November 1997

The Islamic regime continues to unabatedly violate human rights for maintenance of state power. Countless reports from a wide range of sources indicate that no significant changes towards greater human rights have occurred since the Islamic regime took power.

In 1997 alone, news of several atrocities reverberated in the media outside Iran, despite an environment of repression and censorship. Early this year in Tehran, oil workers struggling for the rights to organize and reach collective agreements were attacked, arrested and tortured, and several of their leaders were killed. In April 1997, a German court’s verdict regarding the Mykonos assassination of three political opponents formally exposed the Islamic regime’s coordinated policy to kill Iranian dissidents. In May 1997, hundreds of political prisoners went on hunger-strike to protest intolerable prison conditions; a number of them died as a result of the hunger-strike or were executed. In August 1997, the latest victim of the regime’s state-sponsored system of gender-apartheid was stoned after being accused of engaging in voluntary sexual relations.

This briefing strongly opposes the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ (MFA) June 5, 1997 report on the general situation in Iran; confirms that the atrocities committed by the Islamic regime continue unabated; and rejects the decision that Iranian asylum seekers can be "safely" deported to Iran.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ (MFA) report on Iran is inconsistent with its own sources including all official general reports (Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the U.S. State Department Country Report on Human Rights Practices), and previous reports by the United Nations Special Representative for Human Rights in Iran. Furthermore, it contradicts first-hand information gathered by IFIRIC from thousands of Iranian refugees and asylum seekers, which corroborates reports of persecution, arrest, imprisonment and torture.

The reports which most support the Ministry’s position are those by Maurice Copithorne, the UN Special Representative for Iran, and sources within Iran. Reports obtained from the Islamic regime itself are obviously biased and unreliable. Copithorne’s reports contrast sharply with those written by his predecessor, Reynaldo Galindo Pohl. During his tenure, Galindo Pohl stated that the Iranian authorities prevented him from meeting with specific prisoners he had requested to see and that prisoner he had met during an earlier visit had been singled out for particularly severe punishment because he complained to the special representative about torture. On the other hand, Copithorne states that he felt that the Iranian government wanted to cooperate with his inquiries into the human rights situation and that he had no sense that Iranian officials had prevented people from seeing him. Galindo Pohl resigned

as the Commission’s Special Representative on Iran after being denied permission to visit Iran for several years due to his candid reporting of the human rights situation in Iran (Reuters, April 1, 1996).

Given that the special representative’s access to Iran is by the invitation of the regime, Copithorne has ignored the ample evidence of systematic and gross human rights violations in order to facilitate access to Iran. By relying primarily on Copithorne’s reports, the Dutch government acts similarly to the special representative. It appears that the MFA’s report on Iran contradicts or ignores the overwhelming evidence available on eighteen years of cruelty and terror in Iran in order to secure better political and economic ties with the Iranian government.

1.3 Nature of Government

Iran is a theocratic republic based on Islamic legislation... Islamic principles take precedence over all laws and regulations, even over constitutional provisions... Although there has since ceased to be any active internal opposition or any real threat to the regime’s authority, those in power remain apprehensive of any seemingly serious threat...There are no political parties in the western sense. It is, however, possible to discern three main schools of thought.

• Matter-of-factly stating that Iran is a theocracy disregards the reality that Islamic principles are antithetical to universal human rights standards.

• The MFA report gives the illusion that people in Iran no longer oppose the Islamic Republic of Iran rather than exposing the regime’s efforts to violently suppress any oppositional political activism.

• By referring to three main schools of thought within the government, the report gives the impression that pluralism exists in Iran, obscuring the fact that all the permitted schools are reactionary, religious and committed to the maintenance of the Islamic regime.

1.4 Recent Political Developments/Elections

• Elections in the Islamic Republic of Iran is contrary to an exercise in the will of the people. In the May 1997 elections in which Khatami became president, all but four of the two hundred and thirty eight candidates were banned from participating in the elections. The Council of Guardians, a twelve-member body chosen by Khamenei, the supreme spiritual leader, and parliament, hand-picked the four who were most suitable to represent the Islamic Republic's interests. According to Human Rights Watch World Report 1997, the Council of Guardians tightly controlled access to the parliamentary electoral process as well by assessing a candidate’s "practical adherence to Islam" and support for the principle of "rule by the pre-eminent religious jurist, velayat-e-faghih." U.S. educated officials or a president who is skilled in table tennis (as Khatami is) do not translate into real changes in the political situation in Iran. Furthermore, the women in parliament only personify and perpetuate the Islamic regime and its system of gender apartheid.

