A look at the state of religious freedom in the country in 2015
A look at the state of religious freedom in the country in 2015
HRANA News Agency – Statistical Report – The following comparison looks at the state of religious freedom in the country in the past year. These reports were compiled by the Statistics Department of the Human Rights Activists Association in Iran, within the framework of the annual reports of this human rights organization.
Over the past year, 113 reports of violations of religious freedom have been registered by the Statistics Institute. Accordingly, 163 citizens were arrested, 3 were beaten, 31 cases of home searches, 3 cases of sealing religious places, 48 cases of preventing the economic activities of religious minorities, 35 cases of summons to security-judicial institutions, and 4 cases of deprivation of education have also been reported.
31 members of religious minorities were sentenced by judicial institutions to a total of 1,072 months of penal servitude and 12 months of suspended imprisonment.
Out of a total of 113 reports extracted in this area, 112 cases of violations of the rights of religious minorities were recorded for at least 331 people.
In the category of religious freedom, Baha’is are at the top of the Human Rights Watch with a share of 47% of reports, followed by Sunnis with 30%, Dervishes with 10%, and Christians with 9%. It is worth noting that reports categorized as “other” refer to reports that are general in this area and do not specifically fall into the category of followers of a particular religion. Other religious groups are not mentioned in the Civil Rights Watch due to their low reporting share.
In the area of religious minorities, the arrest of citizens has decreased by 65% compared to the previous year, and the issuance of prison sentences by the judicial system has also decreased by 74%.
In a monthly comparison, violations of the right to freedom of religion based on the number of reported violations decreased by 57% compared to the previous year, with the largest increase in this area reported in February and the largest decrease in May.
To view a chart of human rights violations in the category of religious and ethnic minority rights in 2014, see the chart below.
