UN: Intensification of repression and executions in Iran is worrying
In addition to expressing concern about the increase in executions, the UN warned of the worsening economic inequalities, the spread of repression, and the violation of the rights of women, workers, and trade union and civil society activists. Iran's representative to the Human Rights Council called the report "biased."
In a report to the 50th session of the UN Human Rights Council, the UN Secretary-General outlined widespread human rights violations in Iran, including the execution of 105 people in the country in three months. The report notes that most of those executed were from minority groups, and that those convicted were mostly sentenced on security or “corruption” and drug charges.
Nada al-Nashif, Antonio Guterres' deputy for human rights, read the report in Geneva on Tuesday, June 21, saying, among other things: "More than 85 child criminals are on death row in Iran."
Iran ranks second after China in terms of the number of executions, according to the latest Amnesty International report. The organization says the Islamic Republic executed 314 people in 2021, the highest number since 2017.
The UN Secretary-General’s annual report highlights that the right to a fair trial is not guaranteed in many cases in Iran. The execution of Heydar Ghorbani, a Kurdish prisoner accused of killing three IRGC members while his appeal for a retrial was pending in the Islamic Republic’s Supreme Court, is one example of this trend. The report also cites the death of Bektash Abtin, a member of the Writers’ Association, and the leniency of prison authorities in treating COVID-19 patients.
"The death rate in Iranian detention centers, whether as a result of violence and ill-treatment or due to lack of timely access to medical care, is a cause for serious concern," Ms. Al-Nashif told the UN Human Rights Council.
The UN Secretary-General’s annual report warns that Iran faces political, social, economic and environmental challenges, with inflation and unemployment exacerbating inequalities. The report stresses that banning abortion and restricting access to contraception negate citizens’ rights to “sexual and reproductive health.”
The lack of progress in passing the bill to eliminate violence against women in parliament, the suppression of protests related to the water crisis in Khuzestan and Isfahan, the confiscation of property and harassment of Baha'is, the indictment of teachers, lawyers, academics, artists, and labor activists, and the creation of security files against them, are all listed in the UN Secretary-General's report.
Part of the report states: “In the one-month period between April and May 2022, at least 55 teachers, lawyers, labor rights defenders, artists, and academics were arrested during the protests, many of whom face national security charges.”
Ms. Al-Nashif, the UN Deputy Secretary-General in Geneva, said: "To date, the authorities of the Islamic Republic have not provided any explanation for the violent suppression of the November 2019 protests or the procedures that led to the deaths of Kolbars in border areas, and the deaths among detainees are a matter of serious concern."
Mehdi Aliabadi, Iran's deputy permanent representative in Geneva, called the report "biased" and described it as "an imposition by Western countries to stigmatize the Islamic Republic."
Source: DW
