1993 Human Rights Report: IRAN
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TITLE: IRAN HUMAN RIGHTS PRACTICES, 1993
DATE: JANUARY 31, 1994
AUTHOR: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
IRAN *
Iran is an Islamic republic under the leadership of Ayatollah
Ali Khamenei. The formal system of government, based on a
Constitution a proved in 1980 by popular referendum and revised
in July 1989, f eatures a Parliament and a President elected
from among mult iple candidates by universal suffrage. However,
all candidates must meet highly restrictive religious and
political crit ria imposed by the Council of Guardians, and as
a result the choice offered to voters is narrow. The
Government, don tinated by a political elite composed of Shi'a
Muslim clerics and of laymen allied with these clerics,
attempts to impose its views of political and socioreligious
orthodoxy. However, there remain significant factional
differences on important economic and political issues.
The Government continues to reinforce its hold on power through
arrests, summary trials and executions, and other forms of
intimidation carried out by an extensive internal security
system. The Revolutionary Guards and security forces operating
under the Ministry of Intelligence and Security and the
Interior Ministry are known to make political arrests and
commit other human rights abuses.
Iran has a mixed economy. Although Islam guarantees the right
to private ownership, the Government has nationalized the banks
and owns several basic industries, including the petroleum and
utilities sectors. Oil exports are the primary source of
foreign exchange. The disruptions of the revolution, the
destruction from the Iran-Iraq war, and government
mismanagement have caused serious economic deterioration.
However, inflation has apparently been reduced from previous
years, although it is thought to be still over 20 percent;
T
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about 30 percent of the work force is unemployed, and
widespread corruption and black-market activities continue.
There was no evidence of significant improvement in Iran's
record as a major abuser of human rights. As in the past, the
Government went to considerable lengths to conceal its abuses
and continued to obstruct the activities of international human
rights monitors. It is thus difficult to know precisely the
details and numbers of such abuses. Similarly, domestic
elements that might monitor and report on the Government's
*Because of the absence of a United States Mission in Iran,
this report draws heavily on unofficial sources.
practices are ruthlessly suppressed. Abuses continued to
include denial of citizens' right to change their government;
summary executions; widespread torture; arbitrary detentions;
lack of fair tx ia1s; repression of the freedoms of speech,
press, assembly, and association; systematic repression of the
Baha'i religio i community; and severe restrictions on women's
and worker rigl s. The Government has not allowed Reynaldo
Galindo-Pohi, the U.N. Special Representative on Human Rights,
to revisit Iran since 1991 and did not implement the measures
he recommended in his 1993 report.
RESPECT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS
Section 1 Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including
Freedom from:
a. Political and Other Extrajudicial Killing
Given the lack of basic procedural safeguards in political
trials, most of the executions ordered each year in such cases
amount to summary executions. Furthermore, the Government has
repeatedly indicated in public statements that it equates
active political opposition to Iran's Islamic revolution with
terrorism.
The Iranian press stopped reporting most executions in 1992,
making it difficult to determine the number of people killed
for political reasons in 1993, but it appears executions
continue at their previous rate of several hundred a year. In
September the U.N. Special Representative reported obtaining a
copy of an Iranian government document showing that Iranian
media had eliminated most coverage of executions in order to
preempt the Sp cial Representative's criticism. Reports from
exiles and human rights monitoring groups indicate many of
those executed for alleged criminal offenses are in fact
political dissi z1ents.
For example, Air esty International (Al) reported the execution
during 1993 of r . ohsen Mohasnmadi Sabet, who had been held
incommunicado i Rasht prison since September Q October l99 .
The Government has refused to reply to Al's requests for
information regarding the precise charges brought against
Sabet. According to Al, the legal proceedings in Sabets case
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failed to meet minimum international standards of fairness and
impartial ity.
In addition, the Government continued to carry out political
assassinations of its opponents residing abroad. On January
24, Turkish journalist Ugur Mumcu was killed in Ankara by a car
bomb; an Iranian-backed Turkish group was believed
responsible. On March 16, Naghdi Mohammed Hussein, a leader of
the opposition Mojahedin-e-Khalq, was assassinated in Rome.
