prosecute minority faith adherents, including non-Shia Muslims, for such activities on charges related to national security.20 21 All the restrictions aforementioned fail to meet requirements of international standards, including the principles of legality and that limitations must be necessary, proportionate and in pursuit of one of a limited number of narrowly-drawn legitimate aims.22 Consequently, the current Iranian legal framework grants authorities’ significant discretion to impose overbroad and vague restrictions on individuals’ rights in contravention of the Iran’s international human rights obligations. Iranian authorities frequently resort to the aforementioned legal provisions in order to intimidate, arrest and prosecute individuals who peacefully exercise their rights to freedom of expression, association and assembly including journalists and media workers, trade unionists, lawyers, environmental and abolitionist activists, 23 24 25 26 reportedly targeting disproportionately members of minorities. 27 28 29 30 31 32 These include adherents of recognized and unrecognized religions,33 including members and leaders of the Baha’i faith.34 35 20 Articles 498 (“establishing a group that aims to disrupt national security”), 499 (“membership in a group that aims to disrupt national security”), and 500 (“spreading propaganda against the system”), Islamic Penal Code of the Islamic Republic of Iran (2013), Iran Human Rights Documentation Center, https://iranhrdc.org/islamic-penal-code-of-the-islamic-republic-of-iran-bookfive/ 21 Rights Denied: Violations against ethnic and religious minorities in Iran, https://minorityrights.org/wpcontent/uploads/2018/03/Rights-Denied-Violations-against-ethnic-and-religious-minorities-in-Iran.pdf 22 Article 19, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights 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 24 See more: Iran Human Rights, https://www.iranhr.net/en/reports/23/ 25 See more: Iran Human Rights Documentation Center, https://iranhrdc.org/controlled-and-pursued-labor-activism-incontemporary-iran/ 26 See more: Ensemble Contre la Peine de Mort, https://www.ecpm.org/wp-content/uploads/Rapport-iran-2020-gb-070420WEB.pdf 27 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/ 28 See more: Kurdistan Human Rights Geneva, https://kmmk-ge.org/sd/annual-report-2020/ 29 See more: United For Iran, https://ipa.united4iran.org/en/prisoner/ 30 Center for Human Rights in Iran, https://iranhumanrights.org/2020/10/more-bahais-begin-serving-prison-sentences-in-iransimply-for-their-beliefs/ 31 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 32 “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 33 See more: United For Iran, https://ipa.united4iran.org/en/prisoner/ 34 Center for Human Rights in Iran, https://iranhumanrights.org/2020/10/more-bahais-begin-serving-prison-sentences-in-iransimply-for-their-beliefs/ 35 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 Documenttion 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 23 3