Human Rights Situation in Iran – Annual Report 1393

Human Rights Situation in Iran – Annual Report 1393 (Persian Calendar)

The Department of Statistics and Publications of the Human Rights Activists in Iran (HRAI) of Iran has published its sixth annual report on the human rights situation in Iran. This report concerns the events and human rights incidents occurred in Iran over the course of one-year period (2014-2015). These reports have been collected by the HRAI reporters and associated organizations in addition to the reports published by the state media, unofficial media, and international resources. This report highlights some of the most important human rights incidents in Iran in 2014, which could be useful for the human rights activists and researchers. The names of the executed political prisoners or those awaiting the execution decree as well as arrested individuals in different categories are also included in this report.

Part 1- Introduction

This mid-year review highlights continual violations of human rights in Iran. It is based on the reports received from nongovernmental, not-for-profit, and human rights organizations. This review also sheds light on the violations of civil, political, economic, social, and cultural rights in Iran or those that have been ignored or not executed. This is not a perfect review and certainly has several errors which actually further highlight the human rights challenges in Iran and difficulties in free access to human rights issues in Iran.

Despite the designation of Mr. Ahmad Shaheed as the Special Rapporteur on Human Rights situation in Iran by the UN Human Rights Council and extending his mission in 2014, the Islamic Republic of Iran still has not issued permission for his visit to Iran. Moreover, in the comments of Iranian Judicial officials, he has been insulted and his position has been described as baseless and not legitimate. The new government was expected to change the situation and invite him to Iran for his human rights investigations but this was not possible until the end of 2014.

Until the end of 2014, Mr. Shaheed has prepared eight reports about the human rights in Iran. These reports are usually highlighting the ongoing violations of human rights by Iranian government.

Human Rights Situation in Iran – Annual Report 1393

In October 2014, Islamic Republic of Iran participated in a new round of global periodic review (U.P.R.). A total of 104 delegations representing different countries offered a total of 291 recommendations related to the rights guaranteed by five international human rights conventions. Most of these recommendations suggested that the Iranian government should strengthen the protection of civil and political rights and put an end to the methods that violate these rights. They also encouraged the Iranian government to abolish the death penalty; protect the Iranian citizens against torture and ruthless behavior; prevent cruel or degrading behavior; and support the rights of migrant workers and gender equality.

There were also recommendations related to improving of the protection of vulnerable groups including ethnic, religious and gender minorities; encouraging the establishment of a national human rights institution consistent with the Paris principle; and adopt cooperation with human rights mechanisms of the United Nations.

The Department of Statistics and Publications of the Human Rights Activists in Iran (HRAI) of Iran has reported different aspects of human rights violations in Iran according to the Central Council of the organization. Accordingly, the number of reports published by the HRANA news agency, which is the news organization of Human Rights Activists in Iran, showed 5% decrease compared to 48% of the human rights violations reports covered in 2013. The reports published by the government sources has increased 1% compared to the 35% of total incidents covered in 2013, and the reports published by other independent sources also increased by 4% compared to the 17% news documented in 2013.

According to reports received from the official and unofficial human rights organizations and international organizations, the widespread violations of human rights has continued in Iran during the last year. These reports also highlight the violations of social, civil, economic, political, and cultural rights. The shortcomings in these reports highlight the challenges that human rights activists are facing in gathering this information,

This report contains surveys and data analysis that highlight the shortcomings in the process of gathering information as well as widespread distribution of the human rights activities in Iran by the defenders and activists from one side and carelessness of the government in support of the human rights organizations on the other side. This report also sheds right on the systematic violations of human rights by the government and its efforts to crack down the free flow of information that is evident from the lack of harmony and consistent disorder in the system.

Human Rights Situation in Iran – Annual Report 1393

Section 2- Freedom of speech, gathering and organization

1 – Freedom of Speech

In 2014 in the area of freedom of speech, the repressive condition was still maintained as Ali Mottahari the Congressman from the party of democracy (from Tehran) recently mentioned that further restrictions on the "freedom of speech" are applied by the government of Hassan Rouhani. In this category, a total of 317 reports has been published by the Department of Statistics and Publications of the Human Rights Activists in Iran (HRAI) in 2014. This includes 254 cases of Internet filtering, 13 cases of seizure of publications, 5 cases of deliberate sabotage in the Internet network of the country, 1696 detentions, 41 cases of beating, 1 case of sealing the assembly and offices, 16 cases of intimidation, 46 cases of summoning to the courts or judiciary offices, 3 travel ban, 1302 cases of gathering satellite.

Also in this area, 24 people were put in trial; 149 were sentenced to 7411 months imprisonment, 120 months suspended jail, 1,593,500,000 Rials fine, and 889 lashes.

Moreover, 366 cases of human rights violations have been extracted from a total of 317 reports involving violations of 4305 citizens' rights.

The following table illustrates the personal identities of 175 Iranian citizens detained in 2014 due to ideological and political reasons:

Date of Date of Tier Full Name Place of arrest Tier Full Name Place of arrest arrest arrest

Mohsen 1 Parvin zandi 01/05/2014 Tehran 92 03/09/2014 Tehran shoja Atena 2 Arash kamanche 01/05/2014 Tehran 93 29/08/2014 Tehran ferghedani Western 3 Behzad asiyaei 01/05/2014 Tehran 94 Faegh najafi 2014 Azerbaijan Fereydon Western 4 Kave rahimi 01/05/2014 Tehran 95 2014 najafi Azerbaijan Western 5 Babak asiyaei 01/05/2014 Tehran 96 Hosein najafi 2014 Azerbaijan Faramarz Western 6 Jamal agoshi 29/04/2014 Neghde 97 2014 najafi Azerbaijan Mahmod Western 7 Nasrolah lashni 26/04/2014 Tehran 98 2014 janpoh Azerbaijan

Human Rights Situation in Iran – Annual Report 1393

Karim Western 8 Kave darolshafa 25/04/2014 Tehran 99 2014 zamani Azerbaijan Western 9 Nada sabori 22/04/2014 Tehran 100 Naser badavi 2014 Azerbaijan Abdolah Western 10 Milad por iisa 22/04/2014 Tehran 101 2014 badavi Azerbaijan Western 11 Sohrab salehin 22/04/2014 Tehran 102 Reza ayobi 2014 Azerbaijan Esmaeil Western 12 Amin ahmadian 27/03/2014 Tehran 103 2014 akhtari Azerbaijan Mohsen Mostafa Western 13 13/04/2014 Tehran 104 2014 ghashghaeizade sabzi Azerbaijan Hosein norani Farhad Western 14 21/04/2014 Tehran 105 2014 nezhad sadeghi Azerbaijan Shapor Western 15 Setare davari 06/05/2014 Tehran 106 2014 asrakhi Azerbaijan Serajoldin Western 16 11/05/2014 Tehran 107 Mosa ashrafi 2014 mirdamadi Azerbaijan Ahmad reza Khaled Western 17 12/05/2014 Tehran 108 2014 zaeri amoei iilan Azerbaijan Mohammad Western 18 18/05/2014 Shiraz 109 Rashid salehi 2014 norizad Azerbaijan Golnaz Western 19 Farshad hatami 18/05/2014 Shiraz 110 2014 ahangkhosh Azerbaijan Hashem 20 18/05/2014 Shiraz 111 Azad arzan 13/07/2014 piransahr parhizkar Mohammad 21 Poriya nori 18/05/2014 Shiraz 112 reza por 30/09/2014 Orumiyeh shajari Mosome gholi 22 18/05/2014 Tehran 113 Aso rostami 08/10/2014 Tehran zade Bahmman 23 20/05/2014 Dehdasht 114 Ali nori 08/10/2014 Tehran tafazoli Mosomeh 24 Davood afroz 20/05/2014 Dehdasht 115 09/10/2014 Tehran ziya Narges 25 Reza tejare 20/05/2014 Dehdasht 116 09/10/2014 Tehran farhadi Malihe 26 Afshin zemanati 20/05/2014 Dehdasht 117 09/10/2014 Tehran biganiyan 27 Saba azarpik 28/05/2014 Tehran 118 Iraj amidi 09/10/2014 Tehran 28 Saeid shirzad 02/06/2014 Tabriz 119 Hiva foladi 10/10/2014 saghez Mohammad 29 Mostafa safari 31/05/2014 Shiraz 120 11/10/2014 Tehran nori zad 30 Farzin farzad 31/05/2014 Shiraz 121 Nahid gorji 11/10/2014 Mashhad

