A/HRC/28/70 Government was currently considering accession to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. 81. The Government noted that laws protected expression “except when it is detrimental to the fundamental principle of Islam or the rights of the public”. It argued that imprisoned members of the media had committed “serious” offences by propagating lies, “perturbing public peace of mind” and disseminating content that fomented ethnic and religious hatred, extremism and violence. It maintained that civil society actors were free and “extensively active”, adding that “any form of social activity” by a “political party, society or association” required a permit and the observance of laws and regulations. 82. With regard to religious freedom, the Government also claimed that the most important criterion for constructing new places of worship was the number of followers of each faith, and that the Christian population had more than their per capita share of churches. In response to complaints that Sunni Muslims were not allowed to construct new places of worship, the Government stated that Sunni Muslims were not restricted from attending Shia mosques or vice versa, which prevented the spread of extremism. 83. The Government maintained that landmines in the five western provinces of the country had been planted by the former “regime of Iraq” during the war between the two countries and that it held Iraq and “those countries that supported her in imposing war on Iran” responsible for the landmines. It stated that the demining efforts required cooperation with international organizations and other countries, which, despite all its efforts, had been to no avail. In addition, the Government described other challenges, including the shortage of special demining equipment, the universal difficulty of locating landmines more than 30 centimetres underground and sanctions that had “obstructed” the Government’s access to “some high technology” in that field. 84. The Government asserted its total rejection of “homosexual behaviours”, while highlighting its support for transgender individuals. In response to the sections of the report on gender segregation policies, the Government observed that “it is necessary to pay due attention to cultural and social grounds for this phenomenon. Observance of Islamic Hijab is mandatory according to our laws.” IX. Conclusions and recommendations 85. In his first interim report to the General Assembly (A/66/374), the Special Rapporteur highlighted that the outcome of the examination of the Islamic Republic of Iran under the universal periodic review mechanism had provided a sound basis for collaboration between himself and the Iranian authorities. He also stated that he would seek to contribute to the Government’s efforts to implement the 123 recommendations it had accepted (ibid., para. 12). The Special Rapporteur’s reports since then have focused on the Government’s progress in addressing laws, policies, and practices identified by the international human rights mechanisms and during its 2010 universal periodic review, and on identifying emerging problems. 86. The Special Rapporteur recognizes a number of Government efforts to implement the commitments made in the context of the universal periodic review in 2010, but regrets that a majority of them remained unimplemented by 2014 and that underlying causes of violations highlighted during the review and in his annual and interim reports remain unaddressed. Concerns raised during the country’s universal periodic review in 2014, and repeated calls by the United Nations human rights mechanisms to address violations of civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, reflect that reality. 20