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(Beirut) – Coming Soon Iranian President Massoud Pezeshkian, who defeated Saeed Jalili in the runoff of Iran’s presidential election on July 5, 2024, should confront widespread human rights violations by government institutions, including Iran’s security forces and judiciary, Human Rights Watch said today.
“Incoming Iranian President Massoud Pezeshkian should confront Iran’s appalling human rights violations, including alarming execution rates, systematic oppression of women, and brutal repression of ethnic and religious minorities,” he said. Naheed NageshbandiActing Iran researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Ending impunity for these injustices is critical for Pezeshkian to show Iranians that the government can address their legitimate, widespread grievances and demands for fundamental change.”
A significant number of citizens and civil society groups boycotted the election. according to Sarge According to Iranian media reports, the turnout in the first round of elections was 39.96%, the lowest in the history of Iranian presidential elections, but in the second round the turnout has risen to 49.8%.
9 female political prisoners and 55 political and civil activists in Iran and abroad, including the 2023 Nobel Prize winner Narges Mohammadireturn emphasize Liberation cannot be achieved through the ballot box and “voting therapy” cannot improve the country’s dire situation, they said in separate statements signed by prominent Iranian activists.
The elections were neither free nor fair. Before the elections, the Guardian Council, a group of 12 male religious jurists and legal experts tasked with vetting candidates, disqualified many candidates, including several prominent government officials, without cause. Ali LarijaniFormer Speaker of Parliament, Eshaq JahangiriThis includes the first vice president in Hassan Rouhani’s government from 2013 to 2021. It is worth noting that the Guardian Council has never approved a female presidential candidate.
Pezeshkian will take office as president in August and face major challenge. Low voter turnout reflects social discontent participate and repeat protest and weakness economyis the main domestic issue. The “Women, Life, Liberty” movement and the government’s brutality reply This highlights the seriousness of the human rights situation.
According to Amnesty International’s recent ReportIran executed 853 people in 2023, the highest number in eight years, including 481 for drug-related crimes. As of March 20, at least 95 people were executed in 2024. The Baloch ethnic group, which makes up 5% of Iran’s population, accounted for 20% of the executions in 2023, with at least 172 Baloch executed. Report A survey released by an Iranian human rights organization showed that executions against ethnic minorities increased in the provinces of West Azerbaijan, East Azerbaijan, Sistan and Baluchestan and Kurdistan, with a total of 130 people executed in 2022, compared to 62 and 60 in 2021 and 2020, respectively.
Pezeshkian indirectly referred to the government’s shocking executions during a televised debate with another runoff candidate, Saeed Jalili. explain“If Mr. Jalili promises that they should execute him if his government does not achieve 8 percent economic growth, then I will withdraw from the election.”
Pezeshkian should also address a wide range of legal and social issues obstacle Limiting women’s lives and their access to economic benefits Chanceleading to a growing gender gap. Iran grade These challenges are compounded by systemic violations of women’s rights, including 638 Iran’s Islamic penal code criminalizes not wearing a “proper” headscarf. The law imposes penalties of up to two months in prison and fines on women accused of violating the rules, infringing on their rights to privacy and non-discrimination.
On June 21, during the third presidential debate, Pezeshkian explain: “Regarding the headscarf, we should not enforce it in a way that causes discontent. We cannot force our children and grandchildren to do something, even if it means coercion.”
The pledge comes two years after the death of Mahsa Jina Amini in morality police custody, which sparked nationwide protests in 2022. Iran Introduction the reformed morality police, the Noor Plan, and passed Parliament passed the Chastity and Headscarf Bill.
In the past few years, Iranian authorities have also been brutal in their crackdown on ethnic and religious minorities. Human Rights Watch has documented the use of Overmuch Use of lethal force against protesters in areas of major conflict Kurdish and rape and torture in custody facility Kurdish, Baloch, and Azerbaijani regions. In April 2024, Human Rights Watch published a Report Researchers found that decades of systematic inhibition The persecution of the Bahá’í minority amounts to a crime against humanity.
On June 22, Pezeshkian spoke at a rally in Sanandaj, Kurdistan Province. Overview There is an urgent need to address the problems of underdeveloped regions, especially border areas. “I will definitely eliminate regional injustices,” he said. this It remains to be seen whether his plans will be effective, given the failure of previous governments to address these issues. Human Rights Watch says inequality. Under Both Hassan Rouhani and Ebrahim Raeesi The president’s government’s oppression of religious and ethnic minorities continues unabated.
In terms of foreign policy, the decision-making of Iran’s president and foreign minister is limited because the decisions of the executive branch and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs are supervised not only by the supreme leader but also by powerful forces such as the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
“Rebuilding trust with the Iranian people will require more than years of unfulfilled promises,” Nageshbandi said. “It requires immediate and concrete action to improve human rights for people across the country. Pezeshkian’s first step is to order the release of all detained activists, peaceful protesters, and human rights defenders who should not be imprisoned in the first place.”
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