Aadel Collection
IRAN: Human Rights Abuses Against The Kurdish Minority
HUMAN RIGHTS
ABUSES AGAINST THE
KURDISH MINORITY
AMNESTY
INTERNATIONAL
IRAN:
Amnesty International Publications
First published in 2008 by
Amnesty International
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© Amnesty International Publications 2008
Index: MDE 13/088/2008
Original language: English
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Cover image: The village of Nodeshe, Kordestan, Iran © Private
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AMNESTY
INTERNATIONAL
Iran: Human rights abuses against
the Kurdish minority
1. Introduction
Even if dying of hunger or from poverty
Still I will not serve strangers all my life long,
I have no fear of chains, ropes, rods, or the prison
Should they hack me into pieces, should they kill me
Still I will say: I am a Kurd!'
Kurds in Iran have long suffered deep-rooted discrimination. Their social, political
and cultural rights have been repressed, as have their economic aspirations. Kurdish
regions have been economically neglected, resulting in entrenched poverty. Forced
evictions and destruction of homes have left Kurds with restricted access to adequate
housing. 2 Parents are banned from registering their babies with certain Kurdish
names. The use of the Kurdish language in education is frequently thwarted.
Religious minorities that are mainly or partially Kurdish are targeted by measures
designed to stigmatize and isolate them. The discriminatory gozinesh system — a
selection procedure that requires prospective state officials and employees to
demonstrate allegiance to Islam and the Islamic Republic of Iran — denies Kurds
equality in employment and political participation. 3
The Iranian authorities do allow the Kurdish language to be used in certain
broadcasts and some publications. Expressions of Kurdish culture, such as dress and
music, are respected. However, when Kurdish rights activists link their human rights
work — drawing attention to the government's failure to observe international human
rights standards - to their Kurdish identity they risk further violations of their rights.
All too often, these brave individuals have found themselves in jail or targeted for
other abuses.
Kurdish human rights defenders, community activists and journalists face arbitrary
arrest and prosecution. Some become prisoners of conscience — people imprisoned
for the peaceful expression of their conscientiously held beliefs. Others suffer torture,
grossly unfair trials before Revolutionary Courts and the death penalty.
1 By Hemin, the pen name for Mohammad Amin Sheikholeslami (1921-1986). He was a well-known Kurdish poet
from Mahabad, Iranian Kordestan. He fled persecution in Iran to live out his life in exile in Iraqi Kurdistan.
2 See the report of the Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate
standard of living — mission to the Islamic Republic of Iran (19-31 July 2005), UN reference
EICN.41200614lAdd.2, 21 March 2006, Summary.
For a fuller explanation of gozinesh, see International Labour Organization - Amnesty International's concerns
relevant to the 91 st session of the International Labour Conference, 3 to 19 June 2003 (Al Index: IOR
42/003/2003); and International Labour Organization - Amnesty International's concerns relevant to the 92' '
International Labour Conference, Ito 17 June 2004 (Al Index: IOR 42/008/2004).
Iran: Human rights abuses against the Kurdish minority
These forms of repression serve to reinforce the marginalization and relative
economic deprivation of the Kurdish community.
This report follows other Amnesty International reports on human rights abuses
against ethnic, religious and cultural minorities in Iran. 4 It details the impact of
discriminatory practices on the civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights of
the Kurds. It highlights the double oppression suffered by Kurdish women and girls —
partly the consequence of attitudes and practices deeply rooted in Kurdish culture,
partly the result of the government's failure to promote and protect the rights of
women and Kurds.
Amnesty International has previously raised many of the concerns and individual
cases detailed in this report, which addresses developments up to May 2008, with
the Iranian authorities in correspondence as well as through public statements and
appeals. However, the Iranian authorities rarely respond to the organisation and
Amnesty International has not been permitted to visit Iran to assess the human rights
situation at first hand for more than 28 years, since shortly after the Islamic
Revolution in February 1979.
Amnesty International is publishing this report to draw attention to the ongoing
repression of Kurds in Iran. It is calling on the Iranian authorities to take concrete
measures to end the discrimination and associated human rights violations, in
accordance with their obligations under international law. In broad terms, it is calling
on the Iranian authorities to:
- take effective measures to ensure that Kurds and all other members of
minority communities in Iran — men, women and children alike — enjoy their
full range of human rights;
- amend or abolish all legislation and practices that discriminate against
minority communities, including the discriminatory gozinesh criteria governing
employment and public office;
- promote and protect the rights of human rights defenders;
See: Defending Minority Rights — The Ahwazi Arabs (Al Index: MDE 13/056/2006), May 2006; and Iran: Human
Rights Abuses against the Baluchi Minority(MDE 13/104/2007), September 2007. All Amnesty International
reports can be accessed at: http://www.amnesty.org/ .
This report is based on publicly available sources, such as online newspapers in Iran, blogs and news websites;
exchanges with activists carried out by online messenger or voice over internet protocol services; and face-to-face
interviews with activists outside Iran. The identities of some of these activists have been withheld for security
reasons. Place names used in this report are those that are in general usage in Persian in Iran to aid
understanding.
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Iran: Human rights abuses against the Kurdish minority 3
- publicly condemn torture and other ill-treatment and take immediate steps to
eradicate such abuses;
- release immediately and unconditionally all prisoners of conscience;
- ensure that all trials respect international fair trial standards;
- commute all death sentences and order an immediate moratorium on
executions.
2. Background
Iran's Kurdish community
An estimated 12 million Kurds live in Iran, between 15-17 per cent of the
population. They live mainly in the provinces of West Azerbaijan, Kordestan, 6
Kermanshah and 11am in the west and south-west of the country, although many have
moved to the big cities such as Tehran. Sanandaj is the administrative centre of
Kordestan. There is also a community of Kurds in North Khorasan province in north-
eastern Iran.
The Kurdish language is divided into two main dialects: Sorani and Kurmanji. Smaller
communities of Gorani and other Kurdish-dialect speakers are present in Iran. Most
Kurds are Sunni Muslims, although a minority are Shi'a. Some are Yazidi, a religion
with pre-Islamic roots, while others are Baha'i, Ahl-e Haq 7 and followers of the Qaderi
and Naqshbandi schools of Sufism. Iran's official religion is Shi'a Islam, which is
clearly favoured by the state. 8
Kordestan, the centre of Kurdish settlement in Iran, is one of the most deprived
provinces in the country. Its economy is based on agriculture, livestock farming and
handicrafts, which mainly employ women and girls. 9 As in most other areas of Iran,
Kordestan's population is young — more than 42 per cent were then under the age of
15, according to 1998 UNICEF figures.'°
The effective autonomy of the Kurdish region of Iraq, dating from 1991, through to
the establishment in 2005 of the autonomous Kurdish Regional Government in Iraq,
may have fired the aspirations of Kurdish rights activists in Iran to seek an analogous
6 Also commonly referred to as Kurdistan or Iranian Kurdistan.
The People of the Truth — also known as Ali Illahis or Yaresan.
Baluchis, most Kurds, some Persians and Turkmen, all Sunni Muslims, also face religious discrimination.
UNICEF, The Status of girls and women in Kordestan province in the Islamic Republic of Iran, 1377 (1998),
Table 1 on population distribution.
10 UNICEF, op cit.
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Iran: Human rights abuses against the Kurdish minority 4
situation in Iran. It may also have reinforced longstanding fears among Iran's leaders
that minority communities bordering the same ethnic group in a neighbouring country
may want to secede from Iran.
Such fears go some way towards explaining the government's treatment of these
minorities, although numerous other factors are relevant. Arabs, Azerbaijanis,
Baluchis and Turkmen, all concentrated in border areas, face discrimination similar
to that suffered by Kurds.
About half of Iran's population are believed to belong to ethnic or religious
minorities.” Despite constitutional guarantees of equality and Iran's international
legal commitments, discrimination and repression of minority communities, who have
been demanding greater respect for their cultural and political rights, has intensified
in recent years, notably since the election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in
2005.
Kurdish opposition groups
The oldest Kurdish opposition group is the Kurdish Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI).' 2
In 1946 it established the Republic of Kurdistan, generally called the Mahabad
Republic, after the site of its capital. It collapsed after 11 months and its leadership
was arrested, tried and many executed, including around 20 leaders who were hanged
in public in Mahabad and two smaller cities, Saqez and Boukan. The party was
swiftly banned.
It was legalized in 1979 after it played a key role in the revolution. In Kurdish towns,
power passed to town councils (shoura) led by the KDPI, which also led to the
takeover of police and army barracks in other Kurdish areas.' 3
By mid-1979, however, armed conflict broke out between the new government's
Revolutionary Guards and armed Kurdish groups, particularly the KDPI and the
Marxist group Komala. The then new Islamic Republic of Iran's first Supreme Leader,
Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who considered the concept of ethnic minorities
contrary to Islamic doctrine, ordered that Kurdish opposition be crushed. Scores of
“ The Iranian authorities do not provide official statistics about the demographic make-up of Iran although there
are a wide range of estimates based on surveys done in previous years and other demographic projections.
12 Also called the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (PDK-I), the organisation was founded in Mahabad on 16
August 1945.
13 Ervand Abrahamian, Iran between two revolutions, 1982, p. 527 .
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Iran: Human rights abuses against the Kurdish minority
Kurdish villages and towns were destroyed and around 10,000 Kurds were killed.' 4
Thousands of Kurds were sentenced to death after summary trials.
Soon after the outbreak of the Iran-Iraq war in 1980, the Iranian government sent a
large military force to border areas and regained control of the main Kurdish cities. A
major offensive in 1984 drove KDPI forces across the border into Iraq.' 5 Throughout
the war, governments on both sides encouraged separatist activities by Kurdish
nationalists in the other country, leading to costly political splits and conflicts
between Kurds.
In 1991, citing the plight of Iraqi Kurds, the KDPI suspended armed opposition to
the Iranian authorities. The party now seeks “the attainment of Kurdish national
rights within a democratic federal republic of Iran” and has long rejected the use of
violence to further its aims while “supporting the national struggle of Kurds in other
parts of Kordestan”.' 6 In 2005, the KDPI was accorded consultative status with the
UN, but towards the end of 2006 the party split. The majority, led by Mustafa Hijri,
retained the KDPI name.
In September 2007, the KDPI reported that more than 300 people were in detention
in Iran either accused or convicted of charges rooted in their support of Kurdish
political groups. According to the KDPI, at least 200 were serving prison terms of
between six months and 20 years, including scores of cases about which Amnesty
International had little or no confirmed information. According to the KDPI for
example, Jahandar Mohammadi, an NGO activist from Sanandaj was sentenced in
January 2007 to 15 years' imprisonment for a ‘link to Kurdish political oppositions
groups'; Simko Ghaderpour, a ‘political detainee' from Bokan was sentenced in
December 2006 to 11 years' imprisonment on similar grounds; and Mikha'il
Gholami, an NGO activist from Sanandaj, who was sentenced to three years'
imprisonment in February 2007.
Amnesty International believes that scores if not hundreds of political prisoners
affiliated to the KDPI and other proscribed political parties are serving prison
sentences, convicted after unfair trials. Others face prosecution for membership of or
sympathy with the KDPI.
14 De Bellaigue, Christopher, In the Rose Garden of the Martyrs, 2005; p. 60 .
15 Murder at Mykonos: Anatomy of a Political Assassination,
16 Taken from “Brief Historical background” issued by the KDPI, undated.
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Iran: Human rights abuses against the Kurdish minority 6
Several Kurdish political parties are based outside Iran because of such persecution.
Membership of these banned parties is punishable by imprisonment under security-
related laws. Some of the groups, including Komala, have reportedly carried out
armed attacks against the Iranian state. As far as Amnesty International is aware,
they have not attacked non-military targets nor have they committed human rights
abuses.
The Party for a Free Life in Kurdistan (PJAK)' 7 emerged in 2004 and is affiliated to
the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has, for many years, engaged in armed
opposition to the government of Turkey. It appears to be the only active armed
Kurdish opposition group today. It claims to have 3,000 armed members in the
mountains, nearly half of them women, and thousands of followers, although it
apparently has little support in the main Kurdish provinces of Kordestan and
Kermanshah. The Iranian authorities contend that the PJAK is a terrorist organization
that is sponsored and armed by the US government.
The US authorities have not designated the PJAK as a Foreign Terrorist Organization
(FTO) under US law but they have strongly condemned the group's activities and US
officials are reported to have declined to meet the PJAK's leader when he made a
private visit to Washington DC in 2007.
Since 2006, Iranian Revolutionary Guards have been engaged inside Iran in sporadic
conflict with Kurdish fighters, most of them apparently linked to the PJAK, generally
in the northern parts of the four provinces bordering Iraq. In February 2007 Kurdish
fighters reportedly destroyed a Revolutionary Guards' helicopter in Jahannam-Darreh,
near Khoy in West Azerbaijan, killing nine officers. Revolutionary Guards then
reportedly launched a series of attacks against Kurds in the mountains near the
border town of Salmas, killing at least 17 Kurds, thought to be combatants.
Amnesty International condemns in all circumstances attacks that deliberately target
civilians, including attacks both by government forces and armed political groups, as
well as hostage-taking, torture and other-ill-treatment of captives, indiscriminate and
disproportionate attacks and the killing of captives.
In 2006 the Kurdish United Front (KU F) was formed to demand peacefully the rights
they believe are systematically denied to Kurds. KUF founder Bahaeddin Adab said:
17 Partiya Jiyana AzadIya Kurdistané, or PJAK.
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Iran: Human rights abuses against the Kurdish minority 7
“Kurdish areas suffer from discrimination and [ official] contempt in all
political, economic, social and cultural areas of life. Kurds have no share in
the distribution of power or regarding economic development; the four Kurdish
provinces of our country are not developed and are deprived. They face
limitations in their cultural activities, which is preventing cultural
development” 8
3. Discrimination against Kurds
Iran's Constitution provides for equality of all Iranians before the law.' 9 However, this
is not the reality in practice.
