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I.    Introduction

 1.      The present report is submitted  pursuant to Human Rights Council resolution

16/9, which  establishes  the mandate  of the Special  Rapporteur  on the situation  of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran. This is the first country mandate of the Human Rights Council on the Islamic Republic of Iran since the termination in 2002 of  the  mandate   of  the  former  Commission   on  Human  Rights.  The  resolution mandates the Special Rapporteur to: (a) submit an interim report to the General Assembly at its sixty-sixth session and (b) to submit a report to the Human Rights Council   for   consideration   at   its   nineteenth   session.   It   also   calls   upon   the Government  of the  Islamic  Republic  of Iran  to cooperate  fully  with  the  mandate holder and to permit access to visit the country as well as provide all necessary information to enable the fulfilment of the mandate.

 2.      The President of the Human Rights Council appointed the Special Rapporteur on the situation  of human rights in the Islamic Republic  of Iran on 17 June 2011. Mr. Shaheed officially commenced his mandate on 1 August 2011, at which time he wrote to the authorities  in the Islamic Republic of Iran to seek their cooperation  in the discharge of his mandate. The Special Rapporteur requested an informal meeting with the Ambassador  in July 2011 and also offered to travel to Switzerland  during the month of August to meet with him prior to the submission of the present report, but was unsuccessful in scheduling either meeting. In a press release dated 3 August

2011,   the  Special   Rapporteur   appealed   to  the  Government   to  extend   its  full cooperation to the carrying out of his mandate and stressed that the establishment of the new mandate provided an opportunity for the Islamic Republic of Iran to engage on  a  range  of  human  rights  issues  that  had  been  raised  by  the  international community.  On  19  September  2011,  in  a  letter  to  the  Special  Rapporteur,  the Permanent Representative of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations at Geneva, Ambassador Seyed Mohammad Reza Sajjadi, expressed a willingness to exchange views and discuss his methodology  of work. A letter requesting a country visit in late November  was transmitted  to the Iranian  authorities  on 19 September

2011. The Special Rapporteur  looks forward to a positive response to that request, as it would further signal the cooperative and constructive intentions of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

 3.    The Special Rapporteur undertook a private visit to Geneva prior to the commencement  of his mandate  in July 2011 and a formal visit in early September

2011. He met with a number of stakeholders, including the United Nations High Commissioner    for   Human   Rights   and   a   number   of   reputable   international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and country delegations, some of which supported the mandate and some of which did not.

 4.      The  present  report  outlines  the  methodology   that  will  guide  the  Special Rapporteur’s work throughout the mandate and presents the focus of his work. The Special Rapporteur notes that a separate report of the Secretary-General  on developments  related to the human rights situation  in the Islamic Republic  of Iran since September 2010 (A/66/361) will also be submitted to the General Assembly at its sixty-sixth session. Without prejudice to the matters that he wishes to raise with the Iranian authorities, the Special Rapporteur shares the concerns addressed in the report of the Secretary-General, as well as the recommendations contained therein. Accordingly,  the  present  report  includes  a  section  on  recent  developments  with regard to the human rights situation in the Islamic Republic of Iran, but focuses oncases and issues raised directly with the Special Rapporteur and on developments following the session of the Human Rights Council.

 5.      The  Special  Rapporteur  welcomes  statements  that  have  been  attributed  to various  Iranian  functionaries  about  the  country’s  interest  in  cooperating  with  the United  Nations  human  rights  system,  including  the  standing  invitation  issued  to thematic  special procedures  and the proposed  visit to the Islamic  Republic  of Iran by the United Nations High Commissioner  for Human Rights, as this would provide an opportunity for cooperation between the human rights machinery and the Iranian authorities  through  contact  at the  highest  level.  The  Special  Rapporteur  hopes  to have an opportunity to visit first, with a view to helping to make the High Commissioner’s  visit as substantive  as possible. The Special Rapporteur  also notes that  a  number  of  urgent  appeals  made  by  various  thematic  special  rapporteurs remain   unaddressed   by  the  Iranian   authorities.   He  fully   shares   the   concerns addressed in those appeals, and regrets that no visit by a mandate holder has taken place since 2005.

 6.      The Special  Rapporteur  firmly  believes  that the establishment  of the current mandate provides for a more coordinated engagement with the Iranian authorities on a range of human rights issues that have been raised by the international community. The country mandate is also an opportunity to facilitate a deeper, country-specific understanding  of the human  rights situation  in the Islamic  Republic  of Iran, in its unique  cultural  and  historical  contexts.  It  is  also  an  opportunity  to  advance  the current efforts being made to address the challenges of the Islamic Republic of Iran in an incremental and holistic manner. The Special Rapporteur also hopes that the Islamic Republic of Iran will view his role as a secure and legitimate space in which to take steps to comply with its international  obligations,  as well as an opportunity to address the areas of concern communicated  to the country during its interactions with the international community on human rights issues.

 7.      The  Special  Rapporteur  will,  therefore,  continue  to  appeal  to  the  Islamic Republic of Iran to extend its full cooperation to the fulfilment of the mandate. Engagement with the country mandate holder can only lessen the potential for politicization, over which the Islamic Republic of Iran has repeatedly expressed concern. However, insufficient cooperation will continue to heighten the concern of the  international   community   and  will  reduce  the  potential   for  a  positive   and constructive dialogue on these issues.

 II.    Proposed methodology of work

 8.    The Special Rapporteur will be guided by the principles of impartiality, independence  and transparency,  with the explicit  objectives  of clarification, verification,  and cooperation  in the implementation  of the human rights obligations of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The Special Rapporteur believes that the exercise of his mandate should be free from politicization  and be guided solely by the interest of assisting the Islamic Republic of Iran to meet its international obligations in an incremental and transparent manner.

 9.      The  primary  focus  of  the  Special  Rapporteur’s  efforts  will  be  to  seek  the cooperation  of the authorities  in the Islamic Republic of Iran in the interest of fair and accurate reporting on its human rights situation. In this regard, the Special Rapporteur   will  continue  to  express  interest  in  undertaking   field  visits  to  thecountry, meet with relevant official delegations of the country and seek information from the Iranian authorities on matters that are being addressed by the Secretary- General   and   the  human   rights   machinery,   especially   those   relating   to  issues highlighted in various resolutions of the General Assembly and the Human Rights Council.

 10.    The Special Rapporteur  has sought and will continue to seek the cooperation of a number  of Member  States, including  members  of the Human  Rights Council, and  to  request  their  support  in  facilitating  his  work.  Although  some  of  those countries  are  not  necessarily   supporters  of  country  mandates,  they  uphold  the legitimacy  of Council decisions  and the importance  of international  cooperation  in the promotion  and protection  of human  rights.  The  Special  Rapporteur  intends  to remain in close contact with those countries and to seek their support in encouraging the Islamic Republic of Iran to enable the independent  examination  of the veracity of  claims  about  its  human  rights  situation.  The  Special  Rapporteur  hopes  that members of the General Assembly will encourage the Islamic Republic of Iran and other  countries  to  extend  their cooperation  to  his  efforts  to  gather  relevant  and accurate information.

11.    The  Special  Rapporteur  has  been  contacted  by  a  number  of  Iranian  human rights and civil society actors, as well as international organizations,  concerning the human rights situation in the Islamic Republic of Iran, and has conducted a number of consultations with them. Those testimonies and issues are included in the present report. The Special Rapporteur will seek the cooperation of the Iranian authorities in examining these cases and will report on developments in his next report.