Human Rights Situation in Iran – Annual Report 1393

Soraya 31 Mahmod salehi 01/06/2014 Ahvaz 122 09/10/2014 Kermanshah nakhei 32 Faryar sadeghi 02/06/2014 Saghez 123 Atena daemi 21/10/2014 Tehran Seyed mohammad 33 Davood roshani 10/06/2013 Tehran 124 30/10/2014 fars ebrahimi gale dari Jalal 34 11/06/2014 Tehran 125 Ariya jafari 23/10/2014 Esfahan mohammadlo Abdolhosein Nasrin 35 19/06/2014 Tehran 126 25/10/2014 Tehran harati setode Rehane 36 21/06/2014 Tehran 127 Giti por fazel 25/10/2014 Tehran tabatabaei Ramin hosein Gherochai 37 02/07/2014 128 Abas jamali 25/10/2014 Tehran panahi kordestan Ziba 38 02/07/2014 Tehran 129 Peyman aref 25/10/2014 Tehran mohammadiyan 39 Reza haji sale 12/07/2014 Baneh 130 Farid rohani 25/10/2014 Tehran Sajede ara Mahdiye 40 16/07/2014 Tehran 131 26/10/2014 Tehran sorkhi golro Zahra 41 Jeyson rezaeian 23/07/2014 Tehran 132 27/10/2014 Esfahan ahmadi 42 Yeane salehi 23/07/2014 Tehran 133 Sanam farsi 27/10/2014 Esfahan Maryam 43 Asghar kachlani 2014/july Mako 134 sadat 02/11/2014 Tehran yahyavi Adnan Khosro amini 44 2014/july Mako 135 rahmat 11/11/2014 Shiraz zade panah Raham 45 Naser rahimi 2014/july Mako 136 13/11/2014 Tehran barkachizade Mohammad Saeid 46 28/07/2014 Khoy 137 18/11/2014 Tehran milani yasyaei Tajoldin Naser 47 28/07/2014 Khoy 138 24/11/2014 Tehran mamkani hashemi Mostafa rah 48 Hamid hekmati 27/07/2014 Mashhad 139 23/11/2014 anomosa pish 49 Esmaeil izadi 27/07/2014 Mashhad 140 Ali ghazali 29/11/2014 Tehran Mahtab 50 Farid saremi 27/07/2014 Mashhad 141 27/11/2014 Tehran afshari Noshin 51 Ali chini saz 27/07/2014 Mashhad 142 29/11/2014 Orumiyeh misaghi 52 Zahra kaabi 27/07/2014 Mashhad 143 Soheyla 29/11/2014 Orumiyeh

Human Rights Situation in Iran – Annual Report 1393

aghdasi 53 Fajad salehi 27/07/2014 Mashhad 144 Adib shaaei 29/11/2014 Mashhad Fateme 54 Ghaleb hoseini 20/08/2014 Sanandaj 145 30/11/2014 Tehran ekhtesari Mehdi 55 Amir jabari fard 23/07/2014 Ghazvin 146 30/11/2014 Tehran mosavi Majid 56 Hasan ebrahimi 09/04/2014 Shahriyar 147 03/12/2014 Tehran moghadam Fardin 57 Mehdi ebrahimi 09/04/2014 Shahriyar 148 01/12/2014 Orumiyeh aghsani Mohammad 58 09/04/2014 Shahriyar 149 Ali tabarzadi 04/12/2014 Tehran reza zabihi Manochehr Mohammad 59 09/04/2014 Shahriyar 150 01/12/2014 Tehran yosefi reza joshhan Mohsen 60 Somaye khalili 09/04/2014 Shahriyar 151 08/12/2014 Tehran biglarbigi Mahin sayar Javid 61 09/04/2014 Shahriyar 152 08/12/2014 Tehran sharabi fakhriyan Sina rahim 62 Sam ahmadi 25/08/2014 Orumiyeh 153 08/12/2014 Tehran por Sheykh Hasan 63 06/08/2014 Esfahan 154 08/12/2014 Mahabad moshtaba raoofi ahmadi 64 Farzad sadri 26/08/2014 Shiraz 155 Saeid hoseini 11/12/2014 sabalan Farahnaz 65 Amar kalantari 01/09/2014 Tehran 156 10/12/2014 Orumiyeh moghadam Zaniyar saman Fardin 66 30/08/2014 Mahabad 157 01/12/2014 Orumiyeh por aghsani Kamran Neda forsati 67 30/08/2014 Mahabad 158 03/12/2014 Orumiyeh ghoreyshi por Mohsen 68 Arash sadeghi 06/08/2014 Tehran 159 17/12/2014 Tehran rahmani Amir 69 Omid ali shenas 04/08/2014 Tehran 160 01/12/2014 Tehran amirgholi Yaghma 70 Mahmod sorosh 01/08/2014 Khomeyn 161 25/12/2014 Tehran fasgkhami Narges Mohammad 71 26/12/2014 Shahriyar 162 15/02/2014 Tehran mohamadi mozafari 72 Reza khandan 26/12/2014 Shahriyar 163 Ali shariati 19/02/2014 Tehran Mohammad 73 26/12/2014 Shahriyar 164 Ali maghami 22/02/2014 Tehran maleki Iraj ali 74 Nasrin sotode 26/12/2014 Shahriyar 165 24/02/2015 Ghom mohammadi 75 Sosan 24/12/2014 Semnan 166 Jalil abasi 24/02/2014 Ghom

Human Rights Situation in Iran – Annual Report 1393

tabiyaniyan Maosta ebrahim Yosefali 76 04/01/2014 Mahabad 167 24/02/2014 Ghom ghadiri far rezaei Mohammad 77 01/01/2014 Ghom 168 Mosa alizade 24/02/2014 Ghom reza nekonam Saeid por Alireza 78 04/01/2014 Tehran 169 24/02/2014 Ghom heydar jahanshahi Kavan 79 Jafar ghafori 10/01/2014 Karaj 170 mohammad 27/02/2014 Mahabad por Mohammad 80 Atena farghdani 10/01/2014 Tehran 171 05/03/2014 Tehran maleki Mohammad 81 Ehsan akbari 13/01/2014 Tehran 172 05/03/2014 Tehran norizad Mohammad Shahnaz 82 25/01/2014 Tehran 173 05/03/2014 Tehran reza roein atofat karim beigi Rozbe 83 Amir golestani 26/01/2014 Tehran 174 11/03/2014 Robat karim kaemjani Mokhtar 84 Amin akramipor 26/01/2014 Tehran 175 15/03/2014 Sanandaj zareei Roya saberi 85 26/01/2014 Tehran nezhad nobakht Fariborz 86 26/01/2014 Tehran kardarfar Masood seyed 87 26/01/2014 Tehran talebi Masood ghasem 88 26/01/2014 Tehran khani Mehdi rey 89 26/01/2014 Tehran shahri Naghme 90 26/01/2014 Tehran shahsavandi 91 Peyman mirzaei 28/01/2014 Tehran

2. Freedom of Gathering

Policies and obscure laws of the Islamic Republic have negatively affected the freedom of gathering, and the government has not made any effort to resolve the deficiencies and limitations despite their incompatibility with the Civil and Political Rights Convention. The government refused to issue the permission for workers' Day gathering and subsequently arrested several activists.

Human Rights Situation in Iran – Annual Report 1393

Also, after the death of Morteza Pashaei (the Iranian artist), thousands of Iranians gathered to mourn and celebrate his life but faced the aggressive confrontation of the security forces in some parts of the country, and a number of people were detained. Moreover, thousands of teachers rallied in about five cities, protesting their unfair wages and significant discrimination between them and other government employees. The rally was held under tight security surveillance and ended with the arrest of several demonstrators. In addition to the number of arrested individuals, a number of participants were summoned and interrogated by the security forces. In another demonstration, hundreds of supporters of Mohammad Ali Taheri gathered in front of Tehran's Revolutionary Court but faced the plainclothes officers and police forces, which resulted in the arrest of a number of citizens. One of the most impressive demonstrations and gatherings was a spontaneous gathering of people in several cities to protest the repeated acid attacks. Security forces also suppressed this demonstration and arrested or beat a number of participants. Another important gathering was the rally in support of KoBaneh in a number of cities, which was also attacked by the police and security forces and resulted in the arrest of demonstrators. Other gatherings in 2014 included thousands of workers and nurses who protested against difficult economical and living conditions. All these gatherings faced physical confrontations and arrests of hundreds of individuals. Security forces also forcefully cracked down the gathering of the families and relatives of political victims of 1981 and 1988 who gathered to celebrate the memory of their loved in the “Khavaran” cemetery. Moreover, the security forces confronted Iranian journalists who rallied in solidarity with the victims of terror in Paris (Charlie Hebdo) in Tehran.

