Amnesty International Report on Human Rights Violations in Iran in 2017

Amnesty International, in its annual report, criticized the violation of the fundamental rights of Iranian citizens, citing issues such as unfair trials, the execution of offenders under 18 years of age, and the suppression of freedom of expression and the right to protest in the Islamic Republic. The report examines human rights violations in the past year – 2017. Five pages of this report address human rights violations in the Islamic Republic of Iran. In Amnesty International's report, the protests in Iran in December of this year are noted as the largest anti-government demonstrations since 2009. During the December protests in various cities in Iran, at least 25 people were killed, and thousands were arrested. Some of the detainees also lost their lives while in prison. The initial protests, which began on December 28 in Mashhad and several other cities, were sparked by economic conditions and the slogan 'No to Inflation' and quickly spread to dozens of cities across Iran, taking on a political nature. During the protests, harsh slogans were directed against the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, senior officials, and government institutions, in support of the Pahlavi monarchs or against Iran's presence in regional countries. Amnesty International's annual report criticized the execution of offenders who were under 18 at the time of their crime. Human Rights Watch had previously called on Iran to halt the death penalty for juvenile offenders. The UN Human Rights Office also issued a statement prior to this, calling for an 'immediate halt' to the death penalty for individuals who commit crimes as minors, referencing the increase in executions of juvenile offenders in Iran. Iran, alongside Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and the Gaza Strip, is among four countries where the death penalty for juvenile offenders is still issued and carried out after they turn 18. International laws explicitly urge countries worldwide to refrain from issuing death sentences for individuals under 18. Amnesty International also criticized the lack of the right to protest and hold peaceful demonstrations in Iran and the suppression of freedom of expression in the Islamic Republic.