Starting on 15 November 2019, mass protests have
erupted in Iran in response to a three-fold rise in petrol costs. Protesters
have called for improved living conditions amidst high levels of corruption,
unemployment, poverty and discrimination across the country. Some reports have
indicated that protests have occurred in 500 locations in at least 120 cities
in 28 provinces, including in Isfahan, Tehran, Shiraz and Tabriz – the largest
scale in recent history. In response to the protests, Law Enforcement has
responded with violence, with reports indicating that as of 2
December 2019, at least 208
protesters have been killed; other sources fear the number of casualties
might be higher.
These new protests come on the wave of increasing
restrictions on civic space by Iranian authorities. In the context of an
already repressed civic environment, authorities have in the past year targeted
conservationists, civil society activists - especially labor union and
teachers’ union activists - as well as human rights defenders, who have been
wrongfully prosecuted for exercising their rights to freely assemble and form
human rights associations.
Besides the impunity with which it functions in the
face of human rights violations, authorities have deployed various tactics to
silence protesters: based on citizens’ reports, the military and security
forces have opened live ammunition on protesters and hundreds have been
injured. Iranian officials have announced the arrest of over 7000 protesters.
The government has warned protesters of the consequences of participating in
such protests through text messages, including summoning protesters to security
centres to provide details of their involvement in protests.
The Iranian government also shut down internet access
during the protests, with reports indicating that up to 95% of
Iranians were unable to access the internet, starting on 16 November until 21
November. As the intensity of the protests surge, Iranians can only access the
national internet and websites approved by Council of Country Security. This
means that monitoring the status of the protests is not possible for the
international community, allowing for further impunity on the part of Law
Enforcement.
Every day the level and scope of the violence and
arrests has increased and specifically the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei,
has given a green light to widespread repression of the
protesters.
In light of these restrictions, the undersigned
organizations call on the Government of Iran to:
- Immediately and unconditionally release all
individuals and civil society activists
who have been arrested during the protests, upholding the right to freedom of
assembly in accordance with the rights enshrined in the United Nations
Declaration on Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights (ICCPR), the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders and Human Rights
Council resolutions 22/6, 27/5 and 27/31.
- Immediately cease the violent crackdown on protesters and ensure that
law enforcement abides by international best practice as articulated by the UN
Code of Conduct for Law Enforcement Officials and the UN Basic Principles on
the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement.
- Bring
to justice, by fair and transparent trial, those responsible for the deaths of
protesters.
- Reinstate access to the internet and ensure free access to and exchange
of information among Iranians, and with the outside world, and remove the
barriers for such access and exchange.
The undersigned:
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