Forceful crackdown of protests, violent beating, and presence of secret agents during the protests and demonstrators, limiting the powers of trade unions, and controlling the political, social and civil organizations who tried to hold peaceful protests, undermine and endanger the right to peaceful assembly and freedom of institutions. Considering the above mentioned cases of violations of freedom of speech and peaceful assembly, the human rights standards in Iran are enormously different and distant from the standards defined in the United Nations resolutions, and the actions of the Iranian regime has been violating and undermining it.

3. Freedom of Forming Parties

Despite the trend in limit and controlling the political parties and organizations, a new party named the Voice of Iranian was established in 2014. However, the government continued to ban free activities of different parties even those legally established and approved by the government. In agreement with this suppressing attitude, three

Human Rights Situation in Iran – Annual Report 1393

members of the newly established party, Voice of Iranian, and the individual responsible for the public relations of the National Trust Party were arrested in Tehran.

Closing or revocation of licenses of parties and trade unions by law enforcement was continued in 2014 in agreement with a similar behavior in the past. There other cases of the violations of rights for gathering and forming parties include the Closure of the office of Publications of Intellectuals and Women's Studies by the municipality of Tehran; the suspension of two institutions, named "Fashion House" and "Violet", because of launching four new designs depicting the flag of the Islamic Republic; the arrest and interrogation of a number of teachers who participated in teachers’ uprisings (including four members of the Iranian Teachers' Trade Association in the city of Karaj); the arrest and threatening of Ismail Abdi, the secretary general of the Iranian Teachers' Trade Association, to execute his 10-years suspended imprisonment if he does not submit his letter of resignation.

Additionally, the organization of "the Islamic Association of Students of Semnan University" that faced suspension three times after the presidential election in 2009, has been grappling with the problems of security even after the start of President Rouhani’s government.

Section 3: Freedom of Press

1. Press

The Press is the primary resource of a society for social and cultural development and the sign of freedom and political tolerance in a country. This can be achieved when the press can freely report the news and select their topics independent of the government. Secondly, genuine efforts need to be made in shaping the identity of the journalists' union through which the press can achieve political, cultural and economic independence. In this respect, Iran doesn’t have a good situation, and it was mentioned in the 2013 report published by the Reporters Without Borders that Iran is amongst the five worst state prisons for journalist. Iran moved one rank up in the list of 173 states in this report only after the addition of a new country to the list. Iran is amongst the few countries that its judiciary system interferes with the freedom of press, and has defined a wide range of Press offenses defined by the Press Supervisory Committee. Meanwhile, according to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights the international standard only concerns the following four limitations:

(A) Materials that threaten the independence and national sovereignty, territorial integrity and public order and security.

Human Rights Situation in Iran – Annual Report 1393

(B) Materials that harm the health and welfare of society.

(D) Materials that damage personal dignity and private lives.

The Islamic Republic of Iran has ignored the fundamental principles of press freedom, freedom, independence and impartiality principle and the principle of pluralism of the press. Also, the Iranian regime has limited the freedom of publications by the Press Supervisory Board, which issued arrest warrants to the publisher convicted of a criminal act.

Some of the violations of the freedom of press in 2014 include seizing the newspaper “Ebtekar”; conviction of the editor of the “Etemad” newspaper; banning the online newspaper “Homa”; seizing students’ journals such as “Ghalam”, and two other journals at the University of Amirkabir and Semnan University; the arrest of several journalists including Saeid Pourheydar, Yaghma Fashkhami, Saba Azarpeik, Zahra Mohammadi, Sanam Farsi, Jason Rezaeian and his spouse; the arrest of several journalists working for local or ethnic minority papers such as Kurdish and Balouchi newspapers. The violations of Press freedom have not been improved after the presidency of Mr. Rouhani despite his assurances during his presidential campaign. Ahmad Shaheed, the UN special rapporteur of human rights situation in Iran has criticized the limitations and suppression of the freedom of Press in Iran and requested the government of Iran to stop these violations and release imprisoned journalists.

2. Freedom of Access to Internet and Media.

The slow development of the Internet in Iran, similar to previous years, has continuously put Iran in the category of enemies of Internet. Prior to studying the suppression of Internet and Media in Iran, we should review different organizations involved with limiting and controlling the Internet in Iran.

The Center of Investigation of Organized crime: a cyber defense command center affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guards, which was founded in 2007. This center has been involved in the arrest of a number of Bloggers including Saeid Maleki, Hasan Sisakht, Vahid Farhadi, Hussein Ronaghi-Maleki, and a number of journalists and bloggers in particular the individuals arrested during and after the uprisings in 2009.

The Cyber police's information center (Feta): Feta is a specialized unit affiliated with the Islamic Republic of Iran Police Force and established in 2010. A number of users of social networks and bloggers were arrested by Feta including Sattar Beheshti who died under interrogations by this Police center.

Human Rights Situation in Iran – Annual Report 1393

Prosecutor's Office of Culture and the Media: This organization was established concurrently with the Feta by the Judiciary Organization of Tehran and is one of the 26 specialized courts of the judicial system. The purpose of the establishment of this organization is to “put in trial the cultural and media related crimes”. The organization has been responsible for summoning and detaining of a number of journalists and closure of several papers including Aseman newspaper.

The National Center for Cyberspace: Ordered by Iran's Supreme Leader, this center was established on March 9th, 2010 to set the policies and standards and deal with Internet crimes. All judicial, law enforcement and executive institutions are obliged to cooperate with this center.

The Committee for Identification of Criminal cases: This Working Group was established in 2009 and included several high raking members from all three branches of the judicial, executive and legislative forces (i.e. six ministers, two representatives of the Parliament and chaired by the Attorney General of the Country). One of the most important goals of this organization was to block websites and control or monitor the identity of internal Websites. It should be noted that this working group has banked stored information 0f all registered websites; this information is used to summon, threaten or arrest the individuals who run these websites.

Arrests and heavy sentences for bloggers and users of social networks by the cyber police and intelligence of the Revolutionary Guard has been weakening the fourth pillar of democracy in 2014. Recently, there has been tension over the filtering of social networks between the Ministry of Communications and the Judiciary system. This lead to the arrest of a number of users and social network activists as follows: the arrest of a number of Facebook users in Malayer; the arrest of Bahman Tafazoli and his transfer to Dehdasht prison because of using Facebook; the arrest of four people accused of profanity in Viber; 9 years of convictions of three Internet activists including Hamzeh Zargani, Saleh Tamoly, and Adel Saadouni 3 citizens in Ahwaz who were accused of establishing Facebook pages; the arrest of one individual in Astara with charges of inciting public opinion on Facebook; two years sentence for Morteza Teradion who is a hacker and security expert; more than 100 years imprisonment for six cyber activists in Evin Prison; sentencing elven cyber activitist to 11 years in prison according to the attorney general of Kerman; the arrest of seven cyber activists including Hamid Hekmati, Ismail Izadi, Farid Saremi, Ali Chinisaz, Zahra Kaebi, Farjad Salehi, and another individuals by security forces in Mashhad.

Moreover, more limitations and control was applied to the Internet and social networks such as Line and WhatsUp. There have been several cases of limiting or interfering with

Human Rights Situation in Iran – Annual Report 1393

the national Internet network including disconnecting the Internet system in the city of Ahwaz for four continuous days. Also, the Center of Organized Crimes of the Revolutionary Guard took control of several Facebook pages including “a few words from historical figures”, “Artistic Photos”, and “Painting” and started a propaganda against the founders of these Facebook pages who were arrested by the security forces.

