Fear of Torture and Ill-treatment: Sayed Ali Akbar
Mousavi-Kho'ini
June 30,
2006
Amnesty International
Urgent Action
Sayed Ali
Akbar Mousavi-Kho’ini was reportedly arrested during a
peaceful demonstration in the capital, Tehran, which
called for legal reforms to end discrimination against
women in Iran. At least 69 other people were arrested,
but all except Ali Akbar Mousavi-Kho’ini have since been
released. Amnesty International believes him to be a
prisoner of conscience, held solely on account of the
peaceful exercise of his internationally recognized
right to freedom of _expression and association, and he
is at risk of torture or
ill-treatment.
Ali Akbar Mousavi-Kho’ini, a former student leader and
former member of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, the
Majles (Iran’s parliament), is also the Head of the
Alumni Association of Iran (Sazman-e Danesh Amukhtegan-e
Iran-e Eslami [Advar-e Tahkim-e Vahdat]), which he
helped found in 2000. This organization, whose
membership is open to graduates of Iranian universities,
has been active in promoting democracy and human rights
in Iran. During his term in parliament he was an active
advocate of human rights, and highlighted the cases of
imprisoned students and political prisoners, including
by inspecting prisons and illegal detention centres.
Ali Akbar Mousavi-Kho’ini is reportedly held in section
209 of Tehran's Evin Prison, run by the Ministry of
Intelligence. Security officials were alleged to have
beaten him when he was arrested, and further reports
have suggested that he has been beaten while held in
detention.
Fourteen days after his arrest he was reportedly allowed
visits from his family and one of his lawyers. The
lawyer reportedly said that the charges against his
client included making a statement to the Mehr news
agency based in Tehran, the details of which were not
specified. Other reports have suggested that he is
accused of "spreading lies". According to reports, prior
to his participation in the women’s rights
demonstration, security officers had contacted Ali Akbar
Mousavi-Kho’ini by telephone and warned him against
supporting and participating in the protest.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
On 12 June 2006 the Iranian security forces forcibly
broke up a peaceful demonstration by women and men
advocating an end to legal discrimination against women
in Iran. The demonstrators had gathered in the "Seventh
of Tir" Square in Tehran to call, among other things,
for changes in the law to give a woman's testimony in
court equal value to that of a man; and for married
women to be allowed to choose their employment and to
travel freely without obtaining the prior permission of
their husband.
Police officers, including a large unit of policewomen,
reportedly moved in as soon as the demonstration began
and forced the protesters to disperse, including by
beating some with batons. Scores of protesters were
detained; on 13 June 2006, Minister of Justice and
Spokesman for the Judiciary Jamal Karimi-Rad stated that
42 women and 28 men had been arrested for participating
in what he alleged was an illegal demonstration. When
questioned about the reports of beatings by police, he
said, "If there was any beating, it will be reviewed".
Iran:
Woman Sentenced to Death by Stoning
June 29,
2006
adnkronos International
Rah/Aki
link to original article
Tehran -- A
court in the northwestern Iranian city of Urmia has
sentenced a Kurdish woman, Malak Ghorbany, found guilty
of committing adultery to death by stoning - a sentence
rarely carried out in recent years. The court also
sentenced the woman's brother Abu Bakr Ghorbai and
husband Mohammad Daneshfar to six years in jail for
killing her lover.
Stoning death sentences decreased after international
pressure on former reformist president Mohammad Khatami
contributed to the end of such rulings in the late
1990s. The punishment was however never scrapped from
the penal code of the Islamic Republic.
The Committee for the defence of human rights of Iranian
Kurdistan has issued a statement to save the life of
Malak Ghorbani.
Authorities Should Exercise Restraint in Policing Babek
Castle Gathering
June 29,
2006
Amnesty International
Public Statement
link to original article
As the
annual Babek Castle cultural gathering of Iranian Azeri
Turks approaches on 30 June 2006, Amnesty International
is urging the Iranian authorities to exercise restraint
while policing the gathering. In addition, it is calling
on the authorities urgently to address increasing human
rights violations being committed by Iranian security
forces and others against members of Iran’s Azeri
Turkish minority (who sometimes refer to themselves as
Iranian Azerbaijanis).
