US Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2011 – Iran

Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor

Iran

To link directly to this report, use: http://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/humanrightsreport/index.htm?dynamic_load_id=186425

EXECUTIVE SUMMARYShare

The Islamic Republic of Iran is a constitutional, theocratic republic in which Shia Muslim clergy and political leaders vetted by the clergy dominate the key power structures. Government legitimacy is based on the twin pillars of popular sovereignty–albeit restricted–and the rule of the supreme leader of the Islamic Revolution. The current supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was chosen by a directly elected body of religious leaders, the Assembly of Experts, in 1989. Khamenei’s writ dominates the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of government. He directly controls the armed forces and indirectly controls internal security forces, the judiciary, and other key institutions. The legislative branch is the popularly elected 290-seat Islamic Consultative Assembly, or Majlis. The unelected 12-member Guardian Council reviews all legislation the Majlis passes to ensure adherence to Islamic and constitutional principles; it also screens presidential and Majlis candidates for eligibility. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was reelected president in June 2009 in a multiparty election that was generally considered neither free nor fair. There were numerous instances in which elements of the security forces acted independently of civilian control.

Demonstrations by opposition groups, university students, and others increased during the first few months of the year, inspired in part by events of the Arab Spring. In February hundreds of protesters throughout the country staged rallies to show solidarity with protesters in Tunisia and Egypt. The government responded harshly to protesters and critics, arresting, torturing, and prosecuting them for their dissent. As part of its crackdown, the government increased its oppression of media and the arts, arresting and imprisoning dozens of journalists, bloggers, poets, actors, filmmakers, and artists throughout the year. The government’s suppression and intimidation of voices of opposition continued at a rapid pace at year’s end.

The most egregious human rights problems were the government’s severe limitations on citizens’ right to peacefully change their government through free and fair elections, restrictions on civil liberties, and disregard for the sanctity of life through the government’s use of arbitrary detention, torture, and deprivation of life without due process. The government severely restricted freedoms of speech and the press (including via the Internet), assembly, association, movement, and religion. The government committed extrajudicial killings and executed persons for criminal convictions as juveniles, on minor offenses, and after unfair trials, sometimes in public or group executions. Security forces under the government’s control committed acts of politically motivated violence and repression, including torture, beatings, and rape. The government administered severe officially sanctioned punishments, including amputation and flogging. Security forces arbitrarily arrested and detained individuals, often holding them incommunicado.

n-tv: Atomgespräche vorerst gescheitert – Der Westen droht Teheran

US-Außenministerin Clinton: “Alle unsere Sanktionen bleiben in Kraft und werden in dieser Zeit weiter vorangetrieben”(Foto: REUTERS)

Die wohlklingenden Worte vor den Atomverhandlungen mit dem Iran haben getäuscht. Teheran lässt den Westen kalt abblitzen. Die zweitägigen Gespräche gehen ohne konkretes Ergebnis zu Ende, denn die Islamische Republik pocht weiterhin darauf, selbst Uran auf mindestens 20 Prozent anzureichern.

Kurz nach dem vorläufigen Scheitern der Atomgespräche mit dem Iran hat der Westen den Druck auf Teheran erhöht. Die USA, Frankreich und Großbritannien drohen mit härteren Sanktionen. Man halte an dem zweigleisigen Modell von Verhandlungen und Strafmaßnahmen fest, sagte US-Außenministerin Hillary Clinton. “Alle unsere Sanktionen bleiben in Kraft und werden in dieser Zeit weiter vorangetrieben”, sagte sie.

Vor den Verhandlungen hatte es noch optimistische Äußerungen zum Verlauf gegeben.(Foto: REUTERS)

Auch der britische Außenminister William Hague und sein französischer Amtskollege Laurent Fabius ermahnten Teheran. Der Iran müsse “konkrete Schritte” unternehmen, damit Fortschritte möglich seien, sagte Hague. Ansonsten werde der “Druck anhand von Sanktionen zweifelsohne erhöht”. Fabius sprach von “neuen Maßnahmen”, sollte es in Moskau keine greifbaren Ergebnisse geben.

