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Human Rights Violations: Iran
Ahnimus
Posts: 10,569
I keep hearing about Iran's human rights violations and how they are the primary reason for people's animosity towards Iran.
Let's examine Iran and it's human rights violations and stack those up against some other countries. What better source to use than Amnesty International?
This is not even a synopsis of all the stuff. I've included all of Iran's offenses but the USA's is way too long to include it all. I suggest reading it yourself if you care. So.. are there any more reasons to hate Iran?
Let's examine Iran and it's human rights violations and stack those up against some other countries. What better source to use than Amnesty International?
Amnesty International wrote:[size=+5]Iran's Human Rights Violations[/size]
Repression of minorities
Discriminatory laws and practices remained a source of social and political unrest and of human rights violations, particularly against Iran’s ethnic and religious minorities. In July the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to adequate housing visited Iran. He found discrimination in the distribution of resources, and in access to and quality of housing, water and sanitation in areas populated by minorities.
Human rights defenders
The registration process for independent non-governmental organizations remained a barrier to their effective operation, and individual human rights defenders remained at risk of reprisal for their work
Torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading punishments
Torture continued to be routine in many prisons and detention centres. At least five people died in custody. In several cases, torture or ill-treatment may have been a factor. Denial of medical treatment to put pressure on political prisoners emerged as an increasingly common practice.
Death penalty
At least 94 people were executed in 2005, including at least eight aged under 18 at the time of the crime. Scores more were reported to have been sentenced to death, including at least 11 who were under 18 at the time of the offence. The true figures were probably much higher. Death sentences continued to be imposed for vaguely worded offences such as “corruption on earth”.
Freedom of expression and association
Freedom of expression and association remained severely curtailed. Journalists and webloggers were detained and imprisoned and some newspapers were closed down. Relatives of detainees or those sought by the authorities remained at risk of harassment or intimidation.
Women’s rights
The UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women visited Iran in January and February. She criticized the arbitrary arrest, torture and ill-treatment of women, including women human rights defenders, and called on Iran to adopt a national action plan to promote and protect human rights that would eliminate violence against women. She also expressed particular concern at discriminatory laws and failures in the administration of justice which result in impunity for perpetrators and perpetuate discrimination and violence against women.
The UN Special Rapporteur on the right to adequate housing noted discrimination against women in relation to housing and a lack of safe houses for women who are victims of violence.
[size=+5]Israel's Human Rights Violations[/size]
Killings and attacks by the army
Some 190 Palestinians, including around 50 children, were killed by the Israeli army in the Occupied Territories. Many were killed unlawfully, in deliberate and reckless shootings, shelling and air strikes in densely populated residential areas, or as a result of excessive use of force. Some were extrajudicially executed and others died in armed clashes with Israeli soldiers. Hundreds of others were injured.
Attacks by Israeli settlers in the Occupied Territories
Israeli settlers in the West Bank repeatedly attacked Palestinians and their property. They destroyed crops, cut down or burned olive trees, contaminated water reservoirs and prevented farmers from cultivating their land, in order to force them to leave. Such attacks increased during the olive harvest months of October and November
Administration of justice and impunity
The Israeli army detained hundreds of Palestinians. Many were released without charge but hundreds were charged with security offences. Trials before military courts often did not meet international standards of fairness, with allegations of torture and ill-treatment of detainees inadequately investigated. Some 1,000 Palestinians were detained administratively without charge or trial during the year. Family visits for Palestinian detainees were severely restricted and in many cases forbidden as relatives were denied permits to enter Israel, where thousands of Palestinians were imprisoned.
In July Israel passed a discriminatory law denying Palestinian victims compensation for abuses inflicted by Israeli forces.
Israeli soldiers, police and settlers who committed unlawful killings, ill-treatment and other attacks against Palestinians and their property commonly did so with impunity. Investigations were rare, as were prosecutions of the perpetrators, which in most cases did not lead to convictions. By contrast, Israel used all means at its disposal, including assassinations, collective punishment and other measures that violate international law, against Palestinians who carried out attacks against Israelis or who were suspected of direct or indirect involvement in such attacks. Palestinians convicted of killing Israelis were usually sentenced to life imprisonment by Israeli military courts, whereas in the exceptional cases when Israelis were convicted of killing or abusing Palestinians, light sentences were imposed.
Imprisonment of conscientious objectors
Several Israelis who refused to serve in the army because they opposed Israel’s occupation of the Occupied Territories and refused to serve there were imprisoned for up to four months. They were prisoners of conscience.
Expansion of settlements and construction of the fence/wall
While international attention focused on the Gaza “disengagement plan”, Israel continued to expand illegal Israeli settlements and stepped up construction of a 600km fence/wall through the West Bank, including in and around East Jerusalem. The construction compounded the military blockades and other stringent restrictions imposed by the Israeli army on the movement of the Palestinian population throughout the Occupied Territories, including measures which increasingly cut off East Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank.
