Iran’s Spokesman Rejects U.N. Expert’s Criticism of Wartime Repression

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei rejected criticism of Tehran’s wartime repression by the United Nations’ Iran human-rights monitoring mechanism in a statement published late on October 29. He accused the mechanism of shifting responsibility onto Iran for actions by the United States and Israel that he described as crimes. Baqaei portrayed the mandate as politically motivated and alleged that Britain had imposed it on the Human Rights Council. He accused the mechanism of whitewashing military aggression and unilateral coercive measures. “Such an approach is deeply misleading and highly deceptive,” Baqaei said. His ministry republished the statement in Persian on October 30. The response followed an October 28 General Assembly Third Committee session at which Iran rapporteur Mai Sato described Iranians facing military strikes alongside arrests, torture, enforced disappearance and executions by their own authorities. Sato said the authorities had invoked war and sanctions to justify repression and depicted protesters as agents of hostile foreign powers. She reported at least 34 executions connected to January’s protests and said communications restrictions had obstructed warnings of military strikes and damaged livelihoods. At the same session, Israel’s representative accused Tehran of sponsoring terrorism and putting military nuclear development ahead of its people’s welfare. France urged Iran to cooperate with the monitoring mandates, while Canada called for the release of arbitrarily detained people and continued preservation of evidence. Iran’s representative demanded that the mechanisms be terminated; Russia accused them of serving Western political interests. Sato called for diplomacy to end hostilities and for an end to domestic repression.