A/HRC/25/61 He notes that two LGBT parties have been broken up (with arrests) over the past two months, whereas there has only been one in the years before. There is a general level of societal tolerance for LGBT individuals in the big cities, according to Mansour. Gay people can and do get kicked out of work, etc., but not because of that per se, but rather because the employers often don’t want “trouble.” Ms. Mahnaz Political prisoner/ LGBT activist Ms Mahnaz was arrested in 1981 for political activities and spent one month in an isolated cell. In 1984, she was arrested and spent three years at Evin Prison; she was banned from leaving the country for 20 years. In 1995, she was arrested again, this time for trying to leave Iran without a passport, in violation of her previous travel ban. Authorities had apparently been monitoring her calls, and also got to know that she was a lesbian. She was sentenced to a suspended sentence of three years in prison for her political activities and to 100 lashes for lesbianism. She then left the country. She points out that Iran is a hetero-normative society, so it tolerates gender-reassignment surgery; individuals who really should not be reassigned are often pushed to undergo the procedure, sometimes very hastily and without proper prior psychological counseling or necessary medical preparation. She does believe that there is a sense amongst the younger generation that “human rights” can help bolster their quality of life. Mr. “Reza” Labour rights activist Mr Reza was condemned to death in 1970 by the Shah, because he was politically active outside of the country (as a leftist). He returned to Iran three days before the Revolution, for political reasons (he was already established abroad otherwise). He was arrested three years after the Revolution, and spent seven months in prison with no trial. He was not tortured, but authorities were very interested in his political affiliations. He was later released, but not permitted to leave the country. He was later able to pay 6 million tumans to a member of the Revolutionary Guard in order to have the travel ban lifted. He then continued to work in Iran. Mr Reza began running underground guilds of tool-makers and mechanics. He also helped organize a network of groups of civil unions. He and other colleagues printed 1,000 or 1,500 copies of their pamphlet, but they later found out that other people in the country had printed out 100,000. In 2010, someone stopped, pulled up beside him in a white van, and officers came out and took his watch and his wallet and blindfolded him. He was trying to figure out which route they took; he thinks they traveled to the Intelligence Center at Evin Prison. 83