(Naghdis name was among those on a list of 32 Iranian
oppositionists found in the possession of one of the suspects
in the 1992 assassinations of Kurds in Berlin.) On March 18,
three Iranian Baluchi insurgency leaders were murdered in
Karachi. In June another Mojahedin-e-Khalq activist, Mohammed
Hassan Arbab, was killed in Karachi along with a bystander;
another bystander, a child, was seriously injured. In October
an assailant wounded William Nygaard, the Norwegian translator
of Salman Rushdie 's book “The Satanic Verses.” Investigators
have not yet determined the motive for the assault.
The French Gove rnment's investigation into the assassination in
August 1991 of former Prime Minister Shahpour Bakhtiar and his
assistant contihued; two suspects, Iranian government
officials, were 1 under arrest awaiting trial. In the case of
the murder in B rlin of four Iranian Kurdish dissidents in
1992, a German rosecutor announced in May that Kazem Darabi,
who is in a Ge an prison awaiting trial for the killings, is
an agent of the Iranian intelligence service.
b. Disappearance
No reliable information is available on the number of
disappearances in 1993. Many families of executed political
prisoners reportedly have not been informed officially of their
relatives' deaths. In 1993 the Government again responded to
many of the U.N. Special Representatives requests for
information on specific prisoners by denying that it had any
judicial record of them.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading
Treatment or Punishment
There continued to be credible reports of the torture and ill-
treatment of detainees. Common methods of torture are said to
include suspension for long periods in contorted positions,
burning with cigarettes, and, most frequently; severe and
repeated beatings with cables or other instruments on the back
and on the soles of the feet. Prisoners are frequently held in
solitary confinement or denied adequate rations or medical care
as a way of for cing them to confess.
The U.N. Special Representative reported in 1993 that the
Government has taken no measures to establish legal or
procedural safe uards against the torture of prisoners. There
were no reports of law enforcement personnel being held
accountable for torture or other abuses. In 1992 the
Government expelled workers of the International Committee of
the Red Cross (ICRC) who had been visiting detainees. The
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Government has still not permitted the ICRC to resume this
activity in Iran. Information on prison conditions in 1993 was
not available. However, prisoner protests against poor prison
conditions in the past reportedly prompted beatings, denial of
medical care, and, in some cases, execution.
d. Arbitrary Arrest, Detention, or Exile
Arbitrary arrest and detention has been common in the past, but
it is not known how many cases there were in 1993. It is known
that some persor s were arrested on trumped-up criminal charges
when their actu l “offenses” were political. The lack of fair
trials and othe - procedural safeguards encourage such practices.
Baha'is continu d to face arbitrary arrest and detention. The
Government continued its practice of detaining a small but
relatively steady number of Baha'is at any one time.
No judicial determination of the legality of detention exists
in Iranian law, and there is reportedly no legal time limit on
incommunicado d tention. Suspects are held for questioning at
local Revolutionary Guard offices or in jails.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial
There are essentially two different court systems. The civil
courts deal with criminal offenses, and the revolutionary
courts, established in 1979, try “political” offenses as well
as cases involving narcotics trafficking and “crimes against
God.”
In January the Special Representative reported that trials in
Iran continue to fall far short of internationally accepted
standards. Trials by revolutionary courts, especially, cannot
be considered fair or public. Some trials are conducted in
secret. If the trial is staged publicly, it is generally
because the prisoner has already been forced to confess to a
crime. Persons tried by the revolutionary courts (including in
drug trafficking cases) enjoy virtually no procedural or
substantive safeguards. The accused are often indicted under
broad and all-encompassing charges such as “moral corruption,”
“antirevolutionary behavior,” and “siding with global
arrogance.” Trials lasting 5 minutes and less are common.
