Human Rights in Iran - Current Situation

Current Situation

Under the administration of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, beginning in 2005, Iran’s human rights record "has deteriorated markedly" according to the group Human Rights Watch. The number of offenders executed increased from 86 in 2005 to 317 in 2007. Months-long arbitrary detentions of "peaceful activists, journalists, students, and human rights defenders" and often charged with “acting against national security,” has intensified under President Ahmadinejad In December 2008, the United Nations General Assembly voted to expressed "deep concern" for Iran's human rights record – particularly "cases of torture; the high incidence of executions and juvenile executions ... ; the persecution of women seeking their human rights; discrimination against minorities and attacks on minority groups like the Baha'is in state media ..." Following the protests over the June 2009 presidential elections, dozens were killed, hundreds arrested – including dozens of opposition leaders – several journalists arrested or beaten, foreign media barred from leaving their offices to report on demonstrations, and Web sites and bloggers threatened. Basij or Revolutionary Guard were reportedly responsible for at least some of the slain protesters.

In 2011 a report was released by the UN special rapporteur on human rights in Iran stating that human rights abuses in the Islamic Republic appear to be increasing, and that hundreds of prisoners have been secretly executed in the Islamic republic. The report listed "torture, cruel, or degrading treatment of detainees, the imposition of the death penalty in the absence of proper judicial safeguards, the status of women," as alleged abuses by the Islamic Republic justice system, and criticised the detention conditions of, and denial of rights to, opposition leaders Mirhossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karoubi and their spouses. Iran's deputy ambassador to the United Nations condemned the report as "poorly sourced, exaggerated and outdated allegations".