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Iran Focus
 London, Feb. 16
– A top international rights group blasted on Thursday the hard-line government
of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
for failing to address the “dire human rights situation” in that country.
Amnesty International issued a report accusing Tehran of locking up scores of its
critics and opponents. It added that “torture was common” and that Tehran used the death
penalty following “grossly unfair trials” against such individuals.
“The authorities maintain strict controls on freedom of expression and
association, and religious and ethnic minorities are subject to
persecution. Women are severely discriminated against in both law and
practice and those lawyers, journalists and others who dare speak up in
support of human rights - Iran’s community of courageous human rights
defenders – do so at constant risk of harassment, imprisonment or other
abuses by security authorities who are able to act with impunity”, the
group said.
”Since President Ahmadinejad’s election, several
people have been killed and scores injured by security forces possibly
using excessive force, in the context of ongoing violent unrest in Khuzestan Province”. Hundreds of Arabs have
been arrested in the volatile region since Ahmadinejad
came to power, Amnesty said.
“Since President Ahmadinejad’s election, members
of Iran’s
religious minorities have also been killed, detained or harassed solely in
connection with their faith. Even the recognized religious minorities of
Jews, Christians and Zoroastrians face discrimination in law and practice
with respect to employment, marriage, and criminal sanctions”, it said.
“Torture has been used systematically in Iran for many years for the
purpose of extracting information and confessions. Torture is facilitated
by laws and procedures governing detention and interrogation which permit
solitary confinement and ban access of detainees to lawyers until the
process of investigation is completed, and by the existence of parallel and
sometimes informal institutions which run their own detention centres to which the judiciary has no access”.
”In addition, Iranian legislation permits the use of cruel, inhuman and
degrading punishments which amount to torture, such as flogging and
amputations”.
The group called on Iran
to end torture and release all prisoners of conscience immediately and
unconditionally.
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