Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you for having me present to the committee our concerns with regard to Iran.
Before I begin, I would like to just acknowledge that a member of our parliamentary co-group, Tarek Hassan, is here. You will probably see him in the future. I just want to make sure that he's identified.
Because my colleagues have covered much of the ground I was going to speak to, I'm going to try to avoid repetition by starting with an assessment of a situation that, particularly over the last four months in Iran, has become quite seriously worse. There seems to be a progression of human rights violations targeting particular groups and sectors in the society. This could be perceived as a lead-in to the upcoming elections in June of this year.
We have noted that, as of the beginning of this year, over 220 individuals had been arbitrarily arrested. These were political activists and other activists. We also noted that there had been actions, and I'll speak specifically to actions against students. In one particular case in January, when students were protesting Israel's attacks against Gaza, one would assume that the government would not be opposed to this, but they in fact were because it was an independent action by students. The police came in, broke up the demonstration, and arrested a number of the students.
So even though it's on an issue one would think the Government of Iran would be sympathetic to, they do act. That's specifically because any independent action in Iran by any part of civil society is seen to be a threat.
In terms of some of the areas of concern, I'll touch on the judicial system and the laws of Iran, which don't meet international standards by any stretch of the imagination. There is no independent judiciary. Many of the laws under the Iranian constitution are extremely vaguely worded. Such terms as “acting against state security”, “spreading lies”, “propaganda against the system”, “creating unease in the public mind”, “insulting the holy sanctities”, and “defamation of state officials” are often used to target members of Iran's religious ethnic minorities, as well as human rights and other civil society actors.
In the context of the kinds of punishment these people can face, it can range from a fine all the way up to the death penalty, depending upon the circumstances and how the laws are interpreted.
Many people who are detained arbitrarily are not acknowledged as being detained for long periods of time. In some cases, it's only at the point of the acting out of the sentence that people become aware of where they are.
Judges have wide discretion with regard to evidence in reaching a verdict. Sometimes they rely on poorly defined provisions termed “knowledge of the judge”.
The use of torture is widespread, and it's particularly used to extract information prior to formal charges or otherwise. Also, ill treatment as a form of judicial punishment, such as flogging or the use of amputation, is common.
Impunity for human rights violations is almost absolute. Amnesty's concerns go right back to the beginning of the Islamic Republic, particularly the period in 1988 when thousands of political prisoners were executed and prisons were cleared. These were people who were arrested in the early years of the Islamic Republic. Of course, in the case of Zahra Kazemi, although we did see some progress in that at least charges were filed against lower-level officials, the end result was that one person eventually faced court and he was found not guilty.
I would like to say at this point, highlighting recommendations from my colleague, Mr. Stork, that it's really important in the case of Canada.... And we do have this risk of many Canadian citizens of Iranian background who return home, who visit family, and who support family, and who can find themselves in difficulty, like Ms. Kazemi.
It's important that Parliament, as well as the government, take active action on their behalf to press the Iranian authorities to account for the conditions of these individuals and ensure they have access to consular officials. The Iranian authorities will often say that, because they are Iranian or dual citizens, they will not recognize the Canadian citizenship. I think it is important that you do press. The little progress we saw in Ms. Kazemi's case was due to the pressure placed on the Iranian authorities from this House and the government. It's really critically important that we continue to pursue that.
In terms of freedom of expression, the situation is becoming broader, and it's worsening. It affects not just newspapers and journalists; it also affects NGOs and anyone who regularly is seeking access to the Internet. Their Internet controls are severe. There are laws coming into place that will take effect and will limit the use of the Internet even further. I will touch on that in a few minutes.
In terms of the death penalty, I only want to say here that last year Amnesty recorded 346 executions, of which eight were juveniles. One other juvenile was executed recently this year, in January. This is a major problem. In fact, it goes against Iranian obligations internationally, and it is an issue we need to press.
On political cases where individuals are facing a potential death sentence, often they are accused of “enmity against God”. Therefore, it becomes very difficult for these individuals to present a defence.
On the issue of religious minorities, I think it's important to note that all religious minorities, even those that are accepted under Iranian constitution, are facing repression of various sorts. It depends on the context and the situation, but Christians, Jews, Zoroastrians, and the unrecognized minorities such as the Baha'is all face forms of discrimination and possible persecution in certain circumstances. It is a continuing problem that needs to be addressed.
In terms of the ethnic minorities issue, I only want to say here that the broad discrimination includes not just simple political repression, but also discrimination in terms of access to education, access to government services, living conditions, poor housing, etc. The actual discrimination covers the whole gamut of human rights concerns.
On violations of human rights of women, the women's rights sector is one where there has been some progress, in terms of women actively seeking improvements in their rights over the last few years. Unfortunately, there has been a retreat with the current president, but women still struggle and fight for their rights. It's an important area for Amnesty, and I think it should be an important area for the Canadian government to do whatever it can to support the activists on the ground and encourage Iran to abide by its obligations internationally. We have to recognize at the same time that many activists who do leave Iran and speak out on the situation face, upon return, the danger of being arrested or restricted in terms of travel. These are steps that have been taken by the Iranian authorities.
I want to touch very briefly on the arrest of relatives of the members of the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran. I think many committee members have been approached from the Iranian community here in Canada about members who had been in Camp Ashraf. In January of this year, members of their families in Iran, mostly elderly women between the ages of 60 and 85, had attempted to leave Iran to visit their families in Iraq. They were detained, arrested, and are currently being held in prison. This is a continuation of the threat. I know cases of potential refugees, of individuals who have had an association with the People's Mojahedin and who are seeking refugee status in Canada. It remains a concern for Amnesty. Not every individual who applies for refugee status from Iran would be at risk, but it's clear at this moment that the situation is worsening, and great care has to be taken in these cases.
That's my presentation.
In terms of the recommendations, I don't need to go there; I would just re-emphasize those made by Mr. Stork.