Reports

Iran’s Secret Hangings: Mass Unannounced Executions in Mashhad’s Vakilabad Prison

Since January 2010, the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran has published dozens of reports of unannounced secret group executions at Vakilabad Prison in the northeast city of Mashhad. These executions were largely in violation of international human rights law and domestic procedures. Judicial authorities have continuously evaded questions about these executions and the names of those executed have never been officially announced.

Raising Their Voices: Iranian Civil Society Reflections on the Military Option

The possibility of a US military strike against Iran has been debated for almost a decade, since Iran’s nuclear program first gave rise to concerns about the possible development of a nuclear weapon and calls for exercising a “military option” to stop it. Some have also suggested an attack to change the government of Iran, citing its abusive human rights policies in addition to conflicts with US regional interests. What do Iranians, who would be most affected by an attack, think about its likely impact on their society and their political aspirations? How would an attack on Iran impact human rights, the movement for a more liberal, open society, and on the future of civil society there? Debates in Western policy circles have not, in general, taken these views into account. This report is based on interviews with 35 leading and influential Iranian civil society activists, lawyers, intellectuals and artistic and cultural figures, all of whom live in Iran.

Death in Prison: No One Held Accountable

Since 2003, 17 political prisoners and prisoners of conscience have died while in custody in Iranian prisons allegedly due to torture, medical neglect, and misconduct of prison authorities. Six of the prisoners were detained and died after the 2009 election and the ensuing crackdown on government critics and political opponents. For most of these deaths, no one has yet been held accountable, despite the fact that in all these instances, family members or lawyers of the prisoners have alleged that authorities were responsible for the deaths due to their physical abuse of the inmate or inadequate medical attention.

Official Distortion & Disinformation: A Guide to Iran’s Human Rights Crisis

Amidst Iran’s deepening crisis, officials are doing all they can to prevent outside scrutiny of human rights conditions in the country, while proclaiming to respect their international obligations. Mohammad-Javad Larijani, head of Iran’s High Council for Human Rights, along with other officials representing Iran abroad, consistently obfuscate any serious international discussion of the country’s deteriorating human rights record by engaging in distortion or misrepresentation of facts and by diverting criticism with discussion of issues extraneous to their record. The Campaign has compiled public statements made by Larijani and other Iranian officials and compared them with the actual record of human rights abuses carried out in Iran.

Punishing Stars: Systematic Discrimination and Exclusion in Iranian Higher Education

The Campaign has interviewed 27 students and conducted source research in this comprehensive report on systematic discrimination and exclusion from higher education in Iran. The report includes a list of 217 students who were barred or expelled from university based on activity on campus, political opinions, or religious belief.

Report of the Secretary General on the Situation of Human Rights in Iran – 2010

The situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran – Report of the Secretary-General

I. Introduction
II. Thematic issues
III. Cooperation with international human rights mechanisms and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
IV. Conclusions and recommendations

Court Defense of Heshmatollah Tabarzadi

“During my interrogation, I was under duress and torture. As I point out in the enclosed defense bill, I was informed of my charges in an illegal manner. My arrest and the location where I was detained were both illegal. I was in a solitary cell for 40 days inside Ward 40 of Evin prison, and I spent two months inside Ward 209. I also spent 24 days at Kachouei Prison and presently I have been exiled to Rajaee Shahr Prison for more than three months.”

Reporters’ Guide for Interviewing Iranian Officials on Human Rights Issues

The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran has reviewed and analyzed over twenty interviews with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and prepared a guide for reporters to be used during his visit to New York for the United Nations General Assembly. The Campaign has highlighted important trends on human rights issues and advisement on how to approach those issues with Ahmadinejad.

How to Interview Iranian Officials on Human Rights Issues

I. Introduction: Human Rights Under Siege in Iran
II. A Brief Summary of Major Human Rights Violations in Iran

Iranian State TV Acts as an Arm of the Intelligence Apparatus

(11 August 2010) The Iranian state-controlled radio and television, Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB), has acted as an arm of intelligence and security agencies implicated in gross human rights violations since the disputed presidential election of June 2009, the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran said today.

The Campaign’s research and investigations into the content of programs produced and broadcast by the IRIB reveal a close working relationship between intelligence and judiciary officials in charge of prosecuting post-election detainees, such as in the case of Maziar Bahari, a Newsweek journalist who was detained last year.

The IRIB has also aired defamatory programs against well–known political personalities and civil society activists, such as Dr. Shirin Ebadi, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and Dr. Fatemeh Haghighatjoo, a former member of parliament, in the guise of documentaries.

Campaign Report on Human Rights in Iran since 12 June 2009 – Accelerating Slide into Dictatorship

Human rights in Iran have deteriorated precipitously for over four years, since the onset of the administration of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. But since the disputed presidential election on 12 June 2009, Iran’s slide into dictatorship has sharply accelerated.