The largest ethnic minority in Iran, the Azeri Turkish
community is believed to number between 25-30 percent of
the total population and is found mainly in the
north-west. Mostly Shi’a Muslims, like the majority of
the population, they are not subject to as much
discrimination as minorities of other religions, and are
well-integrated into the economy. In recent years,
however, they have increasingly called for greater
cultural and linguistic rights, such as the right to be
taught in Turkish and to celebrate Azerbaijani culture
and history at events such as at the annual Babek Castle
gathering and Constitution Day, celebrated in October. A
small minority advocate the secession of Iranian
Azerbaijani provinces and union with the Republic of
Azerbaijan. Activists who promote Azeri Turkish cultural
identity are viewed with suspicion by the Iranian
authorities, who often charge them with vaguely worded
offences such as "promoting pan-Turkism".
The annual Babek Castle gathering has reportedly been
held for the last six years at Babek (or Bazz) castle in
the town of Kalayber, north-western Iran. Each year,
thousands of Azeri Turks gather in Kalayber and walk up
to the castle to celebrate the birthday of Babek
Khorramdin, who lived in the ninth century and is
regarded as a hero by Iranian Azeri Turks. These
gatherings have frequently met with repression on the
part of the Iranian authorities. In 2005, for example,
scores of people were reportedly arrested and at least
21 were sentenced to prison terms of up to one year,
though some of these were suspended.
Mass demonstrations broke out in towns and cities in
north-west Iran following the publication on 12 May 2006
of a cartoon in the state-owned daily newspaper, Iran,
which offended many in the Azeri Turkish community. The
government suspended publication of the newspaper on 23
May and both the editor-in-chief and cartoonist were
arrested. Protests began on a small scale mainly among
Azeri Turkish students in universities in Tehran and
Tabriz, but rapidly to Azeri Turkish areas. A huge
demonstration took place in Tabriz on 22 May and further
demonstrations were held in other places in the
following days. Most of these protests were peaceful,
but some ended with attacks on government buildings and
cars. Some Iranian Azeri Turkish sources have claimed
these attacks were instigated by government agents. The
Iranian government has accused the United States (US)
and other outside forces of stirring up the unrest. The
US government has denied this.
The Iranian authorities reportedly used excessive force
to disperse demonstrators, including beatings and lethal
gunfire. Amnesty International has received the names of
27 people who are alleged to have been killed, including
seven in Tabriz and 14 in Naqadeh (known as Sulduz by
Iranian Azeri Turks). One, 26-year-old Jalil Abedi was
reportedly shot in the left side of his head by a member
of Iran’s Intelligence service in Meshkin Shahr (known
as Khiyov in Azeri Turkish) during a demonstration on 25
May, and left to die by security officials who would not
let a doctor treat him. His family were reportedly
prevented from holding his funeral in a mosque and only
a few of them were permitted to attend his burial. The
Iranian authorities have generally denied that any
deaths occurred during the demonstrations, although a
police official acknowledged publicly on 29 May that
four people had been killed and 43 injured in Naqadeh.
Hundreds, possibly thousands, of demonstrators, are
reported to have been detained, of whom Amnesty
International has received the names of almost 200. On
23 June, Hojjatoleslam Aghazadeh, Head of the Office of
the Ministry of Justice in East Azerbaijan province,
told the press that some 330 people had been arrested in
Tabriz, most of whom had already been released, although
as many as 85 would be tried later. He said that 20 to
25 people had been identified as playing a major role in
the disturbances and that some were Baha’is, some Tudeh
party members (communists) and two had “links with
Israel”.
While many protestors have been released, scores are
believed to remain in detention, including Changiz
Bakhtavar, Dr Ahmad Gholipour Rezaie (known as Dr
Heydaroglu) and Hassan Ali Hajabollu (known as Hassan
Ark), all of whom were detained after the Tabriz
demonstration on 22 May. Hassan Damirchi, aged 65, a
businessman and a well-known musician from Tabriz (also
known as Hassan Azerbaijan) and his son Babak were
arrested at home on 26 May and Gholam Reza Amani was
detained on 28 May; he is now reported to be on hunger
strike. Some or all of these may have been transferred
to Evin prison in Tehran for questioning but their
current whereabouts are unclear. Some detainees are
reported to have been tortured, including Davoud Maghami,
held in Parsabad (known as Mughan in Azeri Turkish) who
is said to have required hospital treatment as a result.
He has now been released.