1.5 Political Parties/Activities

• Innumerable examples contradict the above. In Iran, where the Islamic regime controls and suppresses every aspect of people’s lives from clothing, to music, to personal relationships, it is absurd to assert that involvement in illegal political activities are not met with repression.

• Human Rights Watch World Report 1996 states: "The government closed newspapers, imprisoned critics, forcibly suppressed protests and condoned vigilante attacks against domestic opposition. Religious zealots from competing authorities interfered in people's everyday lives enforcing ever-changing rules of conduct. The attack on freedom of expression, as reported in Human Rights Watch World Report 1995: Iran, gathered pace."

• According to Human Rights Watch "all forms of political expression and dissent are strictly curtailed" and "underground publications and leaflets circulate clandestinely, but at a high risk to their authors and distributors" (HRW, Guardians of Thought: Limits on Freedom of Expression in Iran, August 1993).

1.6 Demonstrations

• In 1994, Hussein Kamali, the Minister of Labor, acknowledged that two thousand labor protests occurred in one year alone, signifying both the magnitude of labor protests in Iran and the regime’s extensive suppression of the labor movement.

• In 1995, large numbers of people protested in Tehran against the economic policies of the Islamic regime. The regime responded with helicopters which fired at the protesters. Some were killed and a large number were injured. Many were also imprisoned.

• The adverse social and economic situation leading to protests are directly linked to the political situation. Many turn to political activities in order to improve their lives. The Islamic regime fears its overthrow in any such opposition and responds with its usual force and brutality.

1.7 Legal System/Judicial Process

1.7.1 Police Forces

• In the February 2, 1994 UN Commission on Human Rights report, special representative Reynaldo Galindo Pohl states: "It was reported that detentions and arrests were made by the State Security Police; the Police Force; the Gendarmerie; the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (Pasdaran); the Revolutionary committees; the Basijis, irregular paramilitary forces of volunteers who seek to uphold revolutionary ideals; the numerous patrols, such as the patrol to remove street vendors and that to combat improper veiling. It was reported that tens of thousands of Basijis had been ordered to prowl about every factory, office and school to ensure that everyone adhered to the Islamic code. The Basij organization was originally created during the Iran-Iraq war to provide volunteers for the front. After the summer 1992 riots, Basij units were revived, rearmed and sent out into the streets to help enforce Islamic law. The Basijis are reportedly under the control of local mosques. It was further said that the Basijis set up checkpoints around the cities and stopped cars to sniff their occupant's breath for alcohol and check for women wearing make-up or traveling with a man not their close relative or husband. It was reported that the Law of Judicial Support for the Basijis, published in the Official Gazette No. 13946 of 8.10.1371 (December A.D. 1992), provided no redress against arbitrary detention by the Basijis."

1.7.2. Legal System

• The MFA report fails to distinguish between civil principles and practices. Furthermore, Iran is a theocracy which is antithetical to universal human rights. In Iran there is no rule of law other than any rule that maintains the Islamic Republic. Law is carried out by different groups with their own paramilitary forces -- all interpreting the law as they choose to preserve the regime. There rule of god and the supreme spiritual leader reign supreme. Even the regime’s supporters are not safe in Iran. Moreover, there is no guarantee that one will not be arrested at any time. Mohammad Assadi was recently executed for his alleged involvement in a coup d’etat eighteen years ago.

1.7.3. Judicial Process

• The MFA report clearly contradicts itself by stating, in contrast to one of its sources, Amnesty International, that the judicial process has improved. Amnesty International Report 1997: Iran also states: "Thousands of political prisoners were held during the year, including prisoners of conscience. Some were held without charge or trial; others were serving long prison sentences after unfair trials. There were continuing reports of torture and ill treatment."

