Iran condemns UN report on crackdown on protests, calling it “false and biased”

Iranian flag at the IAEA headquarters. Iran is now enriching small amounts of uranium to the closest ever level to weapons-grade purity as its stockpile continues to grow

Iran has condemned the United Nations report saying that Iran’s 2022 violent crackdown on peaceful protests and specific attacks on women and girls were serious rights violations, many of which amounted to crimes against humanity, Al Jazeera reported .

Iranian Foreign Minister Nasser Kanaani’s spokesman said the report was based on “unfounded claims” and “false and biased information, without legal basis.”

The protesters swept through Iran following the death of 22-year-old Iranian Kurd Mahsa Amini, who was in custody in September 2022, and who was arrested for allegedly violating the strict Islamic dress code for women.

Furthermore, Iranian authorities refused to participate in the expert review mandated by the UN Human Rights Council in November 2022, Al Jazeera reported.

“The expert committee not only failed to establish the truth but also deliberately distorted the facts,” Kanaani said.

Earlier on Friday, the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission released their report, which said many of the violations uncovered constitute “crimes against humanity – in particular those of murder, imprisonment, torture, rape and other forms of sexual violence, persecution, enforced disappearances and other inhumane acts.”

Sara Hossain, chair of the three-member mission, said this was part of “a widespread and systematic attack targeting the civilian population in Iran, namely women, girls, boys and men who have demanded freedom, equality, dignity and responsibility . .”

The report further called on authorities to “provide justice, truth and reparations to the victims of human rights violations related to the protests,” according to Al Jazeera.

Kanaani claimed that the report was “prepared by the Zionist regime (Israel), the US and other Western countries that perpetuate a project of Iranophobia and defamation of Iran.”

He added that these countries were angry over the failure of their interventions during the riots.

A special committee tasked by Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi to investigate the protests had “recently sent its final report to the president,” he added, but did not provide details of its findings, Al Jazeera reported.

According to UN experts, “no fewer than 551” protesters were killed by security forces, who used “unnecessary and disproportionate force.”

In addition, dozens of people were blinded, experts said, adding that they also found evidence of extrajudicial killings.

The UN experts said that instead of conducting a proper investigation into Amini’s death, Tehran “actively covered up the truth.”

People who were ‘just dancing’ or blowing their horns were arrested during the crackdown, while hundreds of children, some as young as 10, were also detained.

The report will reportedly be presented to the council on March 15, according to Al Jazeera.

Meanwhile, Amnesty International reported this week that Iranian authorities have launched a mass campaign to enforce mandatory hijab laws “through widespread surveillance of women and girls in public spaces and massive police checks targeting female drivers.”

First print: March 10, 2024 | 11:19 am IST