10.09.2007 - Source: Federal Government (Germany)

Deterioration of human rights situation since Mahmud Ahmadinejad assumed office in 2005; details on death penalty and corporal punishment (response to parliamentary query, in German) ("Antwort der Bundesregierung auf die Kleine Anfrage der Fraktion Bündnis 90/Die Grünen - BT-Drs. 16/6336") [ID 22409]

"[...] Oppositionelle können im Iran zum Tode verurteilt werden; in der Vergangenheit wurden Oppositionelle und politische Aktivisten allerdings eher zu langjährigen Haftstrafen verurteilt. Todesurteile sind aber gegen einige Mitglieder der Volksmujaheddin ausgesprochen worden. [...]"

Document(s): Open document

08.03.2006 - Source: US Department of State

UN confirms that killings or dissapearances are part of a wider campaign against dissidents ("Country Report on Human Rights Practices 2005") [#46058], [ID 18359]

"In 2001 the Special Representative for Iran of the Commission on Human Rights (UNSR) reported claims that there were more than 80 killings or disappearances over a 10-year period as part of a wider campaign to silence dissent."

Document(s): Open document

08.03.2006 - Source: US Department of State

President Khatami confirms that Iran has political prisoners ("Country Report on Human Rights Practices 2005") [#46058], [ID 18491]

"Then President Khatami stated in April 2004 that, "absolutely, we do have political prisoners and people who are in prison for their beliefs." No accurate estimates were available regarding the number of citizens imprisoned for their political beliefs. In 2003 the UNSR for the Promotion and Protection of the Right to Freedom of Expression and Opinion estimated the number to be in the hundreds. Although there were few details, the government has reportedly arrested, convicted, and executed persons on questionable criminal charges, including drug trafficking, when their actual "offenses" were political. The government has charged members of religious minorities with crimes such as "confronting the regime" and apostasy and conducted trials in these cases in the same manner as threats to national security. Political prisoners occasionally were given suspended sentences or released for short or extended furloughs prior to completion of their sentences, but could be ordered to prison at any time. Political activists were also controlled by having a file placed in the courts that could be opened at any time."

Document(s): Open document

25.02.2004 - Source: BBC News

A final vote count by the Iranian authorities confirmed that conservative candidates won 156 of the assembly's 290 seats in general elections, after thousands of reformist candidates had been barred from standing ("Predicted win for Iran hardliners") [#19666], [ID 9297]

Document(s): Open document

23.02.2004 - Source: Washington Post

Candidates considered loyal to Iran's Islamic rulers took at least 149 places in the 290-seat parliament, following disputed elections boycotted by reformists ("Iran Hard-Liners Win Parliament Control") [#19552], [ID 9298]

Document(s): Open document

23.02.2004 - Source: Frankfurter Rundschau

Irans Konservative erklären Reform-Ende ("Irans Konservative erklären Reform-Ende") [#19560], [ID 9299]

21.02.2004 - Source: BBC News

Early results from general elections suggest that conservative supporters of clerical rule are heading for a victory/ turnout lower than in elections four years ago ("Iran conservatives 'in the lead'") [#19547], [ID 9300]

Document(s): Open document

20.02.2004 - Source: BBC News

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has urged voters to go to the polls, accusing the country's "enemies" of encouraging a boycott ("Khamenei urges Iranians to vote") [#19484], [ID 9301]

Document(s): Open document

19.02.2004 - Source: Neue Zürcher Zeitung

Frontalangriff auf Irans Revolutionsführer ("Frontalangriff auf Irans Revolutionsführer") [#19554], [ID 9302]

17.02.2004 - Source: BBC News

Reformist lawmakers have broken a taboo and publicly challenged Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei over his role in the ban on thousands of candidates in the 20 February elections ("Khamenei defied over poll crisis") [#19378], [ID 9303]

Document(s): Open document

02.02.2004 - Source: Washington Post

More than one-third of the members of Iran's parliament resigned in a mass protest against efforts by a council of hard-line clerics to fix an upcoming election ("Iranian Legislators Quit in Mass Protest") [#19140], [ID 9304]