 12.    The  Special  Rapporteur  believes  that  the  outcome  of  the  universal  periodic review of the Human Rights Council, which examined the situation in the Islamic Republic of Iran in February 2010, provides a sound basis for collaboration between himself and the Iranian authorities. In that regard, he could contribute to the efforts of  the  Islamic  Republic  of  Iran  to  implement  the  123  recommendations   of  the review, which it agreed to accept for implementation  with transparency and with the support  of the international  community.  The Special  Rapporteur  will also  seek  to engage with the Islamic Republic of Iran on those recommendations  that it rejected, especially   in   the   light   of   international   human   rights   law.   Moreover,   issues highlighted  in reports  to treaty bodies,  in various  reports  of the Secretary-General and thematic mandate holders, as well as in resolutions of the General Assembly and the Human Rights Council, will constitute a major part of the Special Rapporteur’s agenda for engagement with Iran.

 13.    The Special Rapporteur will also work in collaboration with the other thematic mandate holders on urgent appeals and other communications and will consider generating his own appeals and communications  as necessary. He notes that, while a number of communications remain unanswered, there have been many instances in which the Islamic Republic of Iran has responded,  and he will seek to increase the level of communication  with the Government  on matters  of interest  to the Human Rights Council and the General Assembly.

 14.   The Special Rapporteur believes that the mandate also entails an important advocacy  role in relation  to the international  obligations  of the country  concerned and  will  give  considerable  attention  to  collaboration  with  Iranian  human  rights defenders and civil society, in accordance with the Code of Conduct for Special Procedures  Mandate  Holders  of the Human  Rights  Council.  He will also promoteefforts  to  generate  non-political  discussion,  advocacy,  publicity  and  study  of  the human   rights   situation   in  the  Islamic   Republic   of  Iran  through   civil  society interaction  and  engagement  of  legal  and  academic  expertise.  He  also  intends  to maintain  a  high  media  profile,  not  only  to  amplify  the  efforts  of  the  Iranian authorities   to   meet   their   international   obligations,   but   also   to   highlight   the grievances of those who feel victimized. In that regard, the Special Rapporteur also believes in maintaining a balance between constructive engagement with Iranian authorities and media advocacy in order to demonstrate good faith and commitment in investigating allegations of human rights abuses.

III.    Human rights situation

15.   The Islamic Republic of Iran ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights on 24 June 1975, without reservations,  thereby committing itself to the promotion and protection of the guarantees therein. These include freedom of expression,   assembly,  association   and  religion,  all  of  which  are  recognized  as integral to the promotion and protection of democratic ideals.

16.    The Covenant  also provides for the right to due process, legal assistance  and humane treatment of detainees, and prohibits the arbitrary arrest and detention of individuals.  International  law also secures  equal  rights  of women,  stipulating  that State parties must ensure the “equal right of men and women to the enjoyment of all civil and political rights” contained in article 3 of the Covenant. Those rights also include the right to be elected by and participate in free and fair elections. Likewise, the Covenant protects the rights of minorities, where they exist in a country, by stipulating, in article 27, that minorities shall not be denied the right, in community with the other members  of their group,  to enjoy their own culture,  to profess  and practise their own religion or to use their own language.

17.    In line with these human rights safeguards, articles 23 to 27 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran provide for freedom of expression, assembly and association  as well as the freedom to practise one’s religion. In addition, the rights of the accused and detained are protected by the Constitution in articles 32 and 35, wherein it is stated that charges with reasons for accusation must, without delay, be communicated  and  explained  to the accused  in writing,  and  a provisional  dossier must  be  forwarded  to  the  competent  judicial  authorities  within  a  maximum  of24 hours.

18.    A number  of individuals  and  organizations  provided  the  Special  Rapporteur with  first-hand   testimonies,   the  preponderance   of  which  presents  a  pattern  of systemic violations of the aforementioned  fundamental human rights. In that regard, and  without  prejudice  to subsequent  communications,  the most  urgent  issues  that have been brought to the attention of the Special Rapporteur include multifarious deficits in relation to the administration of justice, certain practices that amount to torture,  cruel,  or  degrading  treatment  of  detainees,  the  imposition  of  the  death penalty  in  the  absence  of  proper  judicial  safeguards,  the  status  of  women,  the persecution of religious and ethnic minorities, and the erosion of civil and political rights, in particular, the harassment and intimidation of human rights defenders and civil society actors.

19.  Furthermore,  reports frequently  communicated  the use of physical  and psychological     mistreatment     and    torture     for    the    purposes     of    inducingself-incrimination.  In that  regard,  several  personal  interviews  revealed  that individuals were often held in solitary confinement for long periods during the investigative phases of their cases. All of those interviewed with regard to their detention  reported  the  consistent  use  of  blindfolds  when  being  transferred  from solitary confinement, as well as during their interrogations. Several persons reported being threatened, beaten, insulted or intimidated by threats against family members, and they speculated that those actions were intended to encourage admission to knowledge of or association with persons reportedly unknown to the detainees. Incidences  of  the  arrest  and/or  intimidation  of  family  members  were  also  often reported.

20.   Charges brought against human rights defenders, as well as civil society and religious actors, include: (a) acting against national security; (b) participating in an illegal gathering; (c) insulting the Supreme Leader; and (d) spreading propaganda against  the  regime.  The  latter  charge  appears  in  a  significant  number  of  cases discussed below.

21.   The majority of reports also highlight exorbitant bail requirements, reportedly totalling  between  $10,000  and  $500,000,  to  guarantee  the  appearance  before  the court of those arrested for activities pertaining to civil, political or human rights. Defendants  and/or  their  guarantors  must  often  furnish  deeds  or  sign  promissory notes that are later used to garnish the wages of guarantors. All reports maintain that deeds  used  to guarantee  appearances  were  never  returned  to the guarantors,  even after acquittals or final convictions.  Since these parties no longer possess the deeds to  their  properties,  they  are  deprived  of  financial  control  of  their  assets,  which produces a disturbing level of persistent punishment, even beyond the conclusion of the cases.

22.    Moreover,  several reports allege that prosecutors  are aware of the sentence to be imposed  prior  to the defendant’s  appearance  in court  for sentencing  and often inform  the  defendants  accordingly.  Those  reports  contain  speculations  that  this reflects a lack of independence of judges in such cases, which is of deep concern to the Special Rapporteur.

23.    The  Special   Rapporteur   is  encouraged   by  the  announcement   by  Iranian authorities on 28 August 2011 of their intention to pardon 100 political prisoners accused  of various  crimes,  including  participation  in the 2009  protests.  He hopes that  this  step,  together  with  the  review  of  the  cases  of  human  rights  defenders, lawyers, journalists, women’s rights activists, artists and other civil society actors highlighted   in  the  present   report,  will  advance   the  Government’s   progress   in improving its human rights situation. Moreover, the Special Rapporteur requests the Government  of the Islamic Republic of Iran to provide him with information  about the process and the criteria employed to grant amnesty to the aforementioned individuals.  The Special Rapporteur  is encouraged  by the release from custody, on

21 September 2011, of two hikers from the United States of America.

A.     Treatment of civil society actors

1.      Political activists

24.    Reports  about  the  detention  conditions  and  denial  of  the  rights  of  political leaders  Mir-Hossein  Mousavi  and  Mehdi  Karroubi,  as well  as their  wives,  ZahraRahnavard and Fatemeh Karroubi, are deeply disturbing. All four individuals were placed  under  a  form  of  house  arrest  by  the  Government  in  February  2011  in response   to  their   calls   for  protest   in  solidarity   with   pro-democracy   activists throughout the region.

