UN committee slams Iran for post-election crackdown

Al-Shorfa and wire services
For Al-Shorfa.com
2009-11-23

Iranians put flowers on Neda Agha-Soltan’s grave on July 30. (Reuters via Your View)

UNITED NATIONS — The UN General Assembly's human rights committee condemned Iran on Nov. 20 for the violent crackdown on protesters after the June 12 presidential elections that the Iranian opposition says were rigged.

Tehran's UN Ambassador Mohammad Khazaee sharply criticised the Canadian-drafted resolution, saying that Assembly decisions of this kind have "created an atmosphere of confrontation and polarisation."

The 192-nation Assembly's Third Committee that focuses on human rights approved the nonbinding resolution 74-48, with 59 abstentions. The Committee also adopted similar resolutions condemning North Korea and Myanmar, but by far wider margins, on Nov. 19.

The Iran resolution voiced "particular concern at the response of the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran following the Presidential election of June 12, 2009, and the concurrent rise in human rights violations." Among these violations were "harassment, intimidation and persecution, including by arbitrary arrest, detention or disappearance, of opposition members, journalists and other media representatives, bloggers, lawyers, clerics, human rights defenders, academics, [and] students." The result, it said, had been "numerous deaths and injuries." It also condemned reports of "forced confessions and abuse of prisoners including...rape and torture."

Iran has begun executing people in connection with the unrest that broke out after Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's disputed re-election. Opposition leaders say the vote was rigged to ensure Ahmadinejad’s victory.

Saudi Arabia, which has accused Iran of supporting Shi'ite rebels in neighbouring Yemen, broke ranks with the vast majority of Muslim nations and voted in favour of the resolution.

Resolutions condemning Iran, North Korea and Myanmar have become an annual ritual in recent years. The Nov. 20 vote showed that the ranks of Iran's critics increased by four since last year, when a similar resolution was adopted by a 70-51 vote.

Both of Tehran's veto-wielding defenders on the UN Security Council, Russia and China, voted against the measure. There is no veto in the General Assembly.

A special Assembly session next month is expected to formally adopt all recently approved committee resolutions.

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