Section 4: Justice

In 2014, the judicial system sentenced 301 members of minorities, dissidents and civil society activists, and trade unions to 941 years imprisonment and 70 years suspended imprisonment. Moreover, these people were collectively penalized to one Hundred and Fifty-nine million three hundred thousand Tooman (159,300,000) fine and a total of 1,089 lashes. The judiciary system sentenced 196 people to death, and at least 16 political and security prisoners were executed. On the other hand, 2447 people were arrested in 2014 based on the orders received from the judicial system, which indicated more than 71 percent increase in the number of arrests compared to previous year.

1. Prison conditions:

Denial of medical care and treatment is one of the major violations of the rights of political and ideological prisoners. Some of the detainees died because of the delay in receiving medical care in Iran. Some of the prisoners are old and / or suffer from incurable diseases such as multiple sclerosis and cancer, without the right to freedom. Jamaladin Khanjani, one of the leaders of the Baha'i community in Rajai Shahr prison in Karaj and Hossein Ronaghi-Maleki, a prisoner in Section 350 of Evin prison are amongst these prisoners. The following table lists the prisoners who suffer from different medical complications, and their situations have been reported but security forces have denied their access to medical care or avoided their immediate access to medical attention.

1.zahra rahnavard 5.jamal ghader nezhad 9.ali halfi

2.mehdi karobi 6.hosein saabori 10,gholam abas

3.amir hosein mosavi 7.rasol mazrae 11.ali manbohi

4.saeid matin por 8.taleb savari 12.rahim afravi

Human Rights Situation in Iran – Annual Report 1393

13.emadoldin maziyari 35.mostafa daneshjo 59.arash sharifi

14.mohammad amin agoshi 36.nader jani 60.barzan nasrolah zade

15.mahmod ahmadi 37.yashar darolshafa 61.jafar eghdami

16.mostafa faghiye 38. yaghob maleki 62.jalaloldin khanjani

17.jamshid dehghani 39.behroz alkhani 63.hasan fath ai ashtiyani

18.seyed hadi hoseini 40.ali ahmad soleyman 64.saeid abedini

19.sedighmohammadi 41.ali afshari 65.saeid madani ghahfarkhi

20.ahmad daneshpor 42.alireza rasoli 66.seyed ghasem absete moghadam 43.keyvan esmaeili mamdi 67.shahram ahmadi 21.hasan faraji 44.mostafa ali ahmad 68.saleh kahmdel 22.davood asadi 45.himan hasan zade 69.adel naeimi 23.reza entezari 46.jaber sakhravi 70.abdolrahman sangani 24.abas ghafari 47.jalil heydari 71.afif naeimi 25.abdolfatah soltani 48.hasan abiyat 72.ali salan por 26.ali alaei 49.abdolaemam zapri 73.farshid naseri 27.alireza ahmadi 50.abdolaamir matori 74.foad mohadam 28.alireza beheshti 51.abdol zahra helichi 75.firoz hamidi 29.alireza rajaei 52.ghazi heydari 76.karim marof aziz 30.kamyar sabeti 53.kazem khoshnamak 77.korosh ziyari 31.majid asadi 54.majid sari 78.keykhosro sharafi por 32.mohsen daneshpor 55.yahya naseri 79.kevan samimi 33.mohammad sedigh kabodond 56.asadolah hadi 80.mashalah haeri

34.mohammad hasan yosef 57.afshin baymani 81.mohammad seyf zade por yosefi 58.aman alah mostaghim 82.mohammad gharibi

Human Rights Situation in Iran – Annual Report 1393

83.mahmood badavam 84.misagh yazdan nezhad 85.bahare hedayat

Similar to previous years, hunger strike in Iranian prisons has been used by the prisoners as the last resort to achieve their demands in 2014. A large number of prisoners were on hunger strike, and the prison rations strike was a new approach, which was used multiple times by prisoners in Evin and Rajai Shahr to attain their rights.

2. Siege

The siege of two presidential candidates, Mousavi and Karroubi, which started in April 2010, continued in 2014. In some cases, their family members faced limitations to meet them. The continuation of the siege resulted in several reactions from political activists and also Ali Motahari, the parliament representative from Tehran parliament, who criticized the continuation of the house arrest without a fair trial.

The arrest of the leaders of the Green Movement is a clear example of arbitrary detention in the last five years that has been opposed by human rights organizations. However, the security officials have not been paying any attention to them. In this regard, it should be noted that in addition to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the existing Convention, there are other principles in the constitution concerning the rights of security and the prohibition of attacks on physical integrity of individuals. The twenty-second constitution principle stipulates: The dignity, life, rights, residence, and occupation of the individual are immune, except in cases sanctioned by law. Security officials have always made the security of these individuals an excuse for their siege, but over the past year they have raised additional justifications that could suggest a form of punishment for the sieged presidential candidates.

3. Execution

Lack of fair trial standards and issuing death penalty for crimes which, under international law are not considered the " serious crimes" that includes offenses such as drinking alcohol, adultery, and drug trafficking continued last year, and Iran continues standing in the first rank in terms of per capita executions. In 2014, 688 people were executed and 49 people executed in public.

According to the Center for Statistical Analysis of Human Rights Activists in Iran, in view of 688 executions in 2014, the number of executions per capita has increased by 5% compared to last year. The execution of moral and security prisoners significantly increased over the last year. According to reports, 688 prisoners were executed, and 196 death sentences were issued.

Human Rights Situation in Iran – Annual Report 1393

The following table lists the names of individuals executed in 2014 because of ideological or security charges or those who were sentenced to death for the same reasons. Most of these people were sentenced to death in unfair or distorted trials, or details of their cases and trials were not provided. Therefore, they didn’t have fair trials according to human rights standards.

Tier Profile Charge Date of execution 1 Vahid shahbakhsh Moharebeh 15/11/2014 2 Mahmoud shahbakhsh Moharebeh 15/11/2014 Corruption on earth and 3 Mohsen amir aslani 24/09/2014 cursing the prophet 4 Hamed ahmadi Moharebeh 04/03/2014 5 Kamal molaei Moharebeh 04/03/2014 6 Jamshid dehghani Moharebeh 04/03/2014 7 Jahangir dehghani Moharebeh 04/03/2014 8 Sedigh mohammadi Moharebeh 04/03/2014 9 Hadi hoseini Moharebeh 04/03/2014 10 Saman nasim Moharebeh 19/02/2014 11 Ali afshari Moharebeh 19/02/2014 12 Habibolah afshari Moharebeh 19/02/2014 13 Yones aghayan Moharebeh 19/02/2014 14 Ali che bishat Moharebeh 13/06/2013 15 Seyed khaled mosavi Moharebeh 13/06/2013 16 Soheyl arabi Blasphemy mahkom 17 Arzhang davoodi Moharebeh mahkom 18 Hoshang rezaei Moharebeh mahkom 19 Mostafa salimi Moharebeh mahkom 20 mohammadabdolahi Moharebeh mahkom 21 Seber mokhled movane Moharebeh 06/01/2014 22 Omid peyvand Moharebeh mahkom 23 Amjad salehi Moharebeh mahkom 24 Mohammad keyvan karimi Moharebeh mahkom Gholam reza khosravi savad 25 Moharebeh 01/06/2014 jani

Human Rights Situation in Iran – Annual Report 1393

Note:

The number of men sentenced to death: 149

- 388 men were executed

- The number of women executed was 22.

- Public executions: 49

• The sexual identity of 38% of victims is not known.

• At least 688 people were executed in Iran over the last year.

• Executions per capita increased 5% in Iran.

• So far, 2936 people have been executed in Iran since 2009.

• The sexual identity and age of 40% of victims is not known.

• There were 22 women amongst those executed last year.

Graph

• Executions in public increased 16% compared to last year.

Graph

• The number of secret executions increased.

• Nearly half of all executions were carried out in four provinces of Alborz, West Azarbaijan, Sistan and Baluchestan, and Kermanshah.

With respect to the execution of children, Fardin Jafarian, an inmate in the Central Prison of Tabriz who committed murder at the age of 14, was executed at dawn on Saturday, October 18th.

Human Rights Situation in Iran – Annual Report 1393

4. Other Cruel and Barbaric Punishments

Lashing, amputation and stoning that are considered torture have been implemented in Iran despite the violation of human rights standards. Ablation, which usually runs for thieves, or lashing sentence for indecent behavior and drinking and so on are clear forms of violations of human rights occurred in the last year.

