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UN rights body orders international probe into Iran's protest crackdown

The United Nations Human Rights Council, through a vote, agreed to create an international fact-finding mission to probe all violations connected with Iran's response to the ongoing protests.

AP

The United Nations' top human rights official had earlier appealed to Iran's government to halt the crackdown against protesters.

The United Nations Human Rights Council has condemned what it called Iran's repression of peaceful demonstrators and voted to create a high-level investigation into the deadly crackdown.

A resolution put forward by Germany and Iceland on Thursday was backed by 25 nations, including the United States and many European, Latin American, Asian and African nations.

Six countries opposed the move — China, Pakistan, Cuba, Eritrea, Venezuela and Armenia — while 16 abstained.

The United Nations' top human rights official had earlier appealed to Iran's government to halt the crackdown against protesters, but Tehran's envoy at a special Human Rights Council on the country’s “deteriorating” rights situation was defiant and unbowed, blasting the initiative as “politically motivated.”

The protests were triggered by the death, more than two months ago, of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini while in the custody of the morality police for violating a strictly enforced dress code.

Thursday's session in Geneva is the latest international effort to put pressure on Iran over its crackdown, which has already drawn international sanctions and other measures.

'Politically motivated'

Khadijeh Karimi, deputy of Iran’s vice president for Women and Family Affairs, criticised the Western effort as part of a “politically motivated move of Germany to distort the situation of human rights in Iran."

“The Islamic Republic of Iran deeply regrets that the Human Rights Council is abused once again by some arrogant states to antagonize a sovereign UN member state that is fully committed to its obligation to promote and protect the human rights," Karimi said.

She trumpeted her government's efforts to foster the role of women in the workplace and higher education and accused Western countries of turning a blind eye to rights abuses in places like Yemen, Palestine, or against indigenous peoples in Canada — which the Canadian government has acknowledged.

Karimi acknowledged the “unfortunate decease" of Amini and said “necessary measures” were taken afterward, including a creation of a parliamentary investigative commission. She accused Western countries of stoking riots and violence by intervening in Iran's internal affairs.

The UN human rights chief, Volker Türk, expressed concerns that Iran's government has not been listening to the world community.

“The people of Iran, from all walks of life across ethnicities, across ages, are demanding change. These protests are rooted in long standing denials of freedoms, in legal and structural inequalities, in lack of access to information and Internet shutdowns," he said.

'Fact-finding mission'

The council will now set up a “fact-finding mission” to investigate rights violations “especially with respect to women and children” linked to the protests that erupted on September 16. It also demands that Tehran cooperate with the special rapporteur, such as by granting access to areas inside Iranian territory, including places of detention.

The team would be expected to report back to the council in mid-2023.

At least 426 people have been killed and more than 17,400 people have been arrested, according to Human Rights Activists in Iran, a group monitoring the unrest.

Activists said Iranian security forces on Monday used heavy gunfire against demonstrators in a western Kurdish-populated town, killing at least five during an anti-government protest at the funeral of two people killed the day before.

SOURCE: AP