UN Reporter: Crackdown on Dissidents in Iran Increasing
Javaid Rehman, UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Iran, strongly criticized the escalating crackdown on dissenters and the execution of numerous minors in the country. He also called for the immediate release of Nasrin Sotoudeh, an imprisoned lawyer.
According to the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Iran, intolerance toward dissidents in the country continues to increase.
According to the German news agency, Javaid Rehman said on Tuesday, March 21 (March 12) in Geneva that human rights defenders, lawyers, and trade unionists in Iran are constantly facing increasingly severe repression.
He criticized the new sentence issued against Nasrin Sotoudeh, a renowned lawyer and winner of the European Union’s Sakharov Prize, and called for her immediate release and that of others who pursue their duties through peaceful methods.
Rehman also criticized the execution of minors in Iran before the UN Human Rights Council, saying that no other country in the world executes minors at this rate.
Since 2013, at least 33 people under the age of 18 have been executed in Iran, with six of them having their sentences carried out last year for murder. Rehman noted that in Iran, girls as young as 9 years old and boys as young as 15 are subject to criminal punishment.
85 minors are currently awaiting execution in Iranian prisons, and since 2013, 21 children and young people have been sentenced to death.
German Foreign Minister Protests Sotoudeh’s Sentence
Heiko Maas, the German Foreign Minister, has also protested the issuance of a 38-year prison sentence for Nasrin Sotoudeh.
This German Social Democratic politician said on Tuesday during a visit to Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan, that this punishment is a “harsh and severe” ruling and a violation of “freedom of thought” that “is in no way understandable.”
Heiko Maas also condemned the issuance of a sentence of 148 lashes for Sotoudeh and said: “As the German government, we have worked for her release since her arrest.”
Source: DW
