Amnesty International slams Iran's crackdown on human rights defenders

Amnesty International condemned the Iranian authorities' crackdown against human rights defenders, noting that it has increased since President Hassan Rouhani took office.

Iran’s judicial and security bodies have waged a vicious crackdown against human rights defenders since Hassan Rouhani became president in 2013, demonizing and imprisoning activists who dare to stand up for people’s rights, Amnesty International said in a new report published Wednesday.

Scores of human rights activists – often labelled “foreign agents” and “traitors” by state media – have been prosecuted and jailed on spurious “national security” charges, dealing a crushing blow to hopes of human rights reform raised during President Hassan Rouhani’s first election campaign.

Some activists have been sentenced to more than 10 years behind bars for simple acts such as being in contact with the UN, EU or human rights organizations including Amnesty International, it said.

The organization called on the EU, which announced plans to relaunch a bilateral human rights dialogue with Iran in 2016, to speak out in the strongest terms against the persecution of human rights defenders in the country.

The report provides a comprehensive overview of the crackdown targeting a wide range of human rights defenders from key battlegrounds for human rights in Iran.

It highlights 45 cases including anti-death penalty campaigners, women’s rights activists, trade unionists, minority rights activists, human rights lawyers, and activists seeking truth, justice and reparation for mass extrajudicial executions and enforced disappearances in the 1980s.

Source : Mena