The Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran has not strengthened aspects of the 1985 Press Law to ensure that persons are protected from acts that impair the free communication of information and ideas about public and political issues between citizens. B. The Special Rapporteur urges the Government to reconsider aspects of policies that undermine the rights of individuals to associate and assemble with like-minded persons for the purposes of promoting peaceful activities The Iranian legal framework contains numerous provisions that effectively restrict and undermine the rights of individuals to associate and assemble. Article 27 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran17 ostensibly protects the right to freedom of peaceful assembly; however, the right is only protected if it is not “in violation of the fundamental principles of Islam.” There is no clear definition or criteria that defines what constitutes “fundamental principles of Islam,” which in effect grants the State with significant discretion to restrict the rights that contain such condition. Article 40 of the Constitution further allows for restrictions of rights, including peaceful assembly, if their exercise is deemed “injurious to others” or “detrimental to public interests.” Similar provisions restrict the right to freedom of expression online through the criminalization of vaguely worded offences such as the “dissemination of lies” and what is deemed to offend “public morality and chastity.”18 These restrictions can also be found under Article 2 of the Law on Political Crimes, adopted in 2016, which stipulates that participation in an unauthorized assembly, even if peaceful, can effectively be considered a political offence.19 Further, Article 4 of the law forbids assemblies motivated by religious, ethnic or racial issues. Article 26 of the Constitution guarantees the right to freedom of association and stipulates that “No one may be prevented from participating” in parties, societies, professional associations or religious societies. However, Article 26 does not protect the right of religious minorities not recognized under the Constitution to associate as religious societies. Additionally, although the Constitution protects the right to freedom of association, such guarantee only applies if it does “not violate the principles of independence, freedom, national unity, the criteria of Islam, or the basis of the Islamic Republic”. Such vaguely worded conditions grant Iranian authorities significant discretion to restrict individuals’ right to association. Similar provisions are reiterated under the Law on the Activities of Political Parties and Groups, which also asserts Government’s control over associations and gatherings in Iran. For instance, Note 1 to Article 6 of the law reads as follows: “All groups are required to report their mission statements, founding charters, the identities of the members of their leadership commissions and subsequent changes in 17 Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran, English translation, https://irandataportal.syr.edu/wp-content/uploads/constitutionenglish-1368.pdf 18 “Islamic Republic of Iran: Computer Crimes Law,” ARTICLE19, 2012. https://bit.ly/1RecP6R 19 The 2016 Law on Political Crimes, available at: https://rc.majlis.ir/fa/law/show/968421 3