A United Nations Conference in Geneva on Thursday, 7 March 2019, has shed much-needed light on the human rights violations in Iran throughout 2018.
Titled “Human Rights Record in Iran in 2018,” the conference featured prominent dignitaries and human rights experts who spoke eloquently about the rights violations in Iran particularly the regime’s violence towards Iranian people, with a special focus on the 1988 massacre of over 30,000 political prisoners. Notably, no one has ever been held accountable for this crime against humanity and many of its orchestrators continue to hold power in Iran.
Alfred de Zayas, former UN Independent Expert on the Promotion of a Democratic & Equitable International Order, said: “We must maintain the pressure [on the mullahs]. This is one of the major crimes during the second half of the last century… The mullahs should not enjoy impunity.”
Sanabargh Zahedi, Chairman of the Judiciary Commission of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), said: “Ebrahim Raisi, [who has recently been appointed as head of the regime’s so-called judiciary], was a key member of the ‘death committee’ in 1988. He was responsible for the 1988 massacre, described by Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri [the sacked successor to regime founder Ruhollah Khomeini] as the biggest crime by the Islamic republic.”
Tahar Boumedra, Chair of the Justice for Victims of 1988 Massacre in Iran (JVMI) Organisation and former head of the human rights office at the UN special mission to Iraq, said: “[Former UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Situation in Iran, Late Asma] Jahangir did an excellent work recognizing crimes against humanity that had taken place in Iran in 1988… We cannot expect [the Regime of] Iran to have any independent investigations. That we know is impossible. We hope the new Rapporteur will join us as the families and former political prisoners are waiting and expecting a gesture. They want to be heard.”
The human rights abuses in Iran have notably increased since the start of the nationwide anti-regime protests in December 2017, with protesters and human rights advocates being the main target.
Rémy Pagani, former mayor of Geneva, said: “A recent of Amnesty International report is worrying. The crackdown campaign launched by the regime in past few months speaks of over 7,000 arrests, including human rights advocates.”
The conference also spoke of the NCRI, which currently serves as a parliament-in-exile, and it’s president Maryam Rajavi, that as a whole, represent the best hope for establishing a democracy in Iran after the fall of the mullahs.
Another major point of discussion was the terrorist attacks plotted by the Regime against the Iranian Resistance on European soil.
Struan Stevenson, former member of the European Parliament, said: “In December last year, Albania expelled Iran’s Ambassador to that country for threatening public security. France, Germany and UK appeared to have greater hunger for blood-soaked dollars… The mullahs must be held accountable for their crimes in Iran. Please hear the cries of the millions oppressed Iranians.”
A number of women who have lived and suffered under the Regime for many years were other speakers at the event including Simin Nouri, Sima Mirzaie, Sahar Sanaie, and Parvaneh Madanchi, as well as Mr. Parviz Khazaie, the NCRI Representative in Nordic countries.
