The UN Human Rights Council decided on Thursday to launch a new investigation mission to look into how Iran has addressed the massive protests that have rocked the nation since September. As part of the crackdown on dissent, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights condemned the killing of protesters and the lack of accountability for perpetrators of atrocities against the people.
He also expressed concern about the “unnecessary and disproportionate” use of force against protesters, as well as a large number of arrests and death sentences handed down to protesters.
“Security forces. used live ammunition, birdshot and other metal pellets tear gas and batons,” he claimed. Khadijeh Karimi, a representative of the Iranian regime at the Geneva meeting, earlier levelled the standard charge that Western nations are using the rights council to target Iran.
Human rights activists claimed otherwise, presenting evidence of the regime’s killing of hundreds of unarmed protesters, including scores of teenagers and minors, as well as the detention and torture of thousands.
The latest uprising erupted two months ago, not from economic protests, but from the funeral of a 22-year-old Kurdish woman killed by Tehran’s “morality police.” On September 13, Mahsa Amini went into a coma and died shortly after being taken away for re-education because she “mal-veiled.” Protests erupted in response to the incident, and they have since spread to at least 250 cities.
Since the beginning of the uprising, the regime’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has directed security and military forces to carry out horrific killing sprees, and he has now dispatched helicopters, armoured vehicles, and heavy weaponry into Iranian Kurdistan to put an end to the citizens’ persistent protests.
According to a September 30 Amnesty International report, “The organization has evidence of widespread, illegal use of lethal force and weapons by Iranian security forces who either intended to kill protesters or should have known with high certainty that their use of weapons would result in deaths.”
He was on his way home with his family when security forces opened fire on their vehicle. Nika Shahkarami, Sarina Ismailzadeh, Siavosh Mahmoudi, and a slew of other minors have also died as a result of the regime’s ruthless crackdown.
On November 16, the United Nations General Assembly’s Third Committee unanimously approved a resolution condemning human rights violations in Iran. This is the 69th UN resolution condemning Iran’s heinous and repeated human rights violations.
The resolution was welcomed by Iranian opposition President-elect Maryam Rajavi of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), who stated that “while the resolution reflects only a small portion of the crimes of the ruling anti-human regime in Iran, as it did not have enough time to investigate the regime’s crimes in recent weeks, it, nevertheless, makes it abundantly clear that this regime has systematically violated all recognized principles and standards of human rights.”
MEK Iran (follow us on Twitter and Facebook), Maryam Rajavi’s on her site, Twitter & Facebook, NCRI (Twitter & Facebook), and People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran – MEK IRAN – YouTub
