Human rights in Iran

Human rights in Iran

Iran is home to the earliest known charter of human rights [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/documentary_archive/6034541.stm Uncovering Iran] , "BBC News Online", 9 October 2006] — the Achaemenid dynasty established unprecedented principles of human rights in the 6th century BC, under the reign of Cyrus the Great. After his conquest of Babylon in 539 BC, the King issued the Cyrus Cylinder, discovered in 1879 and recognised by many today as the first document defining a person's human rights. The cylinder declared that citizens of the Persian Empire would be allowed to practice their religious beliefs freely and abolished slavery. This means that all the palaces of the Kings of Persia were built by paid workers, in an era where slaves typically did such work. These two reforms were reflected in the biblical books of Chronicles and Ezra, which state that Cyrus released the followers of Judaism from slavery and allowed them to migrate back to their land. Following Persia's defeat at the hands of Alexander the Great, the concept of human rights was abandoned. Today many Iranians, such as Hojatoleslam Ahmad Khatami, point to this early history as evidence of Iranians being "pioneers of human rights." [ [http://www.rferl.org/content/article/1064183.html Iran: Pioneers Of Human Rights? December 26, 2005 ] ]

Iranian Constitutional Revolution

In 1906, the Iranian Constitutional Revolution resulted in a constitutional monarchy. For the first time in the more than 2000 years since the reign of Cyrus the Great, Iran was relying on a code of law to govern the interactions of its citizens and define their minimum freedoms.

Pahlavi Dynasty

With the arrival of Reza Shah Pahlavi in 1925, the constitution was for all practical purposes ignored. Political prisoners were imprisoned, political opponents and erstwhile allies were executed. Torture of political prisoners was common " [http://books.google.com/books?id=_mnrYNIVfCgC&dq=tortured+confessions+ervand+abrahamian&pg=PP1&ots=npYYcU-_Ae&sig=IouKxlCqAN3OD-r5Quo2AmEb9Kg&hl=en&prev=http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=Tortured+confessions,+Ervand+Abrahamian&btnG=Google+Search&sa=X&oi=print&ct=title&cad=one-book-with-thumbnail#PPA2,M1 Tortured Confessions: Prisons and Public Recantations in Modern Iran] ", University of California Press, 1999, p.4]

His son, Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi continued in his father's footsteps, and his SAVAK were notorious for their imaginative torture methods. [ [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,912545-6,00.html "Nobody Influences Me!" - TIME ] ]

Islamic Republic

The Islamic Revolution that overthrew the Pahlavi Dynasty is thought by some to have significantly worsened human rights conditions in Iran. According to political historian Ervand Abrahamian, "whereas less than 100 political prisoners had been executed between 1971 and 1979, more than 7900 were executed between 1981 and 1985. ... the prison system was centralized and drastically expanded ... Prison life was drastically worse under the Islamic Republic than under the Pahlavis. One who survived both writes that four months under [warden] Ladjevardi took the toll of four years under SAVAK. [source: Anonymous "Prison and Imprisonment", "Mojahed", 174-256 (20 October 1983-8 August 1985)] In the prison literature of the Pahlavi era, the recurring words had been "boredom" and "monotony." In that of the Islamic Republic, they were "fear," "death," "terror," "horror," and most frequent of all "nightmare" ("kabos")." [Abrahamian, "Tortured Confessions" (1999), p.135-6, 167, 169]

Following the rise of the reform movement within Iran and the election of moderate Iranian president Mohammad Khatami in 1997, numerous moves were made to modify the Iranian civil and penal codes in order to improve the human rights situation. The predominantly reformist parliament drafted several bills allowing increased freedom of speech, gender equality, and the banning of torture. These were all dismissed or significantly watered down by the Guardian Council and leading conservative figures in the Iranian government at the time.

According to "The Economist" magazine,

The Tehran spring of ten years ago has now given way to a bleak political winter. The new government continues to close down newspapers, silence dissenting voices and ban or censor books and websites. The peaceful demonstrations and protests of the Khatami era are no longer tolerated: in January [2007] security forces attacked striking bus drivers in Tehran and arrested hundreds of them. In March police beat hundreds of men and women who had assembled to commemorate International Women's Day. ["Men of principle", "The Economist". London: Jul 21, 2007. Vol. 384, Iss. 8538; pg. 5 ]

References


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем сделать НИР

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran — The state of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran has been criticized both by both Iranians and international human right activists, writers, and NGOs. The United Nations General Assembly and the Human Rights Commission have condemned… …   Wikipedia

  • Iran Human Rights Documentation Center — The Iran Human Rights Documentation Center(IHRDC) is a registered non profit organization based in New Haven, Connecticut. It was founded in 2004 by a group of human rights scholars, activists, and historians to document the patterns of human… …   Wikipedia

  • Human rights in Islamic countries — vary greatly. In some Islamic countries, there is little respect for human rights, whilst others treat it with more importance. There are complex political issues that contribute to the situation.audi ArabiaThe situation of human rights in Saudi… …   Wikipedia

  • Human rights in Islam (Khamenei speech) — Human rights in Islam is the name of a speech delivered at the inaugural of the 5th Islamic Thought Conference by Ali Khamenei. It has also been published in the form of a booklet.Human rights in a key topic in Khamenei s speeches and he has… …   Wikipedia

  • Human rights in pre-Saddam Iraq — were often lacking to various degrees among the various regimes that ruled the country. Human rights abuses in the country predated the rule of Saddam Hussein. The British Occupation of Iraq (1920 1932)In the 1920s, when Britain held a mandate… …   Wikipedia

  • Human rights — Rights Theoretical distinctions Natural and legal rights Claim rights and liberty rights Negative and positive rights Individual an …   Wikipedia

  • Human rights in the People's Republic of China — Human rights in China redirects here. For the non governmental organization, see Human Rights in China (organization). People s Republic of China This article is part of the series: P …   Wikipedia

  • Human rights in Saudi Arabia — are based on sharia religious laws under rule of the Saudi royal family. [cite news url=http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2004/41731.htm title=Country Reports on Human Rights Practices 2004 publisher=US Department of State, Bureau of Democracy …   Wikipedia

  • Human Rights in the Middle East — are often reported to be a cause of concern among many outsider observers, governmental and non governmental. There are some issues prevalent in most Middle Eastern countries, often due to their common Islamic background. For example, the… …   Wikipedia

  • Human rights in Turkmenistan — are severely restricted. There is no political opposition allowed and government treatment of religious activity ranges from tightly restricted to banned. There is no free press. Standards in education and health declined markedly during the rule …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”