Other prominent Azeri Turkish activists who are reported
to have been detained include Abbas Lisani (or Leysanli),
who was arrested on 3 June when he returned home after
hiding for a week following a demonstration in Ardebil
in which he was beaten by security forces. He is
reportedly on hunger strike and his condition is causing
concern. His home telephone line has apparently been
cut, possibly to prevent his wife publicising his
plight. Abbas Lisani has previously been detained
several times because of his political activities on
behalf of the Azeri Turkish community, including during
or following the Babek Castle gatherings in 2003 and
2005. He was severely tortured during his arrest at a
sit-in protest by Azeri Turks at the Sarcheshme Mosque
in Ardebil in June 2004.
In advance of this year’s Babek Castle gathering,
Iranian security forces are reported to be carrying out
arrests, possibly to prevent certain individuals
attending. One, Akbar Qorbani, was reportedly arrested
on 26 June at his workplace in Ardebil by unidentified
men in plain clothes (lebas-e shakhsi), having
previously been threatened by such people since he took
part in the demnonstration in Ardebil. Another,
political activist Ebrahim Ja’farzadeh, was reportedly
arrested on 26 June in Khoy after being summoned to an
Intelligence Ministry facility; he was released the next
day. On 27 June, Reza Abbasi, a member of ASMEK
(Association for the Defence of Azerbaijani political
prisoners) and of the Office for Strengthening Unity (Daftar-e
Tahkim-e Vahdat), a student body, was reportedly
arrested in Zenjan after he refused to comply with a
verbal summons to attend an Intelligence Ministry
facility for interrogation. On the same day, Jahanbaksh
Bekhtavar, the brother of Changiz Bekhtaver (see above)
was reportedly arrested at his home in Tabriz by
Intelligence Ministry officials who are also said to
have confiscated his books and other personal
belongings. Also on 27 June, ‘Isa Yeganeh, the managing
director of the suspended newspaper Payam-e Sulduz was
reportedly arrested in Naqadeh, Sayed Mehdi Sayedzadeh
was arrested in Tabriz and at least five people released
after the May demonstrations in Miandoab were reportedly
redetained.
Amnesty International recognizes that the Iranian
authorities have a right and a responsibility to bring
those suspected of criminal offences to justice. However
it is concerned that many of those detained may be
prisoners of conscience, detained solely on account of
their peaceful exercise of their right to freedom of
_expression and association, or on account of their
peaceful political activities on behalf of the Iranian
Azeri Turkish community.
-
respect international
human rights standards in relation to the policing
of the Babek Castle gathering and ensure that those
responsible for law enforcement conform at all times
with standards
such as the United Nations Code of
Conduct for Law Enforcement Officials
-
release all prisoners
of conscience immediately and unconditionally. Other
detainees should be released unless they are to be
charged with a recognizably criminal offence and
brought to trial promptly and fairly
-
grant all detainees
prompt and regular access to lawyers of their own
choosing and their families and to appropriate
medical care if necessary
-
investigate all
allegations of torture or ill-treatment promptly and
thoroughly. The methods and findings of any such
investigation should be made public. Anyone
implicated in human rights violations should be
brought to justice promptly and fairly and victims
of torture and ill-treatment should be granted
compensation
-
ensure that any trials
respect, as a minimum standard, the relevant
provisions of the International Covenant on Civil
and Political Rights
-
investigate all
possible unlawful killings or extra-judicial
executions promptly and fairly in accordance with
the UN Principles on the Effective Prevention and
Investigation of Extralegal, Arbitrary and Summary
Executions, and bring to justice, fairly and
promptly, any members of the security forces
responsible for unlawful killings or other grave
violations of human rights.
Iran
http://www.amnestyusa.org/countries/iran/summary.do
Human Rights Concerns-
Amnesty International
Amnesty International continues to document serious
human violations including detention of human rights
defenders and other prisoners of conscience, unfair
trials, torture and mistreatment in detention, deaths in
custody and the application of the death penalty. Iran
has one of the highest number of recorded executions of
any country in the world. Amnesty International is
particularly concerned about the execution of children
and individuals who were minors when their crimes were
alleged to have taken place. In one case, an 18-year-old
girl, Nazanin, was sentenced to be executed for having,
at age 17, stabbed to death one of three men in a park
who were attempting to rape her and her younger niece.
