Iran has been invited to chair the 2023 UN Human Rights Council Social Forum, regardless of months of crackdowns on protesters which have left lots of of civilians lifeless.
The appointment of Ali Bahraini as Iran’s ambassador and everlasting consultant to the United Nations has sparked outrage from rights activists who say the dictatorship, which has executed greater than 200 Iranians since January, has no proper to steer a worldwide human rights discussion board. voices are rising.
The similar week, Iranian-American journalist and activist Masih Alinejad was positioned beneath 24-hour police safety throughout a go to to London after receiving further life threats from the regime for his work in opposition to atrocities. was given.
Masih Alinejad receives demise threats for criticizing the regime in Tehran
Fabrice Coffrini/Getty Images
The resolution was condemned by British-Iranian starvation striker Vahid Beheshti, who has been campaigning outdoors the Foreign Office for greater than two months, calling on the federal government to ban the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). Ta.
Britain has been gradual to ban the group as hopes persist for a resumption of nuclear negotiations, however nations together with the United States, Canada and Israel have designated it a terrorist group accountable for political assassinations, hostage-taking and maritime piracy. are doing.
Since September, greater than 500 civilians have been killed and round 20,000 extra arrested in Iran’s crackdown on protesters over the killing of Martha Amini, 22, in police custody.
Noting that greater than 200 Iranians have been executed this yr, Beheshti stated: “The nation has executed roughly one particular person each six hours in current days, and the executions have been condemned yesterday by the United Nations Human Rights Council. “This is identical nation the place he was killed,” he tweeted. Crimes equivalent to blasphemy and talking in opposition to the federal government.
Criticism over the appointment fell on Human Rights Council President Vaclav Barek. Rights group UN Watch has acquired round 40,000 signatures on a petition to overturn the choice, which Barek described as “regional rotation”.
Hadi Ghami, govt director of the Iranian Center for Human Rights, stated: “It is outrageous {that a} consultant of the Islamic Republic of Iran has been appointed president of the UN Human Rights Council.” Governments world wide ought to contact UNHRC President Vaclav Barek instantly and demand that this appointment be revoked instantly. ”
In April, the United Nations got here beneath hearth for appointing Russia the rotating presidency of the Security Council regardless of the invasion of Ukraine. More than half of the United Nations’ 193 member states are solely partially free or not free in any respect, based on rankings by Washington-based Freedom House, with most of the world’s most infamous dictators, from China to Cuba. has.