CSW disappointed by lack of human rights issues in initial talks with United States

CSW is disappointed by the lack of discussion of pressing human rights issues during the initial round of talks between Iran and the United States (US), which concluded in Oman on 12 April.

Prior to the talks, the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) called on the US administration to demand accountability for Iran’s ongoing violations of freedom of religion or belief (FoRB).

USCIRF Chair Stephen Scheck said: ‘Iranians who dissent from the government’s endorsed religious interpretation—particularly converts from Islam—face severe government persecution for both their religious beliefs and for exercising their freedom to change these beliefs. The Trump administration must demand Iranian concessions on its systematic targeting of religious minorities, including those at risk of being repatriated, during upcoming talks in Oman.’

Despite these calls, human rights, including the right to FoRB, were not discussed during the talks, which focused on Iran’s nuclear programme.

Iran is party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and other international legislation protecting the right to FoRB, and there are limited provisions for FoRB in the Iranian Constitution. However, in reality religious minorities are viewed with suspicion and treated as a threat by a theocratic system that imposes a strict interpretation of Shi’a Islam. Consequently, the country’s Baha’i, Christian, Sufi Dervish and Sunni Muslim communities can experience a variety of violations, including harassment, property seizure, desecration of burial sites, torture, imprisonment, and even extrajudicial execution.

In the latest example of the regime’s hostility to religious minority communities, on 14 April an Iranian-Armenian church leader, Pastor Joseph Shahbazian, who has been held in Tehran’s Evin Prison since February, was denied permission to attend his mother’s funeral, despite the official conclusion of the investigation into his Christian activities. Pastor Shahbazian’s wife, Lida Alexani, was also absent from the funeral, with unconfirmed reports indicating that she had been arrested on 12 April following a raid on the couple’s home by agents from the Ministry of Intelligence (MOIS).

The talks in Oman are taking place as reports emerge of a 17% increase in executions in Iran during 2024, with 141 more people put to death than in 2023, including at least 31 women, one minor, nine Kurdish political prisoners, and a political dissident who had been abducted from a neighbouring country.

Alarmed at the ‘continued violations of a wide range of civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights’ by the Iranian government, in March the UN Human Rights Council extended the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran by a further year. It also extended and expanded the mandate of the Independent International Fact Finding Mission on Iran, which was established following the 2022 Woman Life Freedom protests, to include investigating recent and ongoing severe violations, establishing ‘the facts, circumstances and structural causes of such violations, including discrimination on grounds of gender, ethnicity, religion or belief and political views,’ and compiling evidence ‘for use in any independent legal proceedings.’

CSW’s Director of Advocacy Khataza Gondwe said: ‘The seeming omission of urgent human rights concerns in these initial discussions with the Iranian government follows a concerning pattern of the international community neglecting to utilise suitable opportunities to press the regime to uphold international human rights obligations which it agreed to uphold voluntarily. We urge the US government to ensure that pressing human rights issues are no longer overlooked in subsequent dialogues, and to call on the government of Iran to respect, protect and fulfil the rights and freedoms articulated within the ICCPR for all citizens, including the right to freedom of religion or belief.’