• In its May 1995 publication, Iran: Official Secrecy Hides Continuing Repression, AI reported: There were continuing reports of political arrests, torture, unfair trials and summary executions. Among the thousands of political prisoners held during the year were prisoners of conscience: some were detained without charge or trial, others were serving long prison sentences imposed after unfair trials. There were continuing reports that prisoners were tortured or ill-treated to extract confessions or statements to be used as evidence at trials.

• The February 1995 U.S. Department of State Country Reports on Human Rights Practices 1994 states: "Defendants tried in revolutionary courts are not granted fair trials. These defendants are often held in prolonged pretrial detention without access to attorneys... Defendants are often indicted for such vague offenses as ‘moral corruption,’ ‘anti-revolutionary behavior,’ and ‘siding with global arrogance.’ Summary trials of five minutes are common and some trials are conducted in secret. Others are show trials intended to highlight a coerced public confession.

1.7.4. Penal Code

• The 1997 U.S. Department of State Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 1996: Iran, states: Exiles and human rights monitors report that many of those executed for alleged criminal offenses, primarily narcotics charges, were actually political dissidents. In addition a November 1995 law criminalized dissent and applied the death penalty to offenses such as attempts against the security of the State, outrage against high-ranking Iranian officials, and insults against the memory of Imam Khomeini, and against the Leader of the Islamic Republic.

1.7.5. Prisons

2.1. General

"The human rights situation in Iran continues to give cause for concern...As the regime has consolidated its position, such human rights violations have gradually decreased. As far as is known, there have not in recent times been any political trials."

• Human rights violations in Iran have not decreased. It is obvious that almost two decades of systematic suppression have changed the nature of political activity. Yet human desires for a better life can never be stifled and people in Iran continue to protest and oppose the regime in different ways. Continued opposition to the regime is visible despite extensive government censorship.

• The U.S. Department of State Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 1996 states: "The Government's human rights record remains very poor. There was no evidence of human rights improvement during the year. Systematic abuses include extrajudicial killings and summary executions; disappearances; widespread use of torture and other degrading treatment; harsh prison conditions; arbitrary arrest and detention; lack of fair trials; infringement on citizens' privacy rights; and restriction of the freedoms of speech, press, assembly, association, religion, and movement. The government represses political dissidents and the ruling clerics effectively control the electoral process, thereby denying citizens the right to change their government."

• The 1997 U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor Profile of Asylum Claims and Country Conditions states: "The Islamic regime's human rights record continues to be abysmal... Religious minorities are especially vulnerable to the regime's intolerance and to instances of harassment and attacks from Shi'a extremist elements. The Islamic regime, in addition to infringing on citizens' right to privacy, denies the universality of human rights, conceals its abuses of human rights, and obstructs the activities of human rights monitors. Women are victims of domestic violence as well as legal and social discrimination, and important worker rights are restricted."

2.2. Integrity of Person

2.2.1. Death Penalty

• The death penalty is inhumane under any circumstances. However, by mentioning the death penalty as the penalty for criminal activities or criminalizing human behaviors (e.g. voluntary sexual relations or homosexuality), the Dutch government excuses executions in Iran as a "war on crime" rather than violent repression of opponents.

• The Amnesty International Annual Report 1997 states: "There was a significant rise in the number of executions reported during the year. At least 110 people were executed, some in public, more than twice as many as reported in 1995. As in previous years, the real number of executions was believed to be considerably higher than was publicly reported."

• The August 13, 1996 Iran: Amnesty International Appeals Against Further Executions and Amputations states: "The worldwide human rights organization has recorded up to 70 executions so far in 1996; there were about 50 recorded throughout 1995. The true figure may be much higher, as the organization believes many executions which are carried out are never reported. Of these, about 20 per cent have been of political prisoners, convicted on charges such as membership of, and activities on behalf of, opposition groups and espionage. Amnesty International is concerned that many, if not most, of these trials were unfair."

• Article 76 of the Islamic penal code states that the testimony of women alone shall not prove adultery but it shall constitute false accusation which is a punishable act. Under Article 82, death by stoning is the punishment for a married person accused of adultery. Under Article 88, the punishment for an unmarried person is one hundred lashes. According to Amnesty International, Article 119 of the penal code states that: "In the punishment of stoning to death, the stones should not be too large so that the person dies on being hit by one or two of them; they should not be so small either that they could not be defined as stones." This makes clear that the purpose of stoning is the infliction of grievous pain leading to death.

