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25
July 2002
Political Rights and Civil Liberties
Iranians cannot
change their government democratically. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has
the final say on all matters of policy, and the Council of Guardians
vets all electoral candidates and pieces of legislation for strict
allegiance to the ruling theocracy and adherence to Islamic principles.
In late November 2001, the majlis passed an electoral law prohibiting
the Council from excluding reformist election candidates, but the
Council rejected it. Reformists then announced that they were considering
calling a referendum on the issue before the next legislative elections
in 2003. The issue arose when the Council of Guardians disqualified
reformist candidates for by-elections in Golestan province. Political
parties are technically illegal, but some political groupings have
won legal recognition since 1997. There are reportedly some 120
political parties, associations of political activists, and other
social groups, but few are active owing to financial or procedural
constraints. The Council of Guardians approved only ten presidential
candidates for the 2001 presidential vote, of 814 who originally
declared their intention to run. Several women who sought to ran
were disqualified. All Iranians age 16 and older may vote, including
women.
The state continues
to maintain control through terror: arbitrary detention, torture,
disappearance, summary trial, and execution are commonplace. Security
forces enter homes and offices, open mail, and monitor telephone
conversations without court authorization. Prisons are substandard,
seriously overcrowded, and rife with disease. Radio Free Europe/Radio
Liberty (RFE/RL) reported in January about the existence of "unofficial"
prisons run by various law enforcement, military, and judicial agencies.
Hardline vigilante groups commit extrajudicial killings with the
tacit consent of the government, and there have been reports of
"parallel" security organizations run by both hardliners
and reformists. Although the government has investigated murder
and other misconduct by hardline officials and others, information
about the cases is not made available and officials are rarely punished.
In the trial of intelligence officials accused of the 1998 dissident
killings, a former intelligence minister was implicated by one of
the defendants but never investigated. Parliament approved a bill
in February banning police from universities and seminaries, in
response to an incident in 1999, when police and hardline vigilantes
stormed a Tehran University dormitory, killing one student and injuring
20 others.
The judiciary
is not independent. Judges must meet strict political and religious
qualifications. The supreme leader directly appoints the head of
the judiciary, who appoints the supreme court. Bribery is common.
Civil courts provide some procedural safeguards, though judges may
serve simultaneously as prosecutors during trials. Revolutionary
courts try political and religious cases, and are often assigned
cases that normally fall under civil court jurisdiction. Charges
are often vague, detainees are denied access to legal counsel, and
due process is ignored. These courts are used frequently to prosecute
critics of the Islamic system. A prominent student leader and a
veteran nationalist, both Khatami supporters, publicly admitted
in May to having plotted to overthrow the government. Both had been
held in solitary confinement with no access to counsel for six months.
The penal code is based on Sharia and provides for flogging, stoning,
amputation, and death for a range of social and political misconduct.
Amnesty International expressed concern over a dramatic increase
in executions during the summer of 2001, and others noted a similar
increase in floggings and stonings. Rioting reportedly broke out
as bystanders tried to stop a public hanging in August and a flogging
in July.
The reformist
press played an active role in society during President Khatami's
first administration with political commentary, advocacy of a free
and independent civil society, and investigative journalism. But
beginning in March 2000, Khamenei began publicly criticizing reformists,
particularly in the press, accusing them of slander and of creating
anxiety, pessimism, and mistrust. Since then, nearly 50 publications
have been closed. In February, Paris-based Reporters Sans Frontieres
(RSF) reported that Iran had become the country with the greatest
number of imprisoned journalists in the world (by October the number
was 20). RFE/RL attributed the press's woes to "serial plaintiffs,"
including the Ministry of Intelligence and Security, the Iranian
Revolutionary Guard Corps, and the state broadcasting company, who
file the criminal complaints leading to press closures and arrests.
RSF also reported that detained journalists are often held incommunicado
and their families not told of their whereabouts. Notable cases
in 2001 included Akbar Ganji, whose sentence was reduced to six
months on appeal, then increased by a higher court to six years
in September. Also in September, an appeals court upheld a 19-month
prison sentence and fine for prominent journalist Massoud Behnoud,
who was convicted of "spreading lies" and "insulting
the Islamic system." In January, parliament called the detention
and trials of several journalists illegal and called upon the judiciary
to review the cases. Any review is considered unlikely.
