UN

ECLJ Condemns Iranian Human Rights Violations to U.N.

By ECLJ1253309519660

Our international affiliate, the European Centre for Law and Justice (ECLJ), has filed an important petition at the United Nations.  The ECLJ has filed a petition with the U.N. Special Rapporteurs highlighting the Iranian government's continued systematic violations of basic human rights against its citizens.

The petition also underscores the rights of Iranian citizens regarding the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, the right to be free from arbitrary detention, and the right to be free from torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

You can read the ECLJ petition here.  A brief summary of the petition is posted below:

The recent re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on June 12, 2009 sparked massive protests led by defeated Presidential candidates who claimed the election was a fraud. In response to the protests, the Iranian Revolutionary Guards and their proxy, the Basij Militia, launched a massive brutal campaign to quash all political discourse. The opposition claims that following the election, security forces killed at least seventy-two people, twenty-eight of whom are alleged to have been buried anonymously in a Tehran cemetery, and approximately 4,000 people were arbitrarily arrested.

In August, over 100 of the detainees were put on trial for allegedly “conspiring against the ruling system.” This mass trial was only open to the Iranian State media agency.  Many of the accused were not provided with attorneys, and even when an attorney was provided, some claimed they were denied access to represent their clients in the courtroom. Confessions were made, but it was apparent that the confessions were coerced and often were prepared statements written by the government. The trial recently resumed on September 14.    

Iranian authorities specifically targeted certain groups of people including pro-reform politicians, journalists, lawyers, campaigners, and students. At least 43 journalists were detained and incarcerated, some merely for sending emails of pictures or reports of the protests. The authorities also confiscated the computers and documents of individuals and separately raided and shut down the office of Iran’s leading journalist organization. Recently, on September 7 and 8, two opposition leaders watched as authorities raided and shut down their homes and offices in efforts to seize all documents and devices relating to their investigations into abuses of detained protestors. Five human rights lawyers were detained and jailed following the election. One lawyer spent seventy-two days in prison, seventeen of which were spent in solitary confinement, and lost 15 pounds while in prison. Authorities accused him of “being skeptical about the results of the election.”

Simple arrests of these individuals were not sufficient. Many of those detained were thrown into Iranian prisons which have been described as “inhuman hellholes.” Prisoners were tortured, fed nothing but scraps, and threatened if they would not cooperate with interrogators in making statements incriminating themselves or others in plotting a so-called “velvet revolution.”  While being held at the Kahrizak detention center, one man died of cardiac arrest and bleeding in his lungs as a result of “physical stress, the effects of being held in bad conditions, and multiple blows and severe injuries to the body,” according to an Iranian forensic doctor. 

The Iranian authorities also engaged in sexual abuse. Some female detainees were so severely raped that their genitals were damaged. In one instance, a 28 year old woman was detained by police while waiting to hear a speech by one of the opposition leaders. Weeks later, her family was called and told she had been hospitalized after rupturing her womb and anus in an “unfortunate incident.” Her body was later found burned in a desert west of Tehran. Young boys were also savagely raped causing them serious mental damage.

Iran is a U.N. Member State and, as such, is bound to accept and carry out the obligations contained in the charter of the U.N.  Nevertheless, Iran has ignored protests by numerous U.N. officials against its treatment of these detainees. Additionally, Iran is a signatory to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (CCPR), a binding treaty that Iran has ratified without any reservations. Iran has also adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). Although the UDHR is not a binding treaty, Iran recently cited the declaration to quash the showing of an anti-Qur’an film in the country. Because Iran has used the UDHR to advance its own interests, the Iranian government should be held accountable to the UDHR’s provisions. The arbitrary detention of 4,000 people post-election violates both the UDHR and the CCPR. Individuals, especially politicians, journalists, lawyers, and the other targeted groups, were denied the freedom of opinion and expression, violating UDHR article 19, the freedom of assembly and association in violation of UDHR article 20, and the unconditional right to hold opinions guaranteed by CCPR article 19(1). The Iranian government’s attempt to targeting of certain professions that exist to promote opinion demonstrates the government’s intent to interfere with the opinions of Iran’s citizens. 

Numerous other provisions of both the UDHR and CCPR were violated. These documents provide citizens the rights of freedom from arbitrary detention, due process, and equality before the law. Individuals were arbitrarily detained and put on trial precisely because of the opinions they held, making the mass trial not impartial at all. Due process requires that the accused be provided with an attorney and that the attorney be given the opportunity to fully represent his client which often did not happen. Furthermore, article 5 of the UDHR and article 7 of the CCPR provide that no one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. It is indisputable that the Iranian authorities have tortured numerous people being detained in prison. Forced confessions, beatings, threats, and the rape of both boys and women all constitute torture under CAT.

The ECLJ’s communication to the U.N. urges action requiring the Iranian government to effectively cease all efforts to illegally quash political discourse and to be held accountable for its abuses of fundamental human rights and international norms in violation of international law. Our recommendations include: prosecution for those responsible for the rape and other indignities; stopping the prosecution of citizens based on opinion and providing an impartial judiciary; releasing all prisoners not charged; publicizing the trial and opening it up for human rights groups, NGO’s, foreign press, and lawyers; allowing U.N. observers access into the prisons to investigate abuse allegations; and discussing the situation with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad during his upcoming visit to the U.N.

We will keep you posted as developments regarding Iran unfold.  We'll bring you the latest on Jay Sekulow Live!

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