• Statistics on death by stoning are obviously difficult to obtain. During the first five years of the Khomeini regime, the government proclaimed that 500-600 women were put to death by stoning. According to Amnesty International, as recently as August 11, 1997, a woman in the town of Bukan survived a stoning when she reportedly began to breathe again at the morgue after doctors had confirmed her as dead. On July 14 1995, Amnesty International reported of two women sentenced to death by stoning in Ilam Gharb. Human Rights Watch World Report 1995 reports two cases of women stoned to death. In Iran: Women Prisoners of Conscience, Amnesty International reports that at least 24 of the more than 40 people reportedly stoned to death in Iran were women.

• The MFA report repeatedly refers to laws and principles rather than the regime’s actual practices and actions.

2.2.4. Torture

• Amnesty International Report 1997: Iran states: Reports of torture or ill-treatment of prisoners and detainees continued to be received. Methods were said to include beatings; burning; prolonged enforced standing; detention in confined spaces; suspension, sometimes from a rotating ceiling fan; exposure to severe cold; shackling the arms in painful positions; and prolonged sleep deprivation.

2.3. Civil Rights/Freedom of Opinion

• According to Human Rights Watch, Guardians of Thought: Limits on Freedom of Expression in Iran, "expression that poses a serious threat to the supremacy of the prevailing system -- by reaching large or crucial segments of society or by propagating alternate systems of thought and governance -- is not tolerated. On such matters, the government speaks with a single voice and decisively."

2.4. Religious Minorities

• The U.S. Committee for Refugees, World Refugee Survey 1996 states: "Since the Islamic revolution in 1979 the Iranian government has dealt harshly with real or potential political opposition. Torture and imprisonment are commonly used; thousands have been executed. Targeted groups include.. religious minorities.

• According to Human Rights Watch September 1997 Report Iran Religious and Ethnic Minorities, at least three persons have been executed for proselytizing.

2.5. Position of Women

• The U.S. Department of State's Country Reports on Human Rights Practices 1996 states, "Discrimination against women has increased since the revolution. It is difficult for many women, particularly outside large cities to obtain any legal redress." In Iran: The Subjection of Women, the British Parliamentary Human Rights Group documents the status of women as "third class" citizens and establishes state accountability through discriminatory laws and direct action.

• The subjection of women has been paraded as the public endorsement and evidence of the continuing supremacy of Islamic law. Though women's participation was great in the anti-Shah movement, women came out in mass demonstrations against imposition of the veil and Islamic law in 1979- 1980. (Human Rights Briefs: Women in the Islamic Republic of Iran, Canadian Immigration and Refugee Board)

• Whether there are more or less women in public spaces in other countries is irrelevant in determining the status of women in Iran. Women are segregated in public transportation, government building entrances, hospitals, classrooms, public sports activities (including bicycle riding), beaches, etc. Human Rights Watch World Report 1995 reports that women riding motorcycles with men were condemned by the Minister of Interior as being un-Islamic. The same report states that in Tabriz, hundreds of demonstrators were arrested and some were killed in protests after the militia attacked young women who had mixed with men at the end of a soccer match. Additionally, police issued a statement condemning women’s smiles as arousing corruption in men.

"While the dress code is mandatory, there are hardly any women voluntarily covering their face with a veil or wearing the traditional burqah to be seen on the streets in Iran, unlike Islamic countries such as Saudi Arabia. In cities such as Tehran and Isfahan, visibly displaying part of the hair is in practice tolerated."

• That women do not voluntarily cover their faces indicates their choice. By visibly displaying a part of their hair, women in Iran bravely demonstrate their opposition to the imposed dress code, despite harsh penalties for doing so.

• The UN Commission on Human Rights reported on Feb. 5 1993 (14 years after the revolution) that "strict segregation of teachers and students has resulted in the closure of many schools for girls, especially in rural areas...more than 40,000 women elementary and high school teachers were fired by the government between 1980-1985." The Commission also voiced concern over reports indicating that 89% of rural Iranian women are illiterate. Certain fields of study are closed to women on grounds that they are emotionally and physically weak. Single women faculty members, students and researchers are not allowed to travel abroad.

