On March 18, the outcomes of an unbiased worldwide United Nations fact-finding mission on Iran’s response to the nationwide protests had been submitted to the United Nations Human Rights Council throughout its common session in Geneva.
In a greater than 300-page report, U.N. investigators detailed how the Iranian authorities carried out a brutal marketing campaign of repression towards the protests, with Commissioner Salah Hossein saying that in some circumstances He mentioned it amounted to a criminal offense towards humanity.
In November 2022, two months after the loss of life of 22-year-old Zina Marsa Amini sparked protests throughout Iran, the UN Human Rights Council established a fact-finding mission on Iran’s “deteriorating human rights scenario.” , documented. Potential crimes towards Iranian nationals.
“Against the law has been dedicated,” Hossein informed the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on Monday. She cited extrajudicial killings, torture, rape, enforced disappearances and gender-based persecution as examples.
Iran has at all times denied being accountable for Amini’s loss of life and mentioned she was not assaulted whereas in custody. The fact-finding mission assessed that Amini was bludgeoned to loss of life “whereas within the custody of the morality police.”
Many ladies protesters defied authorities by not carrying headscarves in public Image: SalamPix/abaca/image Alliance
Over 100 eyewitness testimonies
Hossain informed DW that the UN committee investigated and evaluated quite a few sources for its report.
“We analyzed authorities paperwork and official statements by authorities officers. We additionally reviewed quite a few reviews ready by the Iranian High Council for Human Rights.”
Hossain, a barrister on the Bangladesh Supreme Court, added that the fact-finding mission evaluated 134 direct witness statements for the ultimate report. Investigators additionally analyzed huge quantities of open supply info, together with digital medical information and authorized paperwork.
“All of this shaped the idea of our materials, which allowed us to attract on each direct and corroborated proof from main and secondary sources, and which offered the idea for our analysis and findings. We now have a strong basis,” Hossain mentioned.
Many witnesses who testified earlier than the committee nonetheless present proof of focused firing by safety forces.
Kosar Eftekari is certainly one of them. A 24-year-old girl from Tehran was hit within the eye by a rubber bullet throughout a protest in 2022. Since then, she has been blind.
As if that wasn’t sufficient, she was introduced earlier than a revolutionary court docket in Tehran on prices of “gathering and conspiracy towards the safety of the nation” and “propaganda towards the regime.”
“I fled the nation two months in the past due to the large retaliation,” she informed DW.
Eftekari at the moment lives in Germany and testified earlier than the fee in Geneva.
“I participated in a peaceable protest that was brutally suppressed by safety forces. They intentionally shot me out within the eye at point-blank vary. And it is essential to inform the world how the protesters had been “oppressed,” she mentioned.
“I shall be dwelling proof of violent repression in Iran.”
This browser doesn’t help the video ingredient.
“Organized assaults towards civilians”
According to the fact-finding report, 551 individuals had been killed by safety forces, together with at the very least 49 ladies and 68 kids. Women, kids, and ethnic and spiritual minorities had been significantly uncovered to human rights violations.
Hossein informed a UN Human Rights Council assembly in Geneva that these strategies had been a part of a “systematic assault towards civilians.”
Fact-finding our bodies name on the Iranian authorities to halt executions of protesters, launch all detained in reference to the protests, cease harassing victims and their households, and supply reparations. Ta.
Iranian human rights lawyer Saeed Dehghgan mentioned the fact-finding mission’s work is of nice significance to Iranian civilians.
“For the primary time within the historical past of the Islamic Republic, crimes dedicated by these in energy towards the individuals have been documented. This is the primary time that the time period “crimes towards humanity” has been utilized in an official report on the scenario within the Islamic Republic. .Iran. This has historic significance,” she informed DW.
Dehgan, who has been dwelling in Canada since 2022, has established a worldwide community of Iranian legal professionals. He runs a authorized heart known as Parsi Law, which supplies authorized recommendation to Iranians. The authorized heart, which he heads, additionally helps worldwide organizations such because the United Nations in selling human rights in Iran.
Although Iran rejects the report’s findings, Iranian officers dwelling in Western international locations might face trial, have their belongings frozen or be denied entry primarily based on the report.
Indeed, Iran claims that the fact-finding mission’s actions are politically motivated and claims to be the sufferer.
The Iranian authorities strongly criticized the UN investigation, saying it was primarily based on “baseless claims” and “false and biased info with no authorized foundation.”
The mandate of this mission is scheduled to run out on April 5, 2024. Iran and worldwide human rights teams have known as for an extension of the mission. The Human Rights Council is scheduled to vote on the extension and all pending resolutions at its subsequent assembly in early April.
Iran: Prisoner sentenced to loss of life alive
The loss of life of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny in a Russian jail was a grim reminder for family members of Iranian political prisoners. The checklist of unexplained deaths in Iranian prisons is lengthy.
Image: DW
Human rights activist Narges Mohammadi
Image: Javad Parsa/NTB/image Alliance
Poet and trainer Mahvash Sabet
Mahvash Sabet was imprisoned from 2008 to 2017 due to his Baha’i religion. After serving her sentence, she was launched, however 5 years later she was imprisoned once more. According to her choose, she “has not realized her lesson.” She is serving a 10-year sentence. She alleges that Sabe informed the interrogator, “I plan to get out of jail sometime,” and that the interrogator replied, “We’ll resolve whether or not it is horizontal or vertical.”
Image: Private
Rouhi was arrested in the summertime of 2022 throughout the nationwide “Women, Lives, Freedom” protests. He acquired three loss of life sentences for attacking cops and “burning the Koran.” He died in jail of “unknown causes” in August 2023, in response to judicial authorities. Amnesty International mentioned he had no pre-existing medical situations earlier than his imprisonment.
Image: aftabnews
Abutin additionally died in jail. He was sentenced to 6 years in jail on prices of “propaganda towards the state.” In December 2021, he contracted the coronavirus whereas in jail. Despite his historical past of lung illness, jail officers refused therapy for therefore lengthy that he finally needed to be positioned in a coma and died quickly after.
Image: Iranian Writers Association
Professor of Sociology Cavus Seed Emami
Syed Emami was a revered environmental activist. He was arrested on suspicion of espionage in January 2018. Two weeks later, he died beneath unknown circumstances in Tehran’s Evin Prison. Law enforcement officers say he took his personal life. It is just not but clear how he’s in a position to do that in a cell monitored by video.
Image: Private
Beheshti was arrested in October 2012 for criticizing the federal government on-line. Every week later, his kinfolk had been requested to gather his physique from the jail. In an open letter from the jail, 41 of his fellow inmates acknowledged that he suffered critical accidents throughout his physique. His mom continues her marketing campaign for justice.
Image: Private
Student protesters: Amir Javadifar (left), Mohsen Rouholamini (heart), Mohammad Kamrani (proper)
The three had been arrested in 2009 for participating in large-scale protests towards then-President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s controversial re-election. They died in jail the identical yr. Their fellow prisoners later admitted that they’d been severely tortured throughout their arrest and in jail. According to the household, the physique confirmed indicators of extreme accidents.
Image: Firth
This article has been translated from German
Editor: Susie Van Brunersum