The UN Special Rapporteur on Iran, Javaid Rehman, called before the United Nations Human Rights Council this Thursday for the creation of an international mechanism to investigate the death of young Iranian Mahsa Amin last September and the subsequent crackdown on protests that numbered more than 300. People died.
At a special session of the Human Rights Council to discuss the ongoing political and social crisis in Iran, Rehman called for an investigation to address “victims’ claims” in a country where “structural impunity has led to a pattern of killings.” Enforced disappearance, torture and violence”.
Rahman condemned that the government in some cases “Refuse to return the bodies” Except for the deceased in custody, when the “relatives” do not agree to their requests in writing. This usually includes not speaking to the press, holding funerals or burying loved ones in remote areas, “often at night and in the presence of intelligence officers.” For his part, the Special Rapporteur also recalled the concern expressed by the Committee on the Rights of the Child about the pressure on families to “justify the security forces and claim that their children died by suicide”, he noted. .
Rehman emphasized that in line with this old practice, the Iranian state has ordered “violent repression at any cost” since the protests began in mid-September, with the president ordering to act “without mercy” against the protesters.
The UN rapporteur also said that state repression against the demonstrators was intensifying and that 60 to 70 deaths, including five children, had been reported in the past seven days alone, particularly in Kurdish-populated areas.
Since the beginning of the protests, six people have been sentenced to death and at least 21 others, in illegal trials and behind closed doors, accused of diffuse crimes (such as “war against God” or “corruption on earth”, discussed in the Islamic penal code) are also punishable by death, he noted. the speaker.
“We demand that the Iranian authorities stop using the death penalty as a way to suppress protests, and we reiterate our call for the immediate release of the peaceful protesters” who have been detained since the protests began, which have resulted in approximately 15,000 arrests, according to the United Nations. Rehman added that many journalists face death threats while covering protests.
At the start of the session, which is due to end on Thursday with a vote on the resolution, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk stressed that “the unnecessary and disproportionate use of force in Iran must end”. which is immersed in an “open crisis of human rights”.
“I call on the Iranian government to listen (…). “Listening to people’s demands for mistakes, legitimizing those who demand a different vision of society in which women and girls should be able to feel free and safe without fear of violence or harassment,” she said.
“Tehran’s strategy of denying legitimacy and labeling protesters and civil society activists as ‘enemies of the state’ is a typical narrative of tyranny,” said Turk, who insisted that “people from all social classes and ethnic groups in Iran are demanding change.” ”
Source: El Diario