Der Freitag: Ein Name, ein Leben

Im Iran gibt es zahlreiche Waisen, um die sich der Staat nicht kümmert. Einrichtungen von Privatpersonen übernehmen häufig diese Aufgabe. Zu Besuch in einem Waisenhaus

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(Alle Fotos: Kai von Rabenau)

Vor dem Autofenster zog die bizarrschöne, karge Bergwüstenlandschaft an uns vorbei. Der Himmel war wolkenverhangen. Wir waren auf dem Weg nach Bam – der alten Stadt im Südosten des Irans, die 2003 von einem Erdbeben zerstört wurde, bei dem über 30.000 Menschen ums Leben kamen. Wir wollten dort ein Waisenhaus besuchen, eines der Häuser, die Homayoun Sanati in der Tradition seines Großvaters gegründet hatte und im Rahmen einer Stiftung führte. In einem Land, das in den Achtzigern eine ganze Generation an den Krieg mit dem Irak verloren hat, sind Waisen ein großes Problem, dem der Staat nicht gewachsen ist. In der Region um Bam taten das Erdbeben und Drogen ihr Übriges.

Homayoun Sanati war ein charismatischer und warmherziger, aber vor allem auch ein pragmatischer Mann. Weil der ehemalige Händler auf dem Basar in der Provinzhauptstadt Kerman europäische und amerikanische Bücher übersetzt und auch selbst verlegt hatte, musste er nach der Revolution für fünf Jahre ins Gefängnis – wegen „Korruption der Jugend und Verbreitung amerikanischer Kultur“.

Iranian Ex-Diplomat: P5+1 ‘Wants Iran to Give Diamonds for Peanuts’

by NOAH ARJOMAND

Former nuclear negotiation spokesman foresees little progress until West offers “proportionate reciprocation.”

Dr. Seyed Hossein Mousavian is an Iranian career diplomat who served as ambassador to Germany during the Rafsanjani administration and then headed the Foreign Relations Committee of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council under the Khatami administration. From 2003 to 2005, he was the spokesman for the Iranian nuclear negotiation team led by Hassan Rowhani. Currently a visiting scholar at Princeton University, he is the author of the forthcoming book The Iranian Nuclear Crisis: A Memoir.

Mousavian responded by email to questions from Tehran Bureau about the results of the negotiations over Iran’s nuclear activities held in Baghdad this week and the prospects for a deal that will resolve the standoff between the Islamic Republic and the West.

Journalism scrapped from top Iranian university

Source: Radio Zamaneh

Allameh Tabatabai University in Tehran will not accept any journalism students for the coming year. Enrollment into journalism in the current year was also closed.

Related Article: Iranian University Drops 13 Humanities Majors

The deputy head of press at the Ministry of Culture, Mohammad Jafar Mohammadzadeh, previously had warned against this approach, saying: “Denying media is like denying the global movement. We cannot ignore the importance of the media and its human force that is journalists.”

Mohammadzadeh added: “We request our colleagues at Allameh Tabatabai University and the Ministry of Science to take journalism seriously. Of course, the Press University and Imam Sadegh University as well as Tehran University currently have good journalism programs.”

He added that he hoped the journalism program would expand in the coming year at Allameh Tabatabi University. With 15,000 students, Allameh Tabatabai is the largest school of humanities in Iran, offering 140 programs in the humanities.

The government’s move toward putting universities more in line with Islamic principles has apparently resulted in the suspension of the journalism program. Most recently, the Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution also announced that Women’s Studies programs will be changed to “Women’s Rights in Islam”.

The 20-member council is comprised of 12 clergy members and seminary teachers.

Ashton’s Wardrobe Diplomacy With Iran Gets Noticed

By Golnaz Esfandiari, RFE/RL

While the eyes of many pundits, policymakers, journalists, and Iranian citizens were glued to reports emerging from this week’s nuclear talks in Baghdad, some Iranians were focusing their attention on what European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, who led the meetings on behalf of the 5+1 group, was wearing.

The genuine article, of European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton after the meeting in Baghdad on May 24

Their jest that Ashton might turn up in a black chador on the second day of talks didn’t materialize. Instead, the EU leader wore a demure brown top that showed little of her neckline.

Dust Clouds Tehran, Iran’s Western Provinces

The Tehran Provincial Directorate of Environment Protection has issued a warning about an increase of dust originating from Iraq’s dried ponds that has descended on the metropolis. Heavy dust storms also shrouded certain western and southwestern provinces of Iran, making breathing difficult for people.

Photo: Women wearing masks during a recent dust storm in Ahvaz, southwestern Iran

The Latest from Iran (27 May): A New Parliament Opens

0645 GMT: All-Is-Well Alert. The head of the Central Bank, Mahmoud Bahmani, has declared that Iran has implemented a new systemfor international financial transactions.

Bahmani said the system would replace the SWIFT network used for most transactions around the world.

In March, SWIFT cut off services to Iranian banks subject to sanctions by the European Union that were adopted in January. The step has reportedly had a significant effect on Iran’s international trade and movement of assets.

