Human Rights Deteriorate in Iran as Elections Approach

Human Rights Deteriorate in Iran as Elections Approach

Speaking in Tehran at a forum on human rights in February 2012, Iranian Chief Justice Ayatollah Sadegh Larijani called Iran’s ratification of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in December 1948 a “mistake.” Larijani was reacting to reports by the U.N. special rapporteur on human rights in Iran, Ahmed Shaheed, on Iran’s systematic violations of the declaration. Larijani went on to deny the incidents documented in the reports and assert that the U.N.’s evidence was false.

But Iran is indeed expanding its crackdown on political, religious and social freedoms in advance of the June 14 election to select a successor to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Guardian Council Chairman Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati and Larijani are taking no chances in efforts to prevent a recurrence of the public unrest that followed the last presidential election in 2009, when protests over the disputed poll nearly overthrew the theocracy. Nor are the ayatollahs willing to abide challenges from within the government itself to replace the autocratic “velayat-e faqih” system -- or governance of the Islamic jurist, whereby Khamenei rules as unelected supreme leader -- with a popularly elected secular administration.

Sensing mounting opposition to the theocracy, on Jan. 8 Khamenei warned politicians, activists and the general public that “criticizing the electoral process will help [Iran’s] enemies” and therefore would not be tolerated. That same day his representative to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Hojatoleslam Ali Saeedi, instructed the security forces that it is their “inherent duty to ensure a reasonable and logical engineering” of the upcoming election.

Keep reading for free!

Get instant access to the rest of this article by submitting your email address below. You'll also get access to three articles of your choice each month and our free newsletter:

Or, Subscribe now to get full access.

Already a subscriber? Log in here .

What you’ll get with an All-Access subscription to World Politics Review:

A WPR subscription is like no other resource — it’s like having a personal curator and expert analyst of global affairs news. Subscribe now, and you’ll get:

  • Immediate and instant access to the full searchable library of tens of thousands of articles.
  • Daily articles with original analysis, written by leading topic experts, delivered to you every weekday.
  • Regular in-depth articles with deep dives into important issues and countries.
  • The Daily Review email, with our take on the day’s most important news, the latest WPR analysis, what’s on our radar, and more.
  • The Weekly Review email, with quick summaries of the week’s most important coverage, and what’s to come.
  • Completely ad-free reading.

And all of this is available to you when you subscribe today.

More World Politics Review