Restrictions on movement and violations of economic and social rights
Restrictions on the movement of people and goods remained the primary cause of high unemployment and poverty in the Occupied Territories, with about 50 per cent of Palestinians living below the poverty line and forced to depend on charity. The restrictions hindered the access of Palestinians to hospitals, schools and jobs. Cases of malnutrition and other health problems resulted from the extreme poverty.
Destruction of homes and properties
Although far less extensive than in previous years, destruction of Palestinian homes and land by Israeli forces continued. Large areas of agricultural land were seized and destroyed, and thousands of trees uprooted, to make way for the fence/wall and for settlers’ roads through the West Bank. Israeli settlers also destroyed Palestinian farmland in order to open new roads to connect recently established settlement outposts. Even though these outposts contravened government policy, the army rarely intervened to prevent such actions.
Violence and discrimination against women
The UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women examined Israel’s report in July. It expressed concern about laws governing personal status which are based on religion and about the 2003 law which bars family unification for Israelis who marry Palestinians from the Occupied Territories. It called on the Israeli government to intensify efforts to combat trafficking in women and girls; to take measures to improve the status of Israeli Arab women, especially in the fields of education and health, and to eliminate discrimination against Bedouin women; and to enforce adherence to the minimum age of marriage.
[size=+5]USA's Human Rights Violations[/size]
Guantánamo Bay
At the end of 2005 around 500 detainees of around 35 nationalities continued to be held without charge or trial at the US naval base in Guantánamo Bay; most had been captured during the international armed conflict in Afghanistan in 2001 and were held for alleged links to al-Qa’ida or the former Taleban government. They included at least two juveniles who were under 16 when they were taken into custody.
Military commissions
In November the US Supreme Court, ruling in the case of Salim Ahmed Hamdan, agreed to review the legality of the military commissions set up under a presidential order to try foreign terror suspects. However, a further five Guantánamo detainees were named to stand trial before the commissions, which are executive bodies, not impartial or independent courts, bringing the total number designated to appear before them to nine. The government scheduled arraignment hearings before the commissions for January for two of those charged. One of them was Omar Khadr, who was 15 when taken into custody and whose mental health and alleged ill-treatment remained a particular cause for concern.
Detentions in Iraq and Afghanistan
During the year, thousands of “security internees” were held without charge or trial by US forces in Iraq. Regulations governing detentions stipulated that internees must either be released or transferred to Iraqi criminal jurisdiction within 18 months. They also provided that detainees could continue to be interned by the US-led Multi-National Force indefinitely for “continued imperative reasons of security”. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) visited detainees in internment facilities but not those held in US division or brigade holding facilities immediately after arrest.
Torture and ill-treatment outside the USA
Evidence continued to emerge of the torture and ill-treatment of detainees in Guantánamo, Afghanistan and Iraq, before and after the abuses in Abu Ghraib prison, Iraq, which came to light in April 2004. Further information was published describing interrogation techniques officially approved at various periods for “war on terror” detainees, which included the use of dogs to inspire fear, stress positions, exposure to extremes of heat or cold, sleep deprivation and isolation.
Ill-treatment and excessive use of force
There were continued reports of ill-treatment and deaths in custody involving tasers – electro-shock weapons deployed by some 7,000 US police and correctional agencies.
Sixty-one people died after being struck by police tasers, bringing to 142 the total number of such deaths since 2001. Coroners found tasers had caused or contributed to at least 10 of the deaths in 2005, increasing concerns about the safety of such weapons.
Most of those who died were unarmed men who reportedly did not pose a serious threat when they were electro-shocked. Many were given multiple or prolonged shocks, potentially harmful acts highlighted in a Department of Defense preliminary study into taser safety published in April 2005.
Several police departments suspended the use of tasers, others tightened the rules for taser use. However, most departments continued to authorize tasers in a wide range of situations, including against unarmed people who resisted arrest or refused to obey police commands. Mentally disturbed and intoxicated individuals, children and the elderly were among those shocked.
Abuses of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people
In September AIUSA published a report, Stonewalled: police abuse and misconduct against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in the United States. The report found that, although there was greater recognition of the rights of LGBT people, many still faced discriminatory treatment and verbal and physical abuse by police. It also showed that within the LGBT community, transgender individuals, people of colour, youth, immigrants, homeless individuals and sex workers experienced a heightened risk of abuse. The report found that police often failed to respond adequately to hate crimes or domestic violence against LGBT people.
Death penalty
In 2005, 60 people were executed, bringing to 1,005 the total number of prisoners put to death since executions resumed in the USA in 1977 following a moratorium. Two people were released from death row on grounds of innocence, bringing to 122 the total number of such cases since 1973.
This is not even a synopsis of all the stuff. I've included all of Iran's offenses but the USA's is way too long to include it all. I suggest reading it yourself if you care. So.. are there any more reasons to hate Iran?