25.    A  description  of  Mr.  Mousavi’s  detention  conditions  was  conveyed  to  the

Special  Rapporteur  during  an  interview  by  a  person  close  to  his  campaign  on

26 August  2011.  The  witness,  who  wishes  to  remain  anonymous,  reported  that, despite the fact that no formal charges had been brought against Mr. Mousavi or his wife,   the   conditions   surrounding   their   confinement   to   their   home   had   led Mr. Mousavi and Mrs. Rahnavard to consider themselves prisoners of the State. The individuals  have  reportedly  been  unable  to  communicate   freely  with  family  or friends  since  their  detention.  The  witness  reported  that  all  methods  of communication  had been either destroyed  or removed  from the couple’s home. He also stated that, as at two weeks prior to the interview, the couple had been allowed only  a  few  closely  monitored  visits  with  family  members  over  the  previous  six months. It was reported that family members were thoroughly searched, and it was speculated  that  their  visits  were  recorded.  Moreover,  the  couple  have  reportedly been deprived of control over their health care, access to publications,  privacy and the ability to live a normal life. The harassment and intimidation of Mr. Mousavi’s family members  was also conveyed.  The witness  stated that Mr. Mousavi’s  family was  deeply  concerned  about  his  health,  as  he  had  reportedly  lost  a  significant amount of weight. However, despite several incidents of discomfort that required medical attention, physicians who have treated Mr. Mousavi have reported that his health was not critical.

26.   An interview with a close colleague of Mr. Karroubi who wishes to remain anonymous was conducted on 23 August 2011. The witness conveyed a first-hand account  of  violence  directed  against  Mr.  Karroubi  and  his  staff,  as  well  as  the conditions of Mr. Karroubi’s house arrest. It was reported that all of Mr. Karroubi’s phone lines were disconnected and that authorities had entered Mr. Karroubi’s home and removed  his television  and all of his books  and files. Mrs. Karroubi  was not allowed to keep her medical appointments,  the couple’s medication was confiscated and  Mr.  Karroubi   has  not  been  allowed   access  to  the  family  doctor,  despite respiratory  issues. It was also reported that Mr. Karroubi had been allowed outside for  fresh  air  only  once  for  10  minutes  during  his  186  days  of  house  arrest.  The witness also stated that Mr. Karroubi’s privacy had been compromised, since intelligence officers and cameras transmitting images to an unknown location had monitored  all  the  hallways  and  rooms  of  the  first  location  used  for  the  couple’s detention. It was further reported that Mr. Karroubi had been allowed only six visits from  his  family  since  his  house  arrest,  that  visitors  were  fully  searched  upon entering  and  leaving  the  house  and  that  agents  surrounded  the  couple  for  the duration  of the visits.  Mr. and Mrs.  Karroubi  were removed  from  their home  and taken  to  separate  locations  on  16  July  and  1  August  2011,  respectively.  While Mrs. Karroubi   is  reportedly   no  longer   under   house   arrest,   Mr.  Karroubi   was transferred and detained in a two-room office and has had no contact with his family since  16 July.  Reports  that  six  agents  consistently  occupy  both  rooms  and  that  a team  of  psychiatrists  also  surrounds  Mr.  Karroubi  for  the  purpose  of  coercing televised confessions are deeply disturbing to the Special Rapporteur. It was also reported that members of both Mr. Mousavi’s and Mr. Karroubi’s families have been harassed, intimidated and/or briefly detained.

27.   Heshmatollah Tabarzadi, political activist and Secretary-General of the Iran Democratic  Front,  was  arrested  on  27  December  2009  and  transferred  to  Evin prison. He was reportedly confined to a solitary cell and tortured. In October 2010, he  was  sentenced  to  nine  years’ imprisonment  and  74  lashes  for  “gathering  and colluding against national security” and “insulting the Supreme Leader”. After protesting  against  the  execution  of  five  political  prisoners,  Mr.  Tabarzadi  was transferred   to  Rajaee  Shahr  prison.  He  wrote  a  letter  from  prison  asking  the international  courts to review his grievances against the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.  In April 2011, Mr. Tabarzadi,  along with other prisoners, went on a hunger strike to protest prison conditions.

2.      Journalists

28.    In a letter to the Special Rapporteur  dated 17 August 2011, the Committee  to Protect Journalists stated that 34 journalists had been detained as at the end of 2010. They wrote that journalists were often subjected to exorbitant bail, at times totalling as high as $500,000. One such case is that of Ahmad Zeidabadi, reformist, journalist and columnist for Rooz Online, and the Secretary-General of the Iranian Alumni Association,   Advar-e   Tahkim-e   Vahdat,   who   was   arrested   on   14   June   2009. Mr. Zeidabadi’s  attorney and wife reported that he was detained for more than two years  and  denied  furlough  for  the  duration  of  his  detention.  On  4 August  2011, Mr. Zeidabadi   was  granted   a  48-hour   furlough   on  the  condition   that  he  post

$500,000 bond. Mr. Zeidabadi was sentenced on 2 January 2010 to six years’ imprisonment, five years’ exile in Gonabad and a lifetime ban on social and political activities    on    charges    of    “attempting    to    implement    a   velvet    revolution”. Mr. Zeidabadi   has  reportedly   spent  141  days  in  solitary  confinement,   suffered difficult interrogations and was violently coerced to incriminate himself. 1

29.  Mohammad  Davari,  winner  of  the  Committee  to  Protect  Journalists International Freedom Award and editor-in-chief of the Saham News website, videotaped   statements   from   detainees   at   the   Kahrizak   detention   centre   who indicated that they had been raped, abused and tortured. This, among other reasons, reportedly led to the closing of the detention centre in July 2009 amid public uproar. Mr.  Davari’s  work  reportedly  led  to  his  arrest  and  detention  in  Evin  prison  in September  2009,  and  he  was  sentenced  to  five  years’ imprisonment  for  “mutiny against  the regime”.  The  sentence  was  recently  increased  to six years  because  of Mr. Davari’s inability to pay a $5,000 fine for his participation in a teachers’ protest in February and March 2006. His mother has written to the Secretary-General, communicating  that her son has endured  torture  while in custody.  Mr. Davari  was reportedly tortured for the purpose of soliciting televised confessions against Mehdi Karroubi,  a former  presidential  candidate.  It is reported  that  Mr.  Davari  is being held  in  solitary  confinement  and  has  not  been  allowed  to  have  contact  with  his family for more than eight months.

30.   Accounts regarding the detention and death of an Iranian journalist and social activist, Reza Hoda Saber, raise further concerns about arbitrary arrest and detention and the treatment  of civil society  actors.  Mr. Saber  is reported  to have suffered  a heart  attack  following  a hunger  strike  at Evin  prison  and  died  on  12  June  2011. There are concerns that prison authorities may have denied proper medical attention

1  Committee to Protect Journalists, “Iran must work toward improving press freedom”, 17 August

2011, available at www.cpj.org/2011/08/post-3.php#more.

to Mr. Saber, who is reported to have complained of chest pains for hours before he was  given  access  to  medical  care.  Mr.  Saber  had  been  on  a  hunger  strike  since

2 June,  after  Haleh  Sahabi,  daughter  of  Ezzatollah  Sahabi,  a  nationalist-religious leader, died of a heart attack after a confrontation with security forces at her father’s funeral (see para. 51). Information received by the Special Rapporteur suggests that prisoners  use  hunger  strikes  as  a  means  of  protesting  against  prison  conditions, arbitrary  detention  and/or discriminatory  sentences. At the time of writing  at least

15 prisoners were reported to be on a hunger strike, some of whom were in critical condition.

