Securing Liberty

Iran: the leading per capital executioner of its own citizens in the world
The Iranian regime is the leading per capital executioner of its own citizens in the world today. It is estimated that, on average, one person is hanged every seven hours in Iran. During Hassan Rouhani’s tenure as President, at least 3,600 people have been executed, including dozens of women, minors, dissidents, and ethnic and religious minorities, including Christians, Baha’is, Sunnis, Shiites, Kurds, Baluchis and Arabs. Among the executed have been at least 34 juveniles who had been arrested for alleged crimes committed as minors. Moreover, at least 86 political dissidents have been executed for their beliefs.

United Nations Censures Rights Abuses in Iran
The United Nations has repeatedly condemned the flagrant violations of human rights in Iran. On December 19, 2017, the UN General Assembly adopted its 64th resolution, condemning human rights violations in Iran. A report to the Assembly from UN Secretary General António Guterres also expressed serious concern about a wide range of human rights violations by Iran.

The resolution criticized the Iranian regime’s “systematic and widespread use of arbitrary detention, including the use of such practices to target dual and foreign nationals, and to uphold, in law and in practice, procedural guarantees to ensure fair trial standards, including timely access to legal representation of one’s choice from the time of arrest through all stages of trial and all appeals.”

The resolution also urged Iran to improve its prison conditions and not to withhold adequate medical treatment and the house arrest of leading opposition figures.

In 2016, a similar resolution urged the regime “to cease enforced disappearances” and “address the poor conditions of prisons, to eliminate the denial of access to adequate medical treatment and the consequent risk of death faced by prisoners.” It further urged the regime “to end widespread and serious restrictions, in law and in practice, on the right to freedom of expression, opinion, association and peaceful assembly, both online and offline, including by ending the harassment, intimidation and persecution of political opponents, human rights defenders, women’s and minority rights activists…” and “to release persons arbitrarily detained for the legitimate exercise of these rights, to consider rescinding unduly harsh sentences, including the death penalty and long-term internal exile, for exercising such fundamental freedoms” and “to eliminate, in law and in practice, all forms of discrimination and other human rights violations against women and girls,” as well as against “persons belonging to ethnic, linguistic or other minorities.”

UN Secretary General, Human Rights Special Rapporteur alarmed at high rate of executions in Iran
In August 2017, the Special Rapporteur noted “with concern that, since the issuance of her first report, the application of the death penalty has continued at an alarming rate. At least 247 persons, including 3 women, have reportedly been executed since January 2017.” It added: “Executions of juvenile offenders have continued at an unprecedented rate since the beginning of the year.”

“At least 89 juvenile offenders were on death row in June; the exact number may be much higher,” the report added.

According to the October 2016 report by the United Nations Secretary General on human rights in Iran, “At least 966 people were reportedly executed in 2015, the highest such number in over two decades, in continuation of an upward trend that began in 2008.” The report expressed alarm that “reports of execution by hanging of women and foreign nationals continued to be received. Between January 2015 and June 2016, at least 15 women were reportedly executed.” It added, “The state of prisons in the Islamic Republic of Iran remains a major concern, owing to extensive overcrowding and high incarceration rates. Over the past two decades, an average of 300,000 people have been incarcerated annually.” The same report expressed particular concern about “the persistent pattern of arbitrary arrests and convictions of journalists and online activists. As of March 2016, at least 47 journalists and Internet users were reportedly imprisoned in the Islamic Republic of Iran.”

In his report to the 31st session of the UN Human Rights Council, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran referred to “the execution of at least 73 juvenile offenders between 2005 and 2015,” and that “as of March 2016, at least 160 juvenile offenders were reportedly on death row.”

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights condemned the August 2016 execution of 20 Kurdish dissidents in Iran and noted, “the application of overly broad and vague criminal charges, coupled with a disdain for the rights of the accused to due process and a fair trial have in these cases led to a grave injustice.”

State Department’s Annual Human Rights Reports expresses alarm over rights violations in Iran
The 2015 State Department report on the state of human rights in Iran noted, “The government and its agents reportedly committed arbitrary or unlawful killings, including, most commonly, by execution after arrest and trial without due process, or for crimes that do not meet the threshold of most serious crimes,” adding, “Commonly reported methods of torture and abuse in prisons included prolonged solitary confinement, threats of rape, forced virginity tests, sexual humiliation, threats of execution, sleep deprivation, electroshock, burning, the use of pressure positions, and severe and repeated beatings.”