Organ retaliation was another form of violations of human rights, which was authorized by the Judiciary system in Iran.

Section 5. Women Rights

In 2014, there has been no progress on women's rights. Iranian laws are still based on the inequality of women and men, which can be highlighted in these examples: Iranian woman is forced to obey from her husband; inability to change the nationality of spouse and children for Iranian women who are married to citizens of foreign nationality.

The absence of laws protecting women's participation in public life clearly highlights the challenges that women face in Iran. Despite significant progress in women's education, there are clear discriminatory laws that prevent women from political participation. The absence of women participation in the Guardian Council, Expediency Council of the System, or being disqualified from Presidential election by the Guardian Council are other examples of discrimination against women in Iran.

In the field of women's rights, there has been a total of 101 reports published by the office of Statistics and Publication of Human Rights Activists in Iran, which highlights the violations of women rights in 2014 including, 12 cases of detaning women rights activists; two organizations being blocked; 2 females undergoing genital mutilation; 402 cases of acid attacks and 21 cases of physical and sexual violence.

In this category, 1 women was tried by the judiciary system and sentenced to 12 months imprisonment; 225 thousands cases of so-called inappropriate clothing; banning women from entering sports complexes; forceful suppression of female students in the Art School; the establishment of women security forces . One of the most important news around the violations of women rights in Iran was the acid attack on a number of

Human Rights Situation in Iran – Annual Report 1393

women, which resulted in widespread and intense demonstrations in different cities, and the news around knife attack against six women in Jahrom. In another strange news, the parliament banned any form of contraception or advertisement about having less children.

Women also suffered from occupational discrimination and 44% increased in unemployment.

Section 6. Children’s rights

The government of Iran does not consider living standards for children's growth and development. The number of kids leaving school and working in hard and hazardous conditions has continued in the last year.

In the category of violations of children's rights, a total of 59 cases reported by the center of statistics and publication of human rights activists in Iran that included 13 cases of child abuse, sexual harassment; 1,702,003 children economic activities; 3039 cases of deprived of education; 5 children murderers; and 4 cases of malnutrition.

There have been 45 violations of current human rights conventions. These cases are extracted from a total of 58 reports concerning the violations of 1,707,075 children rights.

One of the most controversial sections of these report are the news about the physical punishment of students in a number of schools. Some of these punishments were so intense that even caused some of the children to be transferred to health centers and operation rooms in hospitals. Other cases in this category include food poisoning of students in school after drinking contaminated milk as well as injury of some of the students when a school wall collapsed in Karaj.

Other cases of violations of children rights in 2014 include 40 cases of children punishments per day; children being deprived of education in the rural areas; the lack of healthy and standard conditions including air conditioning system for the students in schools; the difficult situation of migrant children, in particular Afghan children; drug addiction (reported to be 1% of Iranian students); kids being murdered by addicted parents; high number of homeless kids 40% of whom are HIV positive; children trafficking.

Section 7: Freedom of Religion

Targeted arrests of religious figures and violence of the security and judicial organizations against religious minorities in Iran continued in 2014. The minorities in

Human Rights Situation in Iran – Annual Report 1393

Iran are divided into two groups: formal and informal. The followers of the Baha'i faith are unofficial minorities, who have been under more pressure. They are deprived of worshiping and freely advertising their religion, teaching and studying in higher education. At the moment seven leaders of the Baha'i faith who were managing the Baha'is affairs in Iran are held in Evin and Rajai Shahr prisons. Also, a dozens of followers are in the prisons of Semnan, Mashhad, Tehran, Karaj and other cities. The official religions including Christians also face restrictions in Iran. The Islamic Republic only recognize worship of Assyrians, Armenians and Chaldeans, but advertising these religions is a crime. Article 13 and 26 of the constitution, recognizes Christianity and Christians’ right to worship and create a forum, but confronts with evangelical Christians who believe in the gospel. Sunni Muslims have also been discriminated by the government as they often live in outlying areas of the country and are deprived of the right to build mosques and religious ritual such as Eid prayers in the central regions, such as Tehran.

1. Baha’is

Iranian Baha’is have been deprived of higher education in Iran since the so-called Cultural Revolution in 80s. In 1987, some of the Baha’is established a virtual university in reaction to the dismissal of large number of Baha’I students from state universities in Iran. However, the judiciary system arrested all managers and faculty members of this university including Kamran Mortezaie, Keyvan Rahimian, Fouad Moghadam, Amanullah Mostaghim, Shahin Negari, Noushin Khadem, Farah Hesami, Kamran Rahimian, Riaz Sobhani, Ramin Zibaei, Farhad Sedqi, and Mahmoud Badavam. In connection with the Virtual University of Baha'is in Iran, the intelligence officers in Abaded (Shiraz) arrested Farshid Rastegar and a number of his Baha'i students who were studying in his house. Also, Hassan Momtaz was arrested because of teaching at the Scientific Institute of Iranian Baha'is and convicted by Branch 36 of the Revolutionary Court of Appeal sentenced to five years in prison. Another professor of the virtual university, Nasim Bagheri, was also arrested.

In continuation of this policy, many Baha’I students were dismissed from the state universities or denied from entering these universities in the last year. Noura Mousemi, Tara Houshmand, Noura Sabet, Shadan Shirazi are amongst the Baha’I students who were dismissed of the state universities because of their Baha’I faith.

Another important cases of the violations of Baha’I rights was destruction of Baha’I cemeteries in Shiraz; preventing the burial of a young Baha’I person in Tabriz; and preventing the burial of a Baha’I person in Ahwaz even two months after his death.

Human Rights Situation in Iran – Annual Report 1393

Most of the Baha'is in Iran are charged with the propaganda against the regime because of practicing their faith. This is while according to international standards teaching religious beliefs including the freedom of establishment of scientific institutes and religious schools as well as preparation and distribution of religious books or rights of publications are undeniable rights of minorities including Baha'is.

Preventing or limiting Baha’is businesses are another form of suppression and harassment that Baha'is faced last year. There were a number of cases in this regard including the exclusion of Baha'is from the 8th optics exhibition in Tehran. Also, across the country a number of Baha'is shops and businesses were shut down, for example in Bandar Abbas, Jiroft, Kerman and Rafsanjan.

There were also other cases of violations of Baha’is rights including setting the house of two Baha’I citizens named Hemmati and Aghdasi on fire. The following table summarizes the name of Baha’I citizens who have been imprisoned because of practicing their Baha’I fath.

Tier Sentence imprisonment Whereabouts Profile 1 4 years 2014 april Evin Prison Nasim bagheri 2 1 years 2014 april Evin Prison Nasim ashrafi 3 4 years 2014 april Evin Prison Elham farahani 4 3 years 2014 april Evin Prison Shamim naeimi 5 Unknown 2014 may Unknown Sosan tabbiyaniyan 6 Unknown 2014 may Unknown Dari amri 7 Unknown 2014 may Unknown Mi kholosi 8 Unknown 2014 may Unknown Shayan tafzali 9 1 years 2014 june Evin Prison Shamis mohajer 10 1 year o nim 2014 june Prison yazd Tanaz mohammadi 11 1 year o nim 2014 june Prison yazd Iraj lohrasb 12 1 year 2014 june Prison ahvaz Shamim rohani Bazdasht 13 2014 june MOIS Mashhad saghifadaei movaghat 14 Unknown 2014 june MOIS tabriz Sahar bahadori Bazdasht 15 2014 june MOIS tabriz Simin rasoli movaghat 16 Unknown 2014 june MOIS tabriz Farzad bahadori Bazdasht 17 2014 june MOIS tabriz Nasim bahadori movaghat 18 Unknown 2014 july Unknown Adib hagh pazhoh

