IRAN (continued)
Right No.
(i)
(ii)
(iii)
(iv)
CONFIDENTIAL
4,000 (about 1 in 10,000 of the adult population).
Rating suggested by Post
Some of the specific cases publi- cised abroad by opponents of the regime are exaggerated, but reports of the use of torture against per- sons arrested on charges such as plotting against the Shah and par- ticipation in urban terrorism are too persistent to discount. Hard evidence one way or the other is impossible to obtain but our im- pression is that the use of torture may be declining. There is no evi- dence available to us to suggest that, in the last two to three years at least, torture has been used in- discriminately (as it used to be in Savak's early days) or against per- sons arrested only for spreading proscribed ideas. It is our in- pression that it is probably only hard-core terrorists who now get roughed up.
Slavery does not exist.
Criticism of the institution of monarchy and the fundamentals of the regime's policy is forbidden. The press and radio are, directly or indirectly, government-controlled and limit themselves to putting across news and opinions acceptable to the regime. Papers and magazines which refused to apply self- censorship were gradually forced to close down. Foreign publications on the other hand are on widespread sale, including numbers with criti- cal material about Iran. A good deal of criticism of the way in which policies are executed by offi- cial bodies does appear in the media and middle and upper class Iranians are remarkably outspoken on all top- ics in private including their dis- illusionment with the government (not the Shah).
/(v)
CONFIDENTIAL
5
O
6-7
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