Iran is a state party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
(ICCPR), the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
(ICESCR), the Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) and
the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), and the Iranian authorities are
required to uphold and promote the rights of people belonging to minorities and take
steps towards eliminating discrimination. 20
Among other things, the Iranian authorities are required to take steps towards
eliminating discrimination against minorities in the realization of economic, social
and cultural rights — including the right to work that is freely chosen, adequate
housing, food and water, education, the highest attainable standard of health, and
equal participation in cultural life.
Reilgion and culture
Iran's Kurds, most of whom are Sunni Muslims, face discrimination because of their
religion, even though Sunni Islam is recognized and accorded formal legal standing in
Iran. The religious institutions of Sunni Kurds are generally blocked, while those of
18 From an interview with Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), 3 January 2006; see
http://www.rferl.org/content/article/1064384. html
19 Articles 3(14) and 19.
20 For example, Article 26 of the ICCPR requires states to uphold equal protection of the law and non-
discrimination in the exercise of human rights. The Human Rights committee, which monitors compliance with
the ICCPR, has clarified that this extends to all human rights, including economic, social and cultural rights.
Article 27 of the ICCPR states that: “In those States in which ethnic, religious or linguistic minorities exist,
persons belonging to such minorities shall not be denied the right, in community with the other members of their
group, to enjoy their own culture, to profess and practice their own religion, or to use their own language.” Other
provisions include Article 30 of the convention on the Rights of the child; Article 2.1 of the Declaration on the
Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities, adopted by the UN General
Assembly in 1992.
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Iran: Human rights abuses against the Kurdish minority 8
Shi'as are encouraged and supported by the state. There is not a single Sunni
mosque in Tehran and, according to reports; the government has restricted the
expansion of Sunni mosques that exist elsewhere in the country.
The discriminatory attitude towards Sunnis extends to children's education — UNICEF
found as long ago as 1998 that the only two rural secondary schools in Kordestan
were located in the Shi'a towns of Ghorveh and Bijar.
Sunni Kurdish clerics have, on occasion, suffered human rights violations. In January
2008, for example, a cleric, Ayoub Ganji, went missing for 13 days after delivering a
Friday prayer sermon at the Qoba Mosque in Sanandaj. Protesters reportedly gathered
near state buildings following his enforced disappearance and said there would be
more demonstrations unless news of the cleric was made known. On 8 February
Ayoub Ganji was released from detention, reportedly suffering what appeared to be
the effects of extreme trauma, including failure to recognize his wife and son, and
crying out as if he was being harmed.
Other religious groups include the mainly Kurdish Ahl-e Haq, most of whose members
live in Kermanshah and in or around the big cities. Their faith, which shares aspects
of Islam's tenets, embodies Kurdish religious identity. The Ahl-e Haq are not
recognized under Iranian law and their rituals are prohibited. They are also banned
from discussing their faith with the media.
In recent years senior state officials have required school heads to report whether
there are any members of “subversive sects” (feragh-e zalleh) among staff or students
and reminded the heads that “any activity and propaganda is forbidden” by members
of these groups (see Appendices I and II).
In October 2007, for instance, the authorities in Kermanshah wrote to district
governors:
“Following instructions issued by the Ministry of Interior.., regarding the
activities of the Ahl-e Hag in respect to the construction of their Assembly
Houses [ you are reminded that] these establishments have no legal or
canonical basis, therefore please refrain from any correspondence and
communication with any public authority concerning them and from issuing
any permission that they should be built...” (see Appendix Ill for full
document).
Irrespective of their religion, Kurds are not allowed to give their children certain
names, including for boys Soran (the name of the language), Khabat (struggle),
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Iran: Human rights abuses against the Kurdish minority 9
Rizgar (Free) and Ala (flag); and for girls Ajin (equal) and Fermisk (tear). Every
registry office has a list of permitted names; a birth certificate is not issued unless
the family consents to using an authorized name.
Iran's international obligations require that the country's “... religious or linguistic
minorities.., enjoy their own culture [ and have the right] to profess and practice their
own religion..
Employment
The practice of gozinesh has been used to marginalize Kurds and others and to
expressly deny them employment in the state sector, though in practice, in parts of
the private sector as well. In law and practice, the process impairs equality of
opportunity and treatment in employment for all those who seek jobs in the public
and parastatal sectors (such as the bonyads or foundations) and, reportedly, in parts
of the private sector. 22 Gozinesh is used to select successful candidates for any state
sector job, whether as a teacher, factory employee, shop worker or parliamentary
candidate. The state is by far the main employer in Iran.
Kurdish activists say the government has neglected Kurdish areas, impeding
employment opportunities. For instance, activists say de-mining programmes in
Kurdish areas affected by the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war have been slow, hampering
the development of agriculture and industry.
Housing
Kurds have faced decades of challenges related to housing — ranging from the
destruction of Kurdish villages during the Iran-Iraq war, to the more recent problems
of state neglect and forced eviction. 23
Reporting on his July-August 2005 visit to Iran, the UN Special Rapporteur on
adequate housing 24 stated that the living conditions for Kurds in Kermanshah were
extremely unsatisfactory. He added:
21 Article 27 of the ICCPR.
22 For further information about discriminatory gozinesh procedures, please see Amnesty International's concerns
relevant to the 91 st International Labour Conference (Al Index: IOR 42/003/2003).
23 Reza Afshari, Human Rights in Iran: the abuse of cultural relativism, 2001; citing Human Rights Watch/Middle
East, Iran: Religious and Ethnic Minorities, Discrimination in Law and Practice, September 1997, p. 25 .
24 Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living.
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Iran: Human rights abuses against the Kurdish minority 10
“Testimonies received about the housing situation in I/am province, with a
large Kurdish population, were equally disturbing and indicated that post-war
reconstruction efforts had been disproportionally slow and insufficient in this
area.” 25
The Special Rapporteur drew attention to the disproportionately poor housing and
living conditions of minority communities, noting the discriminatory nature and
impact of forced evictions and expropriation of rural land for large-scale agricultural
plantations or petrochemical plants. The Special Rapporteur stated:
“Elm some regions, these expropriations seem to have targeted
disproportionately property and land of religious and ethnic minorities...
[ including] . . . houses... The expropriations are considered a form of land
confiscation by the affected population, particularly since prices paid in return
for land are considerably lower than market values.” 26
He was “disturbed by the fact that... exceptions [ in the provision of basic services]
seemed to disproportionately affect predominantly minority neighbourhoods and
provinces, clearly constituting discrimination” 27 and noted that “the marginalization
of these communities has fed civil unrest, leading to clashes with security forces,
escalating violence and an atmosphere of anger and mistrust.”
The Special Rapporteur called on the Iranian authorities to end forced evictions, and
to allocate adequate resources to historically marginalized provinces in order to assist
the realization of the right to adequate housing as well as improve access to water,
sanitation and other essential services. 28
Under international standards, everyone has the right to “an adequate standard of
living.., including adequate food, clothing and housing and to the continuous
improvement of living conditions” and the state is required to use “all appropriate
means” to respect, protect and fulfil the right to adequate housing.” 29
25 Kothari, Miloon, Report of the Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an
adequate standard of living — mission to the Islamic Republic (19-31 July 2005), UN reference
EICN.412006141Add.2, 21 March 2006, Summary.
26 Ibid, para.43.
27 Ibid, para.51.
28 Ibid, paras 103-105.
29 The latter part of this is set out in Article 2.1 of the ICESCR, the former is Article 11.1.
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Iran: Human rights abuses against the Kurdish minority 11
The Iranian government did not reply to the Special Rapporteur's report or
recom mendations.
Education
Iran's Constitution states that the official language and script of Iran is Persian, 3 ° and
that official documents and text books must be in this language. Despite this, the use
of regional and tribal languages in the press and mass media, as well as for teaching
regional and tribal literature in schools, is allowed in addition to Persian.
However, no permanent measures have been introduced in Iran's education system to
facilitate teaching in minority languages, nor to teach such languages as a second
language — even though such provisions are included in Iran's Constitution and
international standards. 31
According to the Ministry of Education, state schooling is free and compulsory at the
primary and middle (“guidance”) stages 32 and teaching is carried out in Persian at all
levels. In bilingual regions, a one-month course is held to teach key concepts,
including Persian, to beginners, before the school year starts.” 33
° Article 15.
31 Article 15 of Iran's constitution states, “The official language and script of Iran, the lingua franca of its people,
is Persian. Official documents, correspondence, and texts, as well as text books, must be in this language and
script. However, the use of regional and tribal languages in the press and mass media, as well as for teaching of
their literature in schools, is allowed in addition to Persian”. According to Article 29.2 of the convention on the
Rights of the Child, Article 18 of the ICCPR, Article 13.3 of the ICESCR and Article Sb of the UNE5CO
Convention against Discrimination in Education, individuals (including members of minorities) have the right to
establish and direct educational institutions, provided that they conform to the minimum educational standards
laid down by the state. Likewise, parents have a right to ensure the education of their children in accordance with
their religious and philosophical convictions, which includes the right to choose for their children institutions
other than those established and maintained by the public authority. While the state provides education in the
state's official language(s) for the majority population, members of minorities have a right to establish and
maintain schools where education is provided in their own language.
32 Primary school is known as dabestan, covering the ages of 6/7-10/11; “Guidance” or Rah-nama'i is between
12/13-13/14. Secondary education, dabirestan, covering the ages of 14/15-17/18, is not compulsory.
See uNESCO-International Bureau of Education, World Data on Education 2006/7 (based on official reports of
UNESCO member states), http:llwww. ibe.unesco.org/countries/WDE/2006/index.html . Amnesty International
recognizes that international provisions on linguistic rights in education are weak. The European Court of Human
Rights ruled that the state is to “provide for the possibility of pluralism in education”. This provides for the right
to establish educational institutions teaching in a manner that upholds minority culture and language, provided
that all schools meet minimum standards of quality.
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Iran: Human rights abuses against the Kurdish minority 12
Primary Education: weekly lesson timetable
Subject
Number of weekly periods in each grade
I
II
Ill
IV
V
The Holy Qoran
1
2
2
2
2
Religious
teaching
-
2
2
2
2
Persian
com position
-
2
2
2
2
Persian
dictation
-
3
2
2
2
Persian reading
11
3
4
3
3
Social studies
-
-
2
3-2
3-2
Art
2
2
1-2
1-2
1-2
Science and
health
3
3
3-2
3
3
Mathematics
5
5
4
4
4
Physical
education
2
2
2
2
2
Total weekly
period
24
24
24
24
24
Source: Ministry of Education, 2003. Each teaching period lasts 45 minutes in Grades I-Il and 50
minutes in Grades lll-IV.
Lower secondary education: weekly lesson timetable
Subject
Number of weekly periods in each grade
Persian literature
5
5
5
Mathematics
5
4
4
Science
4
4
4
Religious teaching
3
2
2
Arabic language
3
2
2
Social studies
3
3
3
Art
2
1
1
Introduction to
techniques and
vocations
3
3
3
Foreign Language
2
4
4
Defence preparation
-
-
1-0
The Holy Qoran
2
2
2
Physical education
2
2
2
‘Fostering affairs'
2
1
1
Compensatory courses
2
3
2-3
Total weekly period
36
36
36
Source: Ministry of Education, 2003. Each teaching period lasts 50 minutes.
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Iran: Human rights abuses against the Kurdish minority 13
None of the non-profit-making private schools, which have been allowed since 1988
and are under the supervision of the Education Ministry, is known to have taught in
Kurdish for any lasting period. 34
In February 2008 human rights activists told Amnesty International that in the
preceding month at least three directors of pre-school childcare facilities in
Kordestan province had been summoned to the security adviser's office of the
regional governorate on grounds that they had permitted the teaching of “a non-
national language”. A non-governmental organ isation, Soma, which had used Kurdish
for three years in pre-schools it operated in Sanandaj and Mahabad, was reportedly
closed by the authorities in late 2007 or early 2008, along with its facilities. Others
were threatened that their licences would be revoked.
Kurds have staged many campaigns related to their education. On 20 February 2007,
for example, Kurdish students held an event at Tehran University's Department of
Literature, during which they called for the teaching of Kurdish in Iran's education
system, including at the University of Sanandaj. 35 The event closed with a statement
which declared, in part, “As everyone knows, language is one of the most
fundamental aspects of a nation's being. Language conveys thoughts, culture and
[ ...]. In today's multicultural climate in the world, based on the Universal Declaration
of Human Rights and other humanitarian principles, every nation should have a right
to develop and advance its language. Everyone agrees that every language could play
a part in the process of human civilization.” This event, too, resulted in some of the
organisers and participants being arrested and subjected to long term detention.
Amnesty International believes that state authorities should take positive measures so
that, wherever possible, members of minority communities have adequate
opportunities to learn their mother tongue or to have instruction in their mother
tongue, as well as to learn the official language; and to encourage knowledge of the
language and culture of the minorities in their territory. 36
Ibid.
Iran: Ethnic minorities facing new wave of human rights violations (Al Index: MDE 13/020/2007, News Service
No. 039, 26 February 2007.
36 Article 4.3 and 4.4, Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and
Linguistic Minorities, adopted by General Assembly resolution 47/135 of 18 December 1992.
Amnesty International July 2008 Al Index: MDE 13/088/2008
Iran: Human rights abuses against the Kurdish minority
‘4
4. Double oppression: Kurdish women and girls
Diba Alikhani, a human rights defender, left her office for the courthouse at Azadi
Square in Sanandaj in mid-2006. As she neared the courthouse she saw a woman
being escorted by a female jailer. A man suddenly appeared, pulled out a knife and
slit the woman's throat. Diba Alikhani ran to the scene beseeching the two armed
guards outside the courthouse to help. The armed guards simply threw coins on the
dead woman's body — pennies intended to atone for the sin. 37
The woman had been accused of having had sexual relations outside marriage. In the
face of this tragic “honour” crime, Diba Alikhani felt powerless and unable to take
action. The authorities failed to arrest and prosecute the perpetrator of the murder.
