In the last three months, Amnesty International has received reports of waves of arbitrary arrests and harassment, directed particularly against members of Iranâs religious and ethnic minority communities, students, trade unionists and womenâs rights activists. These measures may in part be intended to stifle debate and to silence critics of the authorities in advance of the forthcoming presidential election in June 2009. Amnesty International is calling on the Iranian authorities to end such repressive measures and to uphold the rights to freedom of belief, expression, assembly and association.
