Amnesty International: The international community should condemn the worsening human rights situation in Iran

Amnesty International has called on the international community to publicly condemn the worsening human rights situation in Iran and to provide the Iranian government with solutions to address these issues. The announcement was made on the eve of a meeting of the UN Human Rights Council.

The Universal Periodic Review (UPR) meeting of the UN Human Rights Council will be held in Geneva on Friday, November 8. In a press release, Amnesty International called on the international community and participating countries to condemn the widespread human rights violations in Iran and “provide concrete solutions to address these issues to the Iranian authorities.”

The statement quoted Philip Luther, Amnesty International's Middle East and North Africa Research and Legal Affairs Director, as saying: "The list of appalling human rights violations in Iran, from the appalling number of executions to the relentless harassment and prosecution of human rights defenders, pervasive discrimination against women and minorities, and the persistence of crimes against humanity, reflects the country's record of grave human rights abuses."

Philip Luther sees the UN Human Rights Council meeting tomorrow, Friday, as an important opportunity for the international community to review Iran's record and "clearly and decisively declare to Iranian officials and officials that their appalling disregard for the human rights situation will not be tolerated."

The international community has long ignored the human rights abuses in Iran.

Philip Luther also said: "This meeting is also an opportunity for countries around the world to pay greater attention to the continued enforced disappearance of thousands of political dissidents over the past three decades; this is a crime against humanity that the international community has ignored for too long."

The announcement states that Iran's human rights record was last reviewed in 2014, and since then, the Islamic Republic has significantly increased the dimensions of repression.

Amnesty International has pointed to the arrest of thousands of protesters and the severe crackdown on human rights defenders, including activists campaigning against compulsory hijab, and warned that the Islamic Republic is moving to destroy the last remnants of civil society in Iran.

The statement said that the Iranian government has increasingly violated the right to a fair trial and has executed 2,500 people, including juvenile offenders, “in flagrant violation of international law” since the 2014 meeting. The organization wrote in its letter to the UN Human Rights Council that the Iranian government has “failed in every respect” in terms of human rights.