Human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran for apostasy and other charges. Late November, 2018 prison warden Qarchak women prison in Varamin, near the capital Tehran attacked and bit three Dervish religious minority prisoners when they demanded their confiscated belongings back. In a 2008 report, the organization Human Rights Watch complained that "broadly worded `security laws`" in Iran are used "to arbitrarily suppress and punish individuals for peaceful political expression, association, and assembly, in breach of international human rights treaties to which Iran is party." For example, "connections to foreign institutions, persons, or sources of funding" are enough to bring criminal charges such as "undermining national security"
Counties of Iran Counties of Iran The counties of Iran, called shahrestan ( ), are administrative divisions of larger provinces ("ostan"). The word "shahrestan" comes from the Persian words ' ("city, town") and ' ("province, state"). "County", therefore, is a near equivalent to "shahrestan". Iranian counties are divided into one or more (), or districts. A typical county includes both cities ( ) and rural agglomerations ( ), which are groupings of adjacent villages. One city within the county serves as the capital of that county. Each county is governed by an office known as "farmandari", which coordinates different public events and agencies