Iran Rejects UN Fact-Finding Mission
The spokesman of Iran’s foreign ministry says the country does not recognize the fact-finding mission mandated by the UN over Iran's human rights violations.
The spokesman of Iran’s foreign ministry says the country does not recognize the fact-finding mission mandated by the UN over Iran's human rights violations.
Nasser Kanaani said Monday that the move by western countries is an example of “politicizing human rights and instrumentalizing UN human rights mechanisms.”
He said: “Those governments that provoked the unrest in Iran have formed this illegal committee, and are themselves now facing the similar situation, repressing the demonstrators inside their countries. These states are launching such mechanisms but we do not accept double standards."
While