Corporate report

Islamic Republic of Iran - in-year update December 2015

Published 21 April 2016

This was published under the 2015 to 2016 Cameron Conservative government

There was little change in the human rights situation in Iran between July and December 2015. In some respects, the situation has worsened, despite President Rouhani pledging to improve the rights and freedoms of the citizens of Iran when he was elected.

Iran’s use of the death penalty continued to be a serious concern. There were an estimated 966 executions in 2015, the highest number of executions in over 10 years. Iran continues to use the death penalty for juvenile offenders, in direct contradiction to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which Iran is a signatory. Iran also routinely uses the death penalty for crimes not internationally recognised as “most serious”, for example drugs-related offences.

In December, a bill was presented to the Iranian parliament that, if approved, would reduce the punishment for non-violent drug-related crimes from death to life imprisonment. This is a promising development and has been welcomed by human rights organisations around the world. According to reports, approximately 65% of executions in Iran in 2015 were for drug-related offences; if the proposed bill is approved, this could significantly reduce the number of executions in Iran.

On freedom of expression, the crackdown on use of social media came to a head in November when the cyber unit of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) arrested over 170 individuals, accusing them of publishing “obscene” content on instant-messaging mobile apps. Reports of some of the arrests cited “facilitating users’ access to obscene content via groups on mobile networks, publishing obscene Iranian and foreign content in text and visual format, encouraging people to commit offences, and publishing texts that insulted national figures”.

Despite this attempt to control the social media activities of Iranian citizens, in October President Rouhani told a meeting of the Supreme Council of Virtual Space that “facilitating public access to virtual space and social media should be a priority, even as we resist the misuse of this information exchange”. Intelligence Minister, Mahmud Alavi, also reportedly warned against violating people’s privacy while speaking at a conference in Tehran. He said “We have no right to stick our noses into peoples’ private life”. He also reportedly underlined the importance of security in society, and said that, in the pursuit of security and progress, the intelligence apparatus should not sacrifice either.

Iranian authorities continue to arrest and detain human rights defenders and political prisoners by the hundreds; many on vague political charges such as “propaganda against the regime”.

There continue to be grave concerns over access to, and the independence of, lawyers in Iran. Article 48 of the revised Code of Criminal Procedures (effective as of June 2015) formally provides defendants the right to request “the presence of a lawyer at the onset of detention”. However, a note to Article 48 allows for exceptions. For example, if the accused is detained on suspicion of committing offences such as organised crime or crimes against national security (of which human rights activists are frequently convicted), they may be prohibited from accessing a lawyer for up to a week after arrest.

In October 2015, Siamak Namazi, a United States-Iranian dual national who was visiting his family was arrested in Iran. During his arrest Namazi’s family home was allegedly ransacked, property confiscated, and Namazi taken to Evin prison. To date, government authorities have failed to provide any public information regarding the reason for and circumstances of Namazi’s arrest. In early 2016, it was reported that Namazi’s 80-year-old father had also been arrested without charge.

Women do not enjoy the same rights and privileges as men in Iran, and 2015 saw a number of debates between various factions of the regime about the rights of women.

In November, leading Iranian actress Sadaf Taherian fled to the United Arab Emirates after facing harsh criticism for sharing her photos on social media without wearing the traditional Islamic hijab. Iranian regime officials have reportedly described Taherian as “mentally unbalanced”, calling her an “offender” against the Islamic Republic of Iran. Meanwhile, the Iranian Ministry of Culture has banned her from acting, demanding she “repent”. The debate on Islamic dress continues, with clear divides between different elements of the regime.

Two proposed Bills which were making their way through the Iranian Parliament in 2015 caused outrage both inside and outside Iran. Human rights groups said the Bills would set Iranian women back decades and reduce them to “baby-making machines”. The Bills had been drafted after the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, described family planning as an imitation of Western lifestyles, and requested that Iran’s population be doubled.

The Bill to Increase Fertility Rates and Prevent Population Decline aims to ban all surgeries intended for permanent contraception, except in cases where there are threats to physical health. The Bill would also decrease funding for birth control programmes which provide subsidies for modern contraceptives.

In November, the Iranian Parliament voted in favour of the Comprehensive Population and Family Excellence Plan. This Bill instructs “all private and public entities to prioritise, in sequence, men with children, married men without children and married women with children when hiring for certain jobs”. The Bill would also tighten divorce laws, which are already heavily in favour of men, and aims to reform divorce law so that establishing peace between couples takes precedence over divorce, even suggesting that the judiciary grants “bonuses to judges in divorce cases that lead to peace [reconciliation] between the married couple”.

2015 also saw Iran appoint its first female ambassador abroad since the Islamic Revolution in 1979. In November, Marzieh Afkham, former spokeswoman to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, took up her posting as Ambassador to Malaysia.

The Iranian Constitution formally recognises three religions other than Islam: Christianity, Judaism and Zoroastrianism. Minority religions, and even non-Shi’a Muslims, face persecution and harassment in Iran. Followers of non-recognised religions, such as the Baha’i faith, are persecuted particularly severely. On 15 November, 20 Baha’is were reportedly arrested across Iran, and 23 businesses belonging to Baha’is were shut down. As of the end of December, over 80 Baha’is were reportedly detained for the peaceful practice of their faith.

On prison conditions, reports emerged in August that prisoners at the new detention facility in Tehran faced “dreadful” conditions, including sexual harassment, violence and lack of primary facilities. According to reports on the Kaleme website, the prison, which is due to take in all prisoners from Tehran Province in the near future, is notorious for “prevalent distribution of narcotics, activities of organised gangs, sexual harassment of young detainees and extortion of newcomers”. Monthly inspections of prison sections are carried out with “extreme violence”, with guards beating the inmates with batons and breaking their personal belongings. Prisoners often have no access to fresh air and sunlight, and experience adverse hygienic conditions, according to the reports.