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UN Secretary-General Ban Ki moon, in his annual report to the UN General Assembly on the issue of human rights in Iraq, said that Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s pledges for greater freedom in the country has not led to major improvements of freedom of expression or human rights.
In a report obtained by Reuters, he also expressed concern over the reported increase in the number of executions in the country.
“President Rouhani has pledged to decrease restrictions on freedom of expression and to ensure security for the press. Unfortunately, those promises have not yet led to significant improvements, and restrictions on freedom of expression continue to affect many areas of life”, the report read.
However, reporters in Iran continue to face restrictions and difficulties, Ban added in the report.
“Journalists and other media personnel are frequently summoned or detained by the judiciary or face harassment and attacks by security forces”, he said.
Rouhani, who became President in August 2013, promised that ethnic and religious minorities “must feel justice”. In April 2014, the head of Iran’s High Council for Human Rights said that people from the maltreated Baha’i community were entitled to the rights enjoyed by all Iranian citizens.
“However, discrimination against ethnic and religious minorities reportedly persists both in law and in practice. Baha’is remain barred from access to higher education and government employment; they also continue to experience governmental interference in private employment”, Ban said in the report.
He also called out Rouhani on not delivering on promises related to internet censorship. Earlier in the year, Rouhani had challenged hardliners in Iran to embrace the internet and not consider it a threat.
“However, the Secretary-General deplores the fact that it appears that these words have not yet been translated into practical measures and that the judiciary has ordered the blocking of many social media platforms and websites. It is noteworthy that, while such sites as Twitter and Facebook are blocked for most Iranians, the leadership increasingly uses social media to broadcast messages”, Ban said in the report.
He was also concerned on the number of executions in Iran, most of which were for drug-related offenses. He singled out Rouhani for the execution of juveniles.
“According to information gathered from reliable sources, more than 160 juveniles are currently on death row and at least two have been executed in recent months for crimes that they committed when they were younger than 18”, he said.