A United Nations expert has called for an international investigation into “atrocity crimes” committed in Iran against religious minorities and dissidents during the 1980s.
Javaid Rehman, the UN’s independent special rapporteur on human rights in Iran, made the statement on Monday, urging that there should be “no impunity for such gross human rights violations, regardless of when they were committed.”
“The Iranian regime and its leaders should not be allowed to escape the consequences of their crimes against humanity and genocide,” he added.
Rehman, whose mandate ends on July 31, asserted that summary executions carried out in 1981-1982 and 1988 “amounted to crimes against humanity of murder and extermination, as well as genocide.”
He noted that women and children were among those executed, with some women raped before being killed.
The special rapporteur highlighted the persecution of religious minorities, particularly the Baha’i community, which he said was “targeted with genocidal intent.”
The Human Rights Watch had warned in April that the Iranian authorities’ treatment of the Baha’i minority constituted a crime against humanity.
Rehman also pointed to the extrajudicial executions of thousands of people, mostly youth, in Iranian prisons during the summer of 1988, describing it as a “shocking tale of brutality.”
The UN expert lamented that the Iranian government continues to deny these “atrocity crimes” and that perpetrators have not been brought to justice.
He emphasized the need for an “independent international investigative and accountability mechanism for Iran.”
Source » iranwire