State Department human rights report slams Iran

The annual State Department report on human rights contains harsh criticisms of countries with which America is trying to enter détentes, including Iran, Cuba, Myanmar and Vietnam.

Iran, the report says, has the second-highest rate of executions in the world, “after legal proceedings that frequently didn’t respect Iran’s own constitutional guarantee to due process.”

Other severe human rights violations in the country, the report says, include restrictions on freedom of expression, religion and the media, as well as the arbitrary and unlawful detaining, torturing, and killing of Iranian nationals.

On Cuba, the report says that while Havana eased travel restrictions in January to a large extent, the government nevertheless denies passport requests for certain opposition figures, or harasses them upon their return to the country.

The US eased travel restrictions on its side as part of a historic agreement between President Barack Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro signed in December, aimed at normalizing ties between the two former Cold War rivals.