AJC Welcomes UN Human Rights Report on Iran

NEW YORK, Oct. 20, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- AJC welcomed the report on Iran's human rights violations submitted to the UN this week by the Special Rapporteur, Ahmed Shaheed.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20100816/AJCLOGO)

Shaheed, of the Maldives, was appointed to his post on August 1, 2011, with a mandate to investigate the human rights situation in Iran. Tellingly, the Iranian government has not yet given him permission to enter the country.

"Even a cursory reading of Mr. Shaheed's report, which was transmitted to the 193 members of the UN General Assembly by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, is a devastating indictment of what's going on in Iran," said AJC Executive Director David Harris. "He has managed to collect important data on the treatment of those who dare to challenge the suffocating doctrine of Iran's leaders, including political dissidents, environmental activists, students, journalists, cultural figures, women, and lawyers."

Among the most striking findings in the report:

"The Special Rapporteur is also concerned by reports of targeted violence and discrimination against minority groups. Members of recognized and unrecognized religious and ethnic minorities such as Arabs, Azeris, Balochs, Kurds, Nematullahi Sufi Muslims, Sunnis, Baha'is and Christians are reportedly facing a wide range of human and civil rights violations."

"The Special Rapporteur was particularly disturbed by a recent ruling of the Supreme Court that upheld a death sentence for Yousef Nadarkhani, a Protestant pastor who was reportedly born to Muslim parents but converted to Christianity when he was 19 years old. The verdict reads that, unless he decides to renounce his Christianity, Mr. Nadarkahni will be executed by hanging."

"In addition to serious concerns over the frequency of its application, the Special Rapporteur is concerned that the death penalty is regularly used in cases where due process rights were denied to the accused. Secret group executions inside prisons, which regularly occur in alarmingly high numbers, are often carried out without the knowledge and presence of family and lawyers.... It has also been reported that more than 100 juveniles are on death row in the Islamic Republic of Iran."

"Iranian officials have predictably reacted to the Special Rapporteur's report by denying everything, claiming it's all a Western plot to defame the country," Harris added. "But the plain truth is there to see, and has been for a long time. Recall, for instance, when Iran rigged its 2009 election result and then brutally suppressed the ensuing protests. Iran is a serial violator of the human rights of its people. We applaud the Special Rapporteur for his current report. We now await further action by the international community, which cannot claim ignorance of what's going on in Iran."

SOURCE American Jewish Committee