• According to the U.S. Department of State's Country Reports on Human Rights Practices 1996, "The government permitted women to attain the rank of judges, but does not permit female judges to preside over legal hearings."

• The presence of women representatives per se cannot be judged as evidence of changes in the regime’s attitudes towards women. It is misrepresenting to conclude that the mere existence of these women indicates progress, without reference to their effect on the situation of women, their political position or their relationships to top male officials. For example, Malaikeh Yazdy, daughter of the head of the judicial system and representative of the Justice Department in the Office of Female Affairs said in an interview in 1992, "If women look at life from the emotional point of view rather than from a legal point of view, none of the legal weaknesses will apply to their cases...it is to the advantage of women that law has given men the exclusive right to divorce. If women had such a right, since they are highly emotional, they would have demanded a divorce with a slight disagreement." (Zan-e Rouz, No.1415, July 3, 1993) Regarding women presidents, under the constitution, ultimate power rests with the spiritual leader rather than the president. The presence of governmental women's organizations such as the "Women's Affairs Commission" or the "Women's Affairs Bureau" or a handful of token women in the parliament clearly do not indicate improvements in the status of women in Iran.

2.5.1. Family Law

• The Family Protection Act, introduced in 1967 and repealed by the Islamic regime, gave women limited protection against unilateral divorce, polygyny and temporary marriage. Men, who can have up to four "permanent" wives, in practice may now divorce any of them at will. Temporary marriage, illegal for more than fifty years, was legalized by the Islamic regime. Men can now have an unlimited number of temporary wives, in marriages which may last several hours to 99 years. According to Article 1105 of the Civil Code, the husband is the head and manager of the household. Extensions of this law are that married women must have the written permission of their husbands to get a job or leave the country.

2.5.2. Divorce

• To be granted a divorce, women must prove the marriage violates one of twelve grounds. Women can only benefit from any conditions included in the marriage contract if they prove that they did not neglect any wifely duties, such as leaving the husband’s home without his permission or other disobedience. Furthermore, if they leave the husband’s home, they are no longer entitled to economic support from the husbands. In practice, families are hesitant to set preconditions prior to marriage since they fear that they may endanger a daughter's marriageability. Furthermore, formal marriage negotiations are often carried out by the father of the bride, leaving little opportunity for intervention. In practice, it is nearly impossible for a woman to get a divorce without her husband's permission.

• Arbitrary divorce as the exclusive right of men has caused the divorce rate to increase dramatically. Should a wife leave her husband's home due to physical abuse, she is likely to be denied economic rights if they are divorced. Physical abuse must result in permanent injury for it to be grounds for divorce. Courts frequently order abused women to return to their husband's home (Shifting Boundaries in Marriage and Divorce in Muslim Communities, Women Living Under Muslim Law (WLUML), Vol. 1, Fall 1996).

2.5.3 Guardianship/Custody

• Although the regime emphasizes women's role as mother, fathers and paternal grandfathers have exclusive right to child custody. The mother loses minimal right to custody (boys under the age of two and girls under seven) as soon as she remarries. Many women remain in abusive marriages because they fear losing their children.

2.5.4. Child Marriages

• The legal age for girls to marry was reduced by the Islamic regime from 18 to 15 and later further reduced to 9 under Article 1210 of the Civil Code, passed by parliament in 1982. A father or grandfather may decide to marry the child at any age. Girls, much more than boys, are subject to forced marriages. The state’s encouragement of early marriage led to a rapid increase in population and more recent campaigns promoting smaller families and delayed childbearing (WLUML, 1996).

2.6. Infringement of the Code of Dress and Behavior

• According to the UN Commission on Human Rights (Feb. 2 1994), on June 24, 1993, over 800 "inadequately covered" women were arrested and sentenced to flogging. According to Human Rights Watch World Report 1997, "Restrictions on personal liberty have had a harsh impact on women. In November 1995, the security forces announced that they has detained 86,000 suspects in the previous 12 months. Most of them were thought to have been women detained for violating the dress code...."

