Amnesty International: The Islamic Republic Criminalizes Any Activities of Human Rights Defenders

Amnesty International, in a report on the status of NGOs worldwide, accused the Islamic Republic of suppressing these organizations and criminalizing their activities through the enactment of laws and regulations. The detailed report, published on Thursday, February 2, titled "Laws Designed to Silence," examines the status of NGOs, civil society, and human rights activists in various countries. In the section regarding Iran, it states that officials of the Islamic Republic have effectively criminalized any activities of human rights defenders and civil organizations through the enactment of laws. According to the report, certain provisions of the "Islamic Penal Code" create serious obstacles for the establishment and registration of civil and non-governmental organizations, the "Political Parties Law" restricts freedom of expression and assembly, and the "NGO Law" serves as a tool for government control over these organizations. Amnesty International reports that officials of the Islamic Republic have repeatedly used ambiguous provisions of the "Islamic Penal Code," such as "acts against national security," "gathering with the intent to conspire against national security," and "membership in groups opposed to national security," to suppress NGOs and civil society, thereby legitimizing arbitrary arrests. The report states that the use of these laws in issuing unjust sentences has intensified, especially after the protests of 2009. Judicial rulings that effectively prevented the establishment or free operation of new human rights organizations or dissolved previous organizations have primarily referenced these laws. Amnesty International specifically mentions the suppression and dissolution of organizations such as the "Defenders of Human Rights Center," "Iranian Prisoners' Rights Association," "Human Rights Reporters Committee," and the "Step-by-Step Abolition of the Death Penalty Campaign" (Legam), noting that in most cases, members of these organizations have been convicted and imprisoned. The report also references Nasrin Sotoudeh and Narges Mohammadi, both currently imprisoned. In its detailed report, Amnesty International also refers to other countries, labeling the use of laws to suppress civil institutions and NGOs as a "global problem." The organization cites Pakistan, Egypt, and Belarus, and regarding Saudi Arabia, it notes that any new organization or establishment in Saudi Arabia is at risk of being shut down or completely dissolved under the "National Unity Act." According to Amnesty International, this law is primarily used to suppress human rights groups and women's rights defenders. The report is published two weeks after Reporters Without Borders announced it had obtained a file containing "data from the Iranian judiciary" over recent decades. Reporters Without Borders stated that according to its initial review of this file, at least 860 journalists and citizen-journalists were arrested, imprisoned, and even executed in Iran between 1979 and 2009. As reported by Reporters Without Borders, one of the files contains "one million seven hundred thousand registered names, encompassing all social classes and individuals, including women, men, and children, members of religious and ethnic minorities, ordinary prisoners, political prisoners, as well as political opponents of the regime and journalists and citizen-journalists."