The right to a defense counsel is theoretically provided for in
Iranian law and in the Constitution, but in the revolutionary
courts defendants are not known to have access to a lawyer;
moreover, they are not able to call witnesses on their behalf
or to appeal. Courts have failed to investigate allegations by
defendants that they were subjected to torture during pretrial
detention. Some persons have been imprisoned beyond the limit
of their senter ce and even executed after the formal expiration
of their prison term.
There was again no evidence in 1993 of any judicial reform that
would bring Ir nian courts into compliance with international
standards; the Special Representative noted in his January 1993
report that a new law on legal representation--which provides
that any Muslim is eligible to represent the accused in
court--does not in fact provide for qualified legal counsel.
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The judicial system is further weakened by the fact that
revolutionary courts may consider cases formally under the
j urisdiction of the civil and criminal courts. Assignment of
cases to regular rather than revolutionary courts is haphazard
and apparently occurs mainly when arrests are made by regular
police. Revolutionary courts may also overturn the decisions
of the civilian courts. The review authority of the Supreme
Court is limited.
For common criminal offenses, many elements of the
prerevolutionary judicial system survive, and the accused often
have the right to a public trial with benefit of lawyers of
their own choosing. Even this judiciary is not fully
independent, however. Many of the former judges were retired
after the revolution, and new judges were selected. One
criterion for new judges is grounding in Islamic law; political
acceptability is a requirement for any government position.
ccording to the New York-based Lawyers Committee for Human
Rights, the 1982 Law on the Qualifications for the Appointment
of Judges discriminates on the grounds of religion, sex, and
olitica1 opinion, while at the same time permitting the
appointment of judges and prosecutors who have no legal
training or experience. Some judges reportedly prefer to base
their judgments on the guidance of religious scholars rather
than on the law.
Because the Government continues to block the activities of
international human rights observers, no reliable estimate is
available on the number of political prisoners, but
knowledgeable sources estimate them in the thousands.
f. Arbitrary Interference with Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence
The Government rejects the Western distinction between a public
sphere which the State may control and a sphere of private life
(religion, culture, thought, arid private behavior) which the
State may not properly control. Before 1982, authorities
entered homes and offices, wiretapped telephones, and opened
mail. These activities are reportedly less common now.
Special Revolutionary Guard units and security forces check on
social activities. Women whose clothing does not completely
cover the hair and all of the body except hands and face, or
who wear makeup, are subject to arrest (see also Section 5).
Crackdowns often result in widespread harassment of women in
the streets. Men have also periodically been required to dress
“modestly.' During the spring and summer of 1993, both
official and self-appointed enforcers campaigned against
insufficiently modest dress and even sunglasses. For example,
the commander of the law enforcement forces in Tehran stated
that 802 men and women were detained from June 16 through 23
for various dress code violations in Tehran.
Section 2 Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press
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According to the Constitution, “publications and the press may
express ideas freely, except when they are contrary to Islamic
principles, or are detrimental to public rights.” In practice,
most publicatioi is are controlled by the Government; independent
publishers run the risk not only of press shutdowns, pressure
from the Government newsprint monopoly, and confiscation of
publications and equipment, but of arrest and summary
punishment if they are overly critical of the Government. The
editor and two employees of the magazine Farad were jailed in
1992 for publishing a cartoon which the authorities deemed
insulting to the late Ayatollah Khomeini. In October after the
cartoonist, Marioucher Karimzadeh, completed his sentence, the
Supreme Court ruled that his punishment had been insufficient
and sentenced him to an additional 10 years' imprisonment.
In August Revolutionary Guards detained the publisher of the
radical daily Salain, Musavi Kho'iniha, as well as the
newspaper's chief editor, ‘Abbas ‘Abdi. The detentions were
apparently in retaliation for criticism of the judicial
authorities. Both men were freed on bail after the newspaper
printed a retraction of its criticism. In September
authorities detained Mehdi Nasiri, editor of the Tehran daily
Keyhan, after the newspaper printed criticism of Ayatollah
Moharnmad Au Yazdi, chief of the judiciary. Nasiri was
released on bail after several days in detention but still
faces a trial before a special “press jury” on charges of
slander. In October Colonel Nasrullah Tavakoli, a retired army
officer, was arrested and placed in incommunicado detention,
apparently for writing a series of open letters critical of the
current Government.
