The Iranian government has secretly executed hundreds of prisoners at the notorious Vakilabad prison in Mashhad, according to an interim report to the UN by Special Rapporteur on Iran, Dr Ahmed Shaheed.
Dr Shaheed was the former Maldivian Foreign Minister under both the current and former Presidents. As the Iranian government refused to allow him to visit the country in his capacity as UN Special Rapporteur, the report relies heavily on first-hand testimonies, “the preponderance of which presents a pattern of systemic violations of fundamental human rights.”
“The most urgent issues that have been brought to the attention of the Special Rapporteur include multifarious deficits in relation to the administration of justice, certain practices that amount to torture, cruel, or degrading treatment of detainees, the imposition of the death penalty in the absence of proper judicial safeguards, the status of women, the persecution of religious and ethnic minorities, and the erosion of civil and political rights, in particular, the harassment and intimidation of human rights defenders and civil society actors,” writes Dr Shaheed.
“Several personal interviews revealed that individuals were often held in solitary confinement for long periods during the investigative phases of their cases. All of those interviewed with regard to their detention reported the consistent use of blindfolds when being transferred from solitary confinement, as well as during their interrogations.”
Human rights defenders, civil society organisations and religious actors had been charged with offences including acting against national security, insulting the Supreme Leader and “spreading propaganda against the regime”, Dr Shaheed noted.
“The majority of reports also highlight exorbitant bail requirements, reportedly totalling between US$10,000 and US$500,000, to guarantee the appearance before the court of those arrested for activities pertaining to civil, political or human rights.”
The report goes on to detail interviews with dozens of victims of the Iranian regime, including lawyers, students, artists, journalists and environmentalists as well as political activists.
In his report, Dr Shaheed raises particular concern over the use of the death penalty in cases where due process was denied to the accused, especially within the prison system.
“Secret group executions inside prisons, which reportedly occur in alarmingly high numbers, are often carried out without the knowledge and presence of families and lawyers,” Dr Shaheed notes.
“Capital punishment was also applied to cases regarding Mohareb or ‘enmity against God’, rape, murder, immoral acts or acts against chastity and kidnapping,” he added.
The report concludes with an appeal to the Iranian government to allow Dr Shaheed to visit the country so as to “develop dialogue with the authorities and either substantiate or lay
to rest allegations of human rights violations committed within its sovereign territory.”
In July, Iran’s secretary general of the country’s ‘High Council for Human Rights dismissed “the western-engineered appointment” of Dr Shaheed as Special Rapporteur as ”an illegal measure,” according to the Tehran Times.
“Iran has no problem with the individual who has been appointed as the special rapporteur, but the appointment of a rapporteur on the human rights situation in Iran is unacceptable and Iran will not accept the decision,” Mohammad Javad Larijani was quoted as saying.
Dr Shaheed is to present his findings to the UN General Assembly on October 19.
Read Minivan News’ Q&A with Dr Shaheed following his appointment as Special Rapporteur
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Have we forgotten that Dr. Ahmed 'janaza' shaheed the special rapporteur is the man who defended Maldivian dictator Gayoom "as the father of democracy" to the entire world on BBC? Given his incorrigible mendacity he could come up with any report to further his political/financial gains! Iran need not dig too further to know this special rapporteur 🙂
He's also the one who dumped three little kids and wife for a woman 10 years younger to him. Talk about rights and morality.
He wasn't even allowed into Iran. How exactly could he give those precise figures? He's most likely repeating what the West wants him to say as they've been banging the war drums to gain public favour before they invade Iran.
We shouldn't be sticking our head into these issues.
Iran should investigate Dr shaheed
wife ves qabool veemaa 10 dhoshi meehakah idhevey nee..wife beynun fulhu nuvee hen heevanee 2 anbah.. so it did not mean he dumped.
the person who went to defend the murder of hussain solah in maldivian regime's prision, now talking about the abuses in another country is like the pot calling the kettle black.
out of all the countries why should a human rights rapparture appointed to iran?
where is the human rights rapparture for maldives to investigate the abuses commited by gayoom?
where is the human rights rapparture for america to investigate the killing of innocent civilians and plucking their organs as trophies in afghanistan and the all the abuses in abu gharib and the killings in iraq?
where is the human rights rapparture for israel to invertigate all the home demolitions and use of white phosphorus bombs in civilian cities and all the daily killings of children and women?
where is the human rights rapparture for sri lanka to look at the killings of tamils?
if iran was to be investigated then all the other rights abuses in other countries are also to be investigated similarly.
ah. finally!
the slave serves his master.
so the western appointed pro-israel janaaza kudey is full filling the purpose of his appointment.
great job shaheed, with your report sanctions and trade embargoes will be put on iran, same like iraq before the invation. so that the children will starve to death there. the health care system and the other systems will fail. what about the human rights of them, then?
the report was based on 'first hand testimonies??'
what a load of crap.
maybe shaheed talked to all the prisioners after they have been secreatly executed.
hehe. me thinks he should come up with a better story. this sucks same like the one about iran using a total moron to blow up a saudi ambasader.
All commentators should read the report before concluding lame conclusions.
there are many ways a report could be written without entering the country, such as interviews etc....
Good work Shaheed!
Come guys, Dr. Shaheed doesn't have the guts to make this up. This is likely true.
