RIGHTS-IRAN: Groups Call for Special U.N. Probe

• by Jacob Ford (new york)
• Tuesday, September 22, 2009
• Inter Press Service

They also asked the U.N. to send a special envoy on human rights to Iran.

At a press conference Monday, Human Rights Watch (HRW) and the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran arranged a telephone conference from Turkey with Ebrahim Sharifi, a 24-year-old Iranian who was detained on Jun. 22 by plainclothes agents for a week and says he was tortured and raped.

Sharifi fled Iran after security officials who were charge of investigating his claims threatened him. He is among a number of released prisoners in Iran who have alleged severe mistreatment and rape in prison.

The Iranian government and a special committee established by the new head of the judiciary, Ayatollah Sadeq Larijani, deny allegations of rape and sexual assault against detainees.

Since the disputed Jun. 12 presidential election, more than 4,000 people have been arrested, including at least 250 prominent political figures, journalists, professors, student leaders and human rights defenders. Nearly 400 people remain in detention months later.

'The ongoing crisis in Iran requires the urgent attention of the international community, and Ahmadinejad's visit to the U.N. is the time to hold him accountable for the crimes that his government has committed to defend its claim of victory in the recent election,' Hadi Ghaemi, director of the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, told IPS.

'He should answer for the murder, torture, and rape that has been committed against the Iranian people,' he said.

Sarah Leah Whitson, executive director of the Middle East and North Africa Division at HRW, told journalists, 'Some of you may have the opportunity to sit in a press conference [Wednesday] with President Ahmadinejad, and if you do, I hope you take the opportunity to ask him directly why did the Iranian government and security forces used live ammunition against peaceful protesters, which by government's accounts at least 30 people were killed.'

'Why has the government attacked the offices of [Mehdi] Karroubi and [Mir Hossein] Mousavi and confiscated their investigative material documenting rape, torture and unlawful killings?' she said.

Whitson also asked when 'the Iranian government will allow an independent international organisation to conduct its own investigation into human rights concerns in the country.'

In the aftermath of the disputed election, hundreds of thousands of Iranians publicly protested what they said was massive fraud in counting the ballots. The protests were numerous and largely peaceful.

On Jun. 19, Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Syed Ali Khamenei, who as the commander in chief is responsible for the actions of the security forces, the Revolutionary Guard, and the Basij militia, threatened protesters with use of force if they did not end their demonstrations.

Over the following days, government forces confronted demonstrators with excessive and sometimes lethal force, leading to dozens of deaths, hundreds of injuries and numerous arbitrary detentions. The government has recently publicised mass trials in which prominent reformists and others read confessions that bore every sign of being coerced.

The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran and HRW said the government is covering up deaths in detention by forcing families to claim their loved ones died of natural causes. Both organisations have collected accounts from victims' families that government agents have exerted tremendous pressure on them not to discuss the deaths of their children.

The father of one victim who was shot and killed by security forces during a demonstration, and who wished to remain anonymous, told HRW: 'When I insisted to security authorities who turned over the body of my son to tell me the reason for my son's death and how he was killed, they forbade me from doing any media interviews, saying it will endanger my family.'

'They threatened me further by saying if I pursued the matter my other son's life will be in danger. They also forbade us from holding a memorial service,' the father said.

On Jun. 22, plainclothes agents detained Ebrahim Sharifi for one week. He provided detailed testimony to the campaign regarding his torture and rape during detention.

He said he was subjected to severe beatings, mock executions, and sexual assault. When he attempted to file a complaint and told several judicial authorities what had happened, intelligence agents threatened him and his family, forcing him into hiding. Sharifi's full account is detailed in a new 14-page report by the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, 'Accelerating Slide into Dictatorship.'

When Sharifi was asked whether he ever thought that his support of a reformist presidential candidate would result in such abuse, he said, 'Never.'

'I always thought in case of arrest, there would be some sort of major mistreatment - and even torture - but not to this level,' he told reporters.

No independent international human rights organisation has been allowed to work inside Iran. Iranian rights groups have been either shut down or face constant threats and intimidation.

U.N. human rights experts have repeatedly asked to travel to the country, but the government has denied their requests.

Given the lack of access to Iran, and the urgency of the ongoing human rights crisis, the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran and HRW urged the General Assembly to take resolute action by appointing a special envoy.

Last Friday, Ahmadinejad again questioned whether the Nazi Holocaust was 'a real event' and called Israel a Jewish state that is founded on 'a lie and a mythical claim.'

On Monday, following harsh reactions by western countries to his comments, Ahmadinejad said that, 'The anger of the world's professional killers is a matter of pride for us.'

© Inter Press Service (2009) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service