In the past
several months, a number of human rights
abuses--including large-scale arrests, incommunicado
detention and torture--have taken place in the context
of recent unrest among the country's Arab and Kurdish
and Azeris ethnic minorities. Demonstrations held to
protest violations have been met with indiscriminate use
of violence; several of the victims have been children.
Religious minority communities--including Bahais and
Muslims practicing Sufism, have also been faced
increased persecution in recent months. Hundreds of
trade union activists--in particular activists from the
Union of Workers of the Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company
were arrested as part of measures to prevent planned
strikes. Lawyers, journalists, web loggers and others
who have spoken out against human rights violations have
themselves been targeted for abuse.
For Iran, the Man Is the Message
By Hadi Ghaemi, Human
Rights Watch Researcher, published in
The New York Times
June 29, 2006
http://hrw.org/english/docs/2006/06/29/iran13669.htm
LAST week Iranians woke up to a startling piece of news:
their government had dispatched Tehran's notorious
prosecutor general, Saeed Mortazavi, to Geneva as a
member of Iran's delegation to the opening session of
the new United Nations Human Rights Council.
Iranians weren't sure
whether to laugh or cry. Mr. Mortazavi is one of the
country's highest profile rights violators. Human Rights
Watch urged Iran to remove him at once and asked other
governments not to meet the Iranian delegation while Mr.
Mortazavi remained a part of it.
Well-known and widely despised in Iran, Mr. Mortazavi
personifies most of the ills affecting Iran's judicial
system: lack of accountability, rampant impunity,
disregard for fundamental constitutional rights,
manipulation of the law to promote a political agenda,
systematic use of torture, and above all, abuse of
judicial powers to repress peaceful expressions of
dissent and criticism.
Iranians refer to Mr. Mortazavi as "the butcher of the
press." In 2000, Mr. Mortazavi, then a judge, closed
more than a dozen newspapers in one month alone,
invoking an obscure law from the 1950's on "ensuring
public safety." The law was originally enacted to keep
criminal gangs from intimidating members of the public.
Since then he has shut more than 100 newspapers and
journals.
Mr. Mortazavi was promoted to prosecutor general of
Tehran in 2003. As such, he has prosecuted scores of
Iranian human rights defenders, journalists, dissidents,
students and activists, and he is alleged to be
implicated directly in acts of murder, torture,
arbitrary detention and coercing false confessions.
In June 2003, Iranian authorities arrested Zahra Kazemi,
a Canadian-Iranian photojournalist, as she photographed
Evin prison in Tehran. According to an investigation by
the Iranian Parliament, Mr. Mortazavi personally took
custody of her, accusing her of being a spy. Lawyers for
Ms. Kazemi's family say that her body showed signs of
torture, and that Mr. Mortazavi took part in an
interrogation session where she received a severe blow
to the head. A few days later, Ms. Kazemi fell into a
coma and died. The Iranian authorities have not held
anyone responsible for her murder.
In another case documented by Human Rights Watch, Mr.
Mortazavi ordered the arbitrary detention of more than
20 bloggers and Internet journalists in 2004. The
detainees were taken to a secret prison, held in
solitary confinement and interrogated by Mr. Mortazavi's
underlings. The interrogators tortured the detainees so
that they would falsely implicate their colleagues in
immoral acts and confess that they were foreign agents.
As a condition for their release, the interrogators
coerced four of them to write false confession letters.
The bloggers report that by threatening to harm their
families, Mr. Mortazavi personally coerced them to
appear on Iran's state-controlled television saying that
their jailors treated them as "gently as flowers." One
former detainee told me that Mr. Mortazavi's voice still
rings in his ears, and that he fears for his young
children.
So what was the Iranian government thinking? Perhaps it
was still stung by its failure to be elected to the
council, which aimed to exclude the most blatant
abusers. Or maybe this was the regime's shock and awe
strategy: shock the Iranian people with how little their
government cares about human rights, and awe them with
its utter impunity.
If Mr. Mortazavi were removed from office and
prosecuted, as he should be, there would be no shortage
of witnesses to testify. But because this is unlikely,
many Iranians hope the new council will develop
international mechanisms to bring men like him to
justice, rather than facing him as a delegate at its
sessions.
As a first step, the council should support the
appointment of a United Nations special rapporteur on
Iran to monitor and report publicly on human rights
abuses and to see that the government's present lack of
accountability does not translate into an even more
extensive crackdown on political dissent and social
freedoms.