All books must be submitted to the Ministry of Islamic Culture
and Guidance for review before they may be published.
Publishers, authors, and printers also engage in substantial
self-censorship before submitting books to the Ministry in an
effort to avoid the substantial penalties, including economic
losses, incurred when books are rejected. Iranian authorities
have interpreted broadly their authority to censor on religious
grounds, including official acceptance of the February 1989
religious decree condemning British author Salman Rushdie to
death for his book “The Satanic Verses.” On each anniversary
of the decree ince 1992, a group of exiled Iranian writers has
signed a publi condemnation of the decree; the Iranian
Government has responded by banning the writings of the authors
signing the condemnation. By mid-1993, the Government had
banned the works of 162 such signatories.
Newspapers, which are usually associated with various
government factions, reflect a variety of viewpoints.
Generally, newspapers can and do criticize government policies
and officials both in their reporting and editorials. They are
forbidden, however, to criticize the concept of the Islamic
republic or to promote ethnic minority rights. Nevertheless,
some independent publishers out of favor with the Government
continue to survive, and some books and pamphlets critical of
the Government are published without reprisal. Foreign books,
newspapers, and magazines may be imported only after they have
been reviewed by the Ministry of Islamic Culture and Guidance.
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All broadcasting facilities are government owned, and the
ontent of their broadcasting reflects the political and
socioreligious ideology of the Government.
Although restrictions on academic freedom have been eased
somewhat, course content is still monitored and there is little
genuine critical discussion of issues. Informers are said to
be common on campus and in the classroom. Admission to
universities is politicized; all applicants must pass
character tests” in which officials review applicants'
background and ideology with the students' hometown religious
authorities and neighborhood groups. This process serves to
exclude from universities and the professions those who are
èritical of the Governments revolutionary ideology. To
achieve tenure, professors reportedly must cooperate with
government security agencies over a period of years.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association
The Constitution permits unarmed assemblies and marches
“provided they do not violate the principles of Islam. ” In
practice, the only ones permitted are those sponsored by the
Government, such as Friday prayers and parades and
demonstrations on official occasions. According to opposition
sources, a student protest in March at Beheshti high school in
west Tehran was crushed by antiriot police units who arrested
approximately 80 students.
The Constitution also allows the formation of political
parties, groups, and professional associations, as well as
Islamic and some minority religious associations, provided they
do not violate the principles of ‘freedom, sovereignty, (and)
national unity' or question Islam or the Islamic Republic. In
practice, most independent organizations have either been
banned, co-opted by the Government, or are moribund.
The authorities continued to harass the Freedom Movement,
founded in 1961 and declared illegal in 1991, tapping its
telephones, opening its mail, and subjecting its members to
intimidation. While the Freedom Movement participated in the
first parliamentary election after the revolution, it has been
prevented from doing so in all subsequent elections.
c. Freedom of Religion
The state religion is Islam, and religion is almost inseparable
from government in Iran. The President and many other top
officials are mullahs (Islamic clergymen) , as are the Speaker
of the Parliament and many of the parliamentary deputies.
Approximately 90 percent of Iranians are Shi'a Muslims. Aside
from slightly over 1 percent who are non-Muslims (Baha'is,
Christians, Zoroastrians, and Jews), the rest are Sunni
Muslims. The Sunnis are mostly Kurds, Arabs, Turkomans,
Baluch, arid other ethnic minorities whose political influence
is very limited. The Constitution declares that “the official
religion of Iran is Islam and the sect followed is Ja'fari
Shi'ism, but it also states that ‘other Islamic denominations
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shall enjoy complete respect.”
The small Christian, Jewish, and Zoroastrian (the pre-Islaxnic
religion of Iran) populations are concentrated mainly in urban
areas. The Constitution recognizes their religions, and they
elect representatives to seats reserved for them in the
Parliament. They are permitted to practice their religions, to
instruct their children, and--although with a great deal of
disruptive interference--to maintain schools.
