Special Features

Iran Human Rights Documentation Center Publishes Report on Rape in Iranian Prisons

Iran Human Rights Documentation Center Press Release
Originally Published 10 June 2011

NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT – In commemoration of the second anniversary of the post-election violence and crack-down on dissent orchestrated by the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Iran Human Rights Documentation Center (IHRDC) today published a report on the use of rape as a method of torture by Iranian prison authorities. The report, Surviving Rape in Iran’s Prisons, may be found here.  The Persian version will be available next week.

Allegations of rape and sexual violence of political prisoners began to emerge after the Islamic Republic of Iran was established in 1979 and have continued, to varying degrees, to the present. However, not surprisingly, there is no reliable estimate of the number of prisoners raped in the Islamic Republic’s prisons. The reasons are simple:  few rape victims are willing to speak about their experiences due to (1) government pressure and acquiescence, and (2) social stigma. Iranian authorities have and continue to acquiesce to rapes of prisoners by guards and interrogators who use rape to crush detainees’ spirit, inflict humiliation, discourage their dissent, force them to confess to crimes, and ultimately to intimidate them and others – all in violation of international human rights and Iranian law.

This report documents the ordeals of five former prisoners – two women and three men. They span the almost 30 years of the Islamic Republic’s existence. Four witnesses were raped; one was threatened with rape and saw rape victims. All were traumatized and some considered suicide.

IHRDC is a nonprofit organization based in New Haven, Connecticut whose goal is to encourage an informed dialogue among scholars and the general public in both Iran and abroad.  The human rights reports and a database of documents relating to human rights in Iran are available to the public for research and educational purposes on the Center’s website.  www.iranhrdc.org.

For further information, please contact:
Renee C. Redman, Esq.
Executive Director
Iran Human Rights Documentation Center
Tel: (203) 772-2218 Ext. 215,
Email: rredman@iranhrdc.org

New WCRO Report Examines Expediting Proceedings at the International Criminal Court

War Crimes Research Office Announcement
Originally Published 9 June 2011

Washington, DC June 9, 2011 —The War Crimes Research Office (WCRO) launched a new report on the International Criminal Court (ICC) yesterday at the Colombian Embassy in The Netherlands, at an event co-hosted by the Group of Friends of the ICC.  The report, Expediting Proceedings at the International Criminal Court, examines means of avoiding delays in proceedings before the ICC.

In its less than one decade of existence, the International Criminal Court (ICC) has achieved a great deal, opening formal investigations into six situations involving some of the most serious atrocities seen since the birth of the Court in 2002 and commencing cases against a number of the individuals believed to bear the greatest responsibility for those atrocities. However, nearly ten years after coming into being, the ICC has yet to complete a single trial, raising concerns among States Parties to the Rome Statute and others regarding the effective functioning of the Court.  Hence, while recognizing that the ICC is still a relatively young institution faced with a variety of novel substantive and procedural challenges, the aim of this report is to identify areas of unnecessary delays in proceedings currently before the Court that are likely to arise again, and suggest ways in which such delays may be avoided in the future.

The report is the fourteenth in the WCRO’s ICC Legal Analysis and Education Project, an initiative aimed at producing public, impartial, legal analyses of critical issues raised by the ICC’s early decisions. The ICC Legal Analysis and Education Project benefits from the insights of an Advisory Committee comprised of the following experts in international criminal law:

–        Judge Mary McGowan Davis, former Acting New York State Supreme Court Judge and Board Member of the International Judicial Academy and the American Association for the International Commission of Jurists;

–        Justice Unity Dow, Commissioner of the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), member of the ICJ’s Executive Committee and former judge of the Botswana High Court;

–        Siri Frigaard, Chief Public Prosecutor for the Norwegian National Authority for Prosecution of Organized and Other Serious Crimes and former Deputy General Prosecutor for Serious Crimes in East Timor;

–        Justice Richard Goldstone, former Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and Rwanda (ICTR); and

–        Chief Justice Phillip Rapoza of the Massachusetts Appeals Court and former Chief International Judge serving as Coordinator of the Special Panels for Serious Crimes in East Timor.

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For a hard copy of the report or more information, contact the War Crimes Research Office at warcrimes@wcl.american.edu, or +1 (202) 274-4067. The reports are also available online at http://www.wcl.american.edu/warcrimes/icc/icc_reports.cfm.

War Crimes Prosecution Watch, Vol. 6, Issue 5

War Crimes Prosecution Watch is prepared by the International Justice Practice of the Public International Law & Policy Group and the Frederick K. Cox International Law Center of Case Western Reserve University School of Law.

INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT

Central African Republic & Uganda

Democratic Republic of the Congo

Kenya

Libya

AFRICA

International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda

Special Court for Sierra Leone

EUROPE

European Court of Human Rights

Court of Bosnia & Herzegovina, War Crimes Chamber

International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia

Domestic Prosecutions In The Former Yugoslavia

MIDDLE EAST AND ASIA

Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia

Special Tribunal for Lebanon

Bangladesh International Crimes Tribunal

WORTH READING

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War Crimes Prosecution Watch is a bi-weekly e-newsletter that compiles official documents and articles from major news sources detailing and analyzing salient issues pertaining to the investigation and prosecution of war crimes throughout the world. For more information about War Crimes Prosecution Watch, please contact warcrimeswatch@pilpg.org.