Today, Friday, March 18, the annual report “The Land of the Hanging Gallows: The State of Human Rights in Iran in 2021” was released, which monitors the human rights situation in the country, based on daily news and reports by local and international human rights organizations.
The report included many forms of grave and horrific violations, executions, and continuous political and social repression, in addition to monitoring manifestations of deprivation of the most basic economic rights to a decent living, as well as the escalation of the epidemiological situation in the country due to the worsening health conditions, due to the failure of the regime and its confusion in dealing with the Corona pandemic.
The report revealed the occurrence of thousands of grave violations during 2021, which confirmed that the mullahs’ regime resorted to medieval methods in prisons and detention centers and that it was responsible for the largest number of executions in the world.
The security forces dealt with the widespread protests that erupted as a result of the absence of political, economic, and social rights, using excessive and illegal force, including lethal force, thousands of protesters have been arrested, while prosecutions and imprisonment have been used as a tool to silence prominent dissidents and human rights defenders.
According to the report, during the year, executions in Iran increased by 26%, and 229 people were executed, including 4 children, and 88% of these executions were carried out secretly, without the knowledge of the media. Among this large number, the Iranian authorities executed 15 women, and the rest of the executed were men, more than half of them were executed for premeditated murder, and more than 16,531 people were sentenced to prison, while 6,982 people were flogged.
While the number of executions has risen since Ibrahim Raisi became president. Hassan Rouhani’s government ended its eight-year rule, with nearly 5,000 executions, including 144 in 2021 alone.
Many political prisoners were executed in Iran in 2021. Among them is Javed Dehghan, who was executed in Zahedan Central Prison on January 30, 2021. The Iranian regime also executed Ali Mutairi on January 28, 2021. Hassan Dehvari and Elias Qalandarzihi were executed On January 3, 2021. On February 28, 2021, the regime executed four Ahwazi Arab political prisoners.
At least 77 Iranians were killed in 2021 due to arbitrary killings. Most of these victims were disadvantaged porters in the Kurdistan region of Iran and fuel workers in Sistan and Baluchistan. Besides, at least 107 people were injured due to indiscriminate shooting by the border guards.
According to the report, during the same period, the judiciary in Iran issued sentences of 16,531 months in prison, 6,982 lashes and a fine of about 800 million tomans. The security and military forces arrested 1,676 citizens and shot a total of 242 citizens, of whom 94 were killed, including 23 porters and 31 fuel carriers.
The mullahs’ regime arrested 1,676 people for political or civil rights advocacy activities. The report also showed 26 arrests of labor union activists, 445 arrests in the category of ethnic minorities, 57 arrests in the category of religious minorities, 1,043 arrests in the category of freedom of expression, and 25 arrests related to children’s rights.
The various statistics mentioned in the report revealed that 2018, cases of husband or wife abuse, 24 cases of killing of women out of “honour”, 2,117 cases of child abuse, 15 cases of rape and sexual abuse of children, 54 cases of child suicide, and two cases of acid attack “fire water” “, 29 cases of child trafficking, and the marriage of more than 9,000 girls, and during this period 25 people under the age of 18 were arrested by the security forces.
The intensification of the campaigns of repression and persecution, and the increase in executions and arrests by the Iranian security services, led to the existence of a state of popular discontent and resentment among the public opinion. As censorship increased and the iron grip against the Iranian people intensified, security reports reached the head of the regime, Ali Khamenei and the leaders of the Revolutionary Guards, confirming the existence of popular frustration and discontent with the regime’s policies that may turn overnight into demonstrations, or even a popular revolution.
The report emphasized that ethnic, religious and other minorities in Iran were at particular risk of violations, enforced disappearances, and executions. The report documented the inappropriate use of force by security forces against demonstrators and bystanders, as well as intimidation, arbitrary detention, and criminal prosecution of minority citizens. And there was a significant increase in the arrests of members of these national minorities by 55% compared to last year. The security and judicial authorities summoned 103 people from religious minorities, while at least 61 people were sentenced to more than 1,000 months in prison.