Nevertheless, official harassment is commonplace. In June the
U.N. Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights
observed that the U.N. Special Representatives report
“confirm(ed) the broad consensus that there has been
practically no progress in ensuring greater respect and
protection for the rights of the non-Muslim religious
communities” in Iran.
Mehdi Debadj, a Christian convert from Islam arrested in 1983,
was held in prison until December 1993, when Christian
missionary groups reported that a court in Sari sentenced him
to death for apostasy. Following international appeals on his
behalf, Debadj was released in January 1994. According to the
Government, his case is still “under investigation.”
The Government continues to discriminate against the Bahai
àommunity, Iran's largest non-Muslim minority (300,000 to
350,000 members). The Baha'i religion is considered a
“misguided sect” by the authorities. It is not officially
recognized, and Baha'is may not teach their faith.
In 1993 Tehran municipal authorities built a cultural center on
the site of a Baha'i cemetery. Immediately after the 1978-1979
revolution, the cemetery's markers were removed (some
reportedly were auctioned of f), and the site was turned into a
park. The new construction in 1993 involved excavations that
reportedly desecrated Baha'i graves. The U.S. and other
governments condemned the desecration and called on Iran to
halt the project. There is no indication, however, that the
Iranian authorities stopped the construction.
The treatment of Baha'is varies somewhat, depending on the
jurisdiction; in other places, Baha'is were still able to bury
their dead in Baha'i cemeteries.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign
Travel, Emigration, and Repatriation
Iranians may travel to any part of Iran, although there have
been restrictions on travel to Kurdish areas at times of heavy
fighting. Persons may change their place of residence without
obtaining permission. According to the Government,
approximately 3 million refugees, primarily Afghans but also
Kurdish and Shi .'a refugees displaced from Iraq in the aftermath
of the Gulf war, remained in Iran in mid-1993.
Males of draft age are not issued exit permits except for
approved courses of study, and Iranians who are suspect
politically, such as some retired military officers and
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high-level public officials under the former regime, are riot
able to leave the country. Some Iranians, particularly those
whose skills are in short supply and who were educated at
government expense, have had to post bonds to obtain exit
permits. There was no evidence that this situation improved in
1993.
Iranian Jews are permitted to obtain passports and to travel
(including to Israel), but they are normally denied the
multiple-exit permits given to most Iranians and must make a
new application (with another fee) for each planned trip.
Permission is nbt normally granted for all members of a Jewish
family to travel outside Iran at the same time.
The Government ctively encourages the many thousands of
skilled Iranian living abroad to return to help rebuild the
country. Of those who have returned in recent years, a number
have been able to pursue, through the Iranian judicial system,
the restoration of their properties. However, many exiles
complain that formal legal guarantees of their safety have not
yet been provided, and, as a result, many remain reluctant to
return.
There are some categories of persons who may be in danger if
they return to Iran. Some of those with close ties to the
former regime, draft evaders, and those who departed the
country illegally face possible arrest upon their return.
Members of or sympathizers with the People's Mojahedin
Organization of Iran or the Communist Tudeh Party, both
opposition groups banned by the Government, are subject to
imprisonment and torture or even execution should they return.
In his 1993 report, the Special Representative recounted
several cases of exiles and Bahais who were harassed after
returning to Iran. Nevertheless, immediate relatives of
persons wanted by the Government are often able to live in
Iran, travel abroad, and return without undue difficulty.
Iranian passports have always been stamped not valid for
emigration,” but the Government does not make a clear
distinction between legal residence in another country and
emigration. According to the regulations, Iranians with a
legal residence outside Iran may be issued passports and
advance exit permits by the Iranian embassy, consulate, or
interests section in their country of residence. The
Government does not recognize dual nationality and considers
Iranian-born U.S. citizens to be Iranians unless they formally
renounce their Iranian citizenship in accordance with Iranian
law. There have been many instances in which Iranian
authorities have confiscated the passports of dual nationals.
