CAT/C/47/D/312/2007 State party’s bodies, it is entitled under article 22, paragraph 4, of the Convention, to freely assess the facts of each case, based upon the full set of circumstances in every case. 7.3 The Committee must evaluate whether there are substantial grounds for believing that the complainant would be personally in danger of being subjected to torture upon his return to the Islamic Republic of Iran. In assessing the risk, the Committee must take into account all relevant considerations, pursuant to article 3, paragraph 2, of the Convention, including the existence, in the State concerned, of a consistent pattern of gross, flagrant or mass violations of human rights. 7.4 Referring to its recent jurisprudence, 6 the Committee recalls that the human rights situation in the Islamic Republic of Iran is extremely worrisome, particularly since the elections held in the country in June 2009. The Committee has received many reports describing, in particular, the repression and arbitrary detention of many reformers, students, journalists and human rights defenders, some of whom have been detained in secret and others sentenced to death and executed. The Committee also notes that on 7 July 2009, six special procedures mandate holders of the Human Rights Council (in the areas of arbitrary detention; extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions; right to freedom of opinion and expression; torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment; the situation of human rights defenders; and enforced or involuntary disappearances) expressed their concern regarding the protests linked to the Iranian presidential elections of 2009, following which at least 20 people were killed and hundreds of others seriously injured in clashes with security forces, who allegedly used live ammunition and rubber bullets. The same experts also expressed their concern about reports of arrests and detention without charge and ill-treatment of detainees.7 7.5 In addition, the Committee takes note of the concluding observations on the Islamic Republic of Iran adopted by the Human Rights Committee on 2 November 2011, in which the latter Committee stated that it “is deeply concerned about the frequent violations of fair trial guarantees provided for under the Covenant, especially in the Revolutionary Courts” (CCPR/C/IRN/CO/3, para. 21), and that it “is deeply concerned at reports of the widespread use of torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment in detention facilities, particularly of those accused of national security-related crimes or tried in Revolutionary Courts, which in some cases have resulted in the death of the detainee” (ibid., para. 14). 7.6 The Committee further notes that the Human Rights Committee expressed its concern that: Many newspapers, magazines, as well as the Journalists Association, have been closed by the authorities since 2008, and that many journalists, newspaper editors, film-makers and media workers have been arrested and detained since the 2009 presidential elections. The Committee is also concerned about the monitoring of Internet use and contents, blocking of websites that carry political news and analysis, slowing down of Internet speeds and jamming of foreign satellite 6 7 See communications No. 357/2008, Jahani v. Switzerland, decision adopted on 23 May 2011, para. 9.4, and No. 381/2009, Faragollah et al. v. Switzerland, decision adopted on 21 November 2011, para. 9.4. See also the documents prepared by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights for the universal periodic review in respect of the Islamic Republic of Iran: A/HRC/WG.6/7/IRN/2, for example paras. 28, 31 and 56; and A/HRC/WG.6/7/IRN/3 and Corr. 1, paras. 28–29. Finally, see also the statement made by the High Commissioner for Human Rights on 2 February 2011 on the execution of at least 66 persons in the month of January 2011, including at least 3 political prisoners (available from www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=10698&LangID=E). 7