Iran: End Arrests on Immorality Charges

international | gender and sexuality | other press Wednesday May 16, 2007 18:05 by Dorothy Gale

Mass Detentions, Home Raids Are Assaults on Privacy

Human Rights Watch provides an update on the Iranian Juntas war on women. This puts things in the context of human, civil and gender rights.

Iran’s arbitrary arrests of thousands of men and women in recent weeks under the banner of “countering immoral behavior” threaten basic rights to privacy, Human Rights Watch said today. Human Rights Watch called for the immediate release of all those detained as part of this campaign, including more than 80 people seized in a raid on a private gathering in the city of Esfahan on May 10, 2007.

Since early April 2007, Iranian police and militia known as basiji have launched a nationwide crackdown against people they accuse of deviating from official standards of dress or behavior. On April 14, Iran’s Supreme Court overturned murder sentences against six basiji who had killed five people in 2002 whom they considered “morally corrupt,” contributing to a climate of impunity for the militia forces.