Kurdish women face a double challenge to establish their rights: as
Kurds living in a marginalised community and as women in a
community governed largely by patriarchal customs. In both cases,
they are subject to discriminatory laws. An often quoted phrase
among Iran's women human rights defenders in Kurdish areas i5:
“We are both women and Kurds; so, in the Islamic Republic of Iran,
DibaAlikhani we are doubly accused”. 38 The UN Special Rapporteur on violence
© Private against women 39 , who visited Iran in January-February 2005,
concluded that women from Iran's minorities experience multiple forms of
discrimination 40
Even though women and girls form the backbone of economic activity in Kurdish
areas, they do not enjoy a status commensurate with their contribution:
“The man decides whether or not his daughter, sister, or spouse attends
school, goes to work or any other place for that matter. For this reason, the
literacy rate of Kurdish women and girls, particularly in rural areas, is either
called kaffareh, or paying atonement, the casting of coins on a dead body is often done by those who see the
body, especially in a public place.
38 “Ma ham zan hastim, ham Kord, pas dar Jomhouri EsIami Iran do etteham darim.”
The full name of this mandate is 5pecial Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences.
The mandate holder was, at the time of the mission to Iran, Yakin ErtOrk.
° 5ee her January 2006 report, UN document E/cN.4/2006/61/Add.3. In para.32 she adds: “violence against
women in Iran is ingrained in gender inequality, which is upheld and perpetuated by two factors: (a) patriarchal
values and attitudes based on notions of male supremacy, and (b) a 5tate-promoted institutional structure based
on gender-biased, hard-line interpretations of Islamic principles. While the former is a universal and historically
rooted phenomenon, the latter is particular to Iran and is rooted in gender politics and policies prevalent in the
country. Both factors, however, represent a male-dominated society with male-empowering laws and practices.
Amnesty International July 2008
Al Index: MOE 1 3/088/2008
Iran: Human rights abuses against the Kurdish minority 15
the lowest or one of the lowest in the country. For these same reasons,
healthcare indices such as neonatal mortality and morbidity and maternal
peripartum mortality rates are very high, and poverty, although epidemic (sic)
among lower class immigrants and rural inhabitants in Kurdestan, is even
more so a female affliction.” 4 '
Strict social codes, invoked in the name of tradition and religion, are used to justify
the denial of the human rights of women. The codes have created social no-go areas
in parts of Kurdish society that hinder outsiders, including Iranian state officials,
from dealing effectively with girls' education, early and forced marriages, domestic
violence against Kurdish girls and women, suicide by self-immolation, and “honour”
killings.
In Iran, as throughout the world, women are victims of violence on a daily basis and
face discrimination in society at large as well as by state officials. Perpetrators may
be state officials, members of groups or private individuals — including family
members.
The extent and prevalence of violence against women in the Kurdish regions of Iran is
impossible to quantify — not least because international and national organizations do
not have effective access to all Kurdish areas. It is clear, however, that discrimination
and violence against women and girls in the Kurdish regions is both pervasive and
widely tolerated.
To escape the violence and abuse, some Kurdish girls and women resort to a most
extreme form of self-harm, setting themselves on fire.
Iran's justice system provides little or no remedy to the obstacles and violence facing
women and girls. The UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women noted:
“Discriminatory laws in both the Civil and Penal Codes in Iran play a major
role in empowering men and aggravating women's vulnerability to violence. In
particular, discriminatory provisions in the Civil Code relating to the areas of
marriage, child custody, freedom of movement and inheritance may lead to,
perpetuate or legitimize violence against women perpetrated by private actors.
The provisions of the Penal Code relating to crimes specified in the sharia,
41 UNICEF, The status of girls and women in Kurdestan province in the Islamic Republic of Iran, 1377 (1998).
Amnesty International July 2008 Al Index: MDE 13/088/2008
Iran: Human rights abuses against the Kurdish minority 16
namely, hudud, qisas and diyah, are of particular relevance in terms of gender
justice.” 42
As a result, police and judicial officials are often unwilling to arrest and prosecute
perpetrators of violence against women in Kurdish areas. Even if an arrest is made,
police frequently fail to investigate or press charges against suspected perpetrators.
Women are not encouraged to bring complaints against their attackers and fear
bringing “dishonour” on the family as well as reprisals from the attacker and
relatives.
For example, Shamameh Ghorbani (also known as Malek), an Iranian Kurd, was
sentenced to execution by stoning for adultery by a court in Oromieh in June 2006.
Her brothers and husband reportedly murdered a man they found in her house, and
she too was nearly killed when they stabbed her. In November 2006, it was reported
that the Supreme Court had rejected the sentence of stoning and ordered a retrial,
citing incomplete investigations in the case. It is believed that Shamameh Ghorbani
confessed to adultery in court, believing that this would protect her brothers and
husband from prosecution for murder. Under Iranian law, a murder may not be
punished if committed defending one's honour or that of relatives. In a letter to
Branch 12 of the Criminal Court, Shamameh Ghorbani is reported to have said,
“Since I am a rural, illiterate woman and I didn't know the law, I thought that if I
confessed to a relationship with the dead man, I could clear my brothers and
husband of intentional murder. I said these untrue words in court and then
understood I had done myself an injury.” 43
The authorities seldom even investigate complaints of rape, murder or suicide of
women. Women who report rape face being locked up and accused of having
committed crimes of zena. 44 In the rare cases in which alleged perpetrators of rape
are prosecuted, they are often acquitted or given disproportionately lenient sentences
that fail to reflect the gravity of the crime. In short, impunity prevails for perpetrators
of violence against women.
42 Para. 44 in the report on the Special Rapporteur's January-February 2005 Mission to Iran, UN document
E/CN .4/2006/6 1/Add .3.
This case is also featured in Iran: End executions by stoning, January 2008 (Al Index MDE 13/001/2008).
“ Zena, or zina, is adultery. It is defined in the Penal Code as intercourse between a man and a woman whose
intercourse is inherently forbidden, or haram, other than in those cases where the person has had a doubt. See
Iran: End executions bystoning(AI Index: MDE 13/001/2008).
Amnesty International July 2008 Al Index: MDE 13/088/2008
Iran: Human rights abuses against the Kurdish minority 17
Under the ICCPR, the Iranian authorities are required to “undertake to ensure the
equal right of men and women to the enjoyment of all civil and political rights set
forth in the present Covenant”. The principle of equality between the sexes, and
particularly the requirement to eradicate all forms of violence against women, is a
basic premise of international human rights law. The existence of traditional,
customary, religious or social norms should not be invoked by states to avoid
complying with this obligation. 45
The Iranian authorities are also obliged to exercise due diligence in eradicating
violence against women in the home and in the community. The authorities must
ensure that Iran has laws, policies and plans which recognise these rights and which
can be used in practice to enable women to access their rights, to protect women
from abuses and to ensure that those whose rights are violated receive appropriate
redress and reparation.
The first UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women, Radhika Coomaraswamy,
wrote:
“States must promote and protect the human rights of women and exercise
due diligence:
(a) To prevent, investigate and punish acts of all forms of VA W [ violence
against women] whether in the home, the workplace, the community or
society, in custody or in situations of armed conflict;
(b) To take all measures to empower women and strengthen their economic
independence and to protect and promote the full enjoyment of all rights and
fundamental freedoms;
(c) To condemn VAWand not invoke customs, traditions or practice in the
name of religion or culture to avoid their obligations to eliminate such
violence;
(d) To intensify efforts to develop and/or utilize legislative, educational,
social and other measures aimed at the prevention of violence, including the
dissemination of information, legal literacy, campaigns and the training of
legal, judicial and health personnel. “46
See Making Rights A Reality: the duty of states to address violence against women (Al Index: ACT
77/049/2004).
46 Radhika Coomaraswamy, Special Rapporteur on violence against women, Report to the Commission on Human
Rights, UN Doc. EICN.412003/75, 6 January 2003, para. 85.
Amnesty International July 2008 Al Index: MDE 13/088/2008
Iran: Human rights abuses against the Kurdish minority 18
Amnesty International recognizes that the Iranian authorities, like other governments,
face difficulties when confronted by practices rooted in culture and belief that
legitimize violations of women's human rights. However, Amnesty International
considers that the Iranian government has not taken sufficient steps to eliminate
discrimination, end the cycle of violence against women and punish perpetrators,
whether they be family members or state officials.
The police and judiciary are openly biased against women and the violations they
suffer. The government must take action to stop such bias, including by instructing
officials in their duty to ensure protection of the human rights of women and by
providing training in non-discrimination. Further, they must ensure that all state
authorities act with due diligence to prosecute those who commit violence against
women, and implement specific measures to protect women and girls.
Many countries have adopted measures to combat inequality and discrimination, and
to protect women against violence, understanding the links between the two. While
complete eradication of violence against women may seem unachievable, states are
obliged to take concrete and effective steps that advance the protection of women
and ensure that perpetrators are brought to justice and that victims receive
reparation. Legislative steps must be backed by effective measures that address the
underlying causes of violence, including cultural, social and customary practices.
The need to combat violence against women is gaining recognition in Iran, and
networks of women human rights defenders are advancing a women's rights agenda.
This agenda should be supported by the authorities.
Schooling and literacy
Cultural norms in the Kurdish community which facilitate the practice of forced and
early marriage perpetuate the fear of violence amongst Kurdish girls in school,
impacting adversely on Kurdish girls' education. These norms do not, however,
excuse the failure by the Iranian state to provide proper facilities for the education of
Kurdish girls. 47
Article 3 of the ICCPR has been interpreted by the Human Rights Commission as including an obligation on
states to exercise due diligence. See Human Rights Committee General Comment 28 on Article 3, and Human
Rights Committee Draft General Comment on Article 2.
Amnesty International July 2008 Al Index: MDE 13/088/2008
Iran: Human rights abuses against the Kurdish minority 19
Fi ur'e 1 ,15: Adult literacy, hr euider and province and rural/urban residence 19s8—2Dt:o
l x i-
On J _
1 nale rural
EE4IIETT ‘a
50 ' — •. OEt ar4
Female BaLich&art
40 —— i 1 I I 1 I . I
‘9!6 is& i; : 9 1 O 1993 1 94 129 6 1997 1996 i9&9 2 1C C
Sa a• ;: YHDR 1999. Mimnv cfEcitcat:on 1999.. D:-IS .2C03
Taken from: Iran: UN Common Country Assessment Report -2003; page 33 (See:
htty://www. und g.ork/archive docs/3370-lran CCA.vdf )
Article 30 of Iran's Constitution provides for free education for all citizens up to
secondary school. According to Iranian government figures, over 90 per cent of
children aged 6-10 have access to primary education 48 and the literacy rate is
reported to be as high as 97 per cent. 49 However, 1998 UNICEF figures indicate
serious shortcomings in the provision of education for Kurdish girls and women — 57
per cent of women compared to 79 per cent of men were literate. 50 In urban areas of
Kordestan, 68 per cent of women were literate compared to 85 per cent of men; in
rural areas the figures were 46 per cent and 71 per cent. 51 The differences appear
early. In the 1996-97 school year, 56.5 per cent of all primary school pupils were
boys while only 43.5 per cent were girls. The gender education gap then widens at
every higher level of education. Moreover, according to the UN's Common Country
Assessment Report for 2003, the overall literacy rates for the 15-24 age group in
48 This is welcomed by the committee on the Rights of the child. 5ee para.3 of UN document cRc/c/15/Add.254,
31 March 2005, entitled consideration of reports submitted by 5tates Parties - concluding observations: The
Islamic Republic of Iran ,
‘ “Shorn of dignity and equality: Special report on women in Iran”, The Economist, 18 October 2003.
° UNICEF, op cit.
‘ UNICEF, op cit.
Amnesty International July 2008 Al Index: MOE 1 3/088/2008
Iran: Human rights abuses against the Kurdish minority 20
Kordestan is significantly below the national average (see table), with rates in Sistan
and Baluchistan province the worst in the country. 52
In 2005, when reviewing Iran's compliance with the Convention on the Rights of the
Child, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child expressed concern:
“... about the disparity that continues to exist between boys and girls; the high
dropout rates of girls in rural schools upon reaching puberty; the lack of
female teachers in rural areas; long distances between homes and schools,
which keep girls at home, particularly after primary school and the lack of
mobile schools for nomadic children, as well as the remarkable differences in
the personal and material equipment between schools in urban and rural areas
and between the most and least developed provinces, resulting in unequal
educational opportunities.” 53
The government of Iran must take concrete steps to address disparities in the
realization of the right to education between boys and girls. In particular, the
minimum school leaving age should match the minimum age of employment or 15 by
requiring the completion of the Middle (Guidance” or Rah-nama'i) cycle and however
many years in secondary school are possible prior to the child reaching his or her
sixteenth year. This would meet the standards required by ILO Convention 138 on the
Minimum Age of Employment, which Iran has not yet ratified.
The government should address other factors that lead to high drop-out rates among
Kurdish girls. Such factors include the expectation that primary school girls will work
to earn money, particularly in carpet weaving or farming; that they should not attend
schools that employ male teachers once they have reached puberty; and that they
may be forced to marry.
Early and forced marriage
Forced marriage at a young age remains common for Kurdish girls in Iran. In fact, the
practice appears to have become more common in recent years because of growing
poverty — families believe that such marriages offer the most secure future for their
daughters.
