UN rapporteur demands international mechanism to investigate rights abuses in Iran

By Betul Yuruk

UNITED NATIONS (AA) - A UN rapporteur urged the international community to set up a mechanism to immediately investigate human rights violations in Iran amid weeks of anti-government protests.

Iran has been rocked by widespread protests following the death last month of Mahsa Amini while in police custody. A government crackdown has continued since her death.

“She was not the first woman who faced these brutal consequences, nor was she the last one, because we have received a number of reports about several other girls and women and in fact, children who have been killed by the state authorities,” UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran, Javaid Rehman, told reporters. “We have a figure of at least 27 children who have been killed by the state authorities since these protests started. And the overall figure is a minimum of 250 people were killed by the state since these protests started on the 16th of September.”

Wednesday marked 40 days since Amini’s death and saw new protests in several cities, including Tehran, amid a heavy deployment of police on the streets. There were also reports of clashes between police and protesters in Amini’s native town of Sanandaj in western Iran during a ceremony to mark the day.

''We have consistently asked for accountability. Again, that has not happened,'' said Rehman. “In the absence of any domestic channels for accountability ... the international committee has a responsibility to take action to address impunity for human rights violations in Iran,”