The Government of Iran arid the United Nations High Commissioner
for Refugees (tJNHCR) estimate there were approximately 2.1
million Afghan refugees in Iran in mid-1993. The majority of
these refugees have been integrated into Iranian life. The
remainder live either seminomadic lives or reside in government
settlements in central and eastern Iran. The Government
provided assistance to those refugees. The UNHCR is
supervising the repatriation of Afghan refugees to
Afghanistan.
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Section 3 Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens
to Change Their Government
Iranian citizens do not enjoy the right to change their
government peacefully. Iran is ruled by a group of religious
leaders (mullahs) and their lay associates who share a belief
in the legitimacy of a theocratic state based on Ayatollah
Khomeini's interpretation of Shi'a Islam.
The revolutionary Government has held elections at fairly
regular intervals for president, Parliament deputies, members
of the Assembly of Experts (responsible for choosing the
Revolutionary Leader's successor), and members of local
government councils. Presidential elections were held in June,
resulting in the reelection of Hojjat ol-Eslam Au Akbar
Hashemi—Rafsanjani. Voting is by universal suffrage of
everyone age 15 and older and is by secret ballot. All
candidates must be approved by the Council of Guardians,
however, and only those meeting the Council's vaguely described
political and religious criteria may run. In practice, only
supporters of the theocratic state are accepted, and even
clerics are often disqualified if their positions vary from the
official line.
A few political parties have been licensed following the
Ministry of Interior's announcement in December 1988 that
political parties would be allowed to form, provided they met
the Government's religious and political criteria.
The Constitution provides for an independent Parliament, which
exists to a large degree in practice. While Parliament
deputies are typically allied with various powerful political
and religious officials, they may speak and vote independently
and may shift from one faction to another. Vigorous
parliamentary debates--normally covered extensively in the
press--cover a wide variety of issues. Harsh criticism of
government officials is often heard in these debates, and, in
some cases, laws proposed by the executive branch have been
voted down.
The Constitution provides for a Council of Guardians composed
of 12 members: 6 clerics unilaterally appointed by the Leader,
and 6 lay members well grounded in Islamic law who are
nominated by the head of the judiciary, subject to the
Parliament's approval. The Council of Guardians must certify
all bills passed by the Parliament as being in accordance with
Islamic law and the Constitution. If bills fail to be
certified, they; are sent back to the Parliament for revision.
The Council of Guardians can and does reject important bills
and portions of bills passed by the Parliament. The Council
for the Discernment of Expediency, a body created in 1988,
resolves those legislative issues on which the Parliament and
Council of Guardians disagree. Approximately 4 percent of
Parliament memnb rs are women.
Section 4 Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations
of Human Rights
Iranian organizations that attempt to speak out on human
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rights, such as the Freedom Movement and the Association for
the Protection of Liberties and Human Rights, face severe
harassment by the Government. In the past, the Government
generally has been uncooperative with foreign human rights
groups, whether government sponsored or independent, regarding
their activities as interference in the country's internal
affairs.
The U.N. Special Representative has not been able to visit Iran
since his third visit in 1991; by the end of 1993, the Iranian
Government had not replied to his repeated requests to return
to Iran. At the United Nations, Iran continued its efforts to
restrict the Special Representative's mandate.
Section 5 Discrimination Eased on Race, Sex, Religion,
Language, or Social Status
Women
The discrimination that women have traditionally faced in
Iranian society has increased since the revolution.
Ultraconservative dress, entirely hiding the hair and all of
the body except the face and hands, is a requirement for all
‘ omen, regardless of their religion, national origin, or
citizenship. Women have been harassed, detained, or physically
attacked if they appeared in public in clothing that official
r self-appointed guardians of public morality deemed
insufficiently modest. Enforcement of these rules has varied
onsiderably since Ayatollah Khomeini's death in 1989; there
was a widespread surge in enforcement during 1993 (see Section
l.f). According to press reports, a teenaged girl was
accidentally shot in Tehran in late August after being stopped
on the street by a police conscript for breaking the Islamic
dress code.