52 UN Common Country Assessment for Iran, op cit.
See Consideration of reports submitted by States Parties - Concluding observations: The Islamic Republic of
Iran, UN document CRCICI15IAdd.254, 31 March 2005
Amnesty International July 2008 Al Index: MDE 13/088/2008
Iran: Human rights abuses against the Kurdish minority 2]
In contrast to an arranged marriage, which does not involve compulsion, a forced
marriage is any marriage conducted without the free and knowing consent of both
parties. It may involve coercion, mental abuse, emotional pressure, and intense
family or social pressure. In the most extreme cases, it may also involve physical
violence, sexual abuse, abduction, detention and even murder.
Iranian law sanctions marriage for girls as young as 13 (it was nine until recently) and
boys as young as 15. Marriages may be contracted for children under these ages with
the consent of the parents. All girls and women must have the consent of the father
(or, in his absence, the paternal grandfather) to enter into a marriage contract. 54
Forced marriage is prohibited by international law, including Article 23(3) of the
ICCPR which provides that, “No marriage shall be entered into without the free and
full consent of the intending spouses.”
Forced marriage is a form of violence against women carried out by family members.
It is linked to child marriage, which may constitute forced marriage. Child marriage
violates the right of children to freedom from sexual exploitation, as provided in
Articles 19 and 24 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. By marrying at an
early age, children are further denied their rights to education and health and,
crucially, the freedom to determine the course that they wish their lives to take.
Forced marriage also appears to be a major reason for self-immolation (see below).
UNICEF's 1998 report found extremely high rates of forced marriage, including at an
early age, in Kordestan, although it noted that the practice appeared to be declining.
Circumstances facilitating forced marriage cited by respondents to UNICEF's
researchers included lack of knowledge (on account of the young age at the time of
marriage); threat of a beating by parents if the subject was raised by children; the
attractiveness of the proposed husband's wealth and better living conditions; and the
prospect of a good dowry and/or payment of shirbaha (bride price), or the money
accruing to the parents of the bride.
UNICEF also noted that divorce rates were particularly high in Kordestan, citing as
possible explanations the failure of the woman to bear children, incompatibility, drug
addiction by husband, neglect of wife and children, wife beating, poverty or
homelessness, illness and the age gap.
See Civil Code Article 1041.
Amnesty International July 2008 Al Index: MDE 13/088/2008
Iran: Human rights abuses against the Kurdish minority
The Iranian government should take legislative and other steps to ensure that all
marriages are entered into on the basis of the full and informed consent of both
intended spouses. This requires at a minimum that a minimum age of marriage be
set and enforced. This age should protect the best interests of the child and should
be higher than the minimum age for entry into the labour force and in respect to the
completion of compulsory education, which is the end of the Middle, Guidance or
rah-nama'i cycle of school completing education in addition to however many years of
secondary school are possible prior to reaching a child's sixteenth year.
Suicide and ‘honour' killings
Inequality, discrimination and the various forms of violence and social deprivation
suffered by Kurdish women contribute to complex social problems, including high
rates of suicide, notably by self-immolation. Self-immolation is a practice that occurs
in all the areas of Kurdish settlement, where it is more common than in other parts of
Iran. Some alleged suicides may have been staged to cover up “honour” killings. 55
International human rights law views “honour” crimes as a form of violence against
women in the family or community. These crimes violate, among other rights, the
right to life and security of the person; to freedom from torture and cruel, inhuman
and degrading treatment; and the rights to equality before the law and to equal
protection from the law. They also deprive women of rights assured by the UN
Women's Convention, for example the rights to choose a marriage partner, to enter
into marriage freely, to enjoy freedom from discrimination, and to be treated as a
human being with dignity and equal rights to men.
The apparent increase in the incidence of women and girls attempting to and taking
their own life by self-immolation is a result of many, complex factors. Amongst those
cited by the authors referred to in this section are divorce and polygamy. 56
Anecdotal evidence suggests that some of the women do not want to die but have no
other way of showing their distress. Many had either suffered violence by family
members or did not consent to a marriage. The majority of those who survived were
Partly as a result of this, there are no reliable statistics for the number of “honour” killings in Kurdish areas in
Iran.
56 In the 2005 study Epidemiology of self-immolation in the north-west of Iran, by S Dastgiri, LR Kalankesh and N
Pourafkary, the authors note, “In our study self-immolation incidence rate has increased in 2003 compared to
1998. Some previous studies have shown that incidence of self-immolation has risen by 30-40 percent in
Kermanshah and 11am provinces of Iran over the past few years.” See:
www.eigm.org/eigm05 1/2005 1 4 Dastgiri.rjdf .
Amnesty International July 2008 Al Index: MDE 13/088/2008
Iran: Human rights abuses against the Kurdish minority 23
forced to change their stories when in hospital, once surrounded by family members,
saying that they had had accidents in the home or at work.
In February 2006 Mohsen Jan-Ghorbani, a professor of epidemiology at Esfahan
University of Medical Sciences, said that “self-immolation is not just a way to end
life, but also a way to send a message to their families and to the society”. He added
that “women do not want to really commit suicide but they want, in fact, to make
their cry for help to be heard and say that they are facing injustice.” 57
The accounts of self-immolation set out below cover the mainly-Kurdish areas of West
Azerbaijan, Kordestan and 11am provinces. 58
In early 2006 the Human Rights Organization of Kurdistan (HROK), an NGO with
membership in the Kurdish regions and Tehran published the names of more than
150 Kurdish women and girls who had died by self-immolation in West Azerbaijan
province. 59 Mohammad Sadigh Kabudvand said that the victims were young —
between 14 and 30 years old — and poorly educated.
A six-year study between 1994-2000, covering 1,089 cases at the then two burn
centres in Kordestan province, found that 65.6 per cent of victims of self-immolation
were women and girls, and that 58 per cent of all patients were aged under 20. More
women than men had over 60 per cent burned body surface, and most burns had
been caused by kerosene. 6 °
57 See Golnaz Esfandiari, Iran: Self-Immolation of Kurdish Women Brings Concern, RFE/RL, 9 February 2006,
accessible at: http://www.payvand.com/news/06/feb/1067.html, accessed 19 February 2008.
A 10 July 2006 report, Kohkiloyeh Has Highest Self-Immolation Rate (see: httr:llwww.iran-
daily.com/1385/2606/html/ranorama.htm) , cited Farajollah Hassan-Zadeh, director of Kohkiloyeh-Boyerahmad
(south-western Iran) Governor General's Office for social affairs, who told the Iran Labour News Agency that “98.1
per cent of local women who commit suicide immolate themselves” and that “figures indicate that the number of
women who commit self-immolation in the province is three times as high as the rate for men.” He added that six
cases of women's self-immolation had been reported in the first quarter of the Iranian year (starting 21 March),
and he blamed poverty, drug addiction, population explosion, mental disorders, ethnic prejudices, divorce and
polygamy as factors triggering suicide attempts. However, while there are Kurds in the province, it is not clear that
the victims were in fact Kurdish.
See Golnaz Esfandiyari, Iran: Self-Immolation of Kurdish Women Brings Concern, op cit. Moreover, Dastgiri et
al's study also shows that rates of self-immolation are very high in the mainly Azerbaijani town of Miyaneh.
60 Bahram Groohi, Reza Alaghebandan, Abdolaziz Rastegar Lan, Analysis of 1089 burn patients in the province of
Kurdistan, Iran, in Burn, Vol. 28, 2002.
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Iran: Human rights abuses against the Kurdish minority
24
Distribution of patients with self-inflicted burns by
age and sex
Age (years)
Number of males
and females
Number of
patients
Male
Female
16-20
30
4
26
21-25 30 3
Source: B Groohi et al, Burns 28 (2002), table 6.
27
Nasrin Mohammadi, a member of a women's NGO, Marivan Women's Cultural
Society, in Kordestan province, described a case of a young woman who set fire to
herself to protest against her husband's decision to marry another woman. She said:
“I know this woman who is illiterate. Her husband became very rich in a very
short time and he forced his wife to sign a letter of consent so he could marry
another woman... She didn't know what she was signing. Since then she has
attempted to commit suicide by self-immolation; 80 per cent of her body is
burned and considering her condition I think she will die [ soon].” 61
Nasrin Mohammadi added:
“Women face more pressure in a traditional society and in our region because
of deprivations and the rule of [ old] traditions this pressure has become much
stronger. Women in our region are seen as ‘second class' citizens. The
economic situation of women is a main factor; they are totally dependent on
men and also the laws of our country are such that the courts never protect
women.”
A study in 11am province covering 1995-2002 recorded 433 cases of self-immolation
by men and women, representing by far the most common method of suicide. 62 Over
82 per cent of the cases involved women, most in their mid-twenties.
Similarly, the Deputy Governor for the Women's Affairs Office of 11am province,
Heyran Pournajaf, reportedly stated in January 2004 that around 70 per cent of those
who commit suicide are women, numbering 182 in the preceding year alone. 63
61 This is cited in Golnaz Esfandiyari's report, op cit.
62 See the abstract of The pattern of suicide methods within 11am province of Iran, by M Rezaeian and G
Sharifirad, Rafsanjan Medical School, taken from the XXIV World Congress of the The International Association for
Suicide Prevention (IASP), given at httrj://www.iasrj2007.orglimages/IASP Section2.rdf , accessed 19 February
2008. A more detailed version of the abstract is given in Vol. 12, No. 3 (10.2006) in Persian, in the Iranian
Journal of Psychiatry and Clinical Psychology, at:
httij://www.iums.ac.ir/iis/ar/browse.rjhrj?mag id=2&slc lang=en&sid=1 .
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Iran: Human rights abuses against the Kurdish minority 25
The high rate of female self-immolation in 11am was of particular concern to the UN
Special Rapporteur on violence against women during her visit to Iran in early 2005.
She noted that:
“... some of the cases of self-immolation in the city are linked to the lack of
legal protection for women victims of violence, lack of shelters, difficulty in
obtaining a divorce, child custody laws that favour the father and pervasive
gender discrimination throughout society.” 64
She also found that self-immolation incidents were related in some cases to “honour”
crimes, which were particularly common in 11am. She reported that in 2001, a total
of 565 women lost their lives in “honour” crimes, of which 375 were reportedly
staged as self-immolation. 65
Better protection of women's rights and economic development in Kurdish areas
would help prevent self-immolation, as would better access to education for girls and
improved support services for women. The availability of family mental health centres
and psychological rehabilitation programmes could also reduce the rate of self-
immolation.
5. Targeted for speaking out
The deep-rooted discrimination against Kurds has given rise to generations of
activists calling for greater respect for minorities and better protection of the human
rights of all Iranians.
A key moment for Kurdish activists in recent times was in July 2005, when Iranian
security officials shot dead Kurdish opposition leader Shawan Qaderi and two other
men in Mahabad. The security forces tied Shawan Qaderi's body to a jeep and
dragged the corpse through the streets. This sparked violent protests that shattered
years of relative peace in Kordestan. The protests also marked the start of a new wave
of state repression against Kurds in which those who spoke up for Kurdish rights were
targeted.
63 See the excerpt from Hamshahri given at htti://www.womenfreedomforum.org/rjublications/iournal2.rjdf
64 See paras 34 and 35 in the report on the Special Rapporteur's Mission to Iran, UN document
E/CN .4/2006/6 1/Add .3.
65 Ibid. Paragraph 35, citing statistics provided by a consultant to the governor of Khuzestan.
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Iran: Human rights abuses against the Kurdish minority 26
Human rights defenders
Roya Toloui, a 40-year-old pro-democracy and women's rights activist, was arbitrarily
detained for 66 days beginning in August 2005. She was held on trumped-up
charges for helping to organize demonstrations protesting against the killing of
Shawan Qaderi, demonstrations that she believed would remain peaceful. 66 A
pathologist and founding member of the Association of Kurdish Women for the
Defence of Peace and Human Rights, she was held in solitary confinement and
tortured. She says that she only agreed to sign a “confession” because her captors
threatened to burn her two children to death in front of her.
Iranian women human rights defenders have often aroused more hostility from the
state authorities than their male colleagues because their activities are perceived as
defying cultural, religious or social norms about the role of women. 67 As a result, they
face human rights violations not only for their work as human rights defenders but
also because of their gender.
Nevertheless, Iran's women are playing a leading role in the struggle for human rights
in the country. Among other activities, women's groups are providing education
programmes for illiterate women, supporting victims of abuse, and generally raising
awareness about women's rights. Many of these women, particularly those in Kurdish
areas, do so although they face considerable risks because of their activities.
After Roya Toloui was released on bail in October 2005, she fled the country. She
eventually resettled in the USA. Even so, according to her lawyer, in May 2007 an
Iranian court sentenced her in her absence to six years in prison for attending two
banned rallies and for “propaganda against the system”. 68 In an interview with Radio
Farda on 27 January 2006, Roya Toloui said:
“During the night of 6 August [ 2005], [ an official] personally tortured me in
the most brutal ways and subjected me to such behaviours that cannot be
expressed... They were forcing me to confess. I wrote that I will speak only in
the presence of my lawyer and they laughed at me. I wrote that this is against
human rights and that I had the right to see my lawyer. They lost their
patience and they ordered that my children should be brought in and they
66 “Child Abuse — Mullah Style”, The Telegraph, 30 May 2006.
67 For more information on Iranian WHRDs, see Iran: Women's Rights Defenders Defy Repression (Al Index MDE
13/018/2008), issued in February 2008.
68 Reuters, 23 May 2007.
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Iran: Human rights abuses against the Kurdish minority
27
threatened me and said that they will burn my children alive in front of my
eyes.” 69
Many other Kurdish women activists have been targeted and abused by the state
authorities. For example, Sarveh Komkar, a member of Human Rights Organisation of
Kordestan (HROK) was reportedly arrested in Mahabad on 8 January 2006 by a
special intelligence and security unit of the Revolutionary Guards. She was released
five hours later, having sustained injuries and bruises from a severe beating. Other
HROK members have been imprisoned or are facing prosecution, apparently in
connection with their peaceful activities on behalf of the Kurdish minority in Iran.
