UN expert discusses possible crimes against humanity in Iran

UN Special Rapporteur to Iran Javaid Rehman on November 24, 2022. © VALENTIN FLAURAUD / AFP

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Crimes against humanity may have taken place in Iran, according to a UN expert. He denounces the seriousness and scale of the repression of the protest movement against the mullahs' regime. What is also shocking is the heavy price paid by children.

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With our correspondent in Geneva, Jérémie Lanche

More than 22,000 people arrested, subjected to torture, rape, enforced disappearance, protesters seriously injured on purpose by the security forces... This is in a few words what the Iranians who took to the streets after the death of Mahsa Amini are exposed to. The UN special rapporteur on Iran counted 527 protesters killed directly by security forces, including a considerable number of children.

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What law can justify the killing of innocent children, asks UN Special Rapporteur Javaid Rehman. At least 71 [children] were killed [by security forces]... The evidence is there. If this is a widespread, systematic and supported practice by the Iranian state, then crimes against humanity – and against children – have been committed in Iran since September 16, 2022."

Tehran, which does not recognize the authority of the Special Rapporteur, denounced false information. "If the Iranian authorities believe that my information is false, then they give me access to the country," Rehman said. Why are they so afraid that I can come to Iran?

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Another cause for concern is the punitive attacks on young girls with poison gas. They have spread across the country in recent weeks. Again, it could be a crime against humanity, Rehman said. But it is still necessary to prove that the Iranian state had ordered or covered up these abuses.

►To listen also: International report - Iran: for Nowruz, the atmosphere is not really at the party

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  • Iran
  • UN
  • Human rights