Hassan Rouhani's glaring failure to curb human rights abuses in Iran

Analysis: the trial of Jason Rezaian, the Washington Post journalist, shows how the president lacks the power - or perhaps the will - to improve Iran's human rights record

Jason Rezaian, an Iranian-American correspondent for the Washington Post
Jason Rezaian, an Iranian-American correspondent for the Washington Post Credit: Photo: EPA

The promises made before cheering crowds were ambitious and sweeping. During his campaign to secure Iran’s presidency, Hassan Rouhani won over reformers by pledging to create a new atmosphere of openness and tolerance.

“Anyone who wants to speak in a society should be able to come out and speak their mind,” he told supporters on May 27, 2013. “Criticise and critique without hesitation,” he added.

Buoyed by the votes of young Iranians, Mr Rouhani won the presidency a few weeks later. This softly-spoken diplomat has now held office for almost two years.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani speaks with media during a  press conference last week

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani speaks with media during a press conference last week

Yet the trial of Jason Rezaian, the Washington Post journalist, betrays Mr Rouhani’s glaring failure to improve Iran’s human rights record. In one vital respect, the situation has actually become worse during his presidency.

No less than 721 Iranians were executed in 2014 - Mr Rouhani’s first full year in power - representing the highest such total since 2002. Under Mr Rouhani, Iran has kept its unenviable status as the country which executes more of its citizens than anywhere else in the world, apart from China.

In total, 1,119 Iranians have been put to death since Mr Rouhani became president on 4 August 2013, according to the Iran Human Rights Documentation Centre. The pace of executions has increased since the days of his predecessor, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

As for political prisoners, Mr Rouhani’s government flatly denies the presence of any. Mohammad Javad Zarif, the Iranian foreign minister, declared last month: “We do not jail people for their opinions.”

But Human Rights Watch (HRW) begs to differ. Its research suggests that Iran holds “several hundred” political prisoners, including 62 in three jails in a single city. Many are members of the Baha’i faith, who are persecuted with special fervour.

Jason Rezaian and his wife Yeganeh Salehi

Jason Rezaian and his wife Yeganeh Salehi

Meanwhile, two former pillars of the regime - Mir-Hossein Mousavi, an ex-prime minister, and Mehdi Karroubi, once the speaker of parliament - are still under house arrest. The two men have been confined since 2009 when they contested a presidential election and dared to say the poll had been rigged, thereby drawing huge crowds on to the streets.

As for Mr Rezaian, his ordeal is far from unique: last month, 46 journalists or social media activists languished behind bars in Iran.

“Almost two years after President Rouhani’s electoral victory and a campaign in which he promised to address serious rights abuses by the government, Iran’s human rights situation remains dire,” said Faraz Sanei, the Iran researcher at HRW.

"Iran’s security, intelligence and judicial bodies, which are largely beyond the president’s control, perpetrate egregious rights violations.”

This raises the most central question of all: in a country where the intelligence agencies and the Revolutionary Guard answer not to the president but to the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, does Mr Rouhani have the power to curb these abuses, even if he has the will?

Perhaps he is waiting for the moment when a nuclear deal is signed and sanctions are lifted. For now, however, it appears that Mr Rouhani’s election promises are simply impossible to fulfill.