Broadcasting
is totally state-run. Authorities began enforcing a ban on satellite
dishes, widely ignored in recent years, in October 2001 after incidents
of serious unrest broke out in Tehran and other cities following
World Cup soccer qualification matches. Each incident was preceded
by statements broadcast via television, radio, and Internet from
exiled Iranian opposition groups calling for mass anti-regime demonstrations.
Hundreds of demonstrators were arrested. The government also began
jamming Persian service RFE/RL broadcasts. In August 2001, Tahmineh
Milani, a prominent filmmaker, was arrested for insulting Islamic
values and portraying a positive image of "anti-revolutionaries"
in one of her movies. RSF reported also that some 400 cyber cafes
were closed in Tehran between May 8 and 13. Still, the cafes are
hugely popular with young Iranians, who use them for education,
entertainment, and even to fill out online personal ads.
The constitution
permits public assembly that does not "violate the principles
of Islam." The rare anti-regime demonstrations that occurred
ended with officials or vigilantes clubbing or using tear gas on
protesters. A demonstration by some 10,000 unpaid textile factory
workers in Isfahan turned violent in October when police used tear
gas and batons to prevent the workers from storming a municipal
building. The protests were in response to a new bill that would
reduce the number of textile factory employers. In March and April,
security agents arrested around 60 people, including some belonging
to the Freedom Movement, which is technically illegal but usually
tolerated. Charged with plotting to overthrow the regime, the defendants
went on trial in November behind closed doors. Iranian parliamentary
deputies and international rights groups condemned what they called
unjust conditions of the suspects' detention and trial. The detainees
were held in undisclosed locations, and some were allegedly tortured.
Seven intellectuals who attended a conference in Berlin in 2000
on reform in the Islamic republic received prison sentences of four
to ten years. They included Akbar Ganji, translators Saeed Sadr
and Khalil Rostamkhani, student Ali Afshari, activist Izzatollah
Sahabi, lawyer Mehrangis Kar, and publisher Shahla Lahiji. Six defendants
were acquitted, and others received suspended sentences or fines.
Women face discrimination
in legal, social, and professional matters. They may be fined, imprisoned,
or lashed for violating officials' standards of modesty, and they
do not have legal guardianship of their own children. A woman must
have permission from a male relative to obtain a passport. Unlike
women in Saudi Arabia and the emirates, women may vote, stand for
public office, and drive. In January, the majlis lifted a ban prohibiting
unmarried women from obtaining scholarships for study abroad, but
the Council of Guardians reversed the decision. One of Iran's vice
presidents, several of its majlis deputies, and a senior cultural
advisor to President Khatami are women, and women are vocal in their
demands for key government positions and other jobs.
Religious freedom
is limited. The constitution recognizes Zoroastrians, Jews, and
Christians as religious minorities, and generally allows them to
worship without interference. Iran is 99 percent Muslim, with 89
percent Shiite and 10 percent Sunni. Religious minorities are barred
from election to representative bodies (except for the seats in
the majlis reserved for them) and from holding senior government
or military positions. They also face restrictions in employment,
education, and property ownership. Some 300,000 Bahais, Iran's largest
non-Muslim minority, are not recognized. They face official discrimination,
a complete denial of property rights, arbitrary arrest, a ban on
university admission, employment restrictions, and prohibitions
on practicing and teaching their faith communally. Their marriages
are not recognized by the government, leaving women open to charges
of prostitution and their children regarded as illegitimate and
thus without inheritance rights. Hundreds of Bahais have been executed
since 1979.
Minorities may
conduct religious education and establish community centers and
certain cultural, social, sports, or charitable associations. All
six majlis deputies from Iran's Kurdish minority resigned in September
in protest over not being consulted about the interior ministry's
appointment of the Kurdish regional governor. Iranian Kurds have
been strong supporters of President Khatami, who has devolved power
over the region's budget and police to its governor. The government
rejected the resignations.
There are no
independent trade unions. The government-controlled Workers' House
is the only legal federation. Collective bargaining is nonexistent,
and workers may not strike. Workers in Tehran protested in front
of the majlis in July over unpaid wages. Eight were injured as police
dispersed the demonstration with batons.
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