Human Rights Situation in Iran – Annual Report 1393

19 Unknown 2014 july Unknown Saeed abedi 20 Unknown 2014 july Unknown Vahid dana 21 Unknown 2014 july Unknown Behiye maanavi por 22 Unknown 2014 july Unknown Alaedin khanjani 23 Unknown 2014 july Unknown Babak misher 24 Unknown 2014 july Unknown Saeed ghayemi 25 Unknown 2014 july Unknown Parviz godarziyan 26 Unknown 2014 july Unknown Azita homayoni 27 Unknown 2014 july Unknown Noshin yerkiyan 28 Unknown 2014 july Unknown Rashin shahnazi 29 Unknown 2014 august MOIS semnan Nosh azar khanjani 30 Unknown 2014 august MOIS Shiraz Farhad sarafraz 31 Unknown 2014 august MOIS Shiraz Shahram mansour Prison adel abad 32 1 year 2014 june Farhod yazdani Shiraz 33 Unknown 2014 september MOIS Hamedan Hamid azizi 34 Unknown 2014 october Unknown Ataa rajabi 35 6 mah 2014 november Orumiyeh Prison Noshin misaghi 36 6 mah 2014 november Orumiyeh Prison Soheyla aghdasi 37 6 mah 2014 november Prison vakil abad Adib soaaei Bazdasht MOIS shahrestan 38 2014 december Farshid rastegar movaghat abade 39 Unknown 2014 january Unknown Faramarz lotfi 40 Unknown 2014 january Unknown Ziyaalah ghaderi 41 Unknown 2014 january Unknown Sorosh garshasbi 42 3 year 2014 january Prison arak Navid haghighi 43 3 years 2014 january Prison kerman Shahram falah 44 6 years 2014 january Prison vakil abad Monocheh kholosi 45 2 years 2014 january Prison yazd Farah baghi 46 Unknown 2014 january Unknown Mona mehrabi 47 Unknown 2014 january Unknown Elham kerm pishe Bazdasht 48 2014 february Prison yazd Azam motahari movaghat Bazdasht 49 2014 february MOIS yazd Faez bagheri movaghat Prison adel abad 50 1 year 2014 february Adnan rahmat panah Shiraz 51 2 years 2014 july Prison yazd Naghme farabi

Human Rights Situation in Iran – Annual Report 1393

52 Unknown 2014 february Evin Prison Lale mahdi nezhad 53 Unknown Unknown Unknown Rohiye bagher dakht 54 Unknown Unknown Unknown Safa ferghani 55 Unknown Unknown Unknown Mehrdad ferghani 56 2 years 2014 february Prison yazd Fariborz baghi 57 4 years 2014 february Prison Esfahan Khosro dehghani

2. Christians

The suppression of Christians continued in 2014 by the security organizations and judiciary system. During Christmas, the security officers of the Islamic Republic attacked one of the church houses in south Tehran and arrested several Christian converts including Ehsan Sadeghi, Nazi Irani, Maryam Asadi, Ali Arfa, Vahid Safi, and Amin Mazloumi.

Continuing pressures on religious converts in Iran, there were a number of reports regarding the arrest of several members of a house church in Shiraz and three Christian converts, a member of the "Church of Iran" in the city of Anzali.

Although the Iranian constitution recognizes the religious freedom of Christians, Jews and Zoroastrians, but the government's actions against religious advertisement and practicing religious rights has shown that the principles contained in the constitution about freedom of religion and the Inquisition are only a cover for violating the rights of religious minorities in Iran. In the constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran Shia is considered the main religion and the followers of Christianity are considered threat to Islam.

The Security Forces arrested Beth Tamrouz, an Assyrian priest, and the celebration of Assyrian New Year got cancelled. In continuation of the suppression of Christians, a number of Christian were arrested by security officials including Behnam Irani, Reza Rabbani, Abdorreza Ali-Haghnejad, three of whom were sentenced to 18 years in prison. Also, one more year was added to the imprisonment decree of Farshid Fathi.

Human Rights Situation in Iran – Annual Report 1393

Tier Specifications Whereabouts Date of arrest Sentence 1 Ehsan sadeghi 2014 march

2 Nazi irani 2014 march

3 Maryam asadi 2014 march

4 Vahid safi 2014 march

5 Amin mazlomi 2014 march

6 Ali arfee 2014 march

7 Mitra setode 2014 may

8 Parasto shahabi 2014 may

9 Reza rabani Prison markazi Karaj 2014 june 6 years 10 Bano farkhonde 2014 june

11 Aghaye fazli 2014 june

Nedamatgah markazi 12 Alireza ali hagh nezhad 2014 june 6 years Karaj 13 Mohammad roghangir 2014 june

14 Sorosh saraei 2014 june

15 Mehdi vaziri Ghezel hesar 2014 july

16 Amir kiyan ghezelhesar 2014 july

Prison markazi 17 Mohammad taslimi 2014 august Esfahan 18 Hamid reza borhani MOIS Esfehan 2014 august

19 Zeynab akbari MOIS Esfahan 2014 august

20 Molok rohani MOIS Esfahan 2014 august

21 sepide MOIS Esfahan 2014 august

Prison markazi 22 Shahram ghayedi 2014 september Esfahan Prison markazi 23 Heshmat shaeifi 2014 september Esfahan Prison markazi 24 Emad haghi 2014 september Esfahan 25 Shahram dinaroei 2014 november

26 Mohammad reza vahedi 2014 november

27 Mehdi kian 2014 november

28 Ali sadroldin 2014 november

29 Mohammad kazemi 2014 november

30 Azin forodi 2014 november

31 Mohammad hosein moridiyan 2014 november

32 Maryam narimani 2014 november

Human Rights Situation in Iran – Annual Report 1393

33 Alireza naseri 2014 november

34 Aghaye matin 2014 november

3. Sufis

3.1 Gonabadi Sufis

Gonabadi Sufis are amongst the most suppressed religious minorities in Iran in the recent years. In parallel with this policy, a significant number of them have been fired by government organizations. For example, Ali Moazzami, one of the Gonabadi Sufis in the city of Damghan, was dismissed from Imam Khomeini Relief Committee. Also, Seyyed Javad Mortazavi, a Gonabadi Sufi residing in Bandar Abbas, has been dismissed and disqualified due to religious faith.

In the Fars province, 35 Gonabadi Sufis were sentenced to 85 years in prison and payment of fine by the General Court of Kovar with charges of "participation in hostilities and assault" and "disturbing public order" after a complaint mobilized by 113 personnel of Basij and Clergymen.

Also, the branch #15 of the Supreme Court convicted Kazem Dehghan, Hamid-Reza Arayesh, Mohammad Ali Shamshirzan (sentenced to lifelong banishment ), as well as Mohammad Ali Dehghan, Mohammad Ali Sadeghi, Ebrahim Bahrami, Mohsen Ismaili to 7 years of exile. These sentences were later approved by the revolutionary court of Shiraz.

In this category, Ali Karami and Abdul-Ghafour Ghalandar-Nejad were sentenced to three and two years imprisonment in Bandar Abbas and Tehran Revolutionary Courts.

Moreover, several Gonabadi Sufis were summoned to the security offices and interrogated, and/ or their houses were searched by the authorities.

3.2 Yaresani Sufis (Men of God)

Men of God or Yaresani Sufis are another religious minority that has not been recognized by the Islamic Republic as a religious group, and they have been harassed, threatened, and detained and summoned over the years. Violates the rights of religious minorities such as Yarsani Sufis continued in 2014. In one of the most important incidents, the security forces destroyed a cemetery named Ghaleh Gharadash where one of the followers of this religious group has been buried. Moreover, in continuation of suppression and pressure on the Iranian dissidents, two of the followers of Yarsani Faith were arrested in Kermanshah and six cities in the Hamedan.

Human Rights Situation in Iran – Annual Report 1393

Tier Specifications Whereabouts Date of arrest Sentence 1 Saleh moradi Shiraz 25/02/2014

2 Davood nasiri Kovar 10/03/2014

3 Morteza kangarlo Kovar 10/03/2014

4 Jafar ahmadi Kovar 10/03/2014

5 Mosoud ahmadi Kovar 10/03/2014

Abdolghafor ghalandari 6 Bandar abas 18/05/2014 2 years nezhad 7 Ali karami Tehran 06/05/2014 3 years 8 Jahangir salimi Kermanshah 01/11/2014

9 Vahid forodi Kermanshah 01/11/2014

10 Einolah yari Hamedan 28/07/2014

11 Yegane yari Hamedan 28/07/2014

12 Amir hosein yari Hamedan 28/07/2014

13 Mojtaba norozi Hamedan 28/07/2014

14 Bahr ali farhadi Hamedan 28/07/2014

15 Saharnaz afrozi Hamedan 28/07/2014

4. Sunnis

Article 20 of the constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran emphasized the equality of all citizens based on Islamic criteria. However, along with other religious minorities in Iran who have been deprived from substantial equity despite this clear constitutional right, followers of Sunni Muslims in Iran have been also subject to significant discrimination and suppression over the last three decades. They cannot take any strategic management position in the government and / or army, take advantage of opportunities are denied. Sunnis have always faced serious obstacles and limitations to promote their beliefs and their religious rituals from the government.

