A/RES/60/171
(b) The visit of the Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights
on violence against women, its causes and consequences to the Islamic Republic of
Iran from 29 January to 6 February 2005;
(c) The visit of the Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights
on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living to
the Islamic Republic of Iran from 19 to 30 July 2005;
(d) The recommendation by the head of the judiciary of the Islamic Republic
of Iran to judges in December 2002 that they choose alternative punishment in cases
where the sentence of stoning would otherwise be imposed;
(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 compliance by the Islamic Republic of Iran with its obligation, as a
party to the Convention on the Rights of the Child,4 to deliver its presentation to the
Committee on the Rights of the Child in January 2005;
(g) The human rights dialogues between the Islamic Republic of Iran and a
number of countries, while regretting that a number of these have not been held at
regular intervals lately;
(h) The cooperation with United Nations agencies in developing programmes
in the field 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 and webloggers, including through undue restrictions on the freedoms of
assembly, opinion and expression, the use of arbitrary arrest, targeted at both
individuals and their family members, and the unjustified closure of newspapers and
blocking of Internet sites, as well as the absence of many conditions necessary for
free and fair elections, including by the arbitrary disqualification of large numbers
of prospective candidates, including all women, during the presidential elections of
June 2005;
(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 harassment, intimidation and persecution of defence lawyers and legal
defenders, the lack of respect for internationally recognized safeguards, inter alia,
with respect to persons belonging to religious, ethnic or national minorities,
officially recognized or otherwise, the application of arbitrary prison sentences, and
the violation of the rights of detainees, including the systematic and arbitrary use of
prolonged solitary confinement, the failure to provide proper medical care to those
imprisoned and the arbitrary denial of contact between detainees and their family
members;
(c) The continuing use of torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment
or punishment such as flogging and amputations;
2