In a joint letter to Dr. Ahmed Shahid, 11 political prisoners in Tehran’s Evin prison and Karaj’s Gohardasht prison stated: “We demand that a fact finding team and the Special Rapporteur visit prisons in Iran.”
“There is no independent judiciary and the security organs are determining the status of the prisoners,” the political prisoners said.
Last week, the United Nations Human Rights Council extended the mandate of Dr. Ahmed Shaheed with passing a resolution which received 21 votes in favor, 9 against, and 16 abstentions.
The countries in favor of the resolution included : Argentina, Austria, Botswana, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, Estonia, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Republic of Korea, Montenegro, The Netherlands, Peru, Romania, UK, and the United States.
India, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, Russia, Venezuela,Vietnam, China, and Cuba voted against the mandate renewal resolution.
In a report to the U.N. Human Rights Council, the U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Hassan Rouhani, the president of clerical regime has failed to to allow greater freedom of expression and there has been a sharp rise in executions since his election.