Some these serious cases of suppression or violations of Sunnis’ right include establishing the Council of Planning Sunnis Religious Schools by the government to control Sunnis education; depriving Sunni students from attending state universities in Iran or abroad; preventing them from holding prayers in Islamic feasts in Tehran; preventing Sunnis’ right to build mosques and ceremonies and feasts despite the fact that more than one million Sunnis live in Tehran; the security forces preventing Sunnis from holding Eid al-Adha prayers in Tehran; closing down the Sunni School named “Sonnat Nabavi” in Mashhad and arresting the professors of the school; harassment,

Human Rights Situation in Iran – Annual Report 1393

arrest, and imprisonment of Sunni religious clergies and students; the arrest of Hussein Saburi and Sami Ziadi two Sunni converts with charges of corruption; preventing Molana Abdolmajid from attending the international society of Islamic world; issuing the execution decree for some of Sunni activists with charges of supporting Salfi groups; the execution of 6 Sunni individuals.

The following table illustrates the names of Sunni individuals who have been arrested in the last year with charges of supporting Salafi or Wahhabi groups.

Tier Specifications Condemnation Whereabouts Date of arrest 1 Mohammad bigdeli 2014 april

2 Hasan dashte 2014 april

3 Mohammad ranjbar 2014 april

4 Shokrolah sakhravi MOIS ahvaz 2014 march

5 Masoud javadi 2014 march

6 Namegh deldel 2014 march

7 Mahmoud rasoli zade 2014 march

8 Mohammad mohamadi 2014 march

9 Ebrahim rasoli 2014 march

10 Abdolrahim chana 2014 march

11 Soran fatehi 2014 march

12 Abdolhadi azram 2014 march

13 Ayob ahmadi 1 years Prison ahvaz 2014 march 14 Saeid khazri hemadi 1 years Prison ahvaz 2014 march 15 Ahmad afravi 1 years Prison ahvaz 2014 march 16 Ali ravanbakhsh 1 years Prison ahvaz 2014 march 17 Khalf zobeydi 1 year Prison ahvaz 2014 march 18 Abdolreza jalali 1 year Prison ahvaz 2014 march 19 Naser jalali 1 year Prison ahvazi 2014 march Prison rajaei 20 Foad reza zade 6 year Unknown shahr 21 Abdolkarim karimi 2014 june

22 Abdolhadi azram 2014 june

23 Sami zbadi alboghbish 2014 june

24 Abdolhadi salehi 2014 july

25 Behroz abdolahi MOIS Shiraz 2014 august

Human Rights Situation in Iran – Annual Report 1393

2014 26 Salar saeidi september 2014 27 Abdolhay atabay MOIS gorgan september 2014 28 Vahid yazdan parast MOIS gorgan september 2014 29 abdolhamidkhorasani september 2014 30 Habib alah eslami far september 31 Najib raeisi 2014 october

Nesar mohammad timas 32 2014 october alsilavi 33 Hamid alheydari 2014 october

Shaghighe mohammad 34 2014 october alsaedi 35 Seyed jasem alboshoke 2014 october

36 Hasan alhzbavi 2014 october

37 Hachem alnaseri 2014 october

38 Hosein albavi 2014 october

39 Ahmad albalavi 2014 october

40 Saeid soyedi 2014 february

41 Jafar ghafori MOIS Orumiyeh 2014 april

42 Noragha vakili 2014 april

43 Mohammad nikzad 2014 april

44 Ahmad karami 2014 april

45 naserzareei 2014 april

46 Adel mojarad 2014 apri

47 Fazel chopani 2014 apri

48 Heydar siyahi 1 year Prison karon 2014 april 49 Hamed siyahi 1 year Prison karon 2014 april 50 Jafar siyahi 1 year Zedndan karon 2014 april 51 Arash mohdi khani MOIS Sanandaj 2014 april

52 Tofigh mogtaei 1 year Prison karon 2014 april 53 Seyed hadi hoseini eddam ghezelhesar 2014 february 54 Sedigh mohammadi edam ghezelhesar 2014 february 55 Abdolghani vahid 2014 may

56 Daniyal babaei 23 mah Prison gonbad 2014 may 57 Nematolah kami 23 mah Prison gonbad 2014 may

Human Rights Situation in Iran – Annual Report 1393

58 Habibolah beigzade 23 mah Prison gonbad 2014 may Shalagh va jarime 2014 59 Abdolnaser khormali naghdi november 60 Khaled maleki 2014 june

61 ali 2014 june

62 Hosein saabori 2014 june

63 Saeid heydari 2014 july

64 Naser piri MOIS Sanandaj 2014 july

65 Mohammad modaresi Orumiyeh Prison 2014 july

2014 66 Shoresh aeine september 2014 67 Yones nafsi MOIS gorgan september 2014 68 Hamed naderi september 2014 69 Habib alah eslami far september 2014 70 Adel mohammadi september 71 Mohamad titmas alsilavi 2014 october

Naser mohammad timas 72 2014 october alsilavi 73 Amin alsaedi 2014 october

74 Aghil alsaedi 2014 october

75 Abo mosoud albadvi 2014 october

76 Mohammad saedi 2014 october

77 Ahad alheydari 2014 october

78 Abas alsari 2014 october

79 Ghasem albiyat 2014 jaunuari

80 Toghif maktahizadeh 1 year MOIS Sanandaj 2014 april

Section 8: ethnic minorities

In this category, 43 reports have been issued by the statistics and publication association of the human rights activists in Iran. According to these reports, there are 162 arrested people, 100 cases of social exclusion, 3 cases of violation of cultural rights; 7 killings, and 2 people summoned to the security agencies.

Also, 19 people were tried by the Revolutionary Court and 528 months of imprisonment was issued for 14 people.

Human Rights Situation in Iran – Annual Report 1393

Moreover, there are 43 reports about the violations of human rights, which reflects the violations of the rights of 209 citizens.

1. Arabs

Iran's Arab live in the south and southwest of the country, mainly in Khuzestan province. The local activists believe that the population of Iran’s Arabs is about five million and ask the government to recognize equal rights with other citizens for them.

Khuzestan Arabs are deprived of the right to education in native language. The economic problems and the lack of recovery and reconstruction in the south of the country after the Iran-Iraq war is another problem that the Arabs of Iran have been facing. The government did not pay damages caused by war to refugees. Despite gigantic natural resources in particular oil reservoirs in Khuzestan, this province is suffering from poverty and lack of proper economic development. The people of this province blame the government for many of their problems and are not satisfied with the policies of the Islamic Republic.

One of the most noted reports in this category is the life-sentence and 20 years imprisonment decrees issued for four Ahwazi Arab activists and residents of the Kout Abdullah Ahwaz (Karun) community who gathered in front of the local government office, objecting the negligence of the rights of Arab residents in this area.

2. Kurds

Iranian Kurds, mostly live in the North West and the West of the country. Most of them are of the Sunni minority and therefore subject to discrimination on the basis of these two directions. Kurds mainly live in less developed regions in a traditional manner. One of the major problems of this region is poverty and unemployment. The presence of Iranian armed political parties in Iraqi Kurdistan has caused the central government to impose a security vision on this region. The border Police who is active in the area has been violently dealing with the local businessmen who purchase goods back and forth between Iran and Iraq border. In the last year, a dozens of them were targeted by the security forces and shot to death or injured. Due to high rate of unemployment in this region, a large number of citizens have turned to smuggling and human trafficking businesses. After Sistan-Baluchistan province, Iran's Kurdistan province has had the second-lowest political participation during the elections.

