HRANA News Agency – The Department of Statistics and Publications of the Human Rights Activists Association of Iran has published the following monthly report on the human rights situation in Iran during the period of February-March, 2016 (Persian calendar month of Esfand, 1394). This report cannot perfectly and comprehensively reflect the details of human rights concerns in Iran for obvious reasons including the existing governmental limitations and ban on the free exchange of information. It should be noted that in addition to the monthly reports, the Department of Statistics and Publications of the Human Rights Activists Association of Iran publishes a comprehensive and analytical annual report at the end of each year.
An Analytical Overview on the Human Rights Situation in Iran February-March 2016
The systematic violation of human rights in Iran continued in the month of Esfand of the Persian calendar year, 1394 (Feb-March, 2016), however the number of executions declined in this month.
Execution
Fortunately less people were executed in this month. Reports regarding the execution of prisoners in the month of Esfand included the execution of one prisoner in early morning, Thursday Mrach10th in Qazvin; execution of Hojjat Sadat-Yar, a 38 years old married father of one child; execution of a prisoner in Gorgan with charges of drug trafficking. These executions were covertly carried out without any media coverage.
In contrast to the executions, there were 24 cases of pardon and forgiveness in this month when the families of victims exonerated the criminals including pardon of the wildlife security personnel in the National Park of Dena; pardon of 15 criminals in the province of Kohkilouyeh & Boyerahmad; pardon of a young prisoner who had murdered his landlord’s son 15 years ago.
Religious and Ethnic Minorities
The violations of the religious and ethnic minorities rights continued in this month. The most significant of these cases were the killing of a young person in the city of Saravan (Sistan & Balouchestan province) who was shot by the revolutionary guard forces; the arrest of Fouzieh Husseinzadeh by the security forces in the city of Saqez; convicting 23 individuals to 23 years in prison and 1702 lashes in Tabriz after demonstrations against the insulting TV program named “Fitileh”; convicting 5 civil rights activists to three months imprisonment and 30 lashes in Ardebil; issuing execution decree for two arrested individuals in the city of Sarbaz of Sistan & Balouchestan province.
There were several reports regarding the continuous and systematic suppression of Baha’is including the release of Behzad Zabihi Mahfaroujaki on about $30,000 bail after being arrested by the intelligence service agents and imprisoned in the solitary confinement; the arrest of Rouhieh Safajou, the young Baha’I citizen after criticizing the limitations on the continual education of Baha’is and writing petitions to the international organizations and personas; the arrest of four Baha’is in the cities of Tehran, Karaj, and Sari.
Regarding the violations of Sunni minorities’ rights, there were several reports including summoning the Sunni Clegry – Molavi Naghshbandi- to the court; the arrest of Bagher Gholami (Neami), the Sunni rights activists in the city of Ahwaz for the fourth time; destruction of the cemetery of Sunni citizens in the city of Naghadeh (West Azerbaijan province) by unknown individuals. One of the most controversial reports on the minorities’ rights violation was the attack on the scared gathering place of the Sufi’s (Ahl-e-Hagh) in the city of Eslamshahr by the hardline Islamists.
Children
Regarding children’s rights, there were a couple of reports, the most notable of which were: honor killing of a 15 year old girl by relatives; the transfer of 100 babies of addicted parents to the welfare organization; smoking age reaching 12 to 14 years; a 13-year-old girl escaped to avoid marrying a 40 year old man.
Women
In the category of women rights, there were several reports of assaults against Iranian women who have been continuously suppressed and deprived of their rights. Although there was one significant positive step for the Feminist groups when the Guardian Council (Shoray-e-Negahban) voted for equal Diyya (i.e. the financial compensation paid to the family of victim in the case of murder) for men and women. Some of the most notable reports on women rights violations in this month were acid-attack on two female individuals; a female employee of the municipality of Tehran committed suicide; three sisters committed suicide in Tehran; a mother died in labor; the sexist and discriminatory speech by one of the members of the Parliament from the province of Orumiah; the Parliament of Iran issuing an aggressive statement against a feminist campaign and asking to open security investigation and trials for the members of the campaign.
Labor rights
In this month, there were several reports related to the labors’ rights movements or violations of labor rights including summoning and arrest of several workers rights activities in Sanandaj; the arrest of Jalil Mohammadi, the labor rights’ activist in Sanadaj; people loosing their job after demanding their basic rights; the arrest of three mine workers in Tarzeh. Moreover, 13 people died as a result of fatal work incidents resulted from lack of safety regulations at work.
Unions
In the field of trade union and union rights, there were a few reports in this month including imprisonment of three Union rights activists for 15 years; the demonstration of union workers in front of the Parliament; a clerk setting himself on fire in the central bazar of Tehran; opening trial for one union rights activists.
Health and Environment
In the field of health and environmental protection, there were a few reports mainly involving draught and air pollution including increasing the level of dust particles to 15 times higher than safe level in the province of Khouzestan; lack of proper drinking water in Khouzestan according to the head of Water and Electricity Organization of Khouzestan; lack of water supply system in 48 villages in the province of Lorestan; water shutdown in seven villages in the city of Shoush.
Specific Attention to the Violation of Human Rights
In this section of this monthly report, we highlight the most controversial and publicly sensitive cases of violations of human rights in Iran in the month of Feb-Mar 2016. It is obvious that more attention does not necessarily indicate the magnitude of the violations of human rights in that specific category.
Some of the most noted reports in this month were the arrest of an individual who viciously beat and tortured a dog in the province of Golestan; the alarming level of air pollution in the city of Ahwaz reaching 24 times the safe level; the death of a firefighter in Yazd; holding marriage ceremony for 50 high school students in Hormozgan; 130,000 drug addicted students; the government of Kermanshah refusing the peaceful gathering of Sufi followers; the execution decree for Babak Zanjani and two individuals in relation with an Oil Industry related corruption case.
The least underlined human rights violations
In contrast to the reports indicated in the previous section, many human rights reports received little or no attention from social media, bloggers, Internet activists, who are considered key contributors of the public opinion. It should be note that this unintentional or intentional negligence has resulted in further spread of human rights violations in Iran.
The least noted reports relevant to the violation of human rights include confirming mass execution of 40 prisoners in the Ghezel-Hesar prison; the arrest of two Gonabadi Sufis in Sarvestan; confirming the execution decree of 10 prisoners in the central prison of Zahedan; a 12 years old student committed suicide; improper school structure and educational space in 360 schools in Kermansah.
