Javed Rahman: 200 people were executed in Iran last year
The UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights criticized the escalation of human rights violations, the increase in repression and executions in Iran, and the placement of human rights violators in high positions in the Third Committee of the General Assembly.
UN Special Rapporteur Javed Rehman says the Islamic Republic executed around 200 people last year. Speaking at a virtual meeting of the Third Committee of the UN General Assembly, he criticized the execution of people who were minors at the time of their crimes and called on Iran to stop executing child criminals.
Javed Rahman called the death penalty in Iran "an arbitrary deprivation of the right to life" and emphasized that the most basic principles of fair trial are not observed in the Islamic Republic's judicial cases.
He also referred to confessions made under torture and described the films released from Evin Prison as "documentary evidence of widespread violence" in Iranian detention centers.
Javed Rahman strongly criticized the immunity of officials responsible for the massacre of political prisoners in 1988 and those involved in the November 2019 massacre. He did not name Ebrahim Raisi, but in an obvious reference, he said: “Individuals who have evidence of involvement in serious human rights violations are placed in high political positions instead of being held accountable… The recent presidential elections demonstrated this point.”
Javed Rahman and a number of human rights organizations and Nobel Prize winners have previously called for an independent investigation into Ebrahim Raisi's role in the 1988 executions.
In his report, Rahman noted that the Islamic Republic is violating the right to peaceful assembly by resorting to force. In this context, he referred to the repression of Khuzestan citizens and the killing of nine people during a protest against the water crisis.
He also listed cases of suspicious deaths in Iranian prisons, citing examples such as Shahin Nasseri, witnessing the torture of Navid Afkari, and Amir Hossein Hatami. While emphasizing the need to release prisoners with dual citizenship, he expressed concern about Baqer Namazi's health condition and his denial of surgery.
The UN Special Representative emphasized that the Islamic Republic's security and intelligence agencies not only arrest civil and human rights activists, but also pressure and harass their family members and relatives.
Javed Rahman also challenged the Islamic Republic's performance in combating the coronavirus and depriving people of receiving a valid vaccine.
Source: DW
