Delivered by Paula Schriefer<\/p>\n
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Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs<\/p>\n
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Head of the U.S. Delegation to the 25th Human Rights Council<\/p>\n
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Human Rights Council 25th Session<\/p>\n
Geneva, March 17, 2014<\/p>\n
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Thank you, Mister President.<\/p>\n
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Despite Iran\u2019s change of administration, we have witnessed no significant improvement in Iran\u2019s overall human rights situation.\u00a0 While Iran has begun to shift its rhetoric on human rights,the United States remains deeply concerned that Iran continues to suppress free expression and civil society, harass members of its ethnic and religious minority populations, and imprison human rights defenders and journalists for political purposes.<\/p>\n
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Iran imprisons the second largest number of journalists in the world today, severely limiting the Iranian people\u2019s access to information and restricting freedom of expression.\u00a0 On February 20, Iran\u2019s judiciary closed the newspaper Aseman for questioning whether \u201ceye-for-eye\u201d justice is humane.\u00a0 This follows similar closures of reformist publications Bahar and Hamihan in November.\u00a0 We are also concerned by reports of the Iranian government\u2019s engagement in the local \u201cdownlink\u201d jamming of satellite broadcasts.<\/p>\n
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Likewise, the plight of Iran\u2019s minority communities remains poor.\u00a0 Ethnic minorities including Kurds, Azeris, Ahwazi Arabs, and Baluch are sentenced to long jail terms and death sentences on trumped-up security-related charges.\u00a0 Iran\u2019s execution of three Kurdish activistsin October and Novemberwas deeply troubling, as was the execution in Januaryof two Ahwazi Arab cultural activists for vague security-related charges<\/strong>.\u00a0 Religious minorities, from non-Shia Muslims to Baha\u2019is, are subject to similar harsh treatment simply for practicing their religious beliefs.\u00a0 We take this opportunity to call once again for the release of dual U.S.-Iranian citizen Saeed Abedini, who is currently being held in Iran on charges related to his religious beliefs.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The United States also remains concerned by the situation of political prisoners in Iran.\u00a0 While Iran\u2019s recent release of dozens of prisoners of conscience\u2014including human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh\u2014was encouraging, hundreds more remain in detention.\u00a0 Human rights defenders and activists like Abdolfattah Soltani, Majid Dorri, Majid Tavakkoli, and Shiva Nazar Ahari should be immediately released.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Finally, we also regret that despite Iran\u2019s egregious human rights situation, its government persists in refusing to cooperate with the Special Rapporteur.\u00a0 Consistent with Iran\u2019s welcome efforts to constructively engage with the international community in other areas, the United States calls on the Iranian government to allow the Rapporteur to visit Iran so that he may carry out the Human Rights Council\u2019s mandate. And we call upon this Council to renew that mandate this session.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Dr. Shaheed, given the lack of improvement in Iran\u2019s overall human rights situation in the last year, what more can the international community do to persuade the Iranian government to respect the human rights of its people?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Thank you, Mister President<\/p>\n <\/p>\n NEWS FROM HUMANRIGHTS.GOV<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Delivered by Paula Schriefer Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs Head of the U.S. Delegation to the 25th Human Rights Council Human Rights Council 25th Session Geneva, March 17, 2014 Thank you, Mister President. Despite Iran\u2019s change of administration, we have witnessed no significant improvement …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1002,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3,4,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1892","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ahwaz","category-human-rights","category-oppressed-nations","category-views"],"yoast_head":"\n