31.    Issa  Saharkhiz,  journalist,  political  activist  and  former  head  of the  National Press Department of the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, is being detained at Rajaee Shahr prison on charges of “insulting the Supreme Leader” and making “propaganda against the regime”. Mr. Saharkhiz was arrested on 3 August 2009 and sentenced to three years in prison, along with a one-year ban on foreign travel and a five-year  prohibition  on  journalistic  activities.  Mr.  Saharkhiz  was  informed  on

5 August 2011 that he had been sentenced  to an additional  two years in prison for his prior journalistic activities.

32.    Hossein  Ronaghi  Maleki,  a blogger,  was arrested  on 13 December  2009 and held  in  solitary  confinement  for  almost  11  months  in  Evin  prison  in  ward  2-A. Mr. Maleki  was sentenced  to 15 years in prison  on 5 October  2010 on charges  of “membership  in  the  Iran  Proxy  Network”,  “insulting  the  Supreme  Leader”  and “insulting the President”. Mr. Maleki’s attorney announced that his client had health issues  that  required  medical  attention  outside  the  prison.  On  15  March  2010, Kayhan newspaper  published  an article in which Mr. Maleki was accused of, inter alia,  “accepting  money  from Western  countries”,  “helping  political  figures  escape Iran”  and “heading  political  gangs”.  Mr. Maleki  is reportedly  being  held  in ward

350 in Evin prison.

33.    Masoud Bastani, a journalist, was arrested on 5 July 2009 for “activities on the Jomhouriyat website”, which openly supported Mr. Mousavi during the 2009 presidential  elections,  as well as “collusion,  creating riots, and propaganda  against the regime”. Mr. Bastani reportedly spent three months in solitary confinement  and was beaten by a prison staff member  during a family  visit in June 2011, when he asked for a few more minutes to say goodbye to his mother and wife. As a result, Bastani  suffered  nausea  and  disorientation  leading  to his  transfer  to the  hospital, where   he  reportedly   spent   a  day  under   observation   for  brain   damage.  After retracting his complaint for the beating, he was transferred from a solitary cell to the general ward.

34.    Bahman   Ahmadi   Amouee,    a   journalist    who   contributed    to   reformist newspapers and was the author of a blog, was arrested in June 2009 and is serving a five-year  sentence for “actions against national security”.  In a letter describing  his prison conditions, Mr. Amouee and several other prisoners wrote that most of them had been subjected to inhumane conditions, including the common use of solitary confinement  in  cells  measuring  approximately  2.2  by  1.6  m  (6.6  by  4.8  ft).  The letter   conveyed   that   they   were   subject   to  severe   beatings   and   mistreatment, including the shoving of their heads into toilet bowls, repeated threats and the use of prolonged sleep deprivation.

35.    Mohamamd Sadiq Kaboudvand,  founder of the Human Rights Organization of

Kurdistan  (HROK)  and  a journalist,  was  arrested  in  June  2007  and  held  in  Evinprison,  where  he  was  placed  in  solitary  confinement  for  five  months.  He  was sentenced  to  10  years  in  prison  on  charges  of  “acting  against  national  security through establishment [of] HROK”, “widespread propaganda against the system by disseminating  news”,  “opposing  Islamic  penal  laws  by  publicizing  punishments such as stoning and executions”  and “advocating  on behalf of political  prisoners”. Mr.  Kaboudvand  has  since  suffered  from  a  series  of  chronic  and  acute  medical problems  often  not  attended  to  by  medical  staff,  including  two  strokes  in  2010. Mr. Kaboudvand’s  wife stated that her husband had told her that he had been seen by a neurologist after the first stroke, but that he had not been examined thoroughly and  no  tests  had  been  administered.   She  also  reported   that  her  husband  had maintained  that the attending  physician  had prescribed  a series of pills to be taken daily instead, but had not given any details about their name, their prescribed use or their possible side effects.

36.    Taghi   Rahmani,   journalist,   author,   member   of   the   Nationalist   Religious Activists   Council   and   an  active   member   of  Mehdi   Karroubi’s   2009   election campaign,   was  arrested  on  9  February  2011  after  unidentified   security  agents reportedly  broke  into his home  violently  and detained  him in the presence  of his wife and two young children. According to his wife, Narges Mohammadi, Iranian authorities have not given any information about his charges to date.

37.    Keyvan  Samimi,  managing  editor  of the now-defunct  Nameh  magazine,  was arrested on 14 June 2009. He was sentenced to six years in prison and a lifetime ban on  political,  social  and  cultural  activities  on  charges  of  “membership  in  illegal groups, including  the ‘National  Religious  Coalition’,  ‘National  Peace Council’ and the ‘Committee to Investigate Arbitrary Detentions’”. An appeals court upheld his prison sentence but reduced the ban on his activities to 15 years. Mr. Samimi has developed  liver disease in prison, but prison authorities  have reportedly  refused to give him permission to have medical treatment outside prison. Mr. Samimi has also been reportedly subjected to ill-treatment on numerous occasions during his time in custody, and in February 2010 local activists reported that he had been transferred to solitary  confinement  after  he  objected  to  substandard  conditions.  It  was  reported that his family visits were also cancelled.

3.      Student activists

38.   Three interviews with student activists who wish to remain anonymous were conducted.   They   reported   that   they   faced   arrest   and   intimidation   and   were sometimes  subjected  to  beatings  and  torture  for  their  ties  to  legally  registered student  activist  organizations.  Additional  cases  were  also  communicated   to  the Special Rapporteur by reputable NGOs.

39.    Student activist Abdollah Momeni was arrested on 21 June 2009 and sentenced to 4 years and 11 months in prison for his participation  in the 2009 protests. It was reported that Mr. Momeni was placed in solitary confinement for almost 200 days, subjected to physical and psychological abuse and coerced into making a televised confession.   In   a   letter   to  Ayatollah   Khamanei,   Mr.   Momeni   wrote   that   his interrogator had strangled him to the point of unconsciousness and that authorities frequently  shoved  his  head  into  toilets.  Momeni  also  reported  that  he  had  been deprived  of  furlough  and  family  visits  after  the  submission  of  that  letter.  New charges were filed against Mr. Momeni on 27 July 2011 for allegedly writing the aforementioned  letter.  Mr.  Momeni’s  wife  also  reported  that  her  husband  neededmedical  treatment  outside  of prison,  but  that  he had  been  denied  proper  medical care.  Mr.  Momeni  has  yet  to  be  sentenced,  however,  and  he  has  not  been  given furlough since his detention.

40.    Ramin Parchami, a graduate student of film directing and acting, was arrested during   the   14   February   2011   street   protests.   The   presiding   judge   sentenced Mr. Parchami  to one year in prison on charges of “acting against national  security through   participation   in  an  illegal   gathering”,   “attempting   to  videotape”   and “disrupting  public  order”.  The  artist,  who  supports  the  Green  Movement,   was detained in a solitary cell at the Intelligence Ministry’s ward 209 inside Evin prison for more than two months. He was then transferred to ward 350.

