Iran rights group accuses Tehran of abuses

TEHRAN, July 14 (Reuters) A rights group led by Iranian Nobel Peace Laureate Shirin Ebadi accused Iran today of abuses including clamping down on teachers' protests, detaining women's rights activists and press censorship.

Arresting university students and denying them the right to study, and executing people for crimes committed when they were under 18 were other abuses listed in a report by the Defenders of Human Rights Center.

Rights activists and Western diplomats say the Iranian authorities have been taking a tougher line against dissent in general, and say this may be a response to increased international pressure over Iran's nuclear activities.

World powers are considering imposing fresh sanctions on Iran for not heeding UN calls to stop work the West believes is aimed at making atomic bombs, a charge Tehran denies.

The rights group, run by Ebadi and several other lawyers, criticised the government for cracking down on protests by teachers, whose demands it said were backed by unions. It also said labour activists were beaten up and summoned to court.

''Some 2,950 workers have been dismissed from (their) jobs and have been deprived of a career,'' said the 13-page report, faxed to Reuters.

The European Union criticised Iran's rights record in May.

It cited the arrest of activists including women's rights campaigners, and reported allegations of intimidation of teachers, union members, academics and journalists.

Iran routinely dismisses accusations of rights violations and says it is acting on the basis of Islamic sharia law. When faced with criticism by Western bodies, it usually responds by pointing out what it says are abuses in the West.

There was no immediate official Iranian comment on the report by the Defenders of Human Rights Center.

The report, citing a UN report on the issue, said executing people for crimes committed when under the age of 18 was ''violating human rights.'' The group also cited concern over the arrest of women rights activists and the process of their trials. Ebadi has previously called such arrests ''illegal''.

The group also said the authorities were not doing enough to stop crimes against women. ''During the last six months some 500 cases of raping women and an increase in the number of female drug users have been reported,'' the report said.

It said journalists were under increasing pressure. ''Based on orders from some organisations, a new list of issues that they should write about or keep silent about is being sent to managing directors of newspapers,'' the report said.

The pro-reform newspaper Ham Mihan was shut down earlier this month. Journalists say they have to negotiate between an increasing number of 'red lines' to avoid having their publications closed down.

The Center's report also said there were ''arrests and imprisonment of several university students'' in spring this year, and that detaining student activists was ''against domestic rules and law''. It said some were suspended and deprived of education.

The report also criticised a summer police crackdown on those violating strict Islamic dress codes, saying that some 488 men and women were detained during the first days of what was termed the ''social security plan''.

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