I necessarily have the passion for writing this, and you have the passion for condemning me; both of us are equally fools, equally the toys of destiny. Your nature is to do harm, mine is to love truth, and to make it public in spite of you. - Voltaire
Post edited by Unknown User on
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Guess not, they're like cute little teddy bears in search of a hug over there, apparently.
www.myspace.com/jensvad
Rather than quantity, quality should matter a bit. Who has been attacked, and why? But trying to argue with people sold on the idea that the US is terroristic, is pointless. Yet the line to get into the US is endless, and the line of people leaving due to the oppressive, horrible regime of the US of A is non-existent.
hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
www.myspace.com/jensvad
good reply.
And this has what to do with bombing countries. Last I checked on sept 11/01 there were people in US streets cheering for what happened. Sounds like they agree with what goes on down there.
Look, I'm all for calling a spade a spade. The United States has been and is guilty of human rights violations. But why do the US critics only bring this stuff up when the US is talking? Similarly, why will these same people cry "SEPERATION OF CHURCH AND STATE!!!!" whenever God is mentioned by any US politician but then talk about "tolerance" whenever an Iranian mullah advocates Shariah law? If these are fundamental principles, why do they only apply to one side?
Ahnimus just has some kind of chip on his shoulder. I think he's been hanging out at the local shwarma shop too much lately or something. I don't profess to understand the source of his rigid views. Near as I can tell, they are totally impervious to logical arguments.
No americans were in streets cheering on 9/11, and its baseless crap statements like that that prove the rest of the world isnt any more knowlegable about other countries than we are. I gaurantee, IF there were people on the streets anywhere near NYC cheering, they'd have been beaten to death. Trust me on that. The only ones cheering on 9/11 were the islamo-facist lunatics living in the countries we are either currently bombing to shreds, or preparing to bomb to shreds.
Please share with me, where you got the idea that Americans were cheering in the streets on 9/11...........besides from your ass.
www.myspace.com/jensvad
Quote:
The two principal “human rights” organizations are in a race to the bottom to see which group can demonize Israel with the most absurd legal arguments and most blatant factual mis-statements. Until last week, Human Rights Watch enjoyed a prodigious lead, having “found” - contrary to what every newspaper in the world had reported and what everyone saw with their own eyes on television - “no cases in which Hizbullah deliberately used civilians as shields to protect them from retaliatory IDF attack.”
Those of us familiar with Amnesty International’s nefarious anti-Israel agenda and notoriously “suggestible” investigative methodology wondered how it could possibly match such a breathtaking lie.
But we didn’t have to wait long for AI to announce that Israel was guilty of a slew of war crimes for “widespread attacks against public civilian infrastructure, including power plants, bridges, main roads, seaports, and Beirut’s international airport.”
There are two problems with the Amnesty report and conclusion. First, Amnesty is wrong about the law. Israel committed no war crimes by attacking parts of the civilian infrastructure in Lebanon.
In fact, through restraint, Israel was able to minimize the number of civilian casualties in Lebanon, despite Hizbullah’s best efforts to embed itself in population centers and to use civilians as human shields. The total number of innocent Muslim civilians killed by Israeli weapons during a month of ferocious defensive warfare was a fraction of the number of innocent Muslims killed by other Muslims during that same period in Iraq, Sudan, Afghanistan, Algeria, and other areas of Muslim-on-Muslim civil strife. Yet the deaths caused by Muslims received a fraction of the attention devoted to alleged Israeli “crimes.”
This lack of concern for Muslims by other Muslims - and the lack of focus by so-called human rights organizations on these deaths - is bigotry, pure and simple.
Yea, we know how you all saw Hizbullah use human shields. Look, here is your evidence.
Nice to see the new words the US goverment are putting out there are being picked up and used nicely.
The economy has polarized to the point where the wealthiest 10% now own 85% of the nation’s wealth. Never before have the bottom 90% been so highly indebted, so dependent on the wealthy.
THe same way conservatives here are cheering for a war that THEY KNOW is causing the death of innocent civilians? What's the difference between you and them?
Seriously...
...oh, and you're welcome for the indepth and intelligent reply
There is more evidence pointing towards the USA or Israel having a goal to dominate the middle-east, over Iran.
Irvine 1992, Las Vegas 1993, Mountain View 1994, San Diego 1995, Los Angeles 1996, Los Angeles 1998, Moutain View 1999, San Bernadino 2000, Los Angeles 2000, Irvine 2003, Irvine 2003, Moutain View 2003, Santa Barbara 2003, San Diego 2006, Los Angeles 2006, Santa Barbara 2006
Irvine 1992, Las Vegas 1993, Mountain View 1994, San Diego 1995, Los Angeles 1996, Los Angeles 1998, Moutain View 1999, San Bernadino 2000, Los Angeles 2000, Irvine 2003, Irvine 2003, Moutain View 2003, Santa Barbara 2003, San Diego 2006, Los Angeles 2006, Santa Barbara 2006