Further, the members of the Security Council and
Germany, which are engaged in nuclear negotiations with
Iran, should include human rights concerns on their
agenda. As a confidence-building measure, they should
demand that Iran improve its human rights record — and
that it cease protecting violators like Mr. Morta- zavi.
Hadi Ghaemi is the
Iran researcher for Human Rights Watch.
HUMAN RIGHTS
WATCH
Iran
http://hrw.org/english/docs/2006/01/18/iran12214.htm
Respect for basic human
rights in Iran, especially freedom of _expression and
opinion, deteriorated considerably in 2005. The
government routinely uses torture and ill-treatment in
detention, including prolonged solitary confinement, to
punish dissidents. The judiciary, which is accountable
to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, has been at the center
of many serious human rights violations. Abuses are
perpetrated by what Iranians call “parallel
institutions”: paramilitary groups and plainclothes
intelligence agents violently attack peaceful
protesters, and intelligence services run illegal secret
prisons and interrogation centers. President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad, elected in June 2005, appointed a cabinet
dominated by former members of the intelligence and
security forces, some of whom are allegedly implicated
in the most serious human rights violations since the
Islamic Republic of Iran was established twenty-six
years ago, such as the assassination of dissident
intellectuals.
Freedom of _Expression and Opinion
The Iranian authorities have systematically suppressed
freedom of _expression and opinion since April 2000,
when the government launched a campaign involving
closure of newspapers and the imprisonment of
journalists and editors. Consequently, very few
independent dailies remain, and those that do
self-censor heavily. Many writers and intellectuals have
left the country, are in prison, or have ceased to be
critical. During 2005 the authorities also targeted
websites and Internet journalists in an effort to
prevent online dissemination of news and information.
Between September and November of 2004, the judiciary
detained and tortured more than twenty bloggers and
Internet journalists, and subjected them to lengthy
solitary confinement. The government systematically
blocks websites with political news and analysis from
inside Iran and abroad. On February 2, 2005, a court in
the province of Gilan sentenced Arash Sigarchi to
fourteen years in prison for his online writings. In
August 2005, the judiciary sentenced another blogger,
Mojtaba Saminejad, to two years in prison for
“insulting” Iran’s leaders.
Torture and Ill-treatment in Detention
With the closure of independent newspapers and journals
and the suppression of reporting on human rights abuses,
treatment of detainees has worsened in Evin prison as
well as in detention centers operated clandestinely by
the judiciary and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
The authorities have subjected those imprisoned for
peaceful _expression of their political views to torture
and ill-treatment. Judges often accept coerced
confessions. The authorities use prolonged solitary
confinement, often in small basement cells, to coerce
confessions (which are videotaped) and gain information
regarding associates. Combined with denial of access to
counsel, prolonged solitary confinement creates an
environment in which prisoners have nowhere to turn to
seek redress for their treatment in detention.
The judiciary issued an internal report in July 2005
admitting serious human rights violations, including
widespread use of torture, illegal detentions, and
coercive interrogation techniques. However, the
judiciary failed to establish any safeguards, follow up
on its findings, or hold any officials responsible.
Impunity
There is no mechanism for monitoring and investigating
human rights violations perpetrated by agents of the
government. The closure of independent media in Iran has
helped to perpetuate an atmosphere of impunity.
In recent years, public testimonies by numerous former
prisoners and detainees have implicated Tehran’s public
prosecutor Saeed Mortazavi and his office in some of the
worst cases of human rights violations. Despite
extensive evidence, Mortazavi has not been held
responsible for his role in illegal detentions, torture
of detainees, and coercing false confessions. The case
of Iranian-Canadian photojournalist Zahra Kazemi, who
died in the custody of judiciary and security agents led
by Mortazavi in June 2003, remains unresolved. Lawyers
representing Kazemi’s family revealed that in addition
to signs of torture including fractures to her nose,
fingers, and toes, Kazemi received heavy blows to her
head, once during her initial detention by the head of
the intelligence unit at Evin prison on June 23, 2003,
and another blow during an interrogation led by
Mortazavi three days later. According to autopsy
reports, Kazemi died of severe blows to her head. The
judiciary had accused a low-ranking Intelligence
Ministry official, Reza Ahmadi, of Kazemi’s
unintentional homicide, and had proceeded with a hastily
organized trial held in May 2004 which cleared Reza
Ahmadi of the charges. Following an appeal by lawyers
representing Kazemi’s family, an appeal hearing was
convened in July 2005, in which the lawyers demanded
that the judiciary launch an investigation into charges
of intentional homicide, but the judge refused their
request. The judiciary has taken no further steps to
identify or prosecute those responsible for Kazemi’s
killing.
