Iran slams UN for 'unjust, biased' human rights report

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iran on Tuesday slammed a recent UN report which criticized the human rights situation in the country saying it was “politically motivated” and “unjust.”

UN Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights Nada al-Nashif on Tuesday presented a report by the body’s chief Antonio Guterres, criticizing the human rights situation in Iran, including the increase in the rate of executions, and the ill-treatment of protesters by security forces. 

“While 260 individuals were executed in 2020, at least 310 individuals were executed in 2021, including at least 14 women,” she told the UN Human Rights Council, noting that executions had continued to this year.

The report claimed that at least 105 people were executed in Iran between January 1 and March 20, with many being part of minority groups.

The Iranian foreign ministry slammed the report on Tuesday night.

“As we have several times emphasized, such resolutions are politically motivated, unjust, biased, and not based on the reality of the exalted human rights which is one of the main tasks of international human rights institutions, and was not based on the consensus of all UN member states,” ministry spokesperson Saeed Khatibzadeh told Iranian state media 

Khatibzadeh stated that Guterres had made “false claims” and presented documents based on unreliable sources.

The spokesperson added that a detailed and inclusive report had been handed to all countries’ representatives at the UN Human Rights Council, presenting Iran’s “logical viewpoints” on all the points mentioned by the UN chief.

Iran is one of the biggest death penalty enforcers in the world with the execution rate skyrocketing after current Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi took office in August of last year.

Amnesty International said in May that global executions in 2021 rose by 20 percent, with Iran topping the list for state-sanctioned killings over the past five years, as it recorded its highest execution figure since 2017 with 314 people executed. 

The report also highlighted the “excessive use of force” by security forces against protestors which led to the death of at least five people during antigovernment demonstrations that erupted across Iran in May.

Protests against inflation and surging prices of goods spread across several provinces after the government cut food subsidies.