0635 GMT: Nuclear Tough Talk. The head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, Fereyoun Abbasi,has issued a defiant No to the International Atomic Energy Agency over its insistance on inspecting the Parchin military site: “The agency is interested in visiting Parchin due to pressure from countries that want the agency to investigate the issue.”

The IAEA has requested the inspection because of claims that the Islamic Republic has a high-explosives containment vessel, which could be used in development of a nuclear weapon, on the base. However, Abbasi maintained, “No documents or reason has been presented to us” for a visit.

Does this mean that Iran is turning its back on IAEA Director Yukiya Amano, six days after he had discussions in Tehran and announced that a deal on Parchin would be reached “very soon”?

0625 GMT: The Islamic Republic’s 9th Majlis has been opened with a message from the Supremer Leader, read by his representative, “[This] is a powerful message by which the Iranian nation addresses the contemporary world.”

Perhaps more interesting is the manoeuvring for the Speaker’s chair. For weeks, it has appeared that Ali Larijani, the Speaker in the 8th Parliament, might lose his position to former Speaker Gholam Ali Haddad Adel, former Speaker and relative of the Supreme Leader by marriage. However, as the two candidatesaddressed the factions organising themselves for the new Parliament this weekend, the feedback was that groups such as the Velayat Followers — who claim to have more than half the members of the new Parliament — would overwhelmingly back Larijani.

Source: EA World

شهر ممنوع | هدی رستمی

هدا رستمی عکاس ۲۶ ساله ساکن سوئد، به تازگی عکس‌هایی ساختار شکنانه از ایران منتشر کرده که مورد استقبال زیادی قرار گرفته است. وی در مورد خود و عکس‌هایی که در اختیار تهران‌ریویو قرار داده می‌گوید:

«من در رشته طراحی صنعتی دانشگاه Mälardalen سوئد تحصیل کردم. عکاسی برای من از علاقه به دیدن عکس‌ها آغاز شد، حتی در فیلم. سینما می‌رفتم و به جای موضوع فیلم، عکس‌های جالب صجنه‌ها در خاطرم می‌ماند. همین موضوع باعث شد تا سرانجام در سال 2009 دوربینی خریدم و شروع به عکاسی کردم. فیس بوک تنها مکان انتشار عکس‌هایم بود تا اینکه تصمیم گرفتم قدم بزرگ‌تری بردارم. من از نوجوانی در سوئد بزرگ شدم و با سبک زندگی در این کشور خو کرده‌ام. تصمیم گرفتم برای الهام‌گیری، جای دیگری رفته و جور دیگری ببینم: تهران.
ایده‌ها از شهرگردی و عکاسی خیابانی کم کم به دغدغه خودم و انسان‌های اطرافم در شهر و کشوری رسید که دوست داشتم به تصویرش کشیده و جور دیگری آن را نشان دهم. این مجموعه عکس، بیشتر ایده‌پردازی و گفتن حرف‌هایی است که گویی سال‌هاست در این شهر ممنوع است».

“United Against Nuclear Iran … Led a Spirited Campaign Calling for Fiat to Exit the Iranian Market”

UANI Fiat Campaign Success Featured in the Associated Press, Dow Jones, FoxNews.com, The Wall Street Journal, MLive.com, CarScoop

Italian automaker Fiat halts sales to Iran

By Colleen Barry

Associated Press

May 25, 2012

MILAN – Italian automaker Fiat SpA, which controls Chrysler, said Friday that it and subsidiaries will immediately halt sales to Iran, following similar moves by other carmakers under pressure to cut ties to Tehran over its disputed nuclear program.

The international community has been toughening sanctions on the Islamic Republic – including on its main cash cow, oil – because of fears that it plans to build nuclear weapons. Iran says its nuclear program is peaceful.

The auto industry has been under pressure from the anti-nuclear lobby group United Against Nuclear Iran to cut off business dealings with Iran. UANI says that the global auto industry is the second-largest source of foreign currency for the Iranian government, after oil, and also a source of foreign technology.

The decision by Fiat to halt sales “is a step in the right direction, and it shows the effectiveness of public pressure against these companies,” UANI spokesman Nathan Carleton said from New York. …

The announcement follows similar ones in recent months by French automaker PSA Peugeot Citroen SA, which has entered an alliance with General Motors Co., South Korean automaker Hyundai and German sports carmaker Porsche.

More than a dozen foreign automakers continue to do business with Iran, said UANI, which noted that Iran’s auto industry is the 13th largest in the world, producing 1.6 million vehicles in 2011.

“No car company should be doing business in Iran,” Carleton said. “The international community is trying to isolate the Iranian regime from the rest of the world, and any company doing business with Iran is providing a lifeline.”

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