A/HRC/40/24 Situation of human rights defenders and human rights lawyers 44. The Secretary-General remains deeply concerned about the situation of human rights defenders and human rights lawyers imprisoned in connection with their activities. Since the issuance of the previous report, Narges Mohammadi, Arash Sadeghi, Farhad Meysami, Soheil Arabi and Mohammad Ali Taheri remain imprisoned, despite calls for their release. Mr. Taheri, the founder of a spiritual movement, a writer and a practitioner of alternative medicine theories, is detained while awaiting an appeal against his conviction and five-year prison sentence for “spreading corruption on earth”. Mr. Taheri twice successfully appealed against the death penalty on the same charge. The Secretary-General reiterates the call of the previous United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, in his statement of 5 August 2015, to “immediately withdraw the charges against Taheri and ensure his unconditional release”.104 45. The Secretary-General reiterates concerns about the health of Mr. Sadeghi, who is in need of urgent medical care after being returned to prison contrary to medical advice. The Secretary-General is also concerned about the health of Dr. Meysami, a physician who campaigned for an end to compulsory veiling. Dr. Meysami started a hunger strike in August 2018 due to his conviction on charges related to his activism on women’s rights and the lack of access to a lawyer of his choosing. The Secretary-General reiterates calls by special procedure mandate holders to immediately release all those who have been imprisoned for promoting and protecting the rights of women. 105 46. The Secretary-General welcomes the release – although on conditional parole – of prominent human rights lawyer Abdolfattah Soltani, 106 and the release on bail of lawyer Zeinab Taheri (while noting that she still faces several charges). 107 The Secretary-General remains concerned that the continued arrests and treatment of lawyers risk undermining the right to an effective defence and the administration of justice. Nasrin Sotoudeh, a prominent human rights lawyer, remains in prison. Her detention followed her representation of women who had protested against compulsory veiling. In August 2018, Ms. Sotoudeh went on a hunger strike in protest against the treatment of her and her family. The authorities laid further charges against her and arrested her husband, Reza Khandan. Prior to his detention, Mr. Khandan raised concerns about compulsory veiling and campaigned for his wife’s release. The Secretary-General reiterates concerns about the arrest and detention of human rights defenders and human rights lawyers in relation to their support for protests against compulsory veiling.108 47. In its comments, the Government stated that all individuals, including those referred to in the present report as human rights lawyers, human rights defenders, journalists or environmentalists, were treated according to the law. E. Rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association Prohibition of independent trade unions 48. The Islamic Republic of Iran does not allow the creation of trade unions other than government-sanctioned Islamic labour councils and is not a party to the International Labour Organization (ILO) Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87) or to the ILO Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98). The prohibition of independent trade unions is contrary to the obligations of the Islamic Republic of Iran under article 8 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and article 22 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The reported harassment and detention of labour activists also violates 104 105 106 107 108 12 See www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=16292&LangID=E. See www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=23947&LangID=E. See www.irna.ir/fa/News/83108418 and www.theguardian.com/world/2018/nov/21/iranian-humanrights-lawyer-abdolfattah-soltani-released-from-jail. See www.fidh.org/en/issues/human-rights-defenders/release-on-bail-of-zeinab-taheri. See www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=23947&LangID=E.