UN Experts Call The Violence Committed By Iranian Officials Can Be Considered A Humanitarian Crime

Protests over Mahsa Amini's death in Iran. (Wikimedia Commons/Darafsh)

JAKARTA - Iranian authorities have committed offenses that could be considered crimes against humanity in recent months, according to experts appointed by the United Nations to the Human Rights Council, citing cases of murder, imprisonment, forced removal, torture, rape, sexual violence and maltreatment.

Iran is known to have been hit by protests in various parts of the country, since the death of a young Iranian Kurdish woman, Mahsa Amini, in a moral police custody in September last year.

Speaking before the Geneva-based council, Javaid Rehman, UN Special Reporter for Iran said he had evidence that Amini died "as a result of the beatings by the country's morality police".

Meanwhile, Iran'steger authorities have previously said Mahsa Amini died of pre-existing medical condition, not from blows to the head and limbs.

Rehman, an independent expert added, the scale and severity of crimes committed by the authorities as part of the persecution after Mahsa Amini's death, "shows the possibility of international crimes, especially crimes against humanity".

Meanwhile, Iranian Ambassador to the United Nations Ali Bahreini told the agency the allegations were just imaginary, saying Iran was selected and targeted on the council.

"They are trying to describe their imagination as the reality of the situation in Iran," said Ambassador Bahreini.

About 527 people died in the protests, including 71 children, Rehman continued, including some who were beaten to death by security forces.

Women and girls were targeted by rifles to their faces, breasts and genitals, he added, citing Iranian doctors.

"The children who were released have described sexual harassment, the threat of rape, stabbing, the administration of electric shocks and how their heads were buried underwater, how they were hung on their arms or with scarves wrapped around their necks," Rehman said in his speech.

He voiced anger at the execution of at least four people linked to the protests, saying a total of 143 people had been executed since January following "a very unfair window".

It is known that the 47-member Human Rights Council in November voted to appoint an independent investigation into the suppression of protests in Iran, which is currently being carried out. The evidence gathered by previous investigations formed by the UN human rights council, is sometimes used in international courts.