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U.N.: Reports of human rights abuses in Iran on rise

Iran Materials 18 October 2011 11:04 (UTC +04:00)
Human rights violations in Iran appear to be increasing, with political activists, journalists and others often facing persecution, the U.N. special rapporteur on human rights in Iran, Ahmed Shaheed.
U.N.: Reports of human rights abuses in Iran on rise

Azerbaijan, Baku, Oct. 18 /Trend/

Human rights violations in Iran appear to be increasing, with political activists, journalists and others often facing persecution, the U.N. special rapporteur on human rights in Iran, Ahmed Shaheed, said in a report released on Monday, Reuters reported.

Shaheed said in a report to the U.N. General Assembly that the Iranian government had not allowed him to visit Iran while making his assessment.

Shaheed has "catalogued an increasing trend of alleged violations of the fundamental rights of the people, guaranteed under international law, and stresses the need for greater transparency from the Iranian authorities," he said in the report.

Among the abuses by the Iranian justice system that he has investigated are "torture, cruel, or degrading treatment of detainees, the imposition of the death penalty in the absence of proper judicial safeguards, (and) the status of women," according to the report.

Shaheed's report criticizes the detention conditions for opposition leaders. He also raises concerns about wide use of the death penalty and reports of persecution of journalists and bloggers, student activists, human rights lawyers and religious minorities, including the Baha'i community, at least 100 of whom are imprisoned in Iran, according to his report.

Shaheed's report also criticized the detention conditions for, and denial of rights of, Iranian opposition leaders Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karoubi and their wives, describing their situations as "deeply disturbing."

Karroubi and Mousavi have been taken under house arrest since February 14 when they called people to rally in support of the Arab uprisings in the region.

In early September Karroubi met with his family after 7 months. During this meeting Karroubi insisted on his previous positions about the falsifications in the Iranian presidential elections in June, 2009.

In 2009, the powerful opposition unrest broke out in Tehran after the announcement of the results of the presidential election held on June 12. The election was won by the current President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. One of the losing candidates - reformer Mousavi - accused authorities of rigging the voting results and called upon people to hold protests.

According to official figures, the clashes killed 20 people. The unofficial count was near 150 deaths. About 1,032 demonstrators were arrested, most of whom were subsequently released.

In September 2010 the U.S. imposed sanctions against an entire group of senior Iranian officials with the wording "for consistent and serious violations of human rights" in accordance with U.S President Barack Obama's decision.

Iran's U.N. mission did not respond immediately to a request for a reaction to Shaheed's report.

Edited by T.Konyayeva.

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