Report Of The Special Rapporteur On The Situation Of Human Rights In The Islamic Republic Of Iran

The Balochi are reportedly subjected to systematic social, racial, religious, and economic discrimination, and are also severely underrepresented in state apparatuses.59

2. Baloch

56. Sistan-Balochistan is arguably the most underdeveloped region in Iran, with the highest poverty, infant and child mortality rates, and lowest life expectancy and literacy rates in the country. The Balochi are reportedly subjected to systematic social, racial, religious, and economic discrimination, and are also severely underrepresented in state apparatuses.59 It has also been reported that linguistic rights of the Baloch are undermined by a systematic rejection of Balochi-language publications and limitations on the public and private use of their native languages, in contravention of article 15 of the Iranian Constitution, and article 27 of the ICCPR. Moreover, the application of the Gozinesh criterion, which requires state officials and employees to demonstrate allegiance to Islam and to the concept of velayat-e faqih (Guardianship of the Islamic Jurist), further exacerbates their socioeconomic situation, by limiting employment opportunities.60

57. Accounts of the destruction of Sunni mosques and religious schools, and allegations of the imprisonment, and assassination of Sunni clerics, have also been reported. Baloch activists have reportedly been subject to arbitrary arrests and torture. The Sistan-Balochistan province experiences a high rate of executions for drug-related offenses or crimes deemed to constitute “enmity against god” in the absence of fair trials.61 Allegations were also received that the Government has used the death penalty as a means to suppress opposition in the province.62 In a plea to the international community, the Balochistan People‟s Party reported that two Baloch prisoners in Zahidan Prison were sentenced to death following a demonstration in Rask City and other towns in the Sarbaz area in May 2012. Political prisoners in the detention center who reportedly protested against the death sentences were punished with exile.63

58. It was also reported that netizen Abdol Basit Rigi and political activists Abdoljalil Rigi and Yahyaa Charizahi were charged with “enmity against God”, and sentenced to death following forced confessions. One of the political prisoners, Abdol Basit Rigi, was arrested three years ago, reportedly kept in solitary confinement for eleven months, and allegedly tortured. It is further reported that two of the activists were transferred to solitary confinement in the Intelligence Ministry two days before their execution, where

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