Ronak Safarzadeh and Hana Abdi, both prisoners of conscience,
were being held in the women's section of Sanandaj prison in
Kordestan at the time of writing, in May 2008. ° Both are members
of the Campaign for Equality, an Iranian women's rights initiative
that is seeking an end to legalized discrimination against women in
Iran 71
RonakSafarzadeh Ronak Safarzadeh has been detained in Sanandaj since 9
©CampaignforEquality October 2007. The day before her arrest, she attended a meeting
in Sanandaj held to mark International Day of the Child, and collected signatures in
support of the Campaign for Equality, a broad-based movement of mainly women's
rights activists which was initiated in August 2006 in order to campaign for the end
to legal discrimination against women. According to the Campaign, when Ronak
Safarzadeh's mother went to the local office of the Judiciary on 30 October to inquire
69 More details of her testimony about her detention can be read (in English)
at:http://www.abfiran . org/engl ish/docu ment-243-499 . ph p and
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.ihtm I?xm l=/news/2006/05/28/wislam28.xm l&s5heet=/news/2006/05/28/ix
news. html
° More information on her case and that of Hana Abdi, discussed below, see Amnesty International urgent Action
appeal referenced MDE 13/063/2008, at:
https://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/M/ DE13/063/2008/en/f bOl 21 08-Ob2a-1 1 dd-badf-
1352a9 1852c5/mde l3O632008eng. html ,or http:llwww.amnesty.org/en/news-and-u pdates/report/women-act-
against-repression-and-intimidation-iran-20080228 , and the report, Iran: Women's rights defenders defy
repression (M DE 13/018/2008), available at:
https://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/M/ DE13/018/2008/en/63dd8933-el 6d-1 1 dc-9 135-
058f98b1fb80/mde l3O l82008eng. df
71 Both women are also affiliated to the Sanandaj- based women's rights NGO, Azar Mehr. This name could have a
variety of meanings or simply be a family name.
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about her, she was beaten by officials. Following her arrest, Ronak Safarzadeh was
held incommunicado for three months.
In April 2008, one report suggested that she had been tried. In May 2008, however,
it was reported that during the course of a court hearing attended by her lawyer, she
was charged with moharebe, or ‘enmity against God'. If so, this could be very serious,
as such a charge can result in an accused being sentenced to death. However, by the
end of May no further hearings were known to have been held.
Psychology student Hana Abdi was arrested on 4 November 2007
at her grandfather's home in Sanandaj. She too was held
incommunicado for three months. According to her lawyer she faces
trial on a “gathering and conspiracy” charge brought under Article
610 of Iran's Penal Code, which says that if two or more people
gather to conspire to commit crimes against the security of the
nation, they may be punished with two to five years' imprisonment.
At the end of April 2008, her case had been transferred to court for
consideration, but no date had been set for her trial.
Fatemeh Goftari, a women's rights activist, also affiliated with the Sanandaj-based
women's rights NGO Azar Mehr, was detained for around four months — during three
of which she was held incommunicado — prior to being released on bail equivalent to I
some US$16,000. 72 She was reported to be possibly facing trial on politically-
motivated charges relating to state security. Her son, Yaser Goli, a student activist
and Kurdish rights advocate, has been detained since October 2007.
In the Kurdish areas, as in other parts of Iran,
men who are human rights defenders have also
been targets of state repression. For example,
Sa'id Sa'edi was arrested on 2 August 2005 for
helping organize the protest demonstration
against the killing of Shawan Qaderi in July
2005. He was held for eight days in the Ministry
of Intelligence detention facility in Sanandaj and
beaten, then transferred to Sanandaj Central
72 The us dollar figure of Iranian Rial or Toman amounts is taken from a currency conversion website located at:
http://www.xe.com/ucc/full /
Hana Abdi
© Campaign for
Equality
Sa'id Sa'edi © Private
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Iran: Human rights abuses against the Kurdish minority 29
Prison. He was held incommunicado there for two weeks and then permitted visits
from his family and lawyer. His case went before Branch 1 of the Revolutionary Court
in Sanandaj and on 5 October 2005 he was released on payment of bail equivalent to
some US$114,000. Further charges were added to the original charge sheet against
him, including that he was mohareb, or at war with God, though this accusation was
then not included in his bail release warrant.
Sa'id Sa'edi had helped to establish the East Kurdistan Cultural Research Institute
(EKCRI or the Rorkhelat Institute), an NGO whose request for a license legally
recognising their existence was turned down by the police. Following the killing of
Shawan Qaderi, EKCRI called for a peaceful protest demonstration and for the
release of political prisoners. At the end of the demonstration, Sa'id Sa'edi, Roya
Toloui (see above), Azad Zamani (a member of the Association for the Defence of
Children's Rights), 73 and two others were allowed to meet Kordestan's provincial
governor in Sanandaj. Kurdish opposition groups then called for another
demonstration to be held on 1 August 2005 in other towns and cities in Kordestan.
EKCRI agreed to participate in the demonstration in Sanandaj on the condition that it
was peaceful. However, on the day in question, the demonstration became violent,
reportedly after the security forces attacked the protestors.
Sa'id Sa'edi did not participate in this last demonstration as he was appearing in
court in Marivan, accused of illegally crossing the border into Iraq. Nevertheless, the
authorities accused him of going to Marivan to organize the demonstration there.
Following his release, he received death threats from an organization calling itself the
People of the Party of God, or Ommat-e Hezbollah-e Kurdistan (Sanandaj Branch). 74
In June 2007 Sa'id Sa'edi was sentenced by Branch 1 of the Revolutionary Court in
Sanandaj to two years' imprisonment for attending rallies in mid-2005 and to six
months' imprisonment for “propaganda against the system”. He said that he went to
the rallies to report on them as a journalist. This sentence was reduced on appeal to a
fine. He was later tried in February 2008 before a branch of the General Court on
charges of criminal damage (arson and damage to cars and public and private
buildings) relating to the 2005 demonstration, but by May 2008 the verdict was yet
to be announced.
Kanoun-e Defa' az Hoqouq-e Koudekan.
These threats were included in a statement by Ommat-e Hezbollah on 14 January 2006 which can be read (in
Persian) at httij://azad.gooya.name/ijolitics/archives/042527.rjhrj .
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Iran: Human rights abuses against the Kurdish minority
30
Ajial Qavami, who was arrested at the same time as Sa'id Sa'edi and faced the same
charges, was also released on bail on 5 October 2005. While being detained, he was
reported to have staged a 22-day hunger strike to protest against his imprisonment
and conditions. He alleges that he was tortured during his detention and that prison
officials threatened him with death at the hands of other prisoners and rape by
prisoners who were HIV positive.
, A board member of HROK and the member of the editorial
board of the bilingual weekly Didgab, AjIal Qavami was
formerly a journalist working for Payam-e Mardom-e
- , Kordestan. He has been repeatedly charged with offences
and imprisoned because of his advocacy on behalf of
Iran's Kurdish minority. In June 2007, he was sentenced
to three years' imprisonment by Branch 1 of the
Ajial Qavami © Private Revolutionary Court in Sanandaj for his role in organizing
the July 2005 demonstration, the sentence later being reduced to one year's
imprisonment on appeal. Neither AjIal Qavami nor his lawyer, however, was told
about this reduction in his prison term. AjIal Qavami was allowed out of prison on
medical grounds for 10 days from 25 December 2007. This period was then further
extended. As of May 2008 he was not believed to be in prison. He was also tried
together with Sa'id Sa'edi in February 2008 on charges of criminal damage and in
his case too the verdict was still not known in May 2008.
AjIal Qavami suffers from eye and other health problems apparently caused or
exacerbated by his imprisonment; he says his eyes became infected due to unsanitary
conditions at Sanandaj Prison.
Prisoner of conscience Moham mad Sadigh Kabudvand was
sentenced on 18 August 2005 to 18 months in prison and a
five-year ban on working as a journalist for “upsetting public
opinion and spreading separatist ideas”. The conviction was
related to his work as editor of Payam-e Mardom-e Kordestan,
a weekly that was closed down by the authorities in 2004.
The sentence was reduced on appeal to a year in prison,
which he has not yet served. He founded HROK in 2005
along with other journalists. HROK is thought to currently
have more than 200 members. The authorities have
Mohammad Sadigh Kabudvand
©DW
Amnesty International July 2008
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Iran: Human rights abuses against the Kurdish minority
3'
persistently refused HROK's request for official recognition as an NGO.
Mohammad Sadigh Kabudvand was rearrested on 1 July 2007 and held in Section
209 of Tehran's Evin Prison. Although he is believed not to have been formally
charged, in mid-July 2007 he reportedly said that he was being accused of “acting
against national security”, “propaganda against the system” and “co-operating with
groups opposed to the system”. He complained of poor conditions of detention and
said that whenever he was interrogated he was blindfolded and bound, hand and foot.
His lawyer, Nobel laureate Shirin Ebadi, has not been allowed to see him, and
contact with his family has been limited.
Mohammad Sadigh Kabudvand is said, at the time of writing in April 2008, to suffer
from high blood pressure, a skin disorder and a kidney complaint. He reportedly
needs to be able to urinate frequently and failure to do so adversely affects his
kidneys, and this has been used by his jailers to put additional pressure on him - they
have told him that he must seek formal permission in writing before being allowed to
use toilet facilities. He is also reported to have been told that he will be permitted
access to toilet facilities whenever he needs if the three HROK board members who
are still at liberty give themselves up voluntarily to the Ministry of Intelligence in
Sanandaj.
Sherko Jihani, a HROK member and Mahabad correspondent
for the Turkey-based Kurdish news agency Euphrat, was
detained on 27 November 2006 in Mahabad. 75 During his
interrogation, he was reportedly accused of involvement in
organizing protests against the secret detention on 8 January
2006 by Iranian security officials of a woman human rights
activist, Sarveh Komkar (Kamkar), and for giving interviews to
foreign media broadcasters about the killing of Shawan
Qaderi in July 2005.76
Sherko Jihani reportedly refused to pay bail of 50 million rials (about US$5,500) and
on 30 November 2006 began a hunger strike in protest at his arrest and detention.
On 4 December 2006 he began refusing to speak. Two days later he was taken from
‘ See Al Index MDE 13/137/2006, MDL 13/009/2007 and MDL 13/035/2007.
76 Sherko Jihani has reportedly been arrested nine times since 1999 and is said to have been tortured during
previous periods of detention.
Sherko Jihani
© www.Rijhilat.info
Amnesty International July 2008
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Iran: Human rights abuses against the Kurdish minority 32
Mahabad Central Prison to an unknown location and held incommunicado. He is
believed to have been tortured. On 12 December 2006 a man claiming to be from
the Mahabad branch of the Intelligence Services rang Sherko Jihani 's family and told
them falsely that he had died of a heart attack. On 13 December, Sherko Jihani was
allowed to telephone his family briefly.
In January 2007 Sherko Jihani was moved back to Mahabad Central Prison and on 3
February 2007 he was released on payment of bail. He is said to be facing two trials
on charges of “disturbing public order” and “acting against state security”
respectively, but by May 2008 no date was known to have been set for either of these
trials.
The repeated harassment and imprisonment of human rights defenders by the Iranian
authorities calls into question their willingness to observe basic principles of respect
for human dignity. The government should ensure that human rights defenders can
carry out their important work in a climate of respect and in accordance with human
rights standards.
Media workers
Following the 1997 election of President Mohammad Khatami, the number of
Kurdish-language publications grew. The first of this generation of publications was
closed in 2003 and since August 2005, when President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
assumed office, over 40 Kurdish publications have been closed or banned outright.
Kurds seeking to express their views or beliefs in connection with their opposition
politics face the same restrictions as all Iranians. However, journalists and news
media publishing in Kurdish or covering Kurdish-related issues have been among
those particularly targeted, especially since the 2005 unrest.
Bahram Valadbeigi, an editor and journalist, is a leading activist for Kurdish cultural
rights. 77 In 2005 he established Ashti (Reconciliation), one of the first bilingual
Persian-Kurdish newspapers to be published in Kordestan, which he also edited.
Following the killing of Shawan Qaderi, Ashti went to newsstands with only a white
cover in protest at the killing. In later editions articles reportedly alleged that the
In 1993-97 he was cultural counsellor to the Kordestan provincial governor. He was the founder and editor of
Abidar, the first Kurdish weekly, publishing between 1995-99. In 2000 he established the Kurdistan Institute in
Tehran and remains its head.
Amnesty International July 2008 Al Index: MDE 13/088/2008
Iran: Human rights abuses against the Kurdish minority
33
security forces controlled and sold narcotics to Kurds. The paper was banned,
apparently by the Press Court, and then closed by order of the authorities. However,
the decision to close the journal was overturned by the Supreme Court in April 2008,
and it was expected to resume publication shortly thereafter. Bahram Valadbeigi was
charged with “disturbing public opinion”; 78 “efforts against national unity” and
“propaganda for separation of the Kurds”. In May 2008 it still remained to be seen
whether the verdict to annul Ashti's closure would cause the charges against him to
be amended.
In another case, three members of the editorial board of the Kurdish-language
fortnightly Rojhelat— Farhad Aminpour, Reza Alipour and Saman Solaymani — were
arrested at the newspaper's office in Sanadaj in October 2OO6. They were charged
with “acting against national security” but released a month later on bail equivalent
to around US$54,000. 8 ° They presented their final defence to the court in Sanandaj
on 31 December 2007. In April 2008 the journal was banned on grounds of
receiving money from an outside source, possibly in connection with selling the
journal in the Kurdistan region of Iraq. The men were fined.