Although violence against women is known to occur, little is
known about its extent. Abuse within the family is considered
a private matter in this conservative society and is seldom
discussed publicly. There are no official statistics on the
subject. In the past, there have been credible reports of the
torture and execution of women detainees.
Under legislation passed in 1983, women have the right to
divorce their husbands, and regulations promulgated in 1984
substantially broadened the number of grounds for which a woman
may seek divorce. A husband may obtain a divorce without
stating a reason or going to court. In December 1992 the
Council for the Discernment of Expediency reversed itself and
ratified a bill already passed by the Parliament which added
omewhat to a divorced woman's right to financial support from
her ex-husband. It is not clear yet whether this adjustment
has had any impact in practice.
Children
Iranian law includes provisions that prohibit the use of child
labor in industry (see section 6.d.) No information was
available on the enforcement of these statutes.
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Religious Minorities
The Christian, Jewish, Zoroastrian, and Baha 'i minorities
suffer varying degrees of officially sanctioned discrimination
in a number of areas, particularly with respect to employment,
education, public accommodations, and property ownership. In
1993 non-Muslim owners of restaurants were required to post a
distinctive notice in the windows of their establishments.
Muslims who have converted to Christianity are similarly
discriminated against. University applicants are required to
pass an examination in Islamic theology. This has the effect
of limiting most religious minorities' access to higher
education, although all students must receive instruction on
Islam regardless of their religion. Applicants for public
sector employment are similarly screened for adherence to
standards of Islamic orthodoxy, with much the same effect.
Religious minorities have also suffered discrimination in the
legal system, receiving lower awards in injury and death
lawsuits and suffering heavier punishments than those imposed
on Muslims. Although Sunnis have encountered religious
discrimination n the local level, the Government has tried to
reduce Shi'a-Suhni antagonism.
The Government has stated that it will protect the ‘social and
legal rights” of Baha'is as normal citizens,” but in practice
there is widespread persecution and discrimination in many
areas of public life. Baha'i marriages are not recognized, and
Baha 'is are forbidden to participate in social welfare
organizations.
In 1993 the Special Representative reported obtaining reliable
information on an internal Iranian government directive setting
out policy on the Baha'is. In the directive, dated February
1992, the Supreme Revolutionary Council instructed government
agencies to block the progress and development of the Baha'i
community; expel from the universities students identified as
Baha'is; seek to cut the Baha'is' links outside Iran; restrict
employment for those who identify themselves as Baha 'is; and
deny Baha'is “positions of influence,” including in the
education sector. The Government claims the policy directive
is a forgery; it appears, however, to reflect accurately
current government practice.
The Government continued to return some of the property of
individual Bahais that it had previously confiscated, although
the amount represents a small fraction of the total seized.
Property of the community, such as places of worship, remains
confiscated. Most Bahais are now able to obtain food ration
booklets. Bahai children are now permitted to attend grade
school and high school but are generally not permitted to
attend college or be employed on college faculties. A small
number of Bahais were permitted to leave the country. While
some Baha'is have been issued passports, the majority of such
applications are denied.
Some Bahais continue to be denied public sector (and often
private sector) employment on account of their religion; in a
number of cases, ration cards have been denied on the same
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1993 Human Rights Report: IRAN Page 13 of 15
grounds. Thousands of Baha'is dismissed from government jobs
in the early 1980's receive no unemployment benefits and have
been required to repay the Government for salaries or pensions
received from the first day of employment. Those unable to do
so face prison sentences.
d. People with Disabilities
There is no information available on government policy with
respect to people with disabilities.
Section 6 Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association
Article 13]. of the Labor Code grants workers and employers
alike the right to form and join their own organizations. In
practice, however, there are no real labor unions in Iran. A
national organization known as the Worker's House, founded in
1982 as the labor wing of the now defunct Islamic Republican
Party, is the only authorized national labor organization with
nominal claims to represent all Iranian workers. It works
closely with the workplace Islamic councils that exist in many
Iranian enterprises. The Workers' House is largely a conduit
of government influence and control, not a trade union founded
by workers to represent their interests.
