A/HRC/22/48 E. Freedom of peaceful assembly and association, freedom of opinion and expression 1. Lack of freedom of expression, association 30. The High Commissioner for Human Rights and special procedures have expressed serious concerns about the shrinking space for freedom of expression and assembly. Lawyers, human rights defenders, independent media practitioners, film-makers and artists are often targeted for exercising their professional responsibilities or rights to freedoms of expression and association. Independent associations and unions, such as the Associations of Journalists and Teachers, the Centre for Human Rights Defenders, the Committee for Defense of Political Prisoners in Iran, the Committee of Human Rights Reporters, the Iranian Bar Association, the One Million Signature Campaign and Mourning Mothers have either been banned or had their members imprisoned. In some instances, authorities even prevented funeral ceremonies for family members of activists. 31. In a report to the Human Rights Council (A/HRC/20/27/Add.3, para. 168), the Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association expressed serious concerns about the restrictions imposed on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association and urged the authorities to open up space for people to exercise their legitimate freedom of association without undue hindrances. On 15 November, the Director-General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), calling for an investigation into the death in custody of Sattar Beheshti, (see paras. 7–10), stressed that freedom of expression is an essential component of democracy, good governance and the rule of law and that citizens and professional journalists should have the right to speak and write without fear for their lives. 32. In its annual report for 2012, the Committee to Protect Journalists reported the imprisonment of 45 journalists in the Islamic Republic of Iran.23 Several are facing charges linked to national security and/or propaganda against the system. Furthermore, the authorities have shut down independent media outlets and newspapers. On 26 September, the authorities closed down an independent newspaper, the Daily Shargh, for publishing a cartoon that authorities deemed insulting to veterans of the conflict between the Islamic Republic of Iran and Iraq, and arrested its director Mehdi Rahmanian. He was released on bail after spending three days in prison but his trial is pending. A summons was also issued against the cartoonist. Authorities also raided the offices of Daily Maghreb, on 1 October, and arrested its editor, Mohammad Mehdi Emami Nasseri. The daily was subsequently suspended on 23 November. 33. Furthermore, on 26 September 2012, Ali Akbar Javanfekr, the press advisor to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Head of the official Iranian News Agency was summoned to serve a six-month prison sentence issued previously for insulting the Supreme Leader and for publishing content “contrary to Islamic standards”. A Tehran court originally sentenced Mr. Javanfekr on 20 November 2011 to a year in prison and a threeyear ban on working as a journalist, but the sentence was reduced to six months in prison on appeal. On 19 December, he was released on a four-day medical leave to seek medical treatment.24 In September, the Reuters bureau chief in the Islamic Republic of Iran, Parisa 23 24 10 www.sunnionline.us/english/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3544:17-sunni-hschool-teachers-banned-from-teaching&catid=58:Ahl-al-Sunna-In-Iran&Itemid=198. See www.cpj.org/reports/2012/12/imprisoned-journalists-world-record.php. See http://isna.ir/fa/news/91093018078/ (in Persian).