On April 19, the State Department’s new human rights report charged that Iran engaged in “egregious” abuses, including “cruel, inhuman or degrading” punishments as well as “judicially sanctioned” amputation and flogging. It cited “beatings and rape” as evidence of Tehran’s politically motivated repression, especially in the four years since the disputed 2009 presidential election. The following are excerpts from “The 2012 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices” on Iran:
“The human rights situation in Iran remained very poor in 2012. The government continued its crackdown on civil society, which has progressively intensified since the 2009 presidential elections. Throughout the year, authorities arrested numerous journalists, students, lawyers, artists, and ethnic and religious activists. The judiciary continued to impose harsh sentences against those who participated in oppositionist or pro-reform demonstrations. The government committed extrajudicial killings and executed persons for criminal convictions on minor offenses, sometimes in public or group executions.
“Citizens remain unable to change their government through free and fair elections. The government severely restricted freedoms of speech, assembly, association, and religion and significantly increased its surveillance and monitoring of citizens’ online activities by blocking or filtering content and detaining numerous Internet users for content posted online. Security forces under the government’s control committed acts of politically motivated violence and repression, including torture, beatings, and rape. Iran’s government also sought to increase violent repression outside its borders by continuing to assist the Syrian government’s brutal crackdown against its own people…
“According to NGO reports, the government executed a total of 523 persons in 2012, many after trials that were secret or did not provide due process. Prosecutors often charged persons arrested for political and human rights-related activities with moharebeh, ‘enmity towards god,’ a vague and overly broad charge that carries the death penalty. The government promulgated new and sweeping restrictions on women’s activities, education, and employment.”
According to the report, the most widespread abuses human rights problems in Iran were:
• the government’s severe limitations on citizens’ right to peacefully change their government
through free and fair elections
• restrictions on civil liberties, including the freedoms of assembly, speech, and press
• and the government’s disregard for the physical integrity of persons whom it arbitrarily and
unlawfully killed, tortured, and imprisoned
• disappearances; cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment
• continued impunity of security forces
• arbitrary arrest and denial of fair public trials, sometimes resulting in executions without
due process
• severe restrictions on freedoms of speech (including via the Internet) and press.
The following is a link to the full report, which was released after a press conference by Secretary of State John Kerry. http://paei.state.gov/documents/organization/204571.pdf