A/RES/61/176
1.
Welcomes:
(a) The standing invitation extended by the Government of the Islamic
Republic of Iran to all human rights thematic monitoring mechanisms in April 2002
and the cooperation extended to the special procedures during their visits, while
regretting that no special procedure has been able to visit the Islamic Republic of
Iran since July 2005 and expressing its hope that special procedures of the Human
Rights Council will be able to visit in the near future;
(b) The report of the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its
causes and consequences on her visit to the Islamic Republic of Iran from
29 January to 6 February 2005; 7
(c) The report of the Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a
component of the right to an adequate standard of living on his visit to the Islamic
Republic of Iran from 19 to 31 July 2005; 8
(d) The statement by the head of the judiciary of the Islamic Republic of Iran
in October 2006 in which he expressed his hope that judges will choose alternative
punishments for minors instead of long jail terms for some offences;
(e) The announcement by the head of the judiciary in April 2004 of the ban
on torture and the subsequent passage of related legislation by the parliament, which
was approved by the Guardian Council in May 2004;
(f) The human rights dialogues between the Islamic Republic of Iran and a
number of countries, while urging the Islamic Republic of Iran to intensify those
dialogues and ensure that they are held regularly;
(g)
The release of some prisoners held without due process of law;
(h) The cooperation with United Nations agencies in developing programmes
in the fields of human rights, good governance and the rule of law;
2.
Expresses its serious concern at:
(a) The continuing harassment, intimidation and persecution of human rights
defenders, non-governmental organizations, political opponents, religious
dissenters, political reformists, journalists, parliamentarians, students, clerics,
academics, webloggers, union members and labour organizers, including through
undue restrictions on the freedoms of assembly, conscience, opinion and expression,
the threat and use of arbitrary arrest and prolonged detention, targeted at both
individuals and their family members, the ongoing unjustified closure of
newspapers and blocking of Internet sites and restrictions on the activities of unions
and other non-governmental organizations, as well as the absence of many
conditions necessary for free and fair elections;
(b) The persistent failure to comply fully with international standards in the
administration of justice and, in particular, the absence of due process of law, the
refusal to provide fair and public hearings, the denial of the right to counsel and
access to counsel by those detained, the use of national security laws to deny human
rights, the prevalent atmosphere of impunity for officials who commit human rights
abuses, the harassment, intimidation and persecution of defence lawyers and legal
defenders, the adulteration of judicial files, the lack of respect for internationally
_______________
7
8
2
E/CN.4/2006/61/Add.3.
E/CN.4/2006/41/Add.2.