41.    Ali  Malihi,  student  activist,  journalist,  and  member  of the Tahkim-e  Vahdat Alumni Association, was arrested on 2 February 2010 and convicted on charges of “congregation and collusion against the regime”, “propaganda against the regime”, “participation in illegal gatherings”, “publication of falsehoods” and “insulting the President”. His four-year sentence on those charges was upheld in July 2011.

42.   Arash Sadeghi, a student activist, was denied the right to continue his higher education, reportedly as a result of his involvement in Mir-Hossein Mousavi’s presidential campaign. Mr. Sadeghi was first arrested on 9 July 2009 during a raid of Tehran  University’s  campus  and released  after 45 days.  Mr. Sadeghi  was arrested again in the aftermath of the 27 December 2009 Ashura Day protests, and released in  April  2010.  He  was  summoned  to  Evin  prison  court  in  November  2010  and arrested  and sentenced  to five years in prison for “assembly  and collusion  against the  regime”.  Sadeghi  was  reportedly  hospitalized  in April  2011  due  to  a  hunger strike that led to his slipping into a coma. Mr. Sadeghi also reportedly suffers from other medical problems as a result of repeated beatings and torture, including a lung infection and limb paralysis.

4.      Artists

43.    Jafar  Panahi,  a  highly  acclaimed  Iranian  film  director  and  winner  of  the Cannes Film Festival’s  Camera d’Or Award and the Venice Film Festival’s  Golden Lion Award for his films “White  Balloon”  and “The Circle”,  was first arrested  on

30 July 2009, along with documentary  filmmaker  Mahnaz Mohammadi,  when they attended  a  memorial  to  pay  their  respects  to  those  who  were  killed  during  the post-election  protests.  He was  released  a few days  later.  Mr. Panahi  was  arrested again on 1 March 2010 at his home, along with 18 family members and friends. His family and friends were released after a few days, but he remained in detention until

25 May 2010, when he was released on $200,000 bail following reactions from the international  arts community. On 20 December 2010, the presiding judge sentenced Mr.  Panahi  to  six  years  in  prison  and  imposed  a  20-year  ban  on  making  and directing any films, writing screenplays, conducting interviews with the national or international media and travelling abroad.

44.    Film   director   Mohammad   Rasoulof,   Mr.   Panahi’s   colleague,   was   also sentenced to six years in prison. Branch 26 of Tehran’s Revolutionary Court cited articles 500, 610 and 19 of the Islamic Penal Code as the basis for its ruling, listing charges such as “assembly and collusion with the intent to commit a crime against national security, and propagating against the Islamic Republic of Iran”.

45.    Mohsen Namjoo, a well-known Iranian singer and composer, was sentenced in absentia to a five-year prison term on 9 June 2009. Mr. Namjoo’s conviction for the crime of “insulting Islamic sanctities” was based on his alleged ridiculing and unconventional singing about the Koran. He is currently abroad.

5.      Lawyers

46.    Prominent human rights lawyer and Nobel laureate, Shirin Ebadi, submitted to the   Special   Rapporteur   a   list   of   42   attorneys   that   have   faced   Government prosecution  since 2009. She noted that the Government  of the Islamic Republic  of Iran  had  been  viewing  lawyers  representing  political  and  ideological  defendants with  suspicion  in recent  years  and,  as a result,  they  had  had  criminal  cases  filed against  them.  Some  of  them,  such  as  Houtan  Kian,  Ghasem  Sholeh-Sa’adi  and Hossein Younesi, were currently in prison. Several others, such as Mohammad Ali Dadkhah, Khalil Bahramian  and Abdolfattah  Soltani, were free on bail, and others, such as Mahnaz Parakand and Nasim Ghanavi, were being interrogated.  Ms. Ebadi also  stated   that  the  majority   of  the  attorneys   faced   charges   related   to  their representation  and public  advocacy  for the rights  of defendants  in political  cases, and that it was inevitable  that, as a result, lawyers in the country would soon lose the courage to defend those individuals.

47.    A prominent Iranian human rights lawyer, Nasrin Sotoudeh, was summoned to Evin prison court on 4 September 2010, where she was arrested and transferred to solitary confinement. In January 2011, she was sentenced to 11 years in prison, with a 20-year ban on being professionally  active and a 20-year travel ban on charges of “acting against national security”, “colluding and propagating against the Islamic Republic  of  Iran”  and  “membership  in  the  Defenders  of  Human  Rights  Centre”. Almost  a year  after  her arrest,  Ms.  Sotoudeh,  the mother  of two  young  children, remains in Evin prison and is denied furlough. After being told by interrogators that the appeals court would uphold her 11-year prison sentence, Ms. Sotoudeh withdrew her request for appeal. She has been on several hunger strikes to protest her illegal detention  and  violations  of  her  rights.  According  to  information  received  by  the Special Rapporteur, Ms. Sotoudeh’s husband, Reza Khandan, who has publicly campaigned  for  fair  treatment  for  his  wife,  was  questioned  by  the  authorities, arrested  and  reportedly  subjected  to  physical  abuse  and  threats.  Ms.  Sotoudeh’s family   members   were   reportedly   physically   abused   and   detained   by   prison authorities in a recent visit to the prison. In protest against the physical abuse and detention of family members, Ms. Sotoudeh has reportedly stopped receiving family visits.

48.    Mohammad  Seifzadeh,  prominent  lawyer and co-founder  of the Defenders  of

Human Rights Centre, was sentenced on 30 October 2010 to 9 years in prison and a

10-year ban on practising law for “acting against national security” by “establishing the Centre for Human Rights Defenders”. His case is currently under review by an appeals  court. His charges  also include  “collusion  and assembly  with the intent to disrupt internal security” and “propagation activities against the regime”. He has reportedly been denied access to his attorney and other due process rights.

6.      Environmentalists — Save Lake Urmia Campaign

49.    Communications   regarding  escalations  in  the  dispute  over  threats  to  Lake

Urmia,  located  between  the  East  and  West  Azerbaijan  provinces  of  the  IslamicRepublic  of Iran, were sent to the Special Rapporteur  by several NGOs in August

2011.  Environmentalists,  as well  as residents  of two  major  cities  surrounding  the lake  —  Urmia  and  Tabriz  —  argue  that  the  construction  of  35  dams  built  on

21 rivers that feed the lake deprive it of 5.5 billion cubic metres of water annually. This deprivation is said to be the major cause of increasingly low water levels and salinity of the saltwater lake. It is reported that 8 billion tons of salt will potentially be released  into surrounding  areas if the lake dries up, producing  significant  flora and fauna losses and affecting the health and agricultural capacities of an estimated14 million people in the area.

50.    Protests calling for action to save the lake after the Iranian Parliament failed to pass an emergency bill to raise water levels by diverting water from the Aras River began in late August 2011. These protests have reportedly resulted in the arrest and detention of at least 60 individuals for their participation in the protests and injuries to another 45 protestors as a result of shootings by authorities. Allegations of lack of access to lawyers, family and medical treatment, torture and other inhuman and degrading  treatment  of  detained  protestors  were  also  received.  Faranak  Farid,  an activist, journalist and member of the Azerbaijani  minority in the Islamic Republic of Iran, was reportedly tortured after her arrest on 3 September in the city of Tabriz. Ms.  Faranak,   currently   being  held  in  Tabriz  prison,  is  reportedly   accused   of insulting the Supreme Leader, spreading propaganda against the system and acting against   national   security.   The  Special   Rapporteur   is  concerned   by  claims   of suppression of guaranteed rights to freedom of expression and assembly, as well as allegations of the deprivation of due process rights.

