UN Experts’ Call on Iran to Account for 1988 Massacre
Published by Ali on December 10, 2020
International Liberty Association: The United Nations seven human rights experts calling on Iran to account for the massacre of political prisoners in Iran, in 1988.
In their communication to Iran the UN experts expressed their serious concern, this year, over the alleged continued refusal to disclose the fate and whereabouts of thousands of individuals who were reportedly forcibly disappeared and then extra judicially executed in 1988.
The Iranian authorities have been given 60 days time by the UN experts to clarify all the cases brought to their attention, and they said at the end of the 60 days, the communication and any response received would be made public via the communications reporting website. They will all be subsequently made available in the usual report to be presented to the Human Rights Council.
In part of their letter, the experts repeated that: “We are concerned that the situation may amount to crimes against humanity.” Also they said if the Iranian authorities “continue to refuse to uphold its obligations under international human rights law; we call on the international community to take action to investigate the cases including through the establishment of an international investigation.”
ILA: It should be mentioned that in this regards, Diana Eltahawy, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa said: “The UN experts’ communication is a momentous breakthrough. It marks a turning point in the long-standing struggles of victims’ families and survivors, supported by Iranian human rights organizations and Amnesty International, to end these crimes and obtain truth, justice and reparation.”
The UN experts issuing the September 2020 communication are Liciano Hazan, Chair-Rapporteur of the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances; Agnes Callamard, the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions; Clement Nyaletsossi Voule, the Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association; Javaid Rehman, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran; Fionnuala Ni Aolain, the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism; Nils Melzer, the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment; and Fabian Salvioli, the Special Rapporteur on the promotion of truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence.
In part of their communication to the Iranian authorities, the experts said that they were “alarmed by allegations of the authorities’ refusal to provide families with accurate and complete death certificates, the destruction of mass graves, the ongoing threats and harassment of the families, the lack of investigation and prosecution for the killings and the statements from the Government denying or trivializing the cases and equating criticizing the killings as support for terrorism.”
