Human Rights
Nov 2-6, 1998 / Aban 11-15, 1377
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* MPs pave way for ban
on mixed-sex hospitals
Recent
* U.S. condemns arrests in Iran
* With raids and arrests, Iran signals new effort to suppress
bahais
* U.S. rights group backs jailed Iran cleric
* Baha'is: Iran's crimes at home
* Leftist on hunger strike in French prison
* Iran slams U.N. criticism on rights as ``political''
* Many demands of Iranian refugees' met
* Iran frees on bail journalists of banned daily
* Rights violated in Iran despite reform moves - U.N.
* Freed Iran newspaper head says held in solitary
* IHRWG condemns crackdown on Baha'is in Iran
* Iranian refugees in Iraq protest against UN office
* IHRWG Condemns Crackdown on
the freedom of expression
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* MPs pave way for ban on mixed-sex hospitals
TEHRAN, Nov 1 (Reuters) - Iran's parliament on
Sunday approved a measure paving the way for segregating hospitals for
men and women according to strict Islamic rules. In a session broadcast
live on state radio, the conservative-controlled parliament passed an amendment
to ensure funding for a controversial law to set up single-sex hospitals.
The Guardian Council, a powerful body which vets legislation, blocked the
law last month after saying it lacked funding guarantees... FULL
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* U.S. condemns arrests in Iran
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The State Department accused Iran of persecuting
members of the Baha'i faith and urged that death sentences against six
Baha'i prisoners be set aside. More than 500 homes and office buildings
owned or rented by Iranian Baha'is have been raided and at least 36 faculty
members from a Baha'i institute arrested, deputy spokesman James Foley
said Thursday... FULL TEXT
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* With raids and arrests, Iran signals new effort to suppress bahais
The New York Times, October 29, 1998 - One day in late September, Iranian
security officials fanned out across their country and raided some 500
homes and several office buildings owned or rented by members of the Bahai
faith, confiscating material and arresting dozens of people. This was hardly
the first time that Bahais, Iran's largest religious minority, felt the
sting of attention from the Shiite Muslim government. As in the past, the
United States condemned the action. But what happened Sept. 29 was remarkable
because it brought to an abrupt end an elaborate act of communal self-preservation.
The materials confiscated were neither political nor religious, and the
people arrested were not fighters or organizers. They were lecturers in
subjects like accounting and dentistry; the materials seized were textbooks
and laboratory equipment... FULL
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* U.S. rights group backs jailed Iran cleric
DUBAI, Oct 27 (Reuters) - A U.S. human rights group expressed support
for a Shi'ite Moslem cleric jailed in Iran after he published articles
supporting women's rights. The New York-based Lawyers Committee for Human
Rights, in a statement received by Reuters on Tuesday, urged lawyers to
write on behalf of Mohsen Saeidzadeh to Iranian head of judiciary Ayatollah
Mohammad Yazdi and Iran's envoy to the United Nations ... FULL
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* Baha'is: Iran's crimes at home
Washington Post editorial, Sunday, October 25, 1998 - SINCE THE election
of President Khatami more than a year ago, Iran watchers have been hoping
for signs of new tolerance in that nation's policies. But if treatment
of the most vulnerable minority is any indication, there is little reason
to cheer Iran's recent record. Members of the Baha'i faith, a religion
that claims about 6 million adherents worldwide and 300,000 in Iran, have
been facing increasingly vicious persecution... FULL
TEXT
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* Leftist on hunger strike in French prison
PARIS, Oct 23 (Reuters) - An Iranian leftist exile jailed in France
on common criminal charges has been on a life-threatening hunger strike
in a Paris jail for over a month, colleagues said on Friday. The Organisation
of Guerrillas of the Iranian People said in a statement that Ahmad Fahimi,
also known as Khosrow, was in ``a critical state of health, might lose
his sight and hearing and could be in danger of death in the coming days.''...
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* Iran slams U.N. criticism on rights as ``political''
TEHRAN, Oct 23 (Reuters) - Iran on Friday rejected as ``political''
a U.N. report which said significant human rights violations were continuing
there even though many Iranian leaders wished to move towards a more tolerant
society. Foreign Ministry spokesman Mahmoud Mohammadi said the report was
``incompatible with realities and current developments in Iran'' after
last year's election of reformist President Mohammad Khatami, the Iranian
news agency IRNA reported... FULL
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* Many demands of Iranian refugees' met
October 21, 1998 (International Federation of Iranian Refugees) - The
sit-in of 200 Iranian refugees in Erbil, Iraqi Kurdistan, in protest to
the policies and practices of the United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees (UNHCR) - Iraq, has ended. (See earlier statement) Faced with
local pressure from the sit-in participants as well international pressure
coordinated by the International Federation of Iranian Refugees (IFIR),
the UNHCR finally addressed many of the legitimate demands of the refugees...
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* Rights violated in Iran despite reform moves - U.N.
UNITED NATIONS, Oct 21 (Reuters) - Significant human rights violations
continue in Iran, though many of the country's leaders wish to move toward
a more tolerant and peaceful society, a U.N. investigator said on Wednesday.
`The obstacles to be overcome in achieving this goal are very evident and
success is by no means assured,'' said the U.N. Human Rights Commission's
special representative for Iran, Maurice Copithorne of Canada... FULL
TEXT
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* Iran frees on bail journalists of banned daily
TEHRAN, Oct 21 (Reuters) - An Iranian court on Wednesday released on
bail two journalists arrested a month ago after their outspoken moderate
daily was banned, the Iranian news agency IRNA reported. It quoted a court
official as saying Tous daily's managing-director Mohammad Sadeq Javadi-Hessar
and columnist Ebrahim Nabavi, arrested on unspecified security charges
in mid-September, were freed on bail. The move followed the release on
bail last week of Hamid Reza Jalaeipour, the newspaper's business director.
Editor Mashallah Shamsolvaezin remains in jail... FULL
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* Freed Iran newspaper head says held in solitary
TEHRAN, Oct 19 (Reuters) - The director of a banned moderate Iranian
newspaper, who was released after a month in prison, said he had been held
in solitary confinement and not told of the charges against him, a weekly
magazine reported. ``Indirect psychological torture during 27 days through
solitary confinement...cannot be justified by any civil, legal or religious
principles,'' Hamid Reza Jalaeipour, freed on bail last week, told the
latest issue of the weekly Aban... FULL
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* Iranian refugees in Iraq protest against UN office
The International Federation of Iranian Refugees, October 13, 1998 --
It is estimated that 3,700 Iranian refugees are currently residing in Northern
Iraq. On September 13, 1998, 400 refugees living in Suleymaniyah and surrounding
areas initiated a two-day sit-in to protest the UNHCR's irresponsibility.
As a result, UNHCR staff met with refugee representatives to discuss their
demands. The protesters ended their sit-in temporarily, giving the UNHCR
a 15-day deadline to meet their demands. When their demands were not addressed,
200 protesters began a second sit-in on September 27, 1998 at the Erbil
UNHCR office. The sit-in continues... FULL
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* IHRWG condemns crackdown on Baha'is in Iran
Iranian Human Rights Working Group (IHRWG), Oct 16, 1998 -- The Iranian
Human Rights Working Group (IHRWG) strongly condemns the recent crackdown
against the Iranian Baha'i community. The Iranian Baha'is have been ruthlessly
persecuted by the authorities of the Islamic Republic and are deprived
of most basic rights, including the right to freely and publicly practice
their religion, the right to higher education, the right to representation,
and access to all jobs ... FULL
TEXT
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