78 Tashvish-e ahzan-e ‘omomL
‘ “Arrest of editorial board of Kurd ish/Farsi Rojhelat”, www.kurdishstudents.com/shownews.aspx? id= 1110
80 BBC Monitoring research 3 January 2007, quoting ILNA report.
81 Iranian news website Advar, in Persian, accessed on 26 December 2006.
k ,
In December 2006, two Kurdistan University students,
Aso Saleh, a 25-year-old engineering student, and Tchia
(or Chia) Hejazi, were each sentenced to six-month prison
terms, suspended for three years, after they were
convicted on charges of publishing lies. This followed
complaints relating to the publication of a report in the
student weekly journal Deng about an argument between
two members of the Sanandaj City Council. 8 ' Aso Saleh
had previously been suspended from his studies and
began working for the dual-language newspaper Didgah.
In January 2007 he received death threats from an
unknown group called the Revolutionary Youth of
him and AjIal Qavami (see above) of working against the
Aso Saleh
Kurdistan,
Islamic Republic
© Private
which accused
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Iran: Human rights abuses against the Kurdish minority 34
After he participated in a Women's Day demonstration in Sanandaj on 8 March 2007,
called by three local human rights groups, 82 Aso Saleh was arrested and detained for
nine days at Ministry of Intelligence facilities in Sanandaj. He was then reportedly
transferred to Sanandaj Prison where he spent a further three days. He was charged
with undertaking “acts against national security” and espionage. After being
sentenced to one year's imprisonment, he fled the country. On 9 September 2007,
he wrote to Amnesty International, and said:
/ am Aso Saleh, the student of Electronic Engineering in Kurdistan University. I
was the Chief Editor of “Deng” which is a student weekly in university. And I was
the correspondent and the member of Editorial Board of “Didgah”, an
independent weekly which published in Sanandaj.
I have been prevented to continue my studies in university by the authorities,
because of my civil activities for one educational term.
Again I have been sentenced to six months jail by revolutionary court in
Sanandaj, because of my activities as a journalist in weekly Didgah.
I was arrested by the security forces when I was preparing a report about women
activities on 8th March meeting in Sanandaj. And I was in prison (Etela'at
Prison) for 11 days. Recently I have been sentenced to one year jail in
revolutionary court of Sanandaj for my activities as a journalist in Kurdish-
Persian weekly “Didgah”.
It is necessary to mention that, the High Education Ministry told me that you
can not be graduated forever from any universities in Iran.
So you know in this condition I have no chance to continue my studies in Iran,
and even can not have a job.
Tchia Hejazi was able to resume his studies, but if he takes part in any further
protest activities before the end of 2009 he risks having to serve the six months'
suspended prison sentence.
82 These were the Association for the Protection of Children's Rights (Anjoman-e Defa' az Hoqouq-e Koudakan),
whose then director was Azad Zamani; The Society for Support of Women (Jame'eh-e Hemayat-e Zanan), then led
by Diba Alikhani; and a culturally-oriented NGO called Shaho.
Amnesty International July 2008 Al Index: MDE 13/088/2008
Iran: Human rights abuses against the Kurdish minority 35
Kaveh Javanmard of the weekly Kerefto was arrested on 18 December 2006 and
remains held in Sanandaj. In May 2007, he was reportedly sentenced to two years'
imprisonment following a secret trial on charges of “inciting revolt” and “acts against
national security”.
Some of those arrested have suffered torture and other ill-treatment. Madeh Ahmadi,
a journalist, worked in Kordestan for national papers such as Hambastegi, a now-
closed pro-reform publication. He was arrested on 28 July 2005 at a police
checkpoint between Marivan and Sanandaj. He was interrogated 11 times while held
for two days in Sarvabad. He was subjected to qapani, 83 a form of torture carried out
by handcuffing or binding a person's hands behind the back and then hanging the
individual by the secured wrists or arms from either a wall or ceiling. When he was
taken to court in Sarouabad on 30 July 2005, a judge reportedly asked him about the
blood on his clothing. He replied that he had been tortured but, it appears, the court
took no steps to investigate.
Madeh Ahmadi was transferred less than a week later to the Ministry of Intelligence
detention facility in Sanandaj where he spent the next eight days. He was repeatedly
tortured and otherwise ill-treated, including by beatings, lashes, a reduced food
supply and restricted toilet breaks (once a day). He was transferred to Marivan for six
days and then back to Sanandaj's Ministry of Intelligence facility for a final 20 days.
He was forced to sign or fingerprint notes of his interrogation while blindfolded. He
was then compelled to memorize the replies for the purpose of a recorded interview.
If he forgot or strayed from what he was supposed to say, he was beaten by the
interrogator.
Following another period in Sarouabad Prison, Madeh Ahmadi was sentenced to three
months' imprisonment and a fine in connection with an illegal border crossing. When
release on bail was denied, he sewed his lips together to protest. Following a hunger
strike, Madeh Ahmadi was released on bail in November 2005. In January 2006,
following questioning — and possibly threats — from interrogators, he went into hiding
in Kordestan for almost one year but then, following a raid on his home, he fled Iran.
He was later sentenced in his absence to five years' imprisonment.
Also known as “dastband qapani”, or the “bound qapani”.
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Iran: Human rights abuses against the Kurdish minority 36
6. Unlawful killings by security forces
The killing of Shawan Qaderi and two other men in Mahabad in July 2005, described
above, marked an extreme failure of the security forces to abide by international
standards governing the use of lethal force. 84 Following the killings, the security
forces repeated this failure as they responded harshly to mass protests.
On 15 July, security forces reportedly fired live ammunition into a crowd of
demonstrators, and large numbers of troops and helicopter gunships were deployed in
the Mahabad region. Up to 20 people were reportedly killed and hundreds more
injured during the unrest. The authorities acknowledged that five people were killed,
and stated that their deaths were under investigation. The findings were never made
known.
In February 2006, clashes between Kurdish demonstrators and the security forces in
Maku and other towns reportedly led to at least nine deaths of protestors. The
following month, Kurdish members of the Majles wrote to President Ahmadinejad
demanding an investigation into the killings and calling for those responsible to be
brought to justice. An investigation was reportedly set up, but its findings are not
known.
On 16 February 2007, three Kurds were reportedly killed by security forces during a
demonstration in Mahabad — 18-year-old Bahman Moradi, a woman called Malihe
and one person whose name is not known to Amnesty International. Dozens of others
were reported to have been injured.
There have also been suspicious deaths in custody. Student Ebrahim Lotfallahi, 27,
was arrested on 6 January 2008 while sitting a university exam in Sanandaj. His
parents visited him a few days later but on 15 January they were told that he had
committed suicide and that his body had been buried already in a part of Sanandaj
cemetery usually reserved for those opposed to the Islamic Republic of Iran. The
distraught family asked for the body to be exhumed and examined by an independent
pathologist. By May 2008, permission for the exhumation had not been granted.
For example, Articles 2 and 3 of the UN Code of Conduct for Law Enforcement Officials; and Principle 4 of the
UN Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials.
Amnesty International July 2008 Al Index: MDE 13/088/2008
Iran: Human rights abuses against the Kurdish minority 37
Outside Iran
In former years, the Iranian authorities are believed to have instigated or carried out
extra-territorial acts against opponents, including prominent Kurds. For example,
Iran ian government agents were suspected of murdering Dr Abdol-Rahman
Ghassemlou, former Secretary-General of the KDPI, in July 1989 in Austria. He was
attending a meeting arranged by Iranian officials ostensibly to discuss a peace
settlement in respect to the post-revolutionary insurgency in the Kurdish regions of
Iran. 85
Three leading KDPI members — Dr Mohammad Sadigh Sharafkandi (Dr Abdol-
Rahman Ghassemlou's successor), Fatah Abdoli and Homayoun Ardalan — and an
associate, Nourollah Mohammadpour Dehkordi, were killed in September 1992 in
Germany, where they were due to take part in the Congress of the Socialist
International. The verdict of the trial that resulted from the incident concluded that
that the killings had been carried out by personnel of the Iranian Special Operations
Council of the Ministry of Intelligence and people recruited by Iranian Ministry of
Intelligence agents. The court found that the operation had been authorized by the
Iranian government's Special Affairs Committee headed by Supreme Leader Ayatollah
Ali Khamenei. After a trial lasting three and a half years, four individuals who had
been apprehended by the German authorities — three Lebanese nationals and one
Iranian —were sentenced to jail terms for their roles in the attack. All are now believed
to have been freed.
The Berlin Court of Appeals verdict on 10 April 1997 concluded that the Iranian
government had been directly involved in the killings, assigning responsibility to a
state other than Germany for the first time in a murder trial. 86 The Iranian
government condemned the verdict. President Rafsanjani, then in office, asserted
that it was a politically-motivated judgement and that it would be remembered as
‘shameless'. 87
In addition to targeted assassinations, the Iranian authorities have been responsible
for other unlawful killings outside Iran. In June 2007 Iranian forces shelled Iraqi
Kurdish villages in what appeared to be grossly disproportionate attacks. The
Murder at Mykonos: Anatomy of a Political Assassination, Iran Human Rights Documentation Center, March
2007.
86 Murder at Mykonos, op cit. In December 2007, the Iranian national sentenced to life imprisonment was
returned to Iran, as part of an unspecified prisoner exchange.
87 Murder at Mykonos, op. cit., page 19
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Iran: Human rights abuses against the Kurdish minority 38
operation allegedly killed Iranian Kurds thought to be members of opposition groups,
who may have been involved in operations against Iranian security forces. Such
attacks on Iraqi villages continued, on and off, for several months, despite protests by
the Iraqi authorities. As a result, thousands of Kurdish villagers, Iranians and Iraqis,
fled their homes and joined other internally displaced people in Iraq.
In August 2007 Iraqi Kurdish officials expressed concern about the clashes between
Kurdish fighters and Iranian forces in the remote border area of north-east Iraq,
where the Iranian authorities had deployed thousands of Revolutionary Guards. 88 The
officials said four days of shelling by Iranian forces had hit mountain villages inside
Iraq, forcing about 1,000 people from their homes.
7. The death penalty and unfair trials
Abdo lwahed (known as Hiwa) Butimar and Adnan Hassanpour, were both imprisoned
and facing possible execution in May 2008.89 Hiwa Butimar, head of the Green
Mountain Society, an environmental organization, was arrested on or around 23
December 2006. Adnan Hassanpour, a Kurdish journalist who had worked with the
banned Asou publication and an advocate of cultural rights for Iranian Kurds, was
detained on 25 January 2007. Both were reportedly held incommunicado in a
Ministry of Intelligence facility in Marivan, Kordestan province, and transferred to
Marivan Prison on 26 March 2007. They reportedly appeared before a Revolutionary
Court in Sanandaj on 12 June 2007.
On 15 July 2007 the men were reportedly taken to an unconfirmed place of
detention, possibly the detention facility run by the Ministry of Intelligence in
Sanandaj. Two days later they were told that they had been sentenced to death on
charges of espionage and moharebe (‘enmity against God'). In October 2007, the
death sentence against Adnan Hassanpour was upheld by the Supreme Court, while
that of Hiwa Butimar was overturned and the case sent back to a lower court for
reinvestigation.
His lawyer, Saleh Nikbakht, said that Hiwa Butimar had been charged with carrying
lethal weapons, although he denied his client had ever done so, and stressed that
88 “Kurds flee homes as Iran shells villages in Iraq”, Guardian Unlimited, 20 August 2007,
httr://www.guard ian . co.ukllraci/5tory/0,,2152325.OO.html
89 For more information concerning Adnan Hassanpour and Abdo lwahed Butimar known as Hiwa, see urgent
Action appeal (Al reference MDE 13/133/2007), 13 November 2007 -
https://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/M/ DE13/133/2007/en/dom-M DE13 1332007en html
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Iran: Human rights abuses against the Kurdish minority
39
Hiwa Butimar had not been in contact with any armed group. 9 ° Following a further
investigation, in April 2008, his death sentence was upheld by another lower court in
Mariwan. The charges against Adnan Hassanpour included “a phone conversation he
had with a staff member of Radio Voice of America”, which was deemed to have been
contact with the US State Department. He was told that he was sentenced in
connection with allegedly revealing the location of military sites and establishing
contacts with the US foreign affairs ministry and assisting in the flight from Iran of a
person wanted for questioning by the judiciary. Taken together these were considered
as amounting to the capital offence of moharebe (‘enmity against God'). The
Supreme Court upheld this conclusion and therefore upheld the death sentence.
Teacher Farzad Kamangar was detained by Ministry of
Intelligence officials in May 2006. The exact basis for the
arrest is not known. In the course of some four months, his
whereabouts, like that of two others, Ali Heydarian and Farhad
Vakili, was unknown. Farzad Kamangar's family then learned
that he was held in Evin Prison. After seven months, he was
permitted his first visit by a family member, although even
then it was not a private visit; prison guards were present and
Farzad Kamangar and his relative were required to speak in
Persian. Farzad Kamangar (part of whose testimony can be
found in an appendix to this report) was repeatedly and
systematically tortured over a period of at least two years prior
to being sentenced to death by a lower court on 25 February 2008, following a
grossly flawed trial. According to Iranian press reports, in June 2006 he had travelled
to Tehran along with two other Kurdish activists and traces of explosive powder and a
gun were later found in the house and in a car that they had used. Following this they
were arrested.
Farzad Kamangar
© Private
90 http://www.roozonIine.com/english/archives/2007/07 /006302 ph p .
Amnesty International July 2008
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Iran: Human rights abuses against the Kurdish minority
40
On 4 December 2007 Makwan Moloudzadeh, an Iranian Kurdish juvenile offender,
was executed following a grossly flawed trial for an offence he allegedly committed at
the age of 13. He was convicted of the alleged rape of three individuals. The alleged
victims withdrew their accusations in July 2007 during the
trial, which was held in a criminal court in Kermanshah with
sessions held in Paveh. They reportedly stated that they had
either lied or had been forced to “confess” in relation to the
rape allegations.
