'Iran unlawfully detaining human rights activists'

United Nations, Oct. 8: Iran is cracking down on protesters, unlawfully detaining human rights activists, including new Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi, and carrying out an "alarming" number of executions, the U.N. independent investigator on human rights in the Islamic Republic said in a report circulated Friday.

The wide-ranging report by Javaid Rehman, covering the period from October 2022 through July, was written before the announcement early Friday that the Nobel Peace Prize had been awarded to Mohammadi, a longtime campaigner for women's rights even from her current cell in Tehran's notorious Evin Prison.

Rehman, a Pakistani-born professor of international human rights law at Brunel University in London, singled out Mohammadi among lawyers and human rights defenders imprisoned for their work in the report to the General Assembly.

He was highly critical of the "excessive and lethal use of force" unleashed by Iranian authorities in reaction to nationwide protests following the 2022 death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old member of the Kurdish minority who was arrested for wearing an "improper hijab" or head scarf.

By the end of July, Rehman said, at least 537 people, including 68 children and 48 women, had died for protesting and hundreds more had been injured "while thousands have been reportedly arrested, detained or incarcerated."

Iran's U.N. mission spokesman did not respond to an email request seeking comment on the report.

Rehman expressed disappointment that Iran has not carried out an independent and transparent investigation into Amini's death or the unlawful use of force against protesters.

He recommended that Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and the country's government, judiciary and parliament "accept full responsibility" for Amini's death and take immediate remedial actions.

The investigator, appointed by the Geneva-based U.N. Human Rights Council, also recommended that Khamenei and Iranian authorities undertake prompt, independent investigations into the killings of protesters and "immediately end all forms of violence, including sexual violence and harassment of girls and women protesters."

In the aftermath of the protests, Rehman said, Iranian security forces arrested at least 576 civil rights activists ,including teachers and advocates from labor unions and minority groups.

"The arrests and attacks appear to be aimed at punishing and silencing human rights defenders and civil rights activists, in particular in relation to women's rights and those calling for accountability for the death of Ms. Amini," he said, adding that human rights lawyers also continue to be imprisoned for their work.

"Human rights defender Narges Mohammadi remains in prison serving a 16-year prison sentence," Rehman said, singling her out by name.

He added that "innumerable reports" he received "establish that the rights to freedom of opinion and expression and to participate are under serious threat" in Iran. (AP)