2.7. Position of Homosexuals

• According to the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission Asylum Project’s Iran Country Packet (with reference to the Penal Codes of the Islamic Republic of Iran Articles 114, 117 and 120), "there are three ways of proving sodomy under Islamic law - the accused can confess; four eye witnesses can declare they saw the accused engaged in homosexual acts, or; a judge can decide on his own knowledge of homosexual matters."

• Obtaining confessions through torture and finding the necessary witnesses when expedient are methods used by the Islamic regime to obtain a conviction.

• Political activists in Iran do not use their actual names. When an activist is arrested, s/he may not have biographical information on a co-activist that can lead to the latter’s immediate arrest. A political prisoner will often try to buy time in order to provide her/his co-activist with an opportunity to escape the country legally.

• It is well known that the Islamic Republic of Iran has arrested, imprisoned, tortured, and killed Iranians who were forcibly returned to Iran if they had unlawfully departed from the Islamic Republic of Iran, had stayed abroad without authorization, and/or had applied for asylum in another country.

• Applying for asylum is considered a political act by the Iranian regime. There have been reports that persons deported have been imprisoned and executed. The repressive conditions in the Islamic Republic of Iran make it extremely difficult to verify the fate of those forcibly returned. Many times, only those able to return to a first country of asylum after deportation can verify the persecution faced by those deported back to Iran. IFIRIC knows of several such cases who have faced imprisonment and torture upon being forcibly returned to Iran.

• The fact that the Embassy of the Netherlands inquired after those deported three days after their forcible return is irrelevant. The Islamic regime has controlled individuals for years. Political prisoners who are released must often sign-in weekly with security forces for several years. According to Amnesty International, released political prisoners are subject to physical restrictions and those who fail to present themselves when summoned risk their own or their relatives’ detention (Iran: Imprisonment, torture and executions of political opponents, 1992). Even after they are released, former political prisoners are discriminated against, denied the most basic social and political rights and fear being re-arrested. At any time that the regime deems necessary, released political prisoners or deported asylum seekers can be used as scapegoats to maintain an environment of fear.

• Though the Dutch government has not invoked the safe country of origin principle regarding Iran, in effect, the MFA’s report concludes that the Islamic regime has met the criteria for this designation. The criteria adopted by the Council of Ministers responsible for immigration on countries in which there is generally no serious risk of persecution (SN 4821/92 WGI 1281 AS 145) include: observance of human rights (considering formal obligations a country has undertaken in adhering to international human rights instruments and in its domestic law and also how in practice it meets these obligations); democratic institutions (including democratic processes, elections, political pluralism and freedom of expression and thought); and, stability. Iran clearly does not meet these criteria. The political implications of this report are clear - it validates and legitimizes the Islamic Republic of Iran at the expense of those fleeing persecution.

IFIRIC declares its opposition to the Dutch government's violations of Iranian refugee rights and demands that the Dutch government cease the deportation of Iranian asylum seekers; re-instate the ban of deportations to Iran; cancel the report of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that effectively deems Iran a safe country to return asylum seekers; re-investigate the casefiles of all asylum seekers who have received deportation writs; and, recognize the right to asylum.

Undoubtedly, a similar situation in the Netherlands would be intolerable. The report is a clear example of how cultural relativism can be used to misrepresent a system of violent human rights abuses. By focusing on the public image "improvements" made by the regime, the Dutch government judges human rights by Islamic standards. Such rampant racism denies those living in Iran their humanity and ignores international standards. The regime uses the same approach stating that "western countries and human rights organizations cannot use their own...norms to evaluate all nations without considering their cultures, values, and intellectual foundations" (January 9, 1997 Reuters). Rather than portray the situation in Iran, the MFA report reveals the extent to which the Dutch government is willing to cooperate with the Islamic regime to promote their mutual interests.

To lend credence to the notion that real advances are possible under the rule of the Islamic regime is antithetical to human rights or to be ignorant of Islamic law. Anything short of the condemnation of the Islamic Republic of Iran amounts to condoning a state-sponsored system in which persecution and discrimination is legalized, institutionalized and brutally enforced.