To all the blood sucker proxies of the satanic republic of mullahs with comments on this site, remember how they pulled that dog saddam out of a hole in the ground, blood suckers like assad and khamenei and of course their proxies will get whats comming to them, the blood of the inocent will hunt you down to the end of the world
Iran should investigate the human rights condition in Maldives first!!
The comments on this thread once again remind me of the shallow, personal and feckless nature of debate in our country.
The report is about neither Shaheed nor "the West".
This report is a reminder that under any dictatorship - even one with religious pretensions such as the Iranian theocracy - there is always a systematic abuse of human rights and killings going on behind closed doors.
This is especially important in the Maldivian context when there is a visible surge in the dangerous thinking that appointing self-proclaimed 'religious leaders' will automatically solve all the country's problems.
But of course, we could also just continue to live in the alternate reality where this too is another "conspiracy" devised in the West - deploying their stooge Shaheed to tarnish the good name of the flawless, pristine regime of the Ayatollah. And of course, Minivan News carried the report to blame Islam and everyone who disagrees is an atheist kaafir jew.
why do people hate my girl friend Leela's new husband so much?
Finally a Maldivian, under the magic spell of spreading western propaganda lies, with ropes attached to his arms and legs, and controlled by the Zionists.
Haha! It's funny how all these people think everything that they don't agree with is done by Zionists and the very evil 'west'!
Actually, this is really no surprise. Just go do some research on human rights in Iran, and execution of prisoners, and you'll see that Shaheed is not really off the mark here, despite never visiting the country.
Despite what the comments say, this is no Zionist conspiracy theory. Muslims aren't angels from heaven who can do no harm. And it's even funnier how they will bash anybody opposing Iran today, while bashing Shia's tomorrow as heretics, or infidels or whatever they like to use.
Maldives (Dr Shaheed) got this UN post because USA wanted somebody from a friendly Islamic country as Special Rapporteur to Iran. Human Right abuses are committed by many country such as China but nobody dares to point finger at it. Lets not forget what US did in Gutanamo Bay Detention Centre. Muslims, Christians, Zionist, Hindus - we are all humans and nobody can claim to be angels. As for interviewing people without visiting Iran - this can be manipulated.
Kudos to Shaheed for his personal advancement.
However we can, must and will stop our foreign policy from aligning with Shaheeds puppetmasters.
If indeed Shaheed does condemn us to taking sides in this fight, it could go either way. A friendly warning Herr Shaheed :D.
Iran should invite Dr Shaheed to their country and then secretly execute him. That would be fun to know 🙂
Even those who write negative comments know Iran is run by tyrant regime and they survive on threat and cruelty. Those claims on the report must be true based on what we are seeing in Libya.
first UN needs to send a repotoir ,or what ever they call it, to Israel and the US, and after that, to north korea, china, etc..the list goes on...So why just Iran? Coz thats the zionists next target. One by one, all the Islamic/Arab states will be invaded unless something is done about it.
today i found this on DhiTv facebook page. edhuvas miadhu. this link was there..pls check and see abut dr. shaeedh news agenda..
http://siyaasee.com/?p=806
Attacking the messenger does not discredit the message. I don't know or care about his history, his message however is consistent with the ways and means of the Iranian Government and it desereves a lot of attention.
Interesting comments....vilification of Dr Shaheed is a much needed reminder that he still has a great future in Maldives as a politician!
Much of the allegations in the report are true. Iran is known for its repressive policies. But other countries too practice repressive policies..such as Saudi Arabia and the vast majority of the Middle-Eastern countries, as well as China and Russia. US has a better tactic - sending off those they want tortured on rendition missions overseas, mostly to these middle-eastern countries who are willing accomplices in the whole scheme. The only thing that I'm concerned is with the appointment of Dr. Shaheed who has no credibility to conduct such an investigation as a UN Special Rapporteur. We still remember how he defended the former President against allegations of human rights abuse. The appointment of such a person has undermined the credibility of the investigation. As for his personal life...that should be no concern of ours so long as he does not violate any of the laws of the country.
It is clear from the reports in the international press that Dr Shaheed has done a superlative job! Congrats to President Nasheed for nominating his former Foreign Minister to the second most important human rights job in the UN today. And Dr Shaheed's performance so for is a great credit to his nation. Let us give credit where it is due, and not laspe into Iranian habit of denying everything.
More than 90 percent of global media is influenced by US and its allies. One of USA's key ally (Saudi Arabia) wants it to attack Iran (Wikileaks). Despite such a massive propaganda against it, Iran is standing tall knowing quite well that it has no chance against US and its allies. A truly beautiful country with most beautiful people in the world - May Allah/Bhagwan/God has mercy on it.
Hmmm. Azra's girlfriend is Leela. Leela's husband is Shaheed. Didn't know aneh dhivehirajjeygai mikahala relationships ves OK kan 🙂 Way to go Anni!
Zeenat thinks Iran is standing tall? Over 600 executed in 2 years! Is that standing tall?
@Vinod..
There comes a time when ppl has to be executed. Not all humans deserve to lie. Some deserves to die. You can preach love and forgiveness from your lofty heights, but when something really sad happens to you or a loved one of yours, you would wish you can exact retribution from your attacker. Dangerous criminals has to be eliminated likewise cos if we keep them alive for life time jail sentences, then we are actually spending on them money to maintain them at the expense of the society. Now is it fair for the society to pay for a crime they did not commit?
John, Death is sometimes an absolute justice! Bravo. People do not have the courage to speak of death as a punishment, but it sure is...