Among the members of religious minorities in Iran, 144 people were arrested, 39 were summoned, 11 were prevented from practicing economic activity, and 24 people were prevented from studying. The authorities also fined a number of religious minorities, flogging them, and depriving them of their rights. More than a thousand people were arrested for depriving them of the right to freedom of expression.
In addition, according to the report, 17 people were prevented from leaving Iran, and 64 people were sentenced to prison terms for their intellectual activities. Compared to the previous year, the arrests of Iranians show a 12% increase in the field of thought and freedom of expression. During the same period, Iranian and international human rights organizations recorded 1,173 reports from unions and professions, showing the arrest of 26 union activists, 67 months’ imprisonment for others, and 74 lashes for three people.
On the other hand, the Corona epidemic was more deadly and severely affected the Iranians in 2021, due to the failure of the regime to confront the epidemic, the increasing number of injuries and deaths, and the inability of hospitals throughout the country to receive more patients with complications of the virus.
The government’s response to the pandemic has been poor and politicized, particularly its national plan to purchase vaccines in the early months of 2021, which was slow and opaque. Since August, Iranian authorities have arrested Mehdi Mahmoudian, Mostafa Nelly, and Arash Kikhosroui, three prominent human rights activists who were preparing to file a complaint against the government’s mishandling of the coronavirus crisis. During the year, Iran recorded record numbers of deaths and injuries, sometimes reaching nearly 800 deaths per day, with more than 50,000 injuries recorded at the same time.
In early January 2021, the total number of virus deaths in Iran had reached 55,337, while the number of infections reached 1,231,429. In early December 2021, the numbers reached more than 6 million and 144,000 cases, while the total number of deaths reached 130,446 people.
The report stated that the deteriorating economy in Iran, in addition to the deterioration of living standards and the increase in social and political pressures caused by the Corona pandemic, while the total number of deaths reached 130,446 people.
The discontent of the people led to the growth of factional protests, where no less than 1,261 trade union gatherings and 192 strikes were organized to reject the economic crisis and the inefficiency of government institutions. This period, mostly due to their demands for wages and salaries.
In conjunction with the increase in union and labor protests, 64 people were arrested, and 9 labor activists or workers’ rights advocates were sentenced to 276 months in prison. During 2021, 2541 gatherings and strikes were organized, including 1,261 gatherings, 192 trade union strikes, 618 gatherings, 339 labor strikes and 131 hunger strikes by prisoners.
The regime faced these gatherings with crackdowns by government institutions, and in addition to large gatherings such as the Isfahan protests, which witnessed widespread crackdowns, 64 labor activists were arrested, 9 labor activists or workers’ rights advocates were sentenced to 276 months in prison, and 124 lashes and a fine of 23 million tomans, and the arrest of workers increased by 53 percent compared to the previous year.
The protests focused on union demands for higher wages, protests over poor economic conditions, and protests against the ineffective management of government institutions. In the last weeks of the year, several groups of teachers, retirees and workers organized a large number of protests and strikes.
In 2021, the legislature moved to further curtail citizens’ rights. On November 1, The Constitution Drafting Assembly approved a draft law on “Renewing the Youth of the Population and Supporting the Family”, which the president signed into law on November 15. The bill further restricts access to contraceptives and abortion, putting women’s health and life at risk.
The Iranian parliament also worked on a bill that sought to increase restrictions on people’s access to the Internet in Iran. The authorities monitored and prosecuted Internet users for the opinions they expressed in online spaces, and imposed censorship on these spaces.
During the year 2021, the intensity of security oversight in Iran intensified in a remarkable and unprecedented manner, and was accompanied by a significant increase in repression and arrests, and the use of various means to eliminate any form of opposition, demonstrations and popular protests, which increased strongly in Iranian cities, which proves the increase in the area Popular anger and the high level of frustration and resentment against the policies of the mullahs’ regime, which tried by all means and soft and repressive methods to control the situation and prevent the spread of popular anger against the regime in general.
