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Human Rights Developments
Defending Human Rights
The Role of the International CommunityNo independent domestic human rights monitoring organizations were permitted to operate and individual advocates were subjected to threats, intimidation, and arbitrary imprisonment. Human rights organizations with links to the government, like the Islamic Human Rights Commission, issued mild statements critical of some aspects of domestic human rights conditions, and gave the false impression that Iran tolerated human rights activists. Human Rights Watch and other independent international organizations were denied permission to visit the country. In September former deputy prime minister Abbas Amir Entezam was imprisoned after he made statements criticizing torture and ill-treatment of prisoners. His remarks were prompted by the assassination, claimed by the armed opposition group, the People’s Mojahedine Organization of Iran, of the former head of Iran’s Prisons’ Organization, Assadollah Lajevardi, who presided over mass executions and widespread torture during his tenure of office. Entezam had been released conditionally from a life prison term, but the official reason for his reimprisonment was not announced. He was not permitted to have access to his lawyer. |
 Algeria Bahrain Egypt Iran Iraq Israel, The Occupied West Bank, Gaza Strip, and Palestinian Authority Territories Saudi Arabia Syria Tunisia  |
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