Iran Focus: Washington, Feb. 28 The United States issued a damning report today on Iran’s human rights violations as part of its 2004 annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices.
The report said that the human rights situation in Iran had once again deteriorated over the past year.
“The right of citizens to change their government was restricted significantly”. Iran Focus
Washington, Feb. 28 The United States issued a damning report today on Iran’s human rights violations as part of its 2004 annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices.
The report said that the human rights situation in Iran had once again deteriorated over the past year.
“The right of citizens to change their government was restricted significantly. Continuing serious abuses included: summary executions; disappearances; torture and other degrading treatment, reportedly including severe punishments such as amputations and flogging; poor prison conditions; arbitrary arrest and detention; lack of habeas corpus or access to counsel; and prolonged and incommunicado detention. Citizens often did not receive due process or fair trials. The Government infringed on citizens’ privacy rights and restricted freedom of speech, press, assembly, association, and religion”, the report said.
On Iran’s systematic use of torture, the report said, “Some prison facilities, including Tehran’s Evin prison, were notorious for the cruel and prolonged acts of torture inflicted upon political opponents of the Government. Additionally, in recent years, government officials have inflicted severe prisoner abuse and torture in a series of ‘unofficial’ secret prisons and detention centers outside the national prison system. Common methods included prolonged solitary confinement with sensory deprivation, beatings, long confinement in contorted positions, kicking detainees with military boots, hanging detainees by the arms and legs, threats of execution if individuals refused to confess, burning with cigarettes, sleep deprivation, and severe and repeated beatings with cables or other instruments on the back and on the soles of the feet. Prisoners also reported beatings about the ears, inducing partial or complete deafness, and punching in the eyes, leading to partial or complete blindness”.
“Many prisoners were held in solitary confinement or denied adequate food or medical care to force confessions. Security forces often targeted family members of political prisoners for harassment”.
On women’s rights, the report stated, “Vigilante violence included attacking young persons considered too ‘un-Islamic’ in their dress or activities, invading private homes, abusing unmarried couples, and disrupting concerts or other forms of popular entertainment. Attackers targeted women whose clothing did not cover their hair and all parts of their body except the hands and face or those who wore makeup or nail polish”.
