From Pahlavi Iran (1925 to 1979), through the Iranian Revolution (1979), to the era of the Islamic Republic of Iran (1979 to present), government treatment of Iranian citizens' rights has been criticized by Iranians, international human rights activists, writers, and NGOs. While the monarchy under the rule of the shahs was widely attacked by most Western watchdog organizations for having an abysmal human rights record, the government of the Islamic Republic which succeeded it is considered still worse by many. Over the decades, various groups, including political dissidents, religious minorities, and ethnic communities have faced systematic repression, with state policies often targeting not only political opposition but also cultural and linguistic identity.
The Pahlavi dynasty—Reza Shah Pahlavi and his son Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi—has been described as a "royal dictatorship", or "one-man rule",Pahlavi Dynasty: An Entry from Encyclopedia of the World of Islam By (ed.) Gholamali Haddad Adel, Mohammad Jafar Elmi, Hassan Taromi-Rad, p. 15 and employed secret police, torture, and executions to stifle political dissent. During Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi's reign, Amnesty International estimated the number of political prisoners executed to be over 300.
Under the Islamic Republic, the prison system was centralized and drastically expanded; in one early period (1981–1985), more than 7900 people were executed. The Islamic Republic has been criticized both for restrictions and punishments that follow the Islamic Republic's constitution and law, but not international human rights norms (harsh penalties for crimes, punishment of victimless crimes, restrictions on freedom of speech and the press, restrictions on freedom of religion, etc.); and for "extrajudicial" actions that follow neither, such as firebombings of newspaper offices, and beatings, torture, rape, and killing without trial of political prisoners and dissidents/civilians.Ehsan Zarrokh (Ehsan and Gaeini, M. Rahman). "Iranian Legal System and Human Rights Protection" The Islamic Law and Law of the Muslim World e-journal, New York law school 3.2 (2009).
Pahlavi Iran (1925 to 1979)
Pahlavi Iran (the Iranian state under the Pahlavi dynasty) lasted from 1925 to 1979. The use of torture and abuse of prisoners varied at times during the Pahlavi reign, according to one history.Ervand Abrahamian, Tortured Confessions: Prisons and Public Recantations in Modern Iran, (University of California), 1999 Both of the two monarchs Reza Shah Pahlavi and his son Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi employed censorship, secret police, torture, and executions.
Reza Shah era The reign of Reza Shah was authoritarian and dictatorial.The Age of the Dictators: A Study of the European Dictatorships, 1918–53, D. G. Williamson. Freedom of the press, workers' rights, and political freedoms were restricted under Reza Shah. Independent newspapers were closed down, political parties even the loyal Revival party were banned. The government banned all trade unions in 1927, and arrested 150 labor organizers between 1927 and 1932.Ervand Abrahamian, Iran Between Two Revolutions, (Princeton University Press), 1982, p. 138
Physical force was used against some kinds of prisoners common criminals, suspected spies, and those accused of plotting regicide. Burglars in particular were subjected to the bastinado (beating the soles of the feet), and the strappado (being suspended in the air by means of a rope tied around the victims arms) to "reveal their hidden loot". Suspected spies and assassins were "beaten, deprived of sleep, and subjected to the qapani" (the binding of arms tightly behind the back) which sometimes caused a joint to crack. But for political prisoners who were primarily Communists there was a "conspicuous absence of torture" under Reza Shah's rule.Abrahamian, Tortured Confessions, 1999, p. 39 The main form of pressure was solitary confinement and the withholding of "books, newspapers, visitors, food packages, and proper medical care". While often threatened with the qapani, political prisoners "were rarely subjected to it."Abrahamian, Tortured Confessions, 1999, p. 41
Mohammad Reza Shah era
Mohammad Reza became monarch after his father was deposed following the Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran in 1941. Political prisoners (mostly Communists) were released by the occupying powers, and the shah (crown prince at the time) no longer had control of the parliament.Iran between two revolutions By Ervand Abrahamian, p. 186 But after an attempted assassination of the Shah in 1949, he was able to declare martial law, imprison communists and other opponents, and restrict criticism of the royal family in the press.The History of Iran By Elton L. Daniel, 2012
Following the pro-Shah coup d'état that overthrew the Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh in 1953, the Shah again cracked down on his opponents, and political freedom waned. He outlawed Mosaddegh's political group the National Front, and arrested most of its leaders.Iran in Revolution: The Opposition Forces by E Abrahamian – MERIP Reports Over 4000 political activists of the Tudeh party were arrested,Abrahamian, Ervand, Tortured Confessions, (University of California), 1999, pp. 89–90 (including 477 in the armed forces), forty were executed, another 14 died under torture and over 200 were sentenced to life imprisonment.
During the height of its power, the shah's secret police SAVAK had virtually unlimited powers. The agency closely collaborated with the CIA.Fisk. Great War for Civilisation, p. 112.
According to Amnesty International's Annual Report for 1974–1975 "the total number of political prisoners has been reported at times throughout the year to be anything from 25,000 to 100,000."