B.     Freedom of assembly

51.    The International  Covenant  on Civil and Political  Rights guarantees  the right to  peaceful  assembly.  However,  several  accounts  alleging  the  deprivation  of  the right   to   peaceful   assembly   include   the   Government’s   denial   of   permits   and intimidation of demonstrations commemorating the anniversary of the June 2009 election  protests. The Special Rapporteur  was made aware of one such incident  in which members of the Government allegedly denied mourners the right to attend the funeral of political activist, Ezatollah Sahabi. Accounts suggest that security forces disrupted  the  funeral  observances,   held  in  June  2011,  by  forcibly  seizing  and removing Mr. Sahabi’s body and beating mourners, including Mr. Sahabi’s daughter, Haleh Sahabi. Ms. Sahabi, also a political activist, was serving a two-year sentence in  prison  for  “spreading  propaganda  against  the  regime”  and  “disrupting  public order”,  but had been  released  from  prison  to attend  her father’s  funeral. Eyewitnesses  maintain  that  Ms.  Sahabi  sustained  beatings  by  the  security  forces, after which she suffered a fatal heart attack.

52.    A former  member  of Mehdi Karroubi’s  presidential  campaign  who wishes  to remain anonymous reported during an interview that, on 30 July 2009, Mr. Karroubi had attended a memorial service in Behesht cemetery for those who had died in the June  2009  protests,  when  police  forces  reportedly  had  attacked  participants  with batons, pepper spray and tear gas. The witness reported that he had been separated from Mr. Karroubi while the latter was being severely beaten, but that Mr. Karroubi had been rushed relatively unharmed to his car by his mandatory security detail. The aforementioned  witness also reported another attack on Mr. Karroubi and attendants at  a  gathering  north  of  Azadi  Square  on  11  February  2010.  Mr.  Karroubi  wasreportedly beaten on his thighs and back and suffered from exposure to tear gas and pepper  spray.  One  of Mr.  Karroubi’s  sons, Ali Karroubi,  was  arrested  along  with many other demonstrators and taken to a mosque for holding. Ali Karroubi was reportedly subjected to severe beatings in front of the other detainees during his detention. It was reported that one arm had been fractured and that he had suffered from injuries to his back and one eye. He was released 24 hours later.

C.     Women’s rights

53.   The Islamic Republic of Iran ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political  Rights  and the International  Covenant  on Economic,  Social  and Cultural Rights without reservations, indicating its intention to promote and protect women’s enjoyment of all civil, political, social and economic rights set out in the Covenants. While article 20 of the Iranian Constitution  states that “all citizens of the country, both men and women, equally enjoy the protection of the law and enjoy all human, political, economic, social, and cultural rights, in conformity with Islamic criteria”, interpretations of how sharia law accommodates gender equality is the subject of ongoing dialogue between the State and women’s rights activists. The Special Rapporteur contends that the Government’s capacity to accommodate democracy, pluralism and gender equality is seriously undermined by the repression of activities that advance this dialogue.

54.     Moreover, the application of certain laws that erect barriers to gender equality undermine the Government’s ability to equally protect those human rights stipulated in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights for all its citizens. For example, a woman’s worth and testimony in a court of law are regarded as half that of a man’s. Men have absolute rights to divorce, while women may initiate divorce only if they meet certain conditions, some of which must be agreed to in a marriage contract. Mothers can never be awarded guardianship  rights for their children, even upon the death of their husbands. Women do not have equitable inheritance  rights, and  even  when  a  wife  is  the  sole  survivor  to  her  husband’s  estate,  she  may  not inherit more than a quarter of the estate. If she is not the sole survivor, she is limited to an eighth.

55.    Women’s rights activists who endeavour to address the aforementioned  gender equality  issues  seem  to  have  been  targeted  for  their  campaigns  and  activities  in support of women’s rights. For example, members of the “One Million Signatures Campaign” have routinely been subjected to threats, harassment, interrogations and imprisonment.  The Special Rapporteur  conducted  two interviews  with members  of that campaign who wish to remain anonymous. Those individuals reported that they had  been  monitored,   arrested,  detained  and  interrogated   while  blindfolded   for actions  related  to  their  student  and  women’s  rights  activities.  They  also  reported having been threatened with expulsion from university or prevented from pursuing further  education  as  result  of  their  activities.  In  addition,  they  reported  having endured lengthy periods in solitary  confinement  during the investigative  phases of their cases, lack of access to legal counsel and being coerced for the purposes of incriminating   themselves   or  others   known   or  unknown   to  them.   One  of  the witnesses  reported  having  been  sentenced  in absentia  to five years’ imprisonment for  the  “encouragement   for  protests”,   one  year  for  disseminating   propaganda through media interviews and articles and one year and 74 lashes for “acting against the regime by means of participating in peaceful demonstrations”.

56.    Moreover,  strict  implementation  of  the  morality  code  concerning  dress  and attempts to criminalize improper veils have limited women’s participation  in public and social arenas. Equally worrisome are statements made by authorities that blame victims  for  inducing  attackers  to  violate  their  physical  integrity.  These  include reports of Government  officials citing women’s dress as the cause of recent attacks that took place in Isfahan in June 2011, where 14 women were kidnapped and gang- raped  while  attending  a  private  party.  Government  statements  asserted  that  the women’s dress was a source of the violence perpetrated against them and a rationale for the lack of action in bringing the perpetrators to justice.

57.    The case of Bahareh Hedayat, a student and women’s rights activist, member of  the  Central  Council  and  Spokesperson   for  the  “Daftar-e  Tahkim-e  Vahdat” student union and an activist with the “One Million Signatures Campaign” was submitted to the Special Rapporteur. She was reportedly arrested by the Ministry of Intelligence   for  the  fifth  time  in  four  years  on  31  December   2009.  She  was transferred to Evin prison’s ward 209. In May 2010, Ms. Hedayat was sentenced to nine and a half years in prison for “assembly and collusion against the regime”, “insulting   the  Supreme   Leader”  and  “insulting   the  President”.   The  court  also reactivated  an  earlier  two-year  suspended  sentence  for  participating   in  a  2006 gathering to protest against laws discriminating against women.

58.    Mahboubeh   Karami,  a  women’s  rights  activist  and  member  of  the  “One Million Signatures Campaign”, was arrested on 1 March 2009 and spent 170 days in prison before being released on bail of $500,000. Ms. Karami was sentenced to four years in prison.  In February  2011,  an appeals  court  reduced  her sentence  to three years. She began her three-year prison term on 15 May 2011 after responding to a summons  requiring  her to report  to Evin  prison  in Tehran.  Ms.  Karami’s  charges include  “membership  in the Human  Rights Activists  in Iran organization”, “propagating  against  the  regime”  and  “assembly  and  collusion  with  the  intent  to commit crimes against national security”.

D.     Religious and ethnic minorities

59.   The Special Rapporteur is also concerned by reports of targeted violence and discrimination against minority groups. Members of recognized and unrecognized religious  and  ethnic  minorities  such  Arabs,  Azeris,  Balochs,  Kurds,  Nematullahi Sufi Muslims, Sunnis, Baha’is and Christians are reportedly facing a wide range of human  and  civil  rights  violations.  These  include  encroachment  on  their  rights  to freedom of assembly, association, expression, movement and liberty.

