The Position of Human Rights in the 2017 Presidential Elections

The twelfth presidential election in Iran, like previous ones, is accompanied by programs and promises from each of the qualified candidates. Promises include addressing economic issues, supporting the underprivileged, job creation, improving health and education, respecting minority rights, and media freedom. These promises, according to some human rights defenders, usually play a significant role in election speeches but later remain mere rhetoric. This election features candidates who have previously held key positions: Hassan Rouhani, Ebrahim Raisi, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, Eshaq Jahangiri, Mostafa Mir-Salim, and Mostafa Hashemi-Taba. After 38 years of the Islamic Republic, the twelfth presidential election in Iran is held under conditions where Iran has the highest per capita execution rate in the world, one of the five largest prisons for media activists, and ranks 165th in the Reporters Without Borders' media freedom index among 180 countries surveyed. Radio Farda has interviewed Nasrin Sotoudeh, a lawyer in Tehran; Hadi Ghaemi, director of the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran; Reza Moini, head of the Iran section at Reporters Without Borders; Abdolkarim Lahiji, a lawyer; Mahmoud Amiri-Moghaddam, head of the Iran Human Rights Organization; Taghi Rahmani, a political activist; and Hossein Ghazian, a sociologist, to examine the position of human rights in the presidential elections in Iran and the views of this election's candidates.