A/HRC/31/69 death penalty and encourages it to continue its examination of laws and policies that effectively undermine or violate the right to life. These include laws that provide for the death penalty for acts not considered to be criminal offences or crimes that do not warrant use of the death penalty under international law, such as drug-related crimes. He also appeals to the Government to abandon piecemeal reforms and to immediately and unconditionally prohibit the execution of offenders who are juveniles, defined as individuals under 18 years of age, at the time they committed the capital offence. 66. The widening crackdown on freedom of expression and opinion that reportedly took place during the reporting period is regrettable, and the Special Rapporteur urges the Government to consider amending or rescinding laws, policies and parliamentary measures that contravene freedom of expression and that restrict access to information, including the draft political crimes bill, which would criminalize attempts to “reform the country’s policies”. 67. The Special Rapporteur welcomes the recent release of arbitrarily detained persons, but maintains his concern about other journalists, lawyers, religious minorities and individuals working to defend the rights of women, children, workers and ethnic minorities who are currently detained for the peaceful exercise of their fundamental human rights. He reiterates the concern of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders about the Government’s “overly broad interpretations” of national security and propagation crimes against the State (A/HRC/25/55/Add.3), and strongly urges the authorities to release all individuals identified as arbitrarily detained by the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention and other human rights mechanisms. 68. The Special Rapporteur regrets that concerns remain around the situation of recognized and unrecognized religious minorities and that communities continue to report arrests and prosecutions for worship and participation in religious community affairs, including in private homes. He draws particular attention to the situation of Baha’is owing to the existence of systematic policies designed to discriminate against, target, harass and deprive them of the right to a livelihood. The Special Rapporteur urges the authorities to recognize that freedom of religion or belief entails the freedom to choose a religion or belief, and that measures restricting eligibility for civil, political, social or economic privileges, or imposing special restrictions on the practice of other faiths, violate the prohibition of discrimination based on religion or belief and the guarantee of equal protection under article 26 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.57 69. The Special Rapporteur calls on the Government to amend laws that violate the rights of women or that undermine their equal and full enjoyment of civil, political, social and economic rights, including the rights to freedom of movement and work and the right to be free from discrimination, especially in the workplace. Draft legislation currently under consideration that appears to infringe on these rights and that may incite violence against women should be reconsidered as a means of addressing national and international concern. The Government should also reconsider laws that insist that women must seek permission to travel from their spouses, and he urges the Islamic Republic of Iran to protect children born within its jurisdiction by facilitating the ability of women to pass on their citizenship to their sons and daughters. 57 Human Rights Committee, general comment No. 22 (1993) on the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion. 19