60.    The  Special  Rapporteur  is concerned  about  reports  of violations  against  the Baha’i community,  which, despite being the largest non-Muslim  religious minority, does   not   enjoy   recognition   as   such   by   the   Government.   Its   members   have historically  suffered multifaceted  discrimination,  including denial of jobs, pensions and educational opportunities, as well as confiscation and destruction of property. According to information received by the Special Rapporteur, at least 100 members of  the   Baha’i   community,   including   seven   community   leaders 2   are   currently

2  Fariba Kamalabadi, Jamaloddin Khanjani, Afif Naeimi, Saied Rezaie, Behrouz Tavakkoli, Vahid

Tizfahm, and Mahvash Sabet are the seven members of the Baha’i faith who had been detained since 14 May 2008 and who went on trial on 12 January 2010 for charges including “acting against national security, espionage and spreading corruption on Earth. They have each beensentenced to 20 years’ imprisonment. imprisoned in the Islamic Republic of Iran. The majority of those detained allegedly face national security-related charges and have undergone judicial proceedings that lacked due process and fair trial standards.

61.    In addition, recognized religious minorities reportedly face serious constraints in  the  enjoyment   of  their  rights  and  are  subjected   to  severe   limitations   and restrictions   on  the  freedom   of  religion   and  belief.   For  instance,   the  Special Rapporteur  notes that conversion  from Islam is still punishable. Articles 13 and 26 of the Constitution  recognize  Christianity,  granting  Christians  the right to worship freely and to form religious societies. Article 14 obligates the Government to uphold the  equality  and  human  rights  of  Christians.  However,  Christians  in  the  Islamic Republic of Iran are reportedly subjected to limitations on their freedom of religion and various forms of religious discrimination. This is said to be particularly true of Protestant Christians, most of whom are newly converted. The Intelligence Ministry is reported to closely monitor Protestant congregations and to routinely summon or detain members of Protestant groups for interrogations, during which individuals are questioned  about their beliefs, church activities  and other church members  and are often urged to return to Islam. In this regard, some Protestants reported having been threatened  by intelligence  officials with arrest and apostasy charges if they did not return to Islam. This pattern of harassment has reportedly resulted in the operations of most  Protestant  churches  going underground,  where  church  services  and Bible studies are conducted in private homes.

62.    The  Special  Rapporteur  was  particularly  disturbed  by a recent  ruling  of the Supreme  Court  that  upheld  a death  sentence  for Yousef  Nadarkhani,  a Protestant pastor,  who  was  reportedly  born  to Muslim  parents  but  converted  to Christianity when he was 19 years old. The verdict reads that, unless he decides to renounce his Christianity,  Mr. Nadarkhani  will  be executed  by hanging.  This  is an emblematic case of religious intolerance and State-sanctioned  violations of the right to freedom of religion  and  belief,  a fundamental  freedom  guaranteed  by international instruments. Behrouz Sadegh-Khanjani, pastor for the Church of Iran in the city of Shiraz, was also detained, in June 2010, and was reportedly held incommunicado  in solitary confinement  for approximately  two months. Authorities  originally  charged him with apostasy, but later dropped that charge and charged him with “blasphemy” instead. He is currently awaiting trial under this charge.

63.    Sufi Muslims in the Islamic Republic of Iran are also subjected to limitations on their freedom of religion and various forms of religious discrimination. This is particularly   true   of  members   of  the   Shia   Sufi   order,   Nematollahi   Gonabadi. Authorities sentenced Gholam-Abbas  Zare-Haqiqi,  a Gonabadi leader, to four years in  prison  in  October  2009,  for  allowing  a  burial  at  Sufi  cemeteries,  a  banned practice.  On  13 April  2011,  authorities  arrested  eight  Gonabadi  dervishes  by  the names of Abdolreza  Kashani, Shokrollah  Hosseini, Alireza Abbasi, Ali Kashanifar, Mohammad  Marvi, Nazarali  Marvi, Ramin Soltankhah  and Zafarali Moghimi.  The men had been part of a group of dervishes  previously  sentenced  to five months in prison,  50  lashes  and  one  year’s  exile  on  charges  of  “disrupting  public  order”, mainly  for  assembling  in front  of the Gonabad  Justice  Department  and  prison  to protest the detainment of a leader of the order.

64.    Ayatollah Yusuf Saanei is a prominent  Shia source of emulation  in Qom and has  a track  record  of  issuing  fatwas  with  reformist  interpretations.  He  supported Mir-Hossein  Mousavi’s  candidacy  during  the 2009  election,  and has been a vocalcritic of the post-election  crackdown.  Throughout  July and August 2009, Ayatollah Saanei spoke out against detentions, torture, forced confessions and violence against dissidents   and  protestors.   On  3  January  2010,  plain-clothes   Basijis  reportedly attacked Ayatollah Saanei’s office in the city of Gorgan after he delivered a speech that criticized the post-election developments in that city. Plain-clothes agents also reportedly  congregated  in  front  of  his  house  in  Qom,  attacked  it  and destroyed property inside on 13 June 2010.

65.    Mowlavi  Habiballah   Marjani,  a  teacher  and  director  of  seminary  student affairs  at Dar-al-Ulum  Seminary,  was arrested  on 1 May  2011.  On 24 May  2011, Bultan News, an Iranian website known for its close association with intelligence circles,  claimed  that  Mr.  Marjani  had  been  charged  with  “attempts  to  organize illegal gatherings”. There is no information about Mr. Marjani’s whereabouts  or his current condition.

66.    Hojataleslam  Ahmad  Ghabel  is  a  well-known  religious  scholar  and  a  close associate   and  former   student   of  the  dissident   cleric  Ayatollah   Montazeri.   On

14 September   2010,  Mr.  Ghabel  was  summoned   to  the  revolutionary   court  in Mashhad. When he arrived, he was arrested and transferred to Vakilabad prison in Mashhad. He was charged for interviews  he had given about prison conditions  and mass secret executions inside Vakilabad prison. On 31 July 2011, Mr. Ghabel was ordered to report to that prison, where he is currently serving his 20-month sentence.

67.    Hojataleslam  Mojtaba  Lotfi  is  a  young  cleric  who  published  his  articles  in reformist  newspapers  and  websites.  He  was  arrested  on  the  order  of  the  Special Court for the Clergy in city of Qom on 8 October 2008. He was charged with “publication  of lies and production and distribution of articles and writings without a legal permit”. The Court sentenced Mr. Lotfi to four years in prison and five years of internal  exile on 29 November  2008 and transferred  him to Langrood  prison in Qom to serve his term. On 29 November 2009, authorities announced that Mr. Lotfi would  be  allowed  to  spend  his  evenings,  from  sunset  until  next  morning  at  his home, and that he was required to report to prison every morning. He was arrested again after participating in Ayatollah Montazeri’s funeral procession and was subsequently prosecuted by the Special Court for the Clergy under the charge of “participation  in Ayatollah Montazeri’s funeral during a prison furlough”. The court sentenced him to 10 years of internal exile in the city of Ashtian.

