A/HRC/31/26 25. At least 45 journalists and social media activists are being held in detention for peaceful activities in the Islamic Republic of Iran, one of the highest totals in the world.22 The laws pertaining to freedom of expression remain overly restrictive and allow vague and broad exceptions to journalistic freedom that make it possible for the authorities to violate the spirit of the law and to harass, arbitrarily arrest and detain, or prosecute journalists (A/70/352). On 16 January 2016, the Secretary-General welcomed the release from detention of a number of Iranian-Americans, including Jason Rezaian, a reporter for the Washington Post, in an exchange of prisoners with the United States of America. Mr. Rezaian had been detained for 18 months, charged with espionage, collaboration with hostile Governments, gathering classified information and disseminating propaganda against the Islamic Republic of Iran. Commending the positive steps taken by the Government in releasing Mr. Rezaian, the Secretary-General called on the authorities to facilitate the release of the remaining detainees arbitrarily held in the country. 26. On 14 October 2015, the Revolutionary Court in Tehran sentenced Mehdi Moosavi, a poet, to 11 years of imprisonment and 99 lashes on charges of “insulting the sacred” on the basis of the social criticism expressed in his poetry. 23 The convictions were reportedly based on forced confessions. Mr. Moosavi was reportedly subjected to repeated and long interrogations and to more than a month of solitary confinement. He refuted the charges against him during his trial. 27. The authorities continued to filter and block social media websites, such as Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Viber, Tango, WhatsApp and Instagram. The authorities stated that smart filtering of YouTube, Facebook and Twitter was aimed at preventing terrorist activities, promotion of extremism and violence and breaching of privacy. On 20 October 2015, the Chief Executive Officer of the instant messaging service Telegram, Pavel Durov, affirmed publicly that the Government had asked the company to spy on its users in the Islamic Republic of Iran. On 15 November 2015, the administrators of more than 20 groups on Telegram were arrested for spreading “immoral content”.24 The authorities stated that the Chief Executive Officer had accepted their request to block sites promoting terrorist and extremist activities through Telegram. They added that the managers of the sites were prosecuted in conformity with Iranian law, which requires combating the spread of prostitution and the exploitation of children. In September 2015, 11 individuals were also arrested in connection with jokes circulated on social media that were deemed offensive to the former Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khomeini. 25 D. Rights to freedoms of association and peaceful assembly 28. The Secretary-General deplores the Government’s refusal to accept the recommendations that it received during the second cycle of the universal periodic review to repeal all legal provisions that infringe the freedoms of peaceful assembly and association (see A/HRC/28/12 and Corr.1, para. 138.227). Between January and November 2015, special procedure mandate holders transmitted five communications to the Government concerning freedom of assembly and association, drawing its attention to its international obligation to respect and fully protect the rights of all individuals to associate freely, including individuals holding minority or dissenting views or beliefs, and human rights defenders. 22 23 24 25 8 See www.ohchr.org/SP/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=16736&LangID=E. See www.iranhumanrights.org/2015/10/two-poets-sentenced/. See www.reuters.com/article/us-iran-rights-socialmedia-idUSKCN0T40MU20151115. See www.amnesty.org/en/countries/middle-east-and-north-africa/iran/report-iran/.