On Saturday,
The Defenders of Human Rights Center released a statement on Saturday 29 Tir of 1387 [July 19, 2008] protesting a proposed bill seeking to toughen punishment for crimes deemed to “disrupt public security.” Eighth Majlis are set to debate the bill seeking to “intensify scheme of punishment for disrupting mental security of society” after ratifying the first step on Wednesday, 12 Tir [July 2] with 180 votes in support.
The Defenders of Human Rights
The Defenders of Human Rights Center criticized Section 6, Article 2 of the bill, which identifies “malicious” acts as worthy of death, noting, “because this particular crime has not been defined in the present bill or any other bills passed thus far, it follows that the fate and livelihood of citizens depends on how the courts interpret what is regarded to be malicious.”
The statement also notes, “[m]ore saddening is the fact that, according to Section 5, Article 2 of the present bill, establishing weblogs and sites promoting corruption and apostasy are worthy of capital punishment in the same way that crimes such as rape and armed robbery are. It will be up to the court to recognize corruption and apostasy so it will jeopardize the lives of those who are guilty only of writing.”
“If this bill is adopted, there will be further infringement on freedom of expression, the legal security of citizenry will be jeopardized and the number of executions will increase,” the Defenders of Human Rights Center warned in its statement.The group also promised to hold a press conference next Monday with participation of several experts and analysts to fully examine the legal and social ramifications of the proposed bill to toughen punishments of disrupting mental security in society.
Roozonline
What we have said here is only a brief listing of academic violations and denial of right to education in Iranian universities today. Students are determined to continue their legal and rightful struggle to promote independence of universities and uphold academic freedoms, although many are sacrificed down this path.
Iran is a state party to both the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights (without reservation) and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), both of which prohibit the execution of persons under the age of 18 at the time of their offense. In ratifying the CRC, Iran declared an extremely broad reservation, “not to apply any provisions or articles of the Convention that are incompatible with Islamic Laws.”
one must not forget that one aspect of “security” cases is the image that they carry for the groups that advance such issues. Therefore, before fake charges take to the news-media and become public, those who have had a hand in arresting the students must be weakened. Otherwise, after the severe charges are made public, repeated and are tied to the image of the actors, even the intervention of the head of the judiciary (as history demonstrates) cannot be of much help to the detainees.
How can we tell the judiciary officials of Iran that according to law juveniles can stay alive and continue to live with appropriate and suitable punishment? How must one make this request from the judiciary a public and wide-spread demand and point out that killing a juvenile who has not wholeheartedly committed an act does not solve any of the real problems facing the country?
Thousands of university students in an Iranian city have held a protest against the attempted sexual harassment of a female colleague by a top university official, the press reported on Monday. About 3,000 students at the university in the northwestern city of Zanjan staged the sit-in protest over the weekend at a sports hall on campus, the reports said.