68.   The Special Rapporteur also received reports of discrimination against Sunni Muslim sects in the Islamic Republic of Iran. For instance, Sunnis are reportedly not allowed to build any mosques and houses of worship and are also prevented from offering  prayers in congregation,  especially  Eid and Friday prayers. On 29 August

2011, a religious  Sunni leader and cleric Shaikh-ul-Islam  Mawlana Abdul Hameed asked  the  Supreme  Leader  to  remove  barriers  from  establishing  Eid  and  Friday prayers of Sunnis in major cities. He also expressed concern over reports regarding discriminative measures of officials by taking written oaths from Sunni scholars in Tehran to not offer Eid al-Fitr prayers.  Furthermore,  on 6 February  2011, security forces reportedly raided a house of worship for Sunnis in Tehran, locked it up and detained its prayer leader, Mowlavi Musazadeh. He was released on 13 March 2011 after posting bail

E.     Capital punishment

69.   The interim report of the Secretary-General to the Human Rights Council (A/HRC/16/75)   documented   a  dramatic  increase  in  executions   recorded  in  the Islamic Republic of Iran. In addition to serious concerns over the frequency of its application,  the Special Rapporteur  is concerned  that the death penalty is regularly used in cases where due process rights were denied to the accused. Secret group executions  inside prisons, which reportedly  occur in alarmingly  high numbers,  are often  carried  out  without  the  knowledge  and  presence  of  families  and  lawyers. Public  executions,   which  the  Iranian  authorities   claim  have  been  effective   in preventing crimes, also continue to recur. The Special Rapporteur was particularly disturbed   by  the  video   footage   of  recent   public   executions   of  three   persons convicted  of kidnapping  and rape in the Azadi  Square  of Kermanshah  on 19 July

2011.  As  seen  in  the  footage,  a  large  crowd,  including  children,  attended  the execution.

70.   Moreover, the Special Rapporteur is troubled by reports of the widespread application  of  the  death  penalty  for  crimes  that  do  not  meet  the  international standard for most serious crimes. According to various sources, including Amnesty International,  a  majority  of  those  executed  in  2010  had  been  convicted  of  drug- related  offences. 3  The  Human  Rights  Committee  and  the  Special  Rapporteur  on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions have stated that drug offences do not constitute a “most serious crime” for which the death penalty is permissible under international  law (see A/HRC/4/20,  para. 51). Capital punishment  was also applied to cases regarding Mohareb or “enmity against God”, rape, murder, immoral acts or acts against chastity and kidnapping. More than 200 officially announced executions have taken place in 2011. At least 83 persons,  including  3 political  prisoners,  are known  to  have  been  executed  in  January  2011  alone.  It  was  also  noted  that

4 per cent of the executions  announced  by the official  Iranian  media stipulated  no charges. At least one person has been sentenced for apostasy in 2011, and more than100 officially announced executions in the Islamic Republic of Iran in 2011 were reportedly for drug-related crimes.

71.    Furthermore,  authorities  reportedly  conducted  more than 300 secret executions at Vakilabad prison in 2010. Vakilabad officials, in violation of Iranian law, allegedly carried out the executions without the knowledge or presence of the inmates’ lawyers or families and without prior notification to those executed. It has also been reported that at least 146 secret executions have taken place to date in 2011.

72.    It has also been reported that more than 100 juveniles are on death row in the Islamic  Republic  of  Iran.  In  a  joint  press  statement,  on  22  September  2011,  the Special Rapporteur, together with the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, the Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers   and   the  Special   Rapporteur   on  torture   and   other   cruel,   inhuman   or degrading  treatment  or punishment  condemned  the public execution  by hanging of

17-year-old  Alireza  Molla  Soltani,  which  was carried  out on 21 September  in the city  of Karaj.  The  Special  Rapporteurs  stressed  that  any  judgement  imposing  the

3  According to official judiciary news, Mohammad Bagher Bagheri, Social and Crime Prevention

Deputy of South Khorasan province Judiciary, confirmed the executions of 140 persons in

relation to drug-trafficking  during 2010. Official judiciary news, 26 June 2011, available from http://shorakj.ir/Default.aspx?tabid=1056&ctl=Edit&mid=2234&Code=1762.

death penalty upon juveniles below the age of 18, and their execution, were incompatible  with the international  obligations  of the Islamic Republic of Iran and called upon the Government to institute a moratorium on the death penalty. The execution of minors, defined as an individual under the age of 18 years at the time they committed  their offence,  is prohibited  by the International  Covenant  on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, to both of which the Islamic Republic of Iran is a State party. Moreover, the Special Rapporteur is concerned with the unequal treatment of boys and girls under the penal code, which currently holds girls criminally liable for their actions six years earlier than boys.

F.     Detention for relations with foreign entities

73.    Omid Kokabi, an Iranian scientist and a postgraduate student at the University of Texas, has been at Evin prison (wards 209 and 350) since February 2010, when he was arrested after travelling to the Islamic Republic of Iran to visit his family. His charges are cited as “illegitimate  earnings”  and “relations  with an enemy state”. Prior to his trial, which was later postponed, Mr. Kokabi wrote a letter to the head of the Iranian judiciary to report prison abuse, torture and solitary confinement.  He also wrote that he had been  arrested  “for the astounding  charge  of assembly  and collusion  against national security and was held in solitary confinement for 36 days”. Mr. Kokabi wrote that  he  had  been  forced  to  sign  false  confessions   and  to  report  details  about individuals   he  may  have  observed   or  come  into  contact  with  at  embassies   or conferences. He stated that he had been told that those individuals were Central Intelligence Agency operatives. He asserts that he has no history of political activity and challenges the legality of his arrest. Mr. Kokabi’s attorney also reportedly wrote to the head of the judiciary to declare that he had not had access to his client.

74.    The Special  Rapporteur  conducted  an interview  with a source  that wishes  to remain   anonymous   regarding   the  arrest  and  detention   of  two  physicians   and HIV/AIDS experts, Arash and Kamiar Alaei, as well as two of their associates, Mohammad  Ehsani  and Silva Harotonian.  A review  of the court’s  decision,  issued on  27  January  2004  by  the  Special  Rapporteur,  revealed  that  all  four  individuals were  charged   with  committing   “actions   against   domestic   security   by  way  of cooperation with the Government of the United States of America”. A document containing   the  court’s  decision  stated  that  the  United  States  Government   was suspected  of  “trying  to  attract  and  employ  elements  of  non-governmental organizations, journalists, bloggers, members of the intellectual and educated class, scientific  leaders,  social  movements,  and  students,  by  creating  organic  linkages”. The  document   further   cites  the  evidence   used  to  convict   the  Alaei  brothers, indicating that they had confessed to attending conferences, inviting individuals to participate in conferences and developing, coordinating and executing exchange programmes with entities such as Johns Hopkins University and the Asia Society.

IV.    Conclusion

75.      The  Special  Rapporteur  wishes  to emphasize  his  desire  for constructive dialogue with the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the international community and civil society. The Special Rapporteur looks forward to the challenging responsibility of this mandate and to positive outcomes in the fieldof human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran. He has identified a number of promising starting points for cooperation in the present report, notably in the implementation of the recommendations of the universal periodic review, treaty body  observations   and  the  findings   of  other  special   procedures   mandate holders. He has also catalogued an increasing trend of alleged violations of the fundamental  rights  of  the  people,  guaranteed  under  international  law,  and stresses the urgency for greater transparency from the Iranian authorities and closer engagement between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the international community in strengthening human rights safeguards for its citizens.