UN Special Rapporteur Ahmad Shaheed's summary of his findings on the human rights situation in Iran
0510 GMT: Last week we posted the 34-page report of the United Nations Special Rapporteur for Human Rights, Ahmad Shaheed, on the Islamic Republic's "striking pattern of violations of fundamental human rights guaranteed under international law". The investigation detailed Iran's extensive use of the death penalty, issues over detentions, and the repression of students, women, journalists, religious groups, and other communities. It also concluded that this repression pointed to the likelihood of a fraudulent 2009 President Election.
That would seem a pretty daunting list of charges. But Mohammad Javad Larijani, the head of the human rights section in Iran's judiciary, has countered them with the declaration that Tehran is a pioneer of human rights in the world. He assured the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva that Iran has successfully established a democracy, based on religious rationality instead of Western liberal democracy, which is a source of inspiration for other nations in the region. (See our separate feature for the video of Larijani's statement.)
In the Press TV summary, Larijani, the brother of the Speaker of Parliament and of the head of judiciary, does not directly respond to Shaheed's statements of fact. Nor does he mention that the Special Rapporteur was blocked from entering Iran and denied interviews with Iranian officials, instead assuring, "Please me put on record: the Islamic Republic will welcome and fully co-operate with reporting mechanisms of the Council which aim at discovering the real situation of human rights in Iran and elsewhere." Then he told the Council:
Instead of fulfilling his main duties, [Ahmed Shaheed] has taken part in interviews with various media outlets like a movie star. To prepare such a report which is filled with baseless charges [against Iran], the rapporteur does not need to take the trouble and travel to Iran…rather he can stay in Geneva or New York and visit counterrevolutionary websites...and simply copy and paste their content.
Posted via email from lissping
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