The officially sanctioned Islamic labor councils also function
as instruments of government influence and not as bodies
created and controlled by workers to advance their own
interests, although the councils have frequently been able to
block layoffs or the firing of workers.
A network of guild unions operates on a regional basis. These
guild unions issue vocational licenses, fund financial
cooperatives to assist members, and help workers to find jobs.
The guild unions operate with the backing of the Government.
According to opposition sources, there were several protests
and strikes during the spring, including a strike involving
thousands of workers at a tractor factory in Tabriz, a walkout
to protest nonpayment of salaries at a government sugar factory
in western Iran, and strikes in textile factories in northern
Iran and near Tèhran. In the past the Government has not
tolerated any strike deemed to be at odds with its economic and
labor policies.
b. The Ri ht to Organize and Bargain Collectively
The right of workers to organize independently and bargain
collectively calinot be documented. It is not known whether
labor legislatibn and practice in the export processing zones
differ in any significant respect from the law and practice in
the rest of the country. No information is available on
mechanisms used to set wages.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor
Section 273 of the Iranian Penal Code provides that any person
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1993 Human Rights Report: IRAN Page 14 of 15
who does not have definite means of subsistence and who,
through laziness or negligence, does not look for work may be
obliged by the Government to take suitable employment. This
provision has been frequently criticized by the International
Labor Organization (ILO) as contravening ILO Convention 29 on
forced labor.
d. Minimum Age for Employment of Children
Iranian labor law, which exempts agriculture, domestic service,
family businesses, and, to some extent, other small businesses,
forbids employment of minors under 15 years of age (compulsory
education extends through age 11) and places special
restrictions on the employment of minors under 18. In
addition, women and minors may not be used for hard labor or,
in general, for night work. Information on the extent to which
these regulations are enforced by the Labor Inspection
epartment of the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs and the
local authorities is not available.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work
The Labor Code empowers the Supreme Labor Council to set
ntinimuxn wage levels each year determined by industrial sector
and region. It is not known if minimum wage levels are in fact
issued annually or if the Labor Ministry's inspectors enforce
their application. The Labor Code stipulates that the minimum
wage should be sufficient to meet the living expenses of a
family and should take into account the announced rate of
inflation. Information on the share of the working population
covered by the minimum wage legislation or the share of the
work force receiving a decent wage is not available.
Labor law establishes a 6-day workweek of 48 hours maximum
(except for overtime at premium rates), with 1 day of rest
(normally Friday) per week as well as at least 12 days per year
of leave with pay and a number of paid public holidays.
According to the Labor Code, a Supreme Safety Council, chaired
by the Labor Minister or his representative, is responsible for
promoting workplace safety and health and issuing occupational
safety and health regulations and codes of practice. The
Council has reportedly issued 28 safety directives. The
Supreme Safety Council is also supposed to oversee the
activities of the safety committees that have reportedly been
established in about 3,000 enterprises employing more than 10
persons. It is not known how well the Labor Ministry's
inspectors enforce the safety and health legislation and
regulations nor whether industrial accident rates are compiled
and show positive trends (Iran does not furnish this data to
the ILO for publication in its Year Book of Labor Statistics)
Given the large segments of the economy exempted from the labor
law, the State's still unresolved administrative
disorganization resulting from the revolution, the effects of
the war with Iraq, and the general lack of effective labor
unions, it is unclear to what extent the provisions of Iran's
labor law affect most of the labor force.
The ILO has long been concerned with official discrimination in
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1993 Human Rights Report: IRAN
employment against adherents of the Bahai religion.
( nd of document]
Page l5of 15
Rçtu to 1993 Human Rights Practices report home page.
R ç n to DOSFAN home page.
This is an official U.S. Government source for information on the /VWW. Inclusion of non-U.S.
Government links does not imply endorsement of contents.
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