UN Special Rapporteur: Mandatory Hijab is the Most Obvious Example of Violence Against Women in Iran

A new report by Javid Rahman, the UN Special Rapporteur for monitoring human rights in Iran, has been published to the UN General Assembly. In this report, he describes the government's pressure to enforce mandatory hijab as one of the most evident examples of organized and targeted violence and discrimination against women in Iran. Javid Rahman, in his annual report, refers to the widespread national protests following the death of Mahsa Amini at the hands of the Iranian government forces, stating that according to received information, the Islamic Republic regime has killed at least 537 protesters, including 68 children and 48 women, using lethal weapons, injured hundreds, and arrested, detained, or imprisoned thousands of protesters by August 9 of this year (1402 in the Iranian calendar). The UN Special Rapporteur emphasized that since the death of Mahsa Amini in September of last year, the Islamic Republic has refrained from conducting impartial, independent, and transparent investigations into her death as well as independent and transparent investigations into the use of lethal weapons against its protesters. Citing multiple reports, Javid Rahman noted that over twenty thousand people have been arrested since the protests began last year, with most detainees charged with vague and undefined crimes under Islamic Penal Code, including 'propaganda against the regime,' 'gathering and collusion to act against national security,' 'corruption on earth,' and 'moharebeh' (waging war against God), which carry the death penalty. This is the second detailed report by Javid Rahman this year addressed to the UN General Assembly. Earlier this year, his report was published to the Human Rights Council. Rahman expressed concern over the increasing trend of death sentences in Iran, including executions carried out without fair trials or based on coerced confessions obtained under torture, stating that at least 582 death sentences, including 256 related to drug offenses, were executed in 2022, marking a significant increase compared to the previous year. He also noted that at least sixteen women were executed in 2022. Javid Rahman specifically mentioned the execution of at least seven protesters last year, including 22-year-old Mohsen Shakari, who was executed on charges of moharebeh after his coerced confessions were broadcast on December 7, 1401, and Majidreza Rahnavard, who was executed four days later on the same charge. According to Javid Rahman, the number of executions among ethnic minorities bears no proportion to their population, with 147 of the total executed last year being from the Baluch minority, and at least eighty-five Baluch were executed from January 1, 1401, to August 9, 1402. The UN Special Rapporteur expressed concern over the continued repression, suppression, harassment, and detention of activists and human rights lawyers, stating that after the protests following Mahsa Amini's death, the Iranian security forces arrested nearly six hundred civil rights activists, including teachers, labor activists, and minority rights activists. He further stated that the apparent aim of the arrests and attacks is to punish and silence human rights defenders and civil rights activists, particularly regarding women's rights and those demanding accountability from the government for Mahsa Amini's death. Javid Rahman will present key points of this report at a meeting in the Third Committee of the UN General Assembly in New York at the end of October (this month) and will respond to questions from UN member states. According to the latest resolution passed by the General Assembly last year at Canada's proposal, the UN Special Rapporteur is required to report on the latest human rights situation in the Islamic Republic to the members of the General Assembly. This report will be the last one Javid Rahman prepares and presents as the Special Rapporteur for Iran. In the coming months, as Rahman will not have the opportunity to be reappointed to this position, another reporter must be selected by the UN human rights mechanism for this mission. According to UN regulations, no individual can be nominated for a UN Special Rapporteur mission for more than six terms.