A/HRC/37/68/Add.1 Reply to the report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran to be presented at the thirty-seventh Human Rights Council (March 2018) Considering the passing away of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, we avail ourselves with this opportunity to express our sympathy with her family. Reply to paragraph 1 The picture presented by the Draft Report on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, and the progress made in this area, has been dramatically distorted and worrying; at least as regards the references made, in this paragraph, to the recognized developments. The serious will of the Islamic Republic of Iran to promote human rights, to remedy the shortcomings, and to safeguard its achievements over the past 40 years has led the Government to consistently provide, in all possible ways, opportunities for reviewing laws, approaches and their enforcement. In this direction, a recent review of the anti-narcotics law is noteworthy.Following theoretical challenges among the administration and experts on the effectiveness of the current drug law, the views of the representatives of the nation (in the Parliament) drew attentions to the importance of reviewing the relevant law and diversity in the new ways of combating this social scourge.In the light of support by the Governmental and non-governmental sectors, and eventually the new law was adopted by the majority of the people's representatives in the Parliament, and ultimately was ratified by the Guardian Council and finally announced by the President. According to this law, the death penalty for some drug traffickers will be eliminated, and they will be sentenced to one to thirty years of imprisonment and a fine. With the reform of the anti Narcotics Act, a significant number of prisoners are released from execution and their sentence is changed to prison. In addition, this law is retrospective. Various other changes and reforms have also taken place in the pursuit of justice and the provision of more criminals' rights over the past few years, including the revision of the Islamic Penal Code and the Criminal Procedure Code, as well as the other items acknowledged in this Draft. At the beginning of the present report, rather than welcoming the fundamental changes, and its impact on a large part of the definitive drug convictions, has raised incorrect and irresponsible statements regarding the human rights situation in Iran, which can be construed as signs of prejudice and deviation neutrality. It was desirable that such a major legal change in the laws of the country, which has led to a significant reduction in the implementation of the penalties for this category of offenders, to be welcomed in this Draft Report. Reply to paragraphs 3-5 In the subject matter referred to in this paragraph, it is necessary first to emphasize that in the Islamic Republic of Iran, in accordance with the Constitution and other laws, the right to hold meetings and even protests are guaranteed; but it is necessary to refer to the emergence of a new pattern created by certain powers to undermine democratic systems opposed to Western politics. This formula deserves to be called the "democracy weakening Model". This model only works in countries with a democratic system that does not politically meet with the interests of the United States and which have created opportunities for free demonstrations, in law and practice. In such a situation, the makers of democracy weakening model are coming in with the following features: allocating funds and planning to create turbulent movements and turning of social and peaceful movements to political and violent moves, creating turmoil and exploiting high level political support of rioters and widespread media activity against that state to undermine the democratic institutions in that country, and the attempt to change social movements and ordinary dissatisfaction with changing the political system. Unfortunately, this pattern has been repeated in several parts of the world, including Latin America, Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, and most recently, with failure, in Iran. Due to the anti human rights nature of such acts and their role in systematically undermining democracy, this trend needs to be seriously taken into consideration by international human rights mechanisms. The Special Procedures mechanism is no exception to this and it is necessary expected to fulfill its intrinsic duty in support of democracies in developing countries. 2