Cooperation and support of the local political parties who are armed often resulted in harsh punishment including imprisonment for them. Last year, six political prisoners were executed in Orumieh prison. These prisoners’ names are Saman Nasim, Sirwan

Human Rights Situation in Iran – Annual Report 1393

Nezhavy, Ebrahim Shapoori, Ali Afshari, Habibollah Afshari and Younes Aghayan. The civil / social activities in these areas has been ignored by the country's unpopular government. Mohammad Sadiq Kaboudvand, the founding member of the Human Rights Organization of Kurdistan has been in the prison since 2007. Also, Mokhtar Zarei, the political activist from Sanandaj and Ramin Rezai, the civil activist from the city of Takab have been summoned or arrested.

3. Baluch

Iran's Baluchs live in the South East of Iran in one of the least developed provinces in the country. The highest rates of poverty, infant and child mortality, low life expectancy and the highest illiteracy rate in the country are reported from this province. Baluchs are always subject to systematic racial, economic and religious discrimination and are deprived of the right to education in the native language similar to other ethnic groups in Iran.

In 2014, the Iranian police opened fire without warning on the two separate incidents, killing three men and wounding a woman and a child were. Abdullah Morad Zehi and his family including his wife and young children were returning from Zahedan and were shot without warning by Lt. "Bendohi". According to the forensic doctor, he was not able to carry gun because of mental health problems. Mr. Morad Zehi died and his wife and son were seriously wounded and are currently in the hospital.

In the second incident, Thursday, September 11th, the police force in the Dehbandan station (District Noukabad city of Khash) opened fire on a Peugeot 405 car for unknown reasons without any notice. This resulted in wounding the driver and causing the vehicle to diverting from the road and eventually falling from the bridge. The car exploded immediately after the crash, and both crewmembers were burned to death.

In addition, there are a number of other violations of human rights in this province including the authorities rejecting registration of a newborn child in the province; the arrest of 30 individuals after security forces attacking the village of Nasir-Abad Sarbaz; killing of a Baluch citizen when the revolutionary guard forces opened fire in Khash; people gathering and demonstration when one young Baluch shot dead by the police force.

3. Azeri

Azeris are one of the biggest ethnic minorities in Iran who share the same religious faith with the majority of the country but have been subject to discrimination due to their Turkish language. The Turkish language has been banned in business places and

Human Rights Situation in Iran – Annual Report 1393

some of the Azeri activists have been arrested and imprisoned with charges of “disturbing public order” or “ acting against the national interests”. Rasoul Razavi, Hussein Ali Mohamadi, and Taha Kermani are three Azeri activists condemned to 7 years in prison in a court in the city of Tabriz. Rejecting registration of a newborn child in the province because of his name “Alp Urhan” resulted in the arrest of a few civil activists including Naser Abdul-hoseinzadeh, Ali Rezai, Aydeen Zakeri, Amin Hajilou, Araz Khasehnezhad, and Islam Akbarlou. Also, Alireza Farshid, one of the operators of “Native Language” Facebook page, was arrested because of his efforts to officially register the International Day of Native Language.

Section 9. Workers

The lack of support of workers in Iran or lack of enforcement of existing laws has caused the workers to be always under pressure by employers. In the last year, workers' household monthly cost of living exceeded 3 million Tooman although there was a directive that issued the minimum wage for workers under labor law to be a minimum salary of 202,970 Rials (daily), 6,089,100 Rials minimum monthly salary, Family monthly allowances of 800000 Rials, Accommodation monthly allowances of 200000 Rials, and child monthly allowance 608,910 Rials respectively.

In this category, there were 219 reports indicating that a total of 130 people were arrested in 2014; 1350 workers reported to be on hunger strike: 3487 workers fired or modified; 474 workers reported to be subject to delayed monthly income; 1539 workers were laid off; 3009 people were killed in work accidents; 85 cases of work injuries reported; lack of employment insurance for 404,420 workers reported; 776 workers lost jobs in work area; 61 workers summoned to the courts or security authorities; ,and 5 other cases have been documented.

In the field of workers rights, 228 cases of violations of human rights and the provisions of Human Rights Protocol have been extracted from the 219 reports concerning 529,212 workers or labor rights activists.

The security forces have been always forcefully dealt with the labor rights activists, and have summoned, threatened, or arrested these individuals. A total of 12 unionists have been sentenced to 306 months in prison and 200 lashes by the judiciary system. For example, on Thursday during Labor Day ceremony, which was held at Tehran's Azadi Square, 23 of Tehran bus workers who are members of the Public Transportation Syndicate were arrested after being beaten and insulted. Moreover, several members of the Free Trade Union of Metro who were supposed to march in front of the Ministry of Labor were arrested on the same day.

Human Rights Situation in Iran – Annual Report 1393

Also, a number of labor activists and members of the metalworkers union mechanics who were planning a private ceremony in Karaj Baraghan area were arrested on Friday, May 2nd.

The reports on the violations of labors rights extended to many cases of arrest or imprisonment of workers or labor rights activists, loss of life or injury at work, loosing job, inappropriate or unfair work conditions including poor financial support, and even suicide incidents (e.g. the three workers of the Gold mine of Agh-Dareh after being dismissed from work). The names of some of the workers who have been arrested in 2014 are listed in the following table.

Tier Specifications Arrest Whereabouts 1 Ebrahim madadi 2014 april Tehran 2 Hasan saeidi 2014 april Bafgh 3 Aghaye vahidi 2014 april Sanandaj 4 Aghaye nehmati 2014 april Sanandaj 5 Mohammad hasan tashakori 2014 august Bafegh 6 Ribvar abdolahi 2014 november Sanandaj 7 Mehrdad amin vaziri 2014 january Sanandaj 8 Zaniyar baghiyan 2014 january Sanandaj 9 Hatam samadi 2014 january Unknown 10 Jamil mohammadi 2014 april Unknown 11 Korosh bakhshande 2014 february Unknown 12 Jafar azim zade 2014 april Unknown 13 Khaled hoseyni 2014 novembr Sanandaj

Section 10: Health (the Right to Stay Healthy)

The right to stay healthy (or the Right to Health) is inextricably linked with the right to life (the first generation of human rights) and also associated with health and social security. In addition, the right to have a healthy environment, which is one of the third generation of human rights, is related to the right to stay healthy. The right to health can be considered as a link between different generations of human rights. This right has been comprehensively defined in the Article 12 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. According to the paragraph 2 of this article, the countries that are bound to this Convention need to adopt the measures to meet the objectives of this convention. In addition, two documents - Article 24 of the Convention

Human Rights Situation in Iran – Annual Report 1393

on the Rights of the Child and Article 5 of the Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination- and Articles 11 and 12 of the Convention that prohibits discrimination against women in the world have been considered in this right.

One of the most notable reports in the area of health was the news about increasing cancer incidents in Tehran due to air pollution and food pollution including the cooking oil as well as polluted gasoline and satellite parasites. Moreover, there were warnings about the risk of groundwater pollution in Tehran with the sewage of Parand and Pardis.

Moreover, the Head of the Mazandaran Food association warned about the possibility of contamination of 70 tons of bulk milk in the province with brucellosis. He said: veterinary organization, standards, Organization of Industry, Mine and Trade and Agriculture ministry have no control on this industry.

Section 11: Environment

The right to have a healthy environment is a fundamental right in a series of human rights (third generation). Specific attention to this right has driven recognition of civil and political, economic, cultural and social rights capacities. The right to a healthy environment is one essential element of the right to life, the right to a standard of living, the right to health, right to clean air, the right to cultural interests.

Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the Economic, Social and Cultural Covenant that Iran is bound to comply also includes the right to a healthy environment.

In the field of environment in 2014, a total of 58 reports were issued by the Statistics, and Publication department of Human Rights Activists in Iran. 42 reports concerned the arrest of citizens, 34 cases concerned lack of proper protection of the natural resources, and two cases of preventing gathering of environmental activists.

In the category of environmental rights violations, 54 reports have been reported that concerns violations of rights of 2633 citizens.

There were several reports in this category about the air pollution in Tehran, Ahvaz and Illam, which has resulted in 500% cancer growth. Also, 4,000 annual deaths have been reported in different reports due to air pollution in Tehran.

The severity of air pollution in the country has affected the lives of 30 million Iranians. In addition to air pollution, the pollution of the Caspian Sea and contamination of ground water resources in the country should be added to this category. Moreover, forests and

Human Rights Situation in Iran – Annual Report 1393

wild life condition were not encouraging because several wildfire and wildlife death have been reported.

Human Rights Situation in Iran – Annual Report 1393