Document(s): Open document

02.02.2004 - Source: BBC News

The largest pro-reform party, the Islamic Participation Front, has said it will not take part in the parliamentary elections on 20 February ("Iran reformists pull out of poll") [#19157], [ID 9305]

Document(s): Open document

29.01.2004 - Source: BBC News

Provincial governors announced that there will be no possibility of holding elections, after the Guardians Council has disqualified more than 3000 candidates ("Iran governors step into poll row") [#19069], [ID 9306]

Document(s): Open document

13.01.2004 - Source: Neue Zürcher Zeitung

Iranische Regierung droht mit Rücktritt ("Iranische Regierung droht mit Rücktritt") [#18714], [ID 9307]

13.01.2004 - Source: BBC News

Iran's reformist president threatened the resignation of his entire administration if a ban on reformist candidates standing in next month's election was not lifted ("Iran leader threatens mass resignations") [#18722], [ID 9308]

Document(s): Open document

12.01.2004 - Source: Frankfurter Rundschau

Wächterrat verbietet Reformern die Kandidatur ("Wächterrat verbietet Reformern die Kandidatur") [#18636], [ID 9309]

12.01.2004 - Source: Guardian

Around 70 members of the pro-reform groups were holding an all-night sit-in after a committee controlled by Iran's self-appointed religious elite banned them from standing again in next month's elections ("Showdown as Iran MPs protest at election ban") [#18674], [ID 9310]

Document(s): Open document

11.2001 - Source: Austrian Centre for Country of Origin and Asylum Research and Documentation

00.11.2001 - ACCORD: In the early years after the revolution most opposition groups were brutally and systematically crushed ("7th European Country of Origin Information Seminar Berlin, 11 - 12 June 2001: Final Report - Iran") [#7661], [ID 9312]

"Especially in the early years after the revolution most existing opposition groups in Iran were brutally and systematically crushed. Members of groups such as the Mudjahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO), the Organization of Fedayan (majority and minority), the Tudeh Party as well as the Communist Party of Iran, who had actively participated in toppling the Shah were one by one rounded up, prosecuted, executed and made to inform on other groups or on their own members. Although this slow elimination process happened in the 1980s this does not mean that individuals who had affiliations with one of the above groups do not face any risk of persecution today.

As a consequence of the systematic repression after the Revolution, at present there is hardly any organized traditional opposition to the present Islamic Government. Although abroad there are many opposition groups, ranging from leftist parties, to nationalist, monarchist, ethnic or clerical Islamic groups, none of these groups has any power basis inside Iran."

Document(s): cois2001-irn.pdf

10.08.2001 - Source: UN General Assembly

Increasing numbers of dissenters arrested ("Situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic in Iran A/ 56/278") [#4950], [ID 9311]

"41. Openly expressed dissent continues to grow, and increasing numbers of dissenters are finding themselves in jail. In June, it was estimated that 50-60
reformist journalists, political and student activists, dissident clerics, and veteran religious nationalists were detained at Evin prison north of Tehran and that the famous institution was once again becoming a focus of political life. One judge attempted the time-honoured manoeuvre of barring the publication of
letters or messages from prisoners that had not been vetted by prison authorities.
42. For those who are released on pre-trial bail, the problem is different. The Special Representative is told that the bail is often set so high as to be inaccessible to retirees and others living on modest means.
43. It would appear that in political cases the pre-trial enquiry stage is often the harshest. The public statements of released detainees speak of being
confined to small cells, interrogated in blind-folds, subjected to various kinds of psychological and physical pressure to cooperate and, according to one
group of recent reports, probably subject to some form of drug treatment to induce passivity and cooperation in front of the interrogators. Several improbable "confessions" were released by the judicial authorities,
including those of veteran journalist Ezzatollah Sahabi and student leader Ali Afshari. Once convicted, the conditions of some seem to improve substantially but not for others, such as Akbar Ganji, who as of the middle of June had spent 105 days of his 15 months in jail in solitary confinement."

Document(s): 02192iran.pdf
Open document

06.1998 - Source: Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Update to the Official Report of 5 June 1997 on the Situation in the Islamic Republic of Iran ("Update to the Official Report of 5 June 1997 on the Situation in the Islamic Republic of Iran") [#10531], [ID 9313]

Document(s): neth-irn0698.pdf