A/RES/67/182
Situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran
circular by the former head of the judiciary prohibiting public executions, and secret
group executions, as well as reports of executions undertaken without the
notification of the prisoner’s family members or legal counsel;
(c) The failure to abolish the execution of minors and persons who at the
time of their offence were under the age of 18, in violation of the obligations of the
Islamic Republic of Iran under the Convention on the Rights of the Child 6 and the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights;2
(d) The imposition of the death penalty for crimes that lack a precise and
explicit definition, including moharebeh (enmity against God), and/or for crimes
that do not qualify as the most serious crimes, in violation of international law;
(e) The practice of suspension strangulation as a method of execution, and
the fact that persons in prison continue to face sentences of execution by stoning,
notwithstanding the issuance of a circular by the former head of the judiciary
prohibiting stoning;
(f) Ongoing, systematic, widespread and serious restrictions on freedom of
peaceful assembly and association and freedom of opinion and expression, including
through efforts to block or filter Internet content, restrict access to foreign e-mail
services and a variety of websites, jam international satellite transmission into the
Islamic Republic of Iran, censor or close newspapers, magazines and other
publications, and cut access to communications and information;
(g) The increasing and systematic targeting of human rights defenders,
including, but not restricted to, lawyers, journalists, including intimidation of
families of independent journalists from Persian-speaking media, and other media
representatives, Internet providers, bloggers and netizens, who endure intimidation,
interrogation, arrest, arbitrary detention, long-term exile and/or harsh sentences,
including death sentences, as a result of their activities, and noting in particular the
upholding of prison sentences against staff members of the Defenders of Human
Rights Centre;
(h) Pervasive gender inequality and violence against women, a continued
crackdown on women’s human rights defenders, arrests, violent repression and
sentencing of women exercising their right to peaceful assembly, and increased
discrimination against women and girls in law and in practice, including by limiting
access to higher education, including the closure of 77 fields of study to women by
36 universities;
(i) Continued discrimination and other human rights violations, at times
amounting to persecution, against persons belonging to ethnic, linguistic or other
minorities, including Arabs, Azeris, Baluchis and Kurds and their defenders, and
noting in particular reports of the violent suppression and detention of ethnic Arabs
and Azeris, the violent repression of environmental protests in Azeri territory and
the high rate of executions of persons belonging to minority groups, including the
recent secret group execution of members of the Ahwazi Arab minority;
(j) Increased persecution and human rights violations against persons
belonging to recognized religious minorities, including Christians, Jews, Sufi
Muslims, Sunni Muslims and Zoroastrians and their defenders, and noting in
particular the widespread arrest and detention of Sufi Muslims and evangelical
Christians, including the continued detention of Christian pastors;
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United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 1577, No. 27531.