.

As a consequence, the Special Rapporteur urges the Government to commute without delay the death sentence against Mr. Aref Hamediyan (Aref Hamidian).

In a press release issued on 22 September 2011, the Special Rapporteur, jointly with the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers and the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, issued a press statement in which they condemned the public execution of the juvenile Alizera Molla-Soltani, expressed concern at the high frequency of drug related executions (see above JUA 20/09/2011 Case No. IRN 12/2011) and reiterated their call for an immediate moratorium on the death penalty particularly in drug related and juvenile cases

The Special Rapporteur deeply regrets that the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran has not responded to any of the seven communications sent during the reporting period. In the absence of a response and clarification on the cases addressed therein and given the irreversible nature of capital punishment, the Special Rapporteur urges the Government to take all necessary measures to prevent the execution of the subjects of these communications.

International law, in particular Article 6(4) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, guarantees the right to seek pardon or commutation of the sentence from the State authorities. Where the diyah pardon is available, it must be supplemented by a separate, public system for seeking an official pardon or commutation.

Merely taking gradual measures to decrease the carrying out of death sentences against offenders who were juveniles is an utterly inadequate approach to complying with your Excellency's Government's obligations under international law, which can only be fulfilled by immediately stopping all executions for crimes committed by persons who were not aged 18 at the time of the offence. Laws permitting the death sentence to be imposed on juvenile offenders are inherently inconsistent with the international legal obligations assumed by the Islamic Republic of Iran and should be promptly repealed.

We urge your Excellency's Government to take all necessary measures to ensure that the rights under international law of Sareimeh Ebadi and Bu-Ali Janfeshani are respected. Considering the irremediable nature of capital punishment and the fact that the death sentence for adultery is incompatible with your Government's obligations under international law, this can only mean suspension of the executions and eventually commutation of the death sentences.

I therefore urge your Excellency's Government to take all necessary measures to guarantee that no one is executed on the basis of a judgment finding him or her guilty of moharebeh, that all death sentences imposed on charges of moharebeh are reviewed, and that the death penalty is no longer imposed on charges of moharebeh.

In view of the urgency of the matter, we would appreciate a response on the initial steps taken by your Government to safeguard the rights of the above-mentioned persons in compliance with the above international instruments.

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.

I would therefore respectfully request your Government to take all necessary steps to ensure that Mohammad Reza Haddadi is not executed tomorrow. Moreover, in order to ensure compliance with the absolute ban of the death sentence against juvenile offenders in international human rights law, the death sentence will have to be commuted.

In view of the urgency of the matter, we would appreciate a response on the initial steps taken by your Excellency's Government to safeguard the rights of the seven men mentioned herein in compliance with your Excellency's Government's international legal obligations

Only the full respect for stringent due process guarantees distinguishes capital punishment as still allowed under international law from a summary execution, which violates the most fundamental human right. We therefore urge your Excellency's Government to take all necessary measures to guarantee that the rights under international law of Messrs Ali Saedi, Walid Naisi, Majid Fardipour (Majid Mahawi), Doayr Mahawi, Maher Mahawi, Ahmad Saedi, and Yousuf Leftehpour are respected. Considering the irreversible nature of capital punishment, this can only mean suspension of the death sentence against the seven men until the question of whether fair trial guarantees were respected has been clarified and the allegations of torture have been thoroughly investigated and all doubts in this respect dispelled.

I therefore urge your Excellency's Government to take all necessary measures to guarantee that Habibollah Latifi, Ehsan (Esma'il) Fattahian and Sherko Moarefi are not deprived of their lives in violation of the obligations your Excellency's Government has entered into under international law. Considering the irreversible nature of capital punishment, this can only mean suspension of the death sentence against them until the question whether the acts they were found guilty of satisfy the international criteria as to what constitutes "most serious crimes" has been clarified.

In view of the urgency of this matter and of the irreversibility of the punishment of the death penalty, it is imperative that your Excellency's Government should take all steps necessary to prevent the execution of Mr Behnood Shoojaee and Mr Safar Angooti. I therefore again urge your Excellency's Government to suspend the executions reportedly already scheduled and expeditiously lift or commute the death sentences imposed against Mr Safar Angooti and Mr. Behnood Shoojaee, as well as all other persons awaiting execution for offences committed before they reached age 18.

In view of the urgency of this matter and of the irreversibility of the punishment of the death penalty, it is imperative that your Excellency's Government should take all steps necessary to prevent the execution of Mr Abbas Hosseini, which if carried out will be inconsistent with acceptable standards of international law. Further, the unsuccessful negotiations so far, for compensation (diyeh) to the victim's family should not form the basis for carrying out the execution of the death penalty. I therefore urge your Excellency's Government to lift or commute the death sentence imposed against Mr Abbas Hosseini.