UN Resolution Ramps Up Cross-Regional International Pressure on Iran’s Human Rights Crisis

(21 November 2011) The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran welcomed the resolution concerning Iran’s grave human rights violations, adopted today by the Third Committee of the United Nations General Assembly (GA).

“We embrace the adoption of this resolution and encourage UN member states to continue focusing international attention on Iran’s dismal rights record,” said Campaign spokesperson Hadi Ghaemi.

UN Human Rights Committee Sharply Criticized Increasing Flogging Sentences in Iran

As flogging sentences issued and carried out by Iranian judges and judicial authorities are on the rise, during a meeting of the UN Human Rights Committee today in which the Iranian government’s compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) is under review, members of the Committee sharply criticized Iranian authorities at the meeting for Iran’s use of inhumane punishments such as flogging. According to the representative of the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran who is currently at the meeting in Geneva, UN officials criticized Iran’s refusal to provide statistics about flogging sentences to the Human Rights Council while continuing to routinely dole out flogging sentences.

Weekly Rights Podcast 37

In this week’s Weekly Rights Podcast: The Campaign speaks out about Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s visit to the UN General Assembly in New York; American hikers Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal are released from prison; seven documentary filmmakers are arrested and charged with espionage on behalf of BBC Persian; 17-year-old Alireza Molla-Soltani is executed; and Nasrin Sotoudeh’s most recent court session is cancelled.

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UN experts call for a moratorium on death penalty in the Islamic Republic of Iran

GENEVA (2 February 2011) – Two UN independent experts warned Tuesday that there has been a dramatic surge in death sentences in the Islamic Republic of Iran carried out in the absence of internationally recognized safeguards, despite numerous calls by the UN to immediately halt executions.

“We call on the Iranian Government to immediately declare a moratorium on the death penalty in view of the gravity of the situation and the regular disregard of due process guarantees,” urged the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Christof Heyns, and the Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, Gabriela Knaul.

UN human rights chief concerned by Iranian crackdown on human rights defenders

GENEVA – The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay on Tuesday expressed renewed concern for the fate of human rights defenders in Iran, particularly Ms. Nasrin Sotoudeh who was on hunger strike for several weeks in Tehran’s Evin Prison.

“As we approach international Human Rights Day* on 10 December, the world will be focusing on situations where human rights activists are not free to organize or speak out,” the High Commissioner said. “I am very concerned that Nasrin Sotoudeh’s case is part of a much broader crackdown, and that the situation of human rights defenders in Iran is growing more and more difficult,” she added.

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

109 Human Rights Groups Ask United Nations to Condemn Human Rights Violations in Iran

(16 November 2009) New York – Over one hundred independent human rights and civil society organizations from around the world have urged delegations to the United Nations to support a resolution in the General Assembly condemning human rights violations in the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI), and urging the IRI to abide by its international human rights obligations.

“Human rights conditions in Iran have deteriorated dramatically since the General Assembly’s 2008 Resolution…”

Letter to Members of the United Nations on Human Rights in Iran – November 2009

10. Association for Human Rights Legal Aid (Egypt) 11. Association for Women’s Rights in Development 12. Bahá’í International Community (Switzerland) 13. Banglar Manabadhikar Suraksha Mancha (India) 14. Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (Egypt) 15. Cambodian Center for Human Rights (Cambodia) 16. Cambodian Human Rights and Development Association (Cambodia) 17. Cambodian League for the Promotion [...]

Resolution on the Human Rights Situation in Iran

English, Passed by Third Committee 21 November 2008, Adopted by General Assembly 18 December 2008

Report of the Secretary-General on the Situation of Human Rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran

English, Issued 1 October 2008