Iran human rights report cites ‘huge progress’ despite recent violations

Aveen Karim

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iran submitted on Saturday its midterm report to the United Nations (UN) on the country’s human rights situation, boasting of significant progress, but recent reports by watchdogs documenting human rights violations in the country prove the contrary.  

The report was prepared by the Iranian Judiciary’s High Council for Human Rights, led by Kazem Gharibabadi, and submitted to the UN’s Human Rights Council, in line with a process that requires a review on the human rights situation of all UN member states. 

The report cites “huge progress” being made in Iran in improving its human rights situation and details the measures taken to support religious minorities, women, children, and refugees, Iran’s state media reported on Saturday. The report has not been made publically available.

According to the latest report published in March by the UN special rapporteur on Iran, Javaid Rehman, at least 280 people were executed last year, including at least 10 women, and three “child offenders” – the term used by the UN for a person convicted for a crime as a minor. The report indicated an increase in the execution of women. 

Rehman, who has been denied access to Iran, also observed an increase in executions of people belonging to minority groups in Iran, with over 40 Baluch and over 50 Kurds being sentenced to death last year. The report added that 11 Kurdish prisoners had died in unclear circumstances in prison between January 1 and December 1, 2021. 

Gharibabadi called Rehman out on Twitter, rejecting the findings of the report.

 

Amnesty International welcomed the UN report, adding that Iranian authorities continue their crackdown on protests, using violent force with “complete impunity.”  A draft bill put forward as the “Protection Bill” will further reduce human rights in Iran, Amnesty claims, by enabling the state to take control of the internet.

The European Parliament called on the Iranian government in February to start taking steps to abolish the death penalty and adopted a resolution on the human rights situation in the country. It noted a significant increase in the number of executions since Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi assumed office in August 2021.

Iranian-Australian Shokrollah Jebeli died in the notorious Evin prison last month after authorities prevented him from accessing life-saving medication following torture, despite repeated warnings from his family and from Amnesty.  Imprisoned since January 2020 over financial disputes in Iran, Jebeli was critically ill. The rights watchdog called on the UN to conduct an immediate investigation into the circumstances of this death.

Amnesty International has previously called on Iran’s authorities to provide accountability for deaths of prisoners, like Jebeli, who endured torture and ill-treatment, later being denied life-saving medical attention.

In a report issued by the watchdog in September 2021, Amnesty International said Iranian authorities have failed to account for at least 72 men and women have died in custody since 2010. 

At least 23 Kurdish civilians and activists were detained in Iran last month, the Paris-based Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) said in its latest monthly report, which also mentioned that at least 18 kolbars were injured during March, either due to various accidents or in shootings by Iranian border guards.

Kolbars are semi-legal porters who transport untaxed goods across the Kurdistan Region-Iran border and sometimes the Iran-Turkey border. They are constantly targeted by Iranian border guards.