Source: bbc.com/persian
Translation By Iran Press Watch
Javid Rahman, UN Special Rapporteur on Iran’s human rights affairs, says there is evidence of “genocide” against minorities and ethnic groups in the 1980s, including Baha’is, Kurds, and political prisoners who were executed in 1988.
Javid Rahman told BBC Farsi that the Iranian authorities not only did not cooperate with him during his investigation but also obstructed him.
Mr. Rahman says that during the 1980s, a UN expert in the field of genocide mentioned the Baha’is.
Mr. Rahman raised this issue at the margins of a UN Human Rights Council meeting organized by the Justice for Iran Organization.
At the 56th meeting of the United Nations Human Rights Council, in a session titled “Crisis of Immunity in Iran; From the 1980s to Mahsa Amini,” he said that “genocide in various ways” has taken place against religious minorities, especially Baha’is, in Iran, and they “have been targeted” just because they were members of a religious minority.
The UN Special Rapporteur gave an interview to BBC Farsi about “serious human rights violations” in Iran.
The meeting of the Human Rights Council, which started yesterday, continues until July 12.
In the report that Mr. Rahman presented to the council, he said that it focuses on “crimes against humanity” that occurred in the years 1981-1982 and 1988 in the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Mostafa Pourmohammadi, one of those directly responsible for the executions of 1988, is among the candidates for the Iranian presidential election.
In describing “brutal crimes,” this report details actions such as murder, arbitrary and illegal executions of thousands of political opponents and prisoners, their captivity and imprisonment, enforced disappearances, and torture—actions described as “crimes against humanity.”
According to Mr. Rahman’s report, these executions included women, some of whom had been raped before execution. Many teenagers and minors, considered children, were among those executed.
This report also examines the violence and physical abuse of women as well as the oppression of minorities in the first decade of the establishment of the Islamic Republic in 1979.
Javid Rahman has pointed out that the “brutal crimes” reported represent the worst and most egregious human rights violations in living memory, whereby high-ranking government officials in the Islamic Republic conspired and actively participated in committing crimes against humanity and genocide against their own people.
The report also states that despite the availability of evidence and documents, those who have committed severe and serious violations of human rights remain in power, and the international community has not been able or willing to hold these individuals accountable.
According to the report, as noted by Amnesty International, “the continuation of atrocities in Iran with impunity enjoyed by the Iranian authorities since 1979 has led them to believe that they can commit violations against human rights without consequence.”
According to this report, as survivors mentioned to the Special Rapporteur in their testimonies, all of them face permanent mental and emotional injuries.
These victims and survivors have turned to the United Nations and members of the international community to seek truth, justice, and accountability.
This report provides a view of human rights violations in Iran today through the lens of the Iranian revolution in 1979.
The report also made recommendations to the Human Rights Council and its members, calling on the international community to establish an international accountability mechanism to conduct prompt, impartial, thorough, and transparent criminal investigations into the crimes described in the report and to ensure that all actors involved are held responsible.
In addition, the report calls on the Human Rights Council to compel the Iranian authorities to provide the truth about the events of 1981-1982 and 1988 and, in accordance with international law, provide compensation and appropriate measures for victims, survivors, and the families of those who were tortured, executed, or forcibly disappeared.
On the margins of this UN meeting, another meeting will be held on the “immunity crisis in Iran.”
The meeting will address how the UN and other actors can address continued impunity in Iran and support the victims.
Javid Rahman and survivors and victims of human rights violations in Iran will be present at this meeting.
Leave a Reply