1971–77 In 1971, a guerrilla attack on a gendarmerie post (where three police were killed and two guerrillas freed, known as the "Siahkal incident") sparked "an intense guerrilla struggle" against the government, and harsh government countermeasures.Abrahamian, Tortured Confessions, p. 101 Guerrillas embracing "armed struggle" to overthrow the Shah, and inspired by international Third World anti-imperialist revolutionaries (Mao Zedong, Ho Chi Minh, and Che Guevara), were quite active in the first half of the 1970sKurzman, Charles, The Unthinkable Revolution in Iran, Harvard University Press, 2004, pp. 145–46 when hundreds of them died in clashes with government forces and dozens of Iranians were executed.Abrahamian, Tortured Confessions (1999), pp. 135–36, 167, 169 According to Amnesty International, the Shah carried out at least 300 political executions.Washington Post, 23 March 1980.
Torture was used to locate arms caches, safe houses and accomplices of the guerrillas, and also in attempts to induce enemies of the state to become supporters.Abrahamian, Tortured Confessions, 1999 p. 114
In 1975, the human rights group Amnesty International whose membership and international influence grew greatly during the 1970sAmnesty International's membership increased from 15,000 in 1969 to 200,000 by 1979. issued a report on treatment of political prisoners in Iran that was "extensively covered in the European and American Press".The Cambridge History of Iran, Volume 7, edited by W. William Bayne Fisher, P. Avery, G. R. G. Hambly, C. Melville, p. 286 By 1976, this repression was softened considerably thanks to publicity and scrutiny by "numerous international organizations and foreign newspapers" as well as the newly elected President of the United States, Jimmy Carter.Abrahamian, Tortured Confessions, p. 119.Iranian Politics and Religious Modernism: The Liberation Movements of Iran ... By Houchang E Chehabi, p. 225
Iranian Revolution The 1978–79 Iranian Revolution overthrowing the Pahlavi government started with demonstrations in October 1977 and ended on 11 February 1979 with the defeat of the Shah's troops. During the revolution, protestors were fired upon by troops and prisoners were executed. The human rights violations contributed directly to the Shah's demise, (as did his scruples in not violating human rights as much as his general urged him to, according to some).Kurzman, Unthinkable Revolution, (2004), p. 108
The deaths of the popular and influential modernist Islamist leader Ali Shariati and the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini's son Mostafa, in 1977, were believed to be assassinations perpetrated by SAVAK by many Iranians.Moin, Khomeini, (2000), pp. 184–85.Taheri, The Spirit of Allah, (1985), pp. 182–83. On 8 September 1978, (Black Friday) troops fired on religious demonstrators in Zhaleh (or Jaleh) Square. The clerical leadership announced that "thousands have been massacred by Zionist troops" (i.e. Pro-Israel troops rumored to be aiding the Shah),Taheri, The Spirit of Allah, (1985), p. 223. Michel Foucault reported 4000 had been killed,E. Baqi, `Figures for the Dead in the Revolution`, Emruz, 30 July 2003 (quoted in A History of Modern Iran, pp. 160–61) and another European journalist reported that the military left behind a `carnage`.J. Gueyras, `Liberalization is the Main Casualty,` The Guardian, 17 September 1978. Johann Beukes, author of Foucault in Iran, 1978–1979, notes that "Foucault seems to have adhered to this exaggerated death count at Djaleh Square, propagated by the revolting masses themselves. Thousands were wounded, but the death toll unlikely accounted to more than hundred casualties". According to the historian Abbas Amanat:
Post-revolutionary accounting by Emadeddin Baghi, of the government Foundation of Martyrs and Veterans Affairs, found 88 people killed on Black Friday: 64 (including two females) in Jaleh Square, and 24 (including one woman) in other parts of the capital."A Question of Numbers" IranianVoice.org, 8 August 2003 Rouzegar-Now Cyrus Kadivar According to the military historian Spencer C. Tucker, 94 were killed on Black Friday, consisting of 64 protesters and 30 government security forces. According to the Iranologist Richard Foltz, 64 protesters died at Jaleh Square.
Islamic Republic (1979 to present)
Post-revolution New Constitution
The new constitution of the Islamic Republic was adopted by referendum in December 1979. Although Ayatollah Khomeini was the undisputed leader of the revolution, he had many supporters who hoped the revolution would replace the Shah with a democratic republic. Consequently, the constitution combined conventional liberal democratic mandates for an elected president and legislature, and civil and political rights for its citizens, with theocratic elements Khomeini desired. But it was theocracy that was pre-eminent. The constitution vested sovereignty in God, mandated non-elected governing bodies/authorities to supervise the elected ones, and subordinated the civil/political rights to the laws/precepts/principles of Islam,
Some of the ways that basics of law in Iran clashed with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights after 1979 included:
The use of Classical Islamic law (Sharia), such as victimless crimes: '“insulting the prophet,” “apostasy,” adultery, same-sex relations (all potentially punishable by death), drinking of alcoholic beverages, failure (for a woman) to wear hijab,Iran vows crackdown on 'inappropriately' dressed women, AFP (Yahoo! News), 24 February 2007, via the Wayback Machine harsh punishments: stoning to death, amputation, lashing, retribution (or qisas, aka "Eye for an eye")Iranian Civil Code, NATLEX . Retrieved 21 August 2006. which can include blinding the offender. unequal rights for women in several areas: a woman is not valued the same as a man in blood money (diya), in inheritance, in court testimony (making conviction for rape of women difficult if not impossible in Iran), a woman needs her husband's permission to work outside the home or leave the country.Human Rights in Iran 2007 MEHR.org pp. 4, 5 covering of hair is compulsory.