Kurds almost half of political prisoners in Iran: UN rapporteur
Javaid Rehman, U.N. special rapporteur on human rights in Iran, October 2018. Photo: UN webTV.
NEW YORK,— A newly circulated United Nations report on Iran has noted that nearly half of the country’s political prisoners are ethnic Kurds and that they are executed at a disproportionately higher rate than other ethnic groups.
In a report submitted on July 18, 2019 but only circulated to the UN General Assembly on Friday. United Nations Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in the Islamic Republic of Iran Javaid Rehman expressed concerns about a range of issues, including the treatment of ethnic and religious minorities and women, freedom of expression, and judicial conduct.
Rehman found that “Kurdish political prisoners charged with national security offences represent almost half of the total number of political prisoners in the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
Moreover, they “constitute a disproportionately high number of those who received the death penalty and are executed.”
In 2018, 828 ethnic Kurds were arrested related to civic activism.
So far this year, 199 Kurds have been arrested, including 17 women, on charges of belonging to banned Kurdish parties, organizing Newroz celebrations, or being engaged in labor, environmental, or civic activism.
Others were arrested for engaging in banned religious activities or managing social networks through platforms like Telegram.
“At present, 55 of the 199 Kurdish detainees were sentenced to up to 15 years in prison. At least 17 Kurdish prisoners were executed: 14 for murder and 3 for drug-related crimes,” the report found.
Rahman also expressed concern that Iran has more than 80 offenses are punishable by death, including adultery, homosexuality, drug possession, “waging war against God, corruption on Earth, blasphemy, and [insulting] of the Prophet [Muhammad].”
Iran conducted 253 executions last year, the most of any country other than China, according to Amnesty International.
Rehman also wrote that Iran’s Kurdish population is concentrated in “provinces [that] are characterized by a lack of economic development and high unemployment rates.”
He also noted that Kurdish language rights are restricted and that Kurdish is not recognized as an official administrative language and is not taught in schools.
Asma Jahangir, the former UN Special Rapporteur-designate for Human Rights in Iran, released her advanced remarks on the violation of rights in Iran in March 2017. “Kurdish political prisoners are said to represent almost half of the total number of political prisoners in Iran,” she said.
Ever since its emergence in 1979 the Islamic regime imposed discriminatory rules and laws against the Kurds in all social, political and economic fields.
Iran’s Kurdish minority live mainly in the west and north-west of the country. They experience discrimination in the enjoyment of their religious, economic and cultural rights.
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.
Kurds are also discriminated against in their access to employment, adequate housing and political rights, and so suffer entrenched poverty, which has further marginalized them.
Kurdish human rights defenders, community activists, and journalists often face arbitrary arrest and prosecution. Others – including some political activists – suffer torture, grossly unfair trials before Revolutionary Courts and, in some cases, the death penalty.
Kurdish armed nationalist groups including PJAK have been carrying out attacks against Iranian forces in the Kurdistan Province of Iran (Eastern Kurdistan) and other Kurdish-inhabited areas.
Since 2004 the PJAK (Partiya Jiyana Azad a Kurdistane) took up arms to establish a semi-autonomous Kurdish regional entities or Kurdish federal states in Iran, similar to the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in Iraq. The PJAK has more than 3,000 armed militiamen, half the members of PJAK are women.
Estimate to over 12 million Kurds live in Iranian Kurdistan (Rojhelat).
Copyright © 2019, respective author or news agency, Ekurd.net | nrttv.com | Agencies
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