UN slams Iran for lack of judiciary independence and rise in executions in new report

Amhed Shaheed’s latest report is comprised of several sections addressing Iranian laws affecting human rights, including the proposed Citizenship Rights Charter.

CDI – Ahmed Shaheed, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran, has released his third report to the UN Human Rights Council, emphasizing alarm over the surge in the number of executions, as well as lack of independence of the Iranian Judiciary.

For his research the Special Rapporteur interviewed more than 130 individuals in Iran and outside Iran who provided testimonies about human rights abuses, and received written reports from human rights organizations about the situation of the Baha’i, Gonabadi Dervish, Sunnis, Christian, religious minority communities, and the Ahwazi Arab, Kurdish, Baluch, and Azerbaijani ethnic minority groups.

The report indicates that though under president Hassan Rouhani, the Islamic Republic of Iran has made some positive overtures over the past few months, “concerns raised by the General Assembly, Human Rights Council, UN Treaty Bodies, the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council, human rights defenders and international organizations” have not been fully addressed. The “basis of these concerns,” as the Special Rapporteur points out, “is primarily the non-compliance of national laws with the Government’s international obligations, a lack of adherence to rule of law, as well as failure to investigate complaints and to bring human rights violators to justice.”

Amhed Shaheed’s latest report is comprised of several sections addressing Iranian laws affecting human rights, including the proposed Citizenship Rights Charter and the new Criminal Procedure Law, as well as the Political Crime Bill, and the treatment of Iranian citizens vis-à-vis their “right to liberty and security of persons.” The report also covers the situation of human rights defenders, journalists and netizens, and religious and ethnic minorities; “treatment of persons deprived of liberty; “right to a fair trial,” reflecting on independence of judges and lawyers and trial proceedings; “right to life;” and “socio-economic rights” including the right to education and the economic sanctions imposed on Iran.

“It has been estimated that some 1,539 individuals have been executed, including at least between 955 and 962 for drug trafficking, since the

establishment of the mandate of the Special Rapporteur in 2011. Some 687 individuals are thought to have been executed in 2013 (369 of which were announced by official or semi-official government sources), an increase of 165 over the figures recorded for 2012… In 2013, at least 57 individuals were hanged publicly (one of whom was pardoned after surviving the execution), including at least 28 women,” reports Ahmed Shaheed.

For full report click the following link The third report to the UN Human Rights Council