Human Rights Defenders
In 2005, the authorities intensified their harassment of
independent human rights defenders and lawyers in an
attempt to prevent them from publicizing and pursuing
human rights violations. The judiciary summoned Noble
Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi in January 2005 without
specifying charges against her. After she challenged her
summons as illegal, and following an international
outcry, the judiciary rescinded its order. In July, the
authorities once again threatened to arrest Ebadi after
she publicized several high-profile human rights cases.
On July 30, the judiciary detained Abdolfattah Soltani,
a lawyer and member of the Center for Defense of Human
Rights, after Soltani and Ebadi protested the
judiciary’s inaction in Zahra Kazemi’s case. No formal
charges have been filed against Soltani; the judiciary
appears to be using his illegal detention as a way to
intimidate and silence other human rights defenders and
lawyers. Prominent dissident and investigative
journalist Akbar Ganji, who exposed the role of
high-ranking officials in the murders of writers and
intellectuals in 1998, remained imprisoned for a sixth
year.
Minorities
Iran’s ethnic and religious minorities are subject to
discrimination and, in some cases, persecution. The
Baha’i community continues to be denied permission to
worship or engage in communal affairs in a public
manner. In April 2005, protests erupted in the southern
province of Khuzistan, home to nearly two million
Iranians of Arab descent, following publication of a
letter allegedly written by Mohammad Ali Abtahi, an
advisor to then-President Mohammad Khatami, which
referred to government plans to implement policies that
would reduce the proportion of ethnic Arabs in
Khuzistan’s population. After security forces opened
fire to disperse demonstrators in Ahvaz, the
confrontation turned violent and spread to other cities
and towns in Khuzistan. The next day, Abtahi and other
government officials called the letter a fake. During
the clashes, security forces killed at least fifty
protestors and detained hundreds more.
In July 2005, security forces shot and killed a Kurdish
activist, Shivan Qaderi, in Mahabad. In the wake of this
incident protests were held in several cities and towns
in Kurdistan demanding that the government apprehend
Qaderi’s killers and put them on trial. Government
forces put down the protests, killing at least seventeen
people and detaining several prominent Kurdish
journalists and activists. In October 2005, they were
released on bail.
Key
International Actors
In 2005 the policy of the European Union towards Iran
was dominated by negotiations over Iran’s nuclear
programs, with human rights concerns a secondary matter.
The European Union has pledged to tie Iranian respect
for human rights to progress in co-operation on other
issues, but so far with little impact. Australia and
Switzerland also have “human rights dialogues” with Iran
but have not made public any relevant benchmarks for
assessing progress.
Against strenuous Iranian objections, the United Nations
General Assembly adopted a resolution in November 2004,
noting serious violations and the worsening of the human
rights situation in Iran. However, in 2005, unlike in
previous years, no resolution was introduced at the U.N.
Commission on Human Rights concerning the human rights
situation in Iran. Under a standing invitation issued in
2002 from Tehran to the thematic mechanisms of the U.N.
Commission on Human Rights, the Working Group on
Arbitrary Detention and the special rapporteur on the
promotion and protection of the right to freedom of
opinion and _expression visited the country and
subsequently issued reports critical of government
practices. However, the government has failed to
implement their recommendations, and in some cases there
were reprisals, such as re-arrest, against persons who
testified to the experts. In January 2005 the special
rapporteur on violence against women visited Iran, and
the special rapporteur on adequate housing made a visit
in August. Iran has not responded to requests by the
U.N. special rapporteurs on torture and on extrajudicial
executions to visit the country.
Relations between the United States and Iran remain
poor. President Bush in August 2005 said that U.S.
military action against Iran was an “option on the
table,” but the administration reportedly remains
divided on this point.
Related Material
More Information on Human Rights in Iran
Country Page
Country Summary - PDF
World
Report Chapter
World Report 2006
Report, January 18, 2006
