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UN Special Reporter Criticizes Rising Number of Child Executions in Iran

In his second report, Javid Rahman, the U.N special reporter on Human Rights in Iran once again criticized the human rights conditions in Iran.

In his report, Rahman expresses concern about the wide range of human rights violations in Iran.

According to the report, the increased discontent in December of 2017 and January of 2018 presented itself in protests which were mainly rooted in the low quality of life, increased inflation, delayed paychecks, and water crisis. The return of the sanctions added to the tensions.

Rahman expresses his concern about the regime’s increasingly harsh responses to the demonstrations, violating the rights to life, freedom, and free trial, and says that an increasing number of human rights advocates, attorneys, journalists, and labor rights activists have been incarcerated or persecuted.

According to the report, the judiciary calls the protesters “conspirators” and considers them as people who are targeting the foundation of the Islamic Republic regime.

The report states that From January to October of 2018, 207 people have been executed in Iranian prisons. The report breaks down the numbers and stresses that a significant number of the executions and incarcerations are from religious and ethnic minorities.

Referring to article 6 of the international political and civil convention that the Islamic Republic has also signed, the report criticizes Iran for issuing death sentences for crimes other than intentional murder.

The report also criticizes the judiciary for denying defendants’ right to a fair trial through legal violation of the right to choose one’s attorney for defendants facing punishments of execution, life in prison, mutilation, or in political and journalism crimes.

Rahman also refers to his interviews with members of religious and ethnic minorities including Bahai, Azari, Kurd, and Baluch and accounts the incidents of discriminations by the judiciary.

The Report also points out the vague and arbitrary procedure of the judiciary in cases of arrested dual citizens. Arbitrary and illegal arrests, long incarcerations before trial, denied access to legal consultation, guilty verdicts for vague crimes such as “war against God” or without sufficient evidence, abuse and torture and denying medical treatment, are all among the experiences of the arrested dual citizens.

The UN report accounts the instances of violations of the right to association and peaceful assembly, and the restrictions for various groups including teachers, workers, students, minorities, and women in 2018.

Protests of Haft-Tappeh workers, Ahvaz National Steel Company steelworkers, truckers, and teachers have all been included in the report.

The report also includes the arrests of women protesting the mandatory hijab and receiving up to 2 years in prison for “promoting corruption”.

Violation of free speech, including the arrests of activists and filtering Telegram and other social media, are also mentioned.

Javid Rahman also criticizes the legal age in Iran, which puts 9-year-old girls and 15-year-old boys at risk of execution.

According to the report, in the past 5 years at least 33 children were executed in Iran which makes it the highest number in the world.

 

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