The UN experts on Dec 20 called on the Iranian regime to release all individuals arbitrarily detained and mistreated during recent protests.
More than a dozen United Nations human rights experts on Friday called on the Iranian regime to release all individuals arbitrarily detained and mistreated during recent protests.
“We are shocked at reports of the ill-treatment of those detained during the protests that took place in November 2019, and deeply disturbed that the reported use of excessive force by the Iranian security forces led to an untold number of casualties, including deaths,” the UN experts said.
“Reports suggest that detainees are being tortured or are suffering other forms of ill-treatment, sometimes to extract forced confessions. Some are also reportedly being denied medical treatment, including for injuries caused by the security forces’ use of excessive force, and are being held in overcrowded detention centres. Some are being held incommunicado or subjected to enforced disappearances.”
Official sources state that at least 7,000 protesters were arrested, thousands of whom are still in detention, said the UN experts’ press release.
Khamenei, Rouhani, Other Regime Leaders Must Face Justice for #CrimesAgainstHumanity#IranProtests #FreeAllProtesters #IranProtestshttps://t.co/2G3Ma5alUP
— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) December 20, 2019
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Outrageous admission of regime's governor of Qods city near the capital #Iran, proudly speaking of her order to shoot and kill #IranProtesters #FreeAllProtesters #StopIranBloodshed #IranProtests pic.twitter.com/PrjuniG3U3
— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) December 1, 2019
“Most disturbingly, the families of individuals killed by security forces have allegedly been threatened not to speak out. Iranian journalists have been ordered not to criticise the government response, while the relatives of journalists working for Farsi-language news outlets abroad are being pressured in an effort to silence their reporting.”
The UN experts who made the declaration are Mr. Javaid Rehman, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran; Mr. Clement Nyaletsossi Voule, Special Rapporteur on the right to peaceful assembly and association; Mr. David Kaye, Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression; Ms Agnes Callamard, Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions; Mr. Nils Melzer, Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment; Mr. Michel Forst, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders; Mr Diego García-Sayán, Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers; members of the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention – Mr. José Antonio Guevara Bermúdez (Chair), Ms. Leigh Toomey (Vice-Chair on Communications), Ms. Elina Steinerte (Vice-Chair on Follow-up), Mr. Seong-Phil Hong and Mr. Sètondji Adjovi; and the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, comprising Mr. Luciano Hazan (Chair-Rapporteur), Mr. Tae-Ung Baik (Vice-Chair), Ms Houria Es-Slami, Mr. Bernard Duhaime and Mr. Henrikas Mickevicius.
The Special Rapporteurs and Working Groups are part of what is known as the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council. Special Procedures, the largest body of independent experts in the UN Human Rights system, is the general name of the Council’s independent fact-finding and monitoring mechanisms that address either specific country situations or thematic issues in all parts of the world.