Human Rights Watch 2016 report voicing concern over treatment of ethnic and religious minorities
According to the 2016 annual report issued by Human Rights Watch, “at least 74 Baha’is were held in Iran’s prisons as of November 20, 2015. Security and intelligence forces also continued to target Christian converts from Islam, Persian-speaking Protestant and evangelical congregations, and members of the home church movement. Some faced charges such as ‘acting against the national security’ and ‘propaganda against the state.’” The same report noted that Iranian authorities prevent Sunnis, who account for approximately 10 percent of the Iranian population, “from constructing their own mosques in Tehran and conducting separate Eid prayers. The government continued to target members of Sufi mystical orders, particularly members of the Nematollahi Gonabadi order.”

USFLHR promoting human rights
As a not-for-profit non-governmental organization, the U.S. Foundation for Liberty and Human Rights has set out to support groups, individuals, and programs that both in their platform and through their actions credibly demonstrate the intention to promote and advance human rights in Iran. A democratic, non-nuclear Iran is not only in the interests of the Iranian people, but it is in the interests of the region and the entire world. Think about it: Iran is closer to many of our regional allies than Boston is to Washington, DC. The Iranian regime violates the human rights of people in neighboring Iraq and other countries of the region as well.

It is estimated that in Iraq alone, some 70 percent of the American soldiers who perished, were killed by militias funded or armed by the Iranian regime. But the solution to the Iranian regime’s menace is not military intervention or more bloodshed. There is an alternative approach. We believe that the people of Iran, with their inherent strengths and democratic aspirations, can bring about fundamental change with moral support from the international community. Therefore, the Foundation seeks engagement and assistance from concerned citizens, civil leaders, and entrepreneurs to assist the Iranian people in realizing their inherent human rights. This goal complements the national interests of the United States. The idea of a democratic, secular, non-nuclear Iran, and thus, a safer and more secure America, is not out of reach. Together we can reach this goal, but we need your help today. We cannot do it without YOU.

Our Urgent Mission

Having successfully worked to ensure the safe transfer of thousands of Iranian refugees from Iraq to Europe, one of the Foundation’s major projects is to ensure that these refugees, who suffer from an array of acute psychological and physical ailments, recover as quickly as possible. Some of the patients are physically disabled. A number of them have passed away since arriving in Europe and Albania. Therefore, providing the remaining patients with medical assistance and treatment is vital in order to prevent more deaths.

Please join us and make your contributions or conduct the following activities:

• Help with the resettlement of Iranian political refugees in Albania
• Help fund urgently needed medical assistance to thousands of refugees already resettled
• Help those Iranians who are striving to achieve a democratic, secular, non-nuclear republic in Iran;
• Fund educational events, i.e., symposiums, conferences, and briefings;
• Fund educational broadcasts internationally to impact Iranian public opinion;
• Fund broadcasts to educate the public in the United States;
• Fund research studies and the publication of reports highlighting the dangers posed by the Iranian regime, and the opportunities existing within Iranian society.

How you can contribute:

• Make online donations to the USFLHR account by visiting our website org;
• Become a sponsor of the USFLHR, by making a monthly contribution through your credit card or your bank account;
• Help organize fund-raising events, or simply ask someone you know to fund various programs of USFLHR;
• Donate your stocks, and/or other investments to USFLHR.

 

Iran: People’s Struggle for Liberty, Democracy, Women’s Rights

The Iranian regime supports international terrorism and is committing gross human rights violations, evident by the violent crackdown of anti-regime demonstrations in 2009 and the suppression of other peaceful acts, especially protests that took place in 2017 and 2018.

The resilience of the Iranian people in the face brutality, especially since the January 2018 uprising, has inspired not only Iranians, but everyone in the global community who share their desire for universal values of freedom, justice, and democracy. The perseverance and resistance of women, youth, and students in Iran and the people’s desire for change is rooted in over a century of struggle for democracy.

The ongoing protests across Iran and the escalating international sanctions foretell of a relatively rapid disintegration of the existing theocracy in Iran and the start of irreversible changes in favor of democratic solutions for Iran.