I'm very happy to be here today to be able to speak to Parliament's human rights division.
Very briefly, I would like to give a report of the violations of human rights in Iran today.
Unfortunately, the courts in Iran lose their power day by day. Many of the people accused in prison have said that the interrogators had decided their fate and what their sentence should be, and that was approved by the court. Also, in the cases for which I am their lawyer, I have never witnessed justice.
For instance, Zahra Kazemi's case has been just sitting for more than two years and nothing has been done with it. Or take the case of leaders of Baha’i in Iran who have been in prison for over two years; nothing has been done for them. The court can very easily accept bail and release the prisoners by bail, and the request has been submitted several times, but it has never been accepted.
What the courts are doing specifically towards the political accused is totally against our laws. As a lawyer, I have repeatedly mentioned to the courts that they should not go beyond the law, but they have never paid attention.
During the past ten months, numerous people have gone to jail simply because they had opposed the results of the election. In prison, they don't have any kind of rights—even less than the regular criminals like murderers and so forth. Right now several political prisoners are on hunger strikes because of their situation.
In Iran, several bad laws were passed after the revolution, with punishments such as stoning, amputation of limbs, and crucifixion. Unfortunately, they are actually being done. Last month they amputated the leg and arm of one person who was accused of robbery. In 2009 Iran had the highest number of executions of minors. Last year we had the highest number of executions of adults, after China.
According to the report of Reporters Without Borders, Iran has the highest number of journalists in prison. Not only does government control radio and TV; they also prevent Persian-speaking media outside the country from accessing the people by distorting satellite signals.
The conditions of advocates for human rights in Iran are very bad. Many of them are in prisons. I have a client by the name of Mr. Kaboudvand who was sentenced to five years in prison because he started up an NGO. The NGO I founded a year and a half ago was closed down by the government, which was against the law of the country. We complained, but nobody paid attention to that complaint.
I'll stop my comments with thanks for listening to me patiently. I'll answer any questions.