In sentencing Makwan Moloudzadeh to death, the judge
/ relied not on the evidence but on his “knowledge” that
Makwan Moloudzadeh could be tried as an adult and that
the alleged offence had been committed. According to
Article 120 of the Penal Code, in cases of anal sex between
men, the judge “can make his judgement according to his knowledge which is
obtained through conventional methods”. Reports suggested that Makwan
Moloudzadeh, a Kurdish speaker, did not understand all of the court proceedings,
which were conducted in Persian. 9 '
Iran's Penal Code distinguishes five types of crime: hodoud (crimes against divine
will); qesas (retribution in kind); diyeh (compensation); ta'z/r (crimes that incur
discretionary punishments applied by the state that are not derived from Islamic law);
and deterrent punishments, which include fines. The death penalty is provided for
certain hodoudand ta'zircrimes, and is available under qesas for murder.
Judges have a wide degree of discretion in deciding whether a particular crime is so
serious that it amounts to one of these categories and therefore can be punished by
death rather than a term of imprisonment or other penalties.
Under international human rights law, those suspected of, or charged with, crimes
punishable by death are entitled to the strictest observance of all fair trial guarantees
at all stages of the legal proceedings, including during the investigation stage, as well
as to certain additional safeguards such as the right to a commutation of the
sentence. 92
91 See, Iran: The last executioner of children (Al Index: MDL 13/059/2007) June 2007, and
httQ://web.amnesty.orgfl i brary/i ndex/en mde13O592OO7
92 Article 6 of the ICCPR.
Makwan Moloudzadeh
© Private
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Iran: Human rights abuses against the Kurdish minority 4]
One of the key safeguards for a fair trial, enshrined in international law, is a
defendant's right to a lawyer at all stages of the judicial process. 93 In Iran,
defendants only have the right to a lawyer after investigations have been completed
and formal charges lodged. This results in prolonged periods of incommunicado
detention as well as interrogation without the presence of a lawyer, both of which
facilitate the use of torture or other ill-treatment to obtain confessions. 94
The Islamic Penal Code specifies that confessions to hodoud and qesas offences may
be used as a sole means of proving an offence, 95 heightening the risk that defendants
will be unfairly convicted on the basis of confessions that were not freely given.
Lawyers may be present during committal proceedings, but are not allowed to speak
until the end of proceedings. In “sensitive” cases, the judge has the discretionary
power to exclude lawyers from the hearing that decides the sentence. 96 If a defendant
cannot afford a lawyer of their own choice, one is appointed for them by the court.
Other serious failings in Iran's justice system include: lack of access to a lawyer of
one's choice; pre-trial detention of suspects, sometimes in unofficial detention
centres outside the official prison system, which facilitates the use of torture or ill-
treatment to extract confessions; denial of the right to call defence witnesses; failing
to give adequate time to the defence to present its case; and imprisoning defence
lawyers if they protest against unfair proceedings. 97
Such failings are particularly serious in capital cases. They also increase the
likelihood that defendants from Iran's Kurdish and other minority communities, who
face systematic discrimination by the state and may not speak the language of the
court, will be victims of miscarriages of justice.
For example, Article 14 of the ICCPR.
The right to communicate with counsel requires that the accused be granted prompt access to counsel. Counsel
should be able to meet their clients in private and to communicate with the accused in conditions that fully
respect the confidentiality of their communications. Furthermore, lawyers should be able to advise and to
represent people charged with a criminal offence in accordance with generally recognized professional ethics
without restrictions, influence, pressure or undue interference from any quarter.
Other means of proving such crimes include testimony of witnesses or the knowledge of the judge obtained
through conventional methods.
96 Article 15 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. In cases involving capital punishment, it is axiomatic that the
accused must be effectively assisted by a lawyer at all stages of the proceedings (referring to Communications No.
985/2001, Aliboeva v. Tajikistan, para. 6.4; No. 964/2001, Saidova v. Tajikistan, para. 6.8; No. 781/1997, Aliev
v. Ukraine, para. 7.3; No. 554/1993, LaVende v. Trinidad and Tobago, para. 58.)
Report of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, 27 June 2003, E/CN.4/2004/3/Add.2.
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Iran: Human rights abuses against the Kurdish minority 42
The UN Human Rights Committee has stated that “the death penalty should be quite
an exceptional measure” and should only be handed down after a trial that observes
all the procedural guarantees for a fair hearing. 98 Amnesty International opposes the
death penalty in all cases because it violates the right to life and the right not to be
tortured or subject to any cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment.
8. Recommendations
Amnesty International calls on the Iranian authorities to end discrimination against
Kurds and ensure that Kurds and all other members of minority communities in Iran
— men, women and children alike — can access and enjoy their full range of human
rights.
Specifically, Amnesty International makes the following recommendations to the
Iranian government:
On discriminatory laws and practices, including in relation to religion and culture:
- Review all legislation with a view to removing all provisions that discriminate
against or have a discriminatory impact on ethnic, religious and other minority
communities.
- Issue directives and take effective measures to counter the discriminatory
application of laws in order to ensure that all Iran's minority communities
enjoy their full range of civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights.
On employment:
- End the discriminatory gozinesh criteria governing employment, including
appointment to public office.
On housing:
- End forced evictions and any policy of land expropriation or population transfer
that is discriminatory or otherwise contrary to international human rights law
and standards.
- Ensure that forced evictions are carried out only as a last resort and in
accordance with due process of law, following consultation with those
affected, assurance of adequate alternative accommodation, with
compensation and in compliance with international human rights law.
On education:
Human Rights Committee, General Comment No. 6 on the right to life, para. 7.
Amnesty International July 2008 Al Index: MDE 13/088/2008
Iran: Human rights abuses against the Kurdish minority 43
- Take measures so that members of minority communities can be taught in
their mother tongue and have adequate opportunities to learn their mother
tongue.
On the rights of girls and women:
- End legal discrimination against women, including by modifying or abolishing
laws (such as the Penal Code), regulations, customs and practices that
discriminate against women in family matters or which permit such
discrimination to exist. Specifically, ensure that women are given legal
equality in respect of the right freely to choose a spouse and for the care and
custody of children during marriage and its dissolution, as well as in matters
relating to inheritance, housing, work and other economic activities.
- Ratify promptly and without reservation the UN Convention on the Elimination
of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and its Optional Protocol.
- Publicly condemn all violence against women and girls, including violence in
the family.
- Criminalize discrimination and violence against women, and put in place
measures, such as training of state personnel, to ensure the law is
implemented.
- Ensure that “honour” crimes and violence in the family are treated as serious
criminal offences, and are appropriately investigated and punished.
- Investigate promptly, impartially and thoroughly all murders, attempted
murders and apparent suicides of women, with a view to bringing to justice
those responsible for violence against women.
- Take concrete steps to reduce self-immolation by Kurdish women and girls.
- Use the findings of women's rights NGO5 on violence against women to plan
and implement public education awareness campaigns.
- Ensure women's human rights defenders are free to act without threat or
hindrance by the state or non-state actors when going about their legitimate
activities.
- Implement effective measures to ensure gender equality in education,
prioritizing the training and recruitment of female teachers and making it
compulsory for girls to attend school till the required age of 14.
On the rights of human rights defenders:
- Adopt and take into domestic legislation the measures set out in the
Declaration on the Right and Responsibility of Individuals, Groups and Organs
of Society to Promote and Protect Universally Recognized Human Rights and
Fundamental Freedoms.
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Iran: Human rights abuses against the Kurdish minority 44
- Translate into Persian and relevant minority languages and disseminate widely
within Iran the UN publication Human Rights Defenders: Protecting the Right
to Defend Human Rights, also known as Factsheet 29, which describes the
work of human rights defenders and issues relating to their protection.
On torture and other ill-treatment, including use of lethal force:
- Publicly condemn torture and other forms of ill-treatment.
- Take urgent steps to ensure that no one is tortured or otherwise ill-treated,
including by ending the practice of prolonged incommunicado detention.
- Order a thorough and impartial investigation into all allegations of torture and
other ill-treatment, bring to justice those responsible for any abuses, and give
full reparation to the victims.
- End the use of televised forced “confessions” which breach the right to the
presumption of innocence and the right not to be compelled to testify against
oneself or to confess guilt.
- Ratify the UN Convention against Torture and its Optional Protocol.
On trials:
- Review the use of all special courts in Iran, including Revolutionary Courts and
the Special Court for the Clergy.
- Ensure that all trials, including in capital cases, respect as a minimum the
relevant fair trial and due process provisions of the ICCPR.
- Release immediately and unconditionally all prisoners of conscience.
- Order the prompt fair retrial in ordinary courts or release of all those
imprisoned for alleged political offences.
On the death penalty:
- Commute all death sentences and order a moratorium on executions in line
with the December 2007 UN General Assembly resolution calling for a
worldwide moratorium on executions.
- Review all legislation under which a convicted person may be killed by the
state, with the immediate aim of reducing the scope of the death penalty and
with a view to the eventual abolition of the death penalty.
- Revise legislation to ensure that anyone sentenced to death can seek pardon or
commutation of their sentence, in line with Iran's obligations under Article
6(4) of the ICCPR, and be permitted adequate time and opportunity to do so.
- Review law and practice to ensure that no one aged under 18 at the time of
their alleged crime may be sentenced to death.
- Review all pre-trial and trial safeguards set out in the code of Criminal
Procedures as they relate to capital crimes with a view to implementing the
minimum safeguards set out in the international treaties to which Iran is a
Amnesty International July 2008 Al Index: MDE 13/088/2008
Iran: Human rights abuses against the Kurdish minority 45
state party, with a view to abolishing subjective criteria such as reliance on the
‘judge's knowledge'.
On co-operation with international human rights bodies:
- Facilitate as a matter of priority the outstanding requests to visit Iran made by
the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions,
the Working Group on enforced or involuntary disappearances, the Special
Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, the Special Rapporteur on torture,
and the Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, and
give consideration to inviting the UN Independent Expert on Minorities to visit
Iran including Kurdish and other minority areas; and continue dialogue with
the Special Rapporteurs on adequate housing and violence against women and
work towards the implementation of their recommendations.
- Invite the UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General on the situation
of human rights defenders, along with the UN Independent Expert on minority
issues, to assess the situation facing Kurdish human rights defenders and to
make recommendations to the government.
- Invite other independent bodies, such as Amnesty International, to visit Iran,
including Kurdish and other minority areas and to engage in discussion of
human rights concerns.
Amnesty International July 2008 Al Index: MDE 13/088/2008
Iran: Human rights abuses against the Kurdish minority
46
j, *A3 j 1386/6/29 ‘kLyy 1312/3780 Lf & 4 U iti
4i SiU J 4ij LJSj J j.
i .a&j, L Ju U 4..ul&c U 4..Ai Jjs.c 4.4 i 1J o. y syf 5 i 3 iU
S JUj i4 M J L c .
Appendix 1: Prohibition on the building of Ahl-e
The text below has been entered above the image of the
Haq places of worship
letter to facilitate legibility.
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Amnesty International July 2008
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Iran: Human rights abuses against the Kurdish minority 47
44 i '
- -
Kermanshah Governor General
Date: 22/10/07
To: Local [ district] Governors
Following instruction made by Ministry of Interior No.1312/3780 dated 20/09/07
regarding the movements and activities of the Ahl-e Haq [ community] in respect to
the construction of “Jam'e-khane” [ Houses of Worship], [ it is noted that their]
establishment has no basis, legally or with respect to the Shari'a [ Islamic Law].
Please refrain from any correspondence and communication with any public authority
[ on this]. This is sent for [ your] observation and instruction for appropriate action.
Seyed Mostafa Abtahi
Director General of the Councils
Amnesty International July 2008 Al Index: MDE 13/088/2008
Iran: Human rights abuses against the Kurdish minority 48
Appendix 2: Forced reporting on activities of non-recognised minorities in
schools
/ :j /
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Amnesty International July 2008
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Iran: Human rights abuses against the Kurdish minority 49
Ministry of Education
Date: 01/12/97
Tehran Province Education Authority / Very Confidential
Shahr e-Ghods Local Education Authority
To the Head of School/Institute (unnamed):
I am writing to ask you if there are any students and staff from subversive sects
(Feragh e ZaIIeh), [ such as] the Bahai, Ali-Ellahi, Ahl-e Haq etc. in your in your
institution, [ and to request that you] please report their details individually on the
forms provided and send them back to the Security Office of the Department of
Education within a maximum of two weeks upon receipt of this directive.
It is necessary to add that any activity and propaganda by the above mentioned
individuals is forbidden in your institute/school. These matters should be in
compliance with all the regulations and regulation of the institute.
Signed: Jafar Najafi
Head of Education Authority/ Region of Shahr e Ghods
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Iran: Human rights abuses against the Kurdish minority 50
Appendix 3: Further example of reporting on activities of non-recognised
minorities in schools
L
a 4 • I
r — c '— r5 1 s '- - u 4 i 4 U t iiirIjiIatgjU ój fl
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Amnesty International July 2008 Al Index: MOE 1 3/088/2008
Iran: Human rights abuses against the Kurdish minority 5]
NB: This is an incomplete excerpt of a document
21- Behavioural and moral issues are to be resolved and settled in school, by staff
and counsellors and if the case becomes serious, it is referred to the [ relevant]
department after all disciplinary measures have been implemented.
22- It is essential that all Heads of schools! institutes identify students and staff
affiliated and belonging to subversive and non-subversive sects (Feragh e Zalleh and
non-Zalleh) including: Christians, Zoroastrians, Jews, Baha'is, Ahl-e Haq, Sunnis,
foreign nationals and to report [ on] them individually on the form provided,
[ including] their details and to send back the form to this office, confidentially.
23- It is necessary to alert all staff in connection with Islamic values and codes of
behaviour, [ ...] to comply with these codes and values as some female colleague
(sisters) sit in front rows [ of buses] just behind the driver despite previous
notifications as we had complaints. They should be reminded of these codes by the
Head of the institutes.
24- It is necessary for Heads to report to this office in writing any news or ongoing
rumours or events happening around school.
25- It has been reported that some colleagues and principles of the schools are
participating in political and social debates in working hours. It has been reported
that these colleagues also attend illegal meeting which is against their professional
code of practice. These will undermine the educational and cultural values and cause
separation and polarisation in community. It is confrontation with the government.
Therefore it is strongly advisable to avoid these behaviour and those who fail to do so
will face serious consequences
26- It is necessary that all the principles of the institutions treat and handle the
current and following directive letters and instructions to sent to their institute with
[ Discontinued]
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Iran: Human rights abuses against the Kurdish minority 52
Appendix 4: Partial testimony of Farzad Kamangar
This text, which has been edited, was widely circulated on the internet in April 2008.
Amnesty International does not know who made the translation, for which it does not
take responsibility.
I am Farzad Kamangar, also known as Siamand; a teacher who used to work in the
Iranian governmental education system in the town of Kamyaran, with 12 years
experience of teaching.
One year before my arrest, I was busy teaching at the Karvdanesh institute. I also was
a member of the board of directors of the teachers of Kamyaran association in the
Kurdistan branch and up to the point of disbandment of the association and just
before the activities of the association was banned by the government; I was the head
of PR. Also I was a member of the guild writers of a cultural/educational monthly
called Royan, which later came to be under the siege of the governmental education
system and was later blocked.
For some time I was also a member of the environmental society in Kamyaran and
from 2005 onwards I begun with my human rights activities and eventually came to
be one of the writers for the human rights association. I travelled to Tehran in August
2006 in order to follow up on the health of my sick brother, who is also a political
activist, and there I was arrested.
On the same day I was transferred to an undisclosed location. It was a basement
without and ventilation, claustrophobic and dark, the cells didn't have any floor just
plain dirt, nothing was there neither a mattress nor a cover or anything else. It was
very dark there; I was taken to another room. While they were writing down my details
they asked me of my origins as soon as I said “Kurd” they flogged me all over my
body with a hose looking whip. Because of [ my] religion I had to endure profanities,
insu Its and beating. I was even severely battered because of the Kurdish ringtone that
I had on my mobile. They would tie my hands and put me on a chair and put heavy
pressure on various sensitive parts of my body.. .they would remove my clothes with
force and threatening me with rape with a baton or sticks.
My left foot was brutally injured at this location and because of the simultaneous hits
to my head as I was electrified I passed out and ever since I gained my conscious I
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Iran: Human rights abuses against the Kurdish minority 53
have lost the sense of balance in my body and now shake without any control. They
would chain my feet and with electric shocks who was created by small appliances
that they had tied to my back, they would shock different sensitive areas of my body,
they pain was immensely agonizing.
I was later transferred to the villainous 209 lockup of Evin prison. I was blindfolded
as soon as I entered and in the entrance corridor (floor level- left-hand side further up
than the room for execution of orders) I was put in a small room where I was battered
severely with punches and kicks there as well. The following day, they transferred me
to Sanandaj prison until they would arrest my brother. From the moment I entered
the lockup I was facing profanities, insults and battering. I was not even allowed the
usage of toilet facilities, until I was forced to wet myself. After enduring a lot of the
physical and psychological pressure I was once again transferred to the 209 lockup.
In the rooms on the first floor (the green interrogation rooms) I was interrogated and
battered and tormented.
After all the torture I had to endure, they were forced to take me to a doctor on the
Sunday 27 August 2006. His office was connected to the interrogation rooms, where
the doctor recorded the bruises from the torture, flogging and battering. They were
clearly visible on my back, neck, head, rear, thighs and feet. I spent the two months
of August and September in solitary confinement cell number 43. Because of the
magnitude of the tortures and torments I had to endure I went on a hunger strike for
33 days, they started to harass and threat my family, in order to free myself from the
torture and to demonstrate against the ill treatment and the pressures against my
family, I threw myself down the stairs of the first floor in order to commit suicide.
I spent close to a month in solitary isolation, at the end of the first floor, in section
113 [ of the prison]. It had a horrible stench. During this period I was not allowed to
have visits nor telephone calls with any member of my family. During the 3 months of
solitary confinement I was not allowed to go out in the free air. After enduring these
months they moved me to a bigger cell, cell number 10, a cell intended for several
persons, and I spent close to two months there. Still I was not allowed to have any
contact with a lawyer or my family.
In the beginning of January of 2007 I was transferred from the 209 facility in Tehran
to the Ministry of Intelligence's detention centre in Kermanshah, situated in Naft
Square without any charges or due process. The centre's cells were small and dark
and all kinds of crimes were committed there.
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Iran: Human rights abuses against the Kurdish minority 54
[ At the Kermanshah facility] they removed all my clothes and after having battered
me, they gave me dirty and stinking clothes and with kicks and punches in the
hallway of the lockup took me to the room of the security officer in charge and from
there to a another corridor which they entered in a small door.
There was a really small cell hidden far away from everybody else and so far that even
my screams couldn't reach anybody else. This cell was 1.6m by O.5m. Two small
light bulbs were hanging from the roof. There was no ventilation. The cell used to be
a toilet before and was really stinking and cold. There was one really dirty duvet in
the cell. Every time I would wake up unexpectedly I would hit my head on the wall.
The cell was dreadfully cold. In order to breathe sometimes I was forced to lay my
face down on the ground and breathe through the small gap between the door and
the floor.
During my sleep or rest the guards would periodically knock hard on the door in order
to disturb my rest or they would turn off the lights. Two days after my arrival at the
prison I was taken to the interrogation room and without posing one single question
they started to kick and punch me. They swore and insulted me however they could.
Afterwards I was taken back to my cell; they turned on the radio an put it on the
highest volume in order to disturb my rest. I was allowed to go to the toilet two times
every 24 hours and permitted to wash myself a few minutes [ only] once a month.
The following are examples of the torture that I suffered at the Kermanshah facility:
1. Playing “football” - this was a term used by interrogators when they stripped
me of my clothes and four or five persons formed a circle around me. Each one
would then pummel, kick and then pass me around, like a football, between
each person. If I fell to the ground they would laugh at me and hit me savagely
while I was on the floor.
2. They forced me to stand on one leg for hours and hold my hands up high. If I
got tired and slouched or dropped my leg or arm they would beat me.
3. During repeated interrogations, I was punched and slapped.
4. In the basement of the centre, whose stairs from the main corridor to free air
was covered by trash and breadcrumbs to hide it from others, there was
another torture room to which they would take me at night fall and there they
would tie my hands and feet to a bed and using a whip which they called
“Zolfaghar”. Then they would flog the soles of my feet, then my thighs and
finally my back. The pain was unbearable and I could not even walk for days.
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5. They had a ‘cold' room, so called because it was cold and in the winter they
would take me there in the morning, saying it was for ‘interrogation'. In fact,
they [ merely] incarcerated me there from morning to the following dawn and
there was no interrogation.
6. In the Kermanshah facility they applied electric shocks to the body, especially
to various sensitive parts of the body.
7. I was not allowed to use a toothbrush or toothpaste and was given tiny
amounts of leftover food which stank and was completely unfit for human
consumption.
At the Kermanshah lockup they prohibited me from having any visits and went so far
so as to arrest a woman that I was interested in. Problems were created for my
brothers and they too were arrested. Because of the filth present in the cell, on the
blanket and my dirty, unwashed and stinking, unhygienic clothes, I got skin problems
[ fungus infection] and I wasn't even allowed to visit a doctor. I undertook a hunger
strike lasting 12 days when the torture became more severe.
For the last 15 days, they changed my cell to a cell that was even more foul smelling
and even filthier. It had no heating facilities. Every day I had to endure more insults
and pummelling to the extent that one day I even passed out. This was because of
the injury inflicted to my testicles. One night in the torture room (basement) they
stripped me and threatened me that they were going to rape me right there and in
order to be released from torture I banged my head hard on the wall. They forced me
to confess to emotional matters and relationships [ that I simply had to say under
duress]. The sound of sighs and screams could be heard from nearby cells where
detainees would sometimes commit suicide.
On 18 March 2007 I was transferred back to Evin prison's section 209, in Tehran.
Even though I was put in the multi-person cell, number 121, they continued to
prohibit me from having any visitors. They still tortured me both physically and
psychologically and arrested my family members, whom I was prohibited from
contacting, as the profanities and insults and beating persisted.
In May 2007, after months of limbo, my case came before the Branch 30 of the
Revolutionary court. The interrogators threatened me that they would seek with all
their power to have me executed or imprisoned for a considerable time. In case I was
proved innocent, they made it clear I would face their vengeance outside of prison.
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Iran: Human rights abuses against the Kurdish minority 56
They had a strange, singular hatred towards me as a Kurd, journalist and a human
rights activist. No matter what was going on they never stopped torturing me.
The revolutionary court in Tehran announced that the case was not going to be heard
in Tehran and the case was sent to the court in Sanandaj. When they felt exposed to
the support I received from people or from human rights associations against my
arrest and detention, the torture worsened as they got more frustrated and then they
would increase the pressure on me.
In August 2007 I was transferred to the Ministry of Intelligence's detention facility in
Sanandaj. It became my “worst nightmare” and I will never be able to forget it. It will
haunt me for the rest of my life.
Even though in law I faced no new accusation, they too launched into both physical
and psychological terror as soon I entered the facility.
The Sanandaj facility had a main corridor, off which ran five side corridors. I was
initially placed into the last cell, in the last corridor. Then they proceeded to change
my cell - all the time - until the day that the head of the centre, along with some
others started to beat me without any reason.
They dragged me out of my cell and then pounded the back of my head until I fell to
the ground, unconscious. I learned later that they then dragged me down 18 steps to
a basement and the interrogation rooms there.
Later I opened my eyes and immediately felt a colossal pain rip through my face and
head and through my sides. Regaining consciousness provoked another round of
beating and I was punched and kicked all over my body. After approximately one hour
of battering, they dragged me back up the stairs and into the second hallway. There
they threw me into a small cell where I was once again beaten by two security thugs
until I again lost consciousness.
When I came to I heard the evening call to prayer. My face was bloody while my
clothes were drenched in filth and my blood. My face was swollen; my whole body
was black and blue and I didn't have the power to move. A few hours later they
picked me up, stripped me then threw me and the clothes in a shower in an attempt
to clean both.
Amnesty International July 2008 Al Index: MDE 13/088/2008
Iran: Human rights abuses against the Kurdish minority 57
They put me back into my wet clothes but because my health had seriously
deteriorated they had me checked over. The following day they took me to a doctor's
office outside the prison. Because of the injuries to my teeth and jaw I was not able
to eat for several days. During the nights they opened the windows in the cell so the
cold would get to me. They refused to give me a blanket so I was forced to wrap the
filthy carpet around me to keep warm.
[ In Sanandaj] I was not allowed access to the routine periods of ‘free air' time, visits
or telephone calls and again and again I was beaten in the basement interrogation
rooms. I undertook a five day hunger strike in protest but it did not stop them from
frequently smashing my head against the basement walls. Still, no accusation had
been made against me, whether in Kermanshah or in Sanandaj.
The famous ‘chicken kebab' torture was the expression that head of the Sanandaj
detention centre used and he would carry it out most nights when he was there. He
would tie the hands and feet [ of the prisoner], throw [ them] on the floor and flog
[ them.].
One could hear the cries and the screeches of the other prisoners, mainly female, and
just these sounds themselves damaged one's soul. They left the windows open during
the nights [ so that the wails could be heard]. They would soak my clothes [ while I
was] in the basement, following a series of beatings, then return me to my cell, wet,
beaten and having to battle the cold. I was forced to wrap myself in the dirty blanket
that was in the cell.
I spent close to two months in solidarity confinement in Sanandaj. Yet, in court, my
case was once again dismissed and I was once again transferred back to Tehran.
After almost eight months of solitary isolation, physical and psychological torment, I
had been deeply affected.
[ Finally], I was transferred back to Evin Prison in Tehran and placed in section seven.
It is a place where drugs are considered a recreational pastime. On 18 November
2007 I was transferred to Reja'i Shahr Prison, in Karaj [ west of Tehran]. It is a high
security facility accommodating violent criminals, those who have committed murder,
kidnapping and armed robbery [ etc]...
Amnesty International July 2008 Al Index: MDE 13/088/2008
Kurds in Iran have long suffered deep-rooted discrimination. Their social, political
and cultural rights have been repressed, as have their economic aspirations.
Parents are banned from registering their babies with certain Kurdish names and
religious minorities that are mainly or partially Kurdish are targeted by measures
designed to stigmatize and isolate them.
Discriminated against in their access to employment, adequate housing and political
rights, the economic neglect of Kurdish regions has resulted in an entrenched poverty
which has further marginalized Kurds.
Kurdish human rights defenders, including community activists and journalists, face
arbitrary arrest, ill-treatment and prosecution when they protest against the
government's failure to observe international human rights standards.
When they link their human rights work to their Kurdish identity they risk fudher
violations of their rights. Some, including women's rights activists, become prisoners
of conscience — people imprisoned for the peaceful expression of their
conscientiously held beliefs. Others suffer torture, grossly unfair trials before
Revolutionary Courts and the death penalty.
Amnesty International has previously raised many of the human rights abuses and
cases in this report with the Iranian authorities, and urged them to take concrete
measures to end discrimination and human rights violations against the Kurdish
minority and to uphold the rights of human rights defenders.
Amnesty International
International Secretariat
Peter Benenson House
1 Easton Street
London WC1X UDW
www.amnesty.org
AMNESTY
INTERNATIONAL
