Iranian Nobel Peace Prize winner Narges Mohammadi, incarcerated since 2021 in Tehran, called on Monday
for “systematic and global pressure”
against Iran in the face of the hardening of the
“repression”
, denounced at the UN by dozens of countries and NGOs .
“I am addressing you with great concern
,” says Narges Mohammadi in his statement read by the NGO Ensemble contre la Peine de Mort during debates at the Human Rights Council (HRC) on Iran.
“With the recent wave of protests and movements in favor of the lives and freedom of women, repression has intensified
,” she continues, calling on the UN and human rights organizations to
“exercise a systematic and global pressure”
on Iran.
Incarcerated since November 2021, Narges Mohammadi has been repeatedly convicted and imprisoned for 25 years for her commitment against the compulsory veil for women and the death penalty.
She suffers, said Monday the Rapporteur on Iran, Javaid Rehman,
“serious health problems, in particular serious heart and lung problems, which puts her health in great danger”
.
“Put an end to systematic repression”
The Nobel Peace Prize winner (2023) has asked - like many countries and NGOs including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch - for the renewal of the mandates of the UN fact-finding mission on Iran and the Special Rapporteur.
The mandates of these experts - who were not authorized to go to Iran - end in April but a proposal aimed at extending them is under study, at the initiative of Germany in particular.
“We call on Iran to end impunity and the systematic repression of its population.
The fact-finding mission (...) must continue and complete its mission
,” declared the German Commissioner for Human Rights, Luise Amtsberg, at the HRC.
Also in Geneva, the head of the Iranian High Council for Human Rights, Kazem Gharibabadi, accused the United States, Germany, England, France and Canada of covering themselves with "a
humanitarian veneer"
and criticized sanctions against his country.
Published ten days ago, the report of the fact-finding mission – which Tehran
“strongly condemned”
– affirms that the repression of the 2022 demonstrations, after the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old young woman arrested by the police morals for not seeing the hijab worn correctly, and
“institutionalized discrimination”
against women and girls has led to
“crimes against humanity”
.
“Crimes against humanity”
The president of this mission, Sara Hossain, denounced on Monday the measures taken by Tehran
“to silence the victims and their families in search of truth and justice”
, while the Rapporteur said he was
“very concerned”
with
“ at least 834 people executed in 2023”
, an increase of 43% over one year.
Responding to him, an Iranian representative, Somayyeh Karimdoost, denounced a report which is
“neither factual, nor professional, and even less fair and balanced”
.
A small group of countries, including Russia, Belarus, Venezuela, Cuba, North Korea, Syria and China, have supported Iran, rejecting what they say is a
"politicization"
of human rights.
But dozens of other countries shared the concerns of Nobel Peace Prize and UN experts, calling on Iran to at least put a moratorium on executions.
“16 of the 24 women executed in the world in 2022 were executed in Iran and at least 22 women were executed in Iran in 2023, the highest number since 2013
,” underlined the French ambassador, Jérôme Bonnafont.
“Many detainees have reported that the authorities used torture, sexual and gender-based violence to extract confessions from them
,” denounced the American ambassador Michèle Taylor, interrupted by the Iranian diplomat who castigated
“ incendiary and provocative remarks
.
A little less than fifty people demonstrated in front of the UN, to ask
“the United Nations to hold Iran responsible for crimes against humanity”
and for the Security Council to examine the situation, declared to the AFP Zolal Habibi, a spokesperson for the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), bringing together opponents in exile.