prevent detainees accessing lawyers of their own choosing, telling them that they were not on the list of lawyers approved by the Head of the Judiciary, even though no official list had been issued. Several foreign nationals and Iranians with dual nationality were detained in Tehran’s Evin Prison with little or no access to their families, lawyers and consular officials. These prisoners were sentenced to long prison terms on vague charges such as “collaborating with a hostile government” after grossly unfair trials before Revolutionary Courts. The authorities accused the prisoners of being involved in a foreign-orchestrated “infiltration project” pursuing the “soft overthrow” of Iran. In reality, the convictions appeared to stem from their peaceful exercise of the rights to freedom of expression and association. FREEDOM OF RELIGION AND BELIEF Members of religious minorities, including Baha’is, Sufis, Yaresan (Ahl-e Haq), Christian converts and Sunni Muslims, faced discrimination in law and practice, including in education, employment and inheritance, and were persecuted for practising their faith. The authorities engaged in hate speech and allowed hate crimes to be committed with impunity against Baha’is, and imprisoned scores of Baha’is on trumped-up national security charges imposed for peacefully practising their religious beliefs. Allegations of torture of 24 Baha’is in Golestan Province were not investigated. The authorities forcibly closed down dozens of Baha’i-owned businesses and detained Baha’i students who publicly criticized the authorities for denying them access to higher education. The authorities detained tens of Christian converts after raiding house churches where they peacefully gathered to worship. Sites considered sacred by Baha’is, Sunni Muslims and Yaresan, including cemeteries and places of worship, were destroyed by men believed to be affiliated with security forces. Spiritual teacher Mohammad Ali Taheri remained in solitary confinement in Section 194 2A of Evin Prison despite completing, in February, a five-year sentence for “insulting Islamic sanctities” for establishing the Erfan-e Halgheh spiritual doctrine and group. His followers continued to be arbitrarily arrested and detained. DISCRIMINATION – ETHNIC MINORITIES Iran’s disadvantaged ethnic minorities, including Ahwazi Arabs, Azerbaijani Turks, Baluchis, Kurds and Turkmen, remained subject to entrenched discrimination, curtailing their access to employment, adequate housing, political office, and their exercise of cultural, civil and political rights. Continued economic neglect of minoritypopulated regions by state authorities further entrenched poverty and the marginalization of ethnic minorities. Members of minorities who spoke out against violations of their political, cultural and linguistic rights faced arbitrary arrest, torture and other ill-treatment, grossly unfair trials, imprisonment, and in some cases the death penalty. Dozens of Kurds were reportedly arrested without warrant for their real or perceived affiliations with the Kurdish Democratic Party of Iran after it renewed armed opposition to the Iranian authorities in March. Scores of Kurds served prison sentences or remained under sentence of death for membership of or sympathy with banned Kurdish opposition groups. Ahwazi Arabs were imprisoned and subjected to torture and other human rights violations. They complained that the authorities repressed expressions of Arabic culture, including dress and poetry. Security forces continued to repress protests by ethnic minorities. In July and August, they detained several members of the Azerbaijani Turkish ethnic group after largely peaceful demonstrations in several cities sparked by a report in the newspaper Tarheh No which Azerbaijani Turks deemed offensive. Police also beat protesters. The authorities continued to prohibit ethnic minority groups from using their own language in primary education. In June the Amnesty International Report 2016/17