Hassan Rouhani’s promises of greater freedoms in Iran have not resulted in any major improvements regarding human rights and freedom of expression, the U.N. chief said in a new report on Iran.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s annual report to the General Assembly on human rights in Iran, obtained by Reuters on Friday, also expressed alarm at the reported recent increase in executions in Iran.
The report said: the promises made by Hassan Rouhani “have not yet led to significant improvements, and restrictions on freedom of expression continue to affect many areas of life.”
“Journalists and other media personnel are frequently summoned or detained by the judiciary or face harassment and attacks by security forces,” Ban Ki-moon’s report said.
“Discrimination against ethnic and religious minorities reportedly persists both in law and in practice,” and Rouhani has not delivered on is related to Internet censorship the report said.
“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,” he said.
Ban’s report also raises concerns about the increase in the number of executions last year.
He also criticized Tehran for carrying out death sentences on 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,” Ban’s report said.
Under so-called ‘moderate’ Hassan Rouhani the country has faced highest number of executions in a year compared to any Iranian regime’s president for the past 25 years.