Iran faces international pressure in light of manifest human rights abuses

Photo source @UN Photo/Jean-Marc Ferré UN Photo/Jean-Marc Ferré

What is happening in Iran?

Iranian authorities have been accused of widespread counts of the murder, torture, sexual abuse, forced false confessions and disappearances of Iranian detainees arrested during the November 2019 protests.

Concern in the international community towards Iran's human rights abuses came to the fore in June this year, when 39 international human rights organisations (including those based in Iran) issued a joint letter to the UN Human Rights Council expressed a need for the UN to urgently renew and extend the period of office for the UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in Iran. The position currently held by Javaid Rehman since July 2018 enables the investigation and monitoring of the Iranian government's treatment of human rights, providing a system of checks and balances which ensures accountability should Iran's human rights record maintain its poor status.

Letter signatories such as Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the Committee to Protect Journalists expressed a number of Iran's violations and not confined to:

"widespread patterns of enforced disappearances, incommunicado detentions, and torture and other ill- treatment of detainees... three men have already been convicted of an 'enmity against God' (moharebeh) and sentenced to death in a grossly unfair trial in connection with acts of arson that took place during the November 2019 protests."

The published letter also touched upon Iran's clear disregard for freedom of expression and the right to peaceful assembly, describing the state's reaction to the events of November 2019 as nothing less than "widespread and systematic violations of a large array of human rights."

Most recently, a scathing report released by Amnesty International on September 2nd, "Trampling humanity: Mass arrests, disappearances and torture since Iran's November 2019 protests" the organisation details harrowing victim accounts of the horrendous experiences faced under arrest and imprisonment within Iranian detention centres.

Whilst official figures of deaths and number of arrests to date are yet to be released by the Iranian government, in December 2019 the Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran confirmed some 1,500 of peaceful demonstrators had been targeted and killed by police. Thompson Reuters has since supported this figure, in obtaining data issued by Iranian Ministry Interior Officials.

The sinister uncertainty is evident in Amnesty International's May 2020 data report "Iran: Details of 304 Deaths in Crackdown on November 2019 Protests" which sets the current death toll at a significantly lower 304. By February 2020, the Iranian Parliament's National Security Committee spokesperson, Naqavi Hosseini stated that approximately 7,000 people were arrested and detained during the November demonstrations.

A written account obtained by Amnesty International, given by 17 year old Abolfazl Karimi, (a participant in the demonstrations) sent from his detention centre at the Greater Tehran Central Penitentiary referenced: severe police brutality, blindfolding, questioning about his involvement and abuse with promises to stop if false confession was made by Abolfazl that he was carrying a gun during the protests.

Background: What is the motive behind the protests?

Since 2002, Iran has been met with international criticism and economic sanctions imposed in light of the state's illicit nuclear programme and abuse of armed weaponry. In particular, Iran has shown a growing interest over the years in nuclear technology and specifically towards the enrichment of uranium.

The United States has been a notably condemning player to Iran's behaviour. Under the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) between Iran and key UN powers, the former agreed to amicably reduce its involvement in the nuclear field in return for dissolution of UN Security Council economic sanctions. (2016)

At face, the treaty indicated a shift to resolving the issue. However, President Trump's withdrawal of the US from the JCPOA in May 2018 and reinstatement of economic sanctions on Iran in 2018 has since rendered void any near future possibility. Since, Iran has been facing a steadily growing drought in its economic stability. Tension finally came to a head in November 2018, when fuel costs were reported to have since risen by 50% to a terrifying 300% (purchases below and those above 60 litres) in a bid to ration supplies. Historically boasting some of the cheapest fuel prices in the world, it is unsurprising the decision has been met with such force against the Iranian government.

Which human rights are relevant?

These intervening acts conducted on behalf of Iranian authorities directly violate a range of key human rights, including and not limited to:

• Freedom of expression

• The right to peaceful assembly

• Prohibition of murder

• Prohibition of torture and other cruel degrading treatment

• The right to life

• The right to a fair trial

• Abusing the UN Body of Principles for the Protection of All Persons Under Any Form of Detention or Imprisonment

Iranian government officials and their acting representatives must be held accountable for these manifest human rights abuses.

Key legal notes (International law)

• Convention Against Torture, and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment

Article 1

"For the purposes of this Convention, the term "torture" means any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity.

it does not include pain or suffering arising only from, inherent in or incidental to lawful sanctions."

Article 2

1. "Each State Party shall take effective legislative, administrative, judicial or other measures to prevent acts of torture in any territory under its jurisdiction.

2. No exceptional circumstances whatsoever, whether a state of war or a threat of war, internal political instability or any other public emergency, may be invoked as a justification of torture.

3. An order from a superior officer or a public authority may not be invoked as a justification of torture."

Article 4

1. "Each state party shall ensure that all acts of torture are offences under its criminal law. The same shall apply to an attempt to commit torture and to an act by any person which constitutes complicity or participation in torture.

2. Each State Party shall make these offences punishable by appropriate penalties which take into account their grave nature."

• Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture, and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment

In addition to being party to the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment of Punishment, Iran is an accepting state of its optional protocol which requires Iran to be subject to UN inspection of its centres for detainment.

• Jus Cogens status of torture's prohibition under customary international law

Translated from the Latin for "compelling law" Jus Cogens norms were intended to fill gaps of international law which were not covered by treaty or custom. Classically described by Professor Oppenheim in 1992 as "universally recognized principles" of international law, the rules are perhaps the most hierarchically important of all the sources of international law.

Such norms are legally binding on all states, regardless whether they consent or not. No treaty agreement may undermine/reject a JC in its wording, save for where a treaty refers to another JC which is permitted to amend a similar JC. This is because such principles are considered as a reflection and operate to protect "fundamental values of the international community." (UN Legal Report 2019)

• International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights

Article 7, Prohibition of torture

"No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment."

Key legal notes (Iranian law)

1. Prohibition of torture

• Article 38 of The Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran

Article 38 of The Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran does not provide a comprehensive law prohibiting torture, only criminalising it whereby it is committed for the purpose of "extracting confession or acquiring information."

This weak prohibition of torture undoubtedly creates gaps under Iranian law, leaving it dangerously open to abuse by the authorities in the absence of checks and accountability.

• Article 1 (6) & 1 (7) of the Law on Respect for Legitimate Freedoms and Safeguarding Citizens Rights

2. Requirement for humane treatment of detainees under police authority

• Iran's Code for Criminal Procedure

Article 60

Prohibits "use of force, coercion, insulting language, leading questions and questions relevant to the charges"

• The Law on Respect for Legitimate Freedoms and Protection of Citizens Rights

Article 1 (15)

Legal requirement in Iran for detention centres to be regularly inspected and scrutinised, in addition to the punishment of those found engaging in torturous acts/treatment.