TAKE ACTION: Demand Iran Reject Anti-Human Rights Bill

Monday, January 9, 2012

TAKE ACTION: Demand Iran Reject Anti-Human Rights Bill

Send an e-letter through United4Iran.

Your Excellency:

I write to express concern about a new bill before the Iranian Parliament that contravenes Iran’s international human rights obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. I am especially concerned about provisions within the new penal code that violate the rights of Iranian citizens through:

• Continued harsh penalties for minors with girls expected to assume adult responsibilities for criminal actions from the age of nine, and boys from the age of fifteen;

• Continued use of corporal punishment such as stoning and lashing considered cruel, inhuman, and degrading;

• Increased penalties for the charge of “action against national security,” which is routinely used to silence and imprison dissidents; and

• Continued discriminatory laws against women and religious minorities.

The Iranian government should immediately start the long overdue process of revising its laws to meet international human rights standards, as called for by the UN Secretary General, the UN Special Rapporteur, the UN General Assembly, and the UN Human Rights Council. This new penal code ignores the recommendations made by the international community to Iran during its Universal Periodic Review in February 2010. This includes recommendations accepted by the government to ensure its laws were in conformity with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to which Iran is a state party.

I strongly urge you to reject this bill and to send it back for revisions that ensure Iran’s laws are in accordance with its international legal obligations and commitments.

Sincerely,

[your name here]