Penal Code – Arseh Sevom

February 9, 2012

Iran Puts Its Foot Down: Netizens, Reporters, and Civil Rights Get Squashed

In the lead up to the upcoming parliamentary elections, Iran is cracking down on free expression and civil society organizations. Netizens, bloggers, and reporters have found themselves swept up in a wave of arrests; passage of the Islamic Penal Code further codifies human and civil rights violations into law; and one of the Islamic Republic's longest running civil society organizations is shut down.

Crushing Expression

The end of January 2012 witnessed a further escalation in human rights violations in Iran. The ongoing repression continued with the arrest of three journalists: Saham-aldin Bourghani, Parastoo Dokoohaki, and Marzieh Rasooli. The arrests of Mohammad Solimaninya, a website administrator and owner of Social Network for Iranian Professionals (www.u24.ir) that hosts and designs a number of civil society websites, ten Sunni Muslims in Ahwaz, as well as the shocking confirmation of the death sentence for Iranian-Canadian Saeed Malekopour, are just a few examples of the human rights situation in Iran in January alone.

January 5, 2012

Urge Iran’s Parliament to Reject Anti-Human Rights Penal Code

Arseh Sevom and United4Iran urge you to send letters protesting discriminatory laws. Click here to join the campaign.The UN Secretary General, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Iran, the UN General Assembly, and the UN Human Rights Council have repeatedly called on Iran to revise its penal code to adhere to international human rights standards. In February 2010, the Iranian government accepted specific recommendations made under its Universal Periodic Review to ensure that its laws were in conformity with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) to which it is a party.Nonetheless, today, Iran’s parliament is preparing to pass the “Islamic Penal Bill” - legislation that flouts its legal obligations under the ICCPR. The legislation endangers free expression and reinforces laws that violate the rights of Iranian citizens. The bill fails to prohibit stoning, lashing, and other cruel, inhumane, and degrading punishments; redress discriminatory laws; or, raise the age of majority for girls and boys. In a particularly worrisome clause, the bill expands punishment for “actions against national security”, a charge that has routinely been used to persecute dissidents.