UN Rapporteur: Repression of Dissidents Increasing in Iran
The UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Iran, Javed Rehman, strongly criticized the country’s increasing repression of dissidents and the numerous executions of minors. He also called for the immediate release of imprisoned lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh.
According to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on human rights in Iran, intolerance of dissent in the country continues to increase.
According to the German news agency, Javed Rahman said in Geneva on Tuesday, March 12, that human rights defenders, lawyers and trade union activists in Iran are facing increasingly severe repression.
He criticized the new sentence issued to Nasrin Sotoudeh, a prominent lawyer and winner of the European Union's Sakharov Prize, and called for her and those who are peacefully carrying out their duties to be released as soon as possible.
At the UN Human Rights Council, Rahman also criticized the execution of minors in Iran, saying that no other country in the world executes such a large number of minors.
At least 33 people under the age of 18 have been executed in Iran since 2013, six of whom were sentenced last year for murder. Rahman noted that in Iran, girls are subject to criminal punishment from the age of 9 and boys from the age of 15.
85 minors are currently awaiting execution in Iranian prisons, and 21 children and young people have been sentenced to death since 2013.
German Foreign Minister protests Sotoudeh's verdict
German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas has also protested the 38-year prison sentence handed down to Nasrin Sotoudeh.
The German Social Democratic Party politician, during a visit to Islamabad, the Pakistani capital, on Tuesday, called the sentence a "strict and severe" ruling that violated "freedom of belief" and was "completely incomprehensible."
Heiko Maas also condemned the 148-lash sentence for Sotoudeh, saying, "We, as the German government, have been working for her release since her arrest."
Source: DW
