Human Rights Watch's Priorities for the 61st Session of the U.N. Commission on Human Rights (Human Rights Watch, March 10, 2005)

Iran

Respect for basic human rights in Iran, especially freedom of expression and opinion, deteriorated in 2004. Torture and ill-treatment in detention, including indefinite solitary confinement, is used routinely to punish dissidents. The judiciary, which is accountable to Supreme Leader Ali Khamene’i rather than the elected president, Mohammad Khatami, has been at the center of many serious human rights violations. Abuses are carried out by what Iranians call “parallel institutions”: plainclothes intelligence agents, paramilitary groups that violently attack peaceful protests, and illegal and secret prisons and interrogation centers run by intelligence services.

The Commission should adopt a resolution that would:


Re-establish a special mechanism to monitor and report on the human rights situation in Iran.


Call on the Iranian authorities to facilitate and expedite the requested visits by the U.N. Special Rapporteurs on torture, and freedom of religion and live up to its own commitment under the standing invitation for monitoring procedures with respect to all future request by these procedures.


Make public and time-based commitments to full implementation of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention and other Special Rapporteurs’ recommendations.


Call on Iran to:


Ratify the CEDAW and CAT treaties, and announce an official review of reservations entered upon ratification of other major human rights instruments.


Release all political prisoners.


Authorize an independent and impartial investigation into judicial abuses by the Office of the Chief Prosecutor.


Abolish the death penalty for juvenile offenders (persons convicted for offences committed under the age of 18) as a first step towards total abolition of the death penalty.


Amend the press law to safeguard freedom of the press and permit publications closed by unlawful judicial procedures to reopen.


Establish strict limits on the use of solitary confinement in prisons, as well as the use of videotaped confessions.


Establish and enforce strict limits on incommunicado detention, and ensure prompt access to lawyers and family members for detainees. Courts should not admit as evidence incriminatory statements obtained through use of coercion.


Initiate a program of action to identify and address discrimination against minority groups.
Human Rights Watch's Priorities for the 61st Session of the U.N. Commission on Human Rights (Human Rights Watch, March 10, 2005): "Iran

Respect for basic human rights in Iran, especially freedom of expression and opinion, deteriorated in 2004. Torture and ill-treatment in detention, including indefinite solitary confinement, is used routinely to punish dissidents. The judiciary, which is accountable to Supreme Leader Ali Khamene�i rather than the elected president, Mohammad Khatami, has been at the center of many serious human rights violations. Abuses are carried out by what Iranians call �parallel institutions�: plainclothes intelligence agents, paramilitary groups that violently attack peaceful protests, and illegal and secret prisons and interrogation centers run by intelligence services.

The Commission should adopt a resolution that would:


Re-establish a special mechanism to monitor and report on the human rights situation in Iran.


Call on the Iranian authorities to facilitate and expedite the requested visits by the U.N. Special Rapporteurs on torture, and freedom of religion and live up to its own commitment under the standing invitation for monitoring procedures with respect to all future request by these procedures.


Make public and time-based commitments to full implementation of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention and other Special Rapporteurs� recommendations.


Call on Iran to:


Ratify the CEDAW and CAT treaties, and announce an official review of reservations entered upon ratification of other major human rights instruments.


Release all political prisoners.


Authorize an independent and impartial investigation into judicial abuses by the Office of the Chief Prosecutor. "