GENEVA: The United Nations Human Rights Council has adopted a resolution extending an independent investigation into alleged human rights abuses in Iran and calling for an urgent inquiry into the violent crackdown on anti-government protesters.
The motion was approved after a vote on Friday, with 25 countries voting in favour, seven against, and 14 abstaining. Cuba, Pakistan, Egypt, and China opposed the proposal, triggering a recorded vote.
According to TRT World, ahead of the vote, the UN’s top human rights official urged Iranian authorities to halt what he described as a harsh repression of protests.
“I call on the Iranian authorities to reconsider, to pull back, and to end their brutal repression,” said Volker Turk during the council’s meeting in Geneva, expressing concern for those detained in mass arrests.
There has been no officially verified data on the total number of deaths, with figures varying widely between rights organisations and Iranian authorities.
Iranian officials have blamed the violence and fatalities on “terrorists and rioters” backed by exiled opposition groups and foreign adversaries, including the United States and Israel.
At least 50 countries supported the call for the special session of the Geneva-based body, which was initiated by states including Iceland, Germany and Britain. Ghana and France were among those voicing concern about Iran’s handling of the protests.
Iran rejected the session and the outcome of the vote. Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, Ali Bahreini, said the emergency meeting lacked legitimacy.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran does not recognise the legitimacy or validity of this special session and its subsequent resolution,” Bahreini told the council, reiterating Iran’s own claim that about 3,000 people were killed during the unrest.
It remains unclear how the extended investigation would be funded, as the United Nations faces a broader budget crisis that has already delayed or stalled several other international probes.
