Guardian- 04 Oct. 2016-The UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, has given a damning assessment of human rights in Iran, highlighting the “alarming rate” of executions and saying little progress has been made under president Hassan Rouhani .
Ban’s 19-page report, released this week, says he remains “deeply troubled” by accounts “of executions, floggings, arbitrary arrests and detentions, unfair trials, denial of access to medical care and possible torture and ill-treatment”.
It adds: “He is also concerned about continued restrictions of public freedoms and the related persecution of civil society actors, the persistence of discrimination against women and minorities and conditions of detention.”
Ban’s report also highlights the plight of journalist and human rights activist Narges Mohammadi, who recently had her 16-year jail sentence upheld in an appeals court. Mohammadi is locked up partly because of allegations of “establishing and running the illegal splinter group Legam”, a grassroots organisation advocating the abolition of the death penalty in Iran.
The deteriorating conditions in Iranian prisons – where the use of solitary confinement is widespread and many prisoners, especially those held on political grounds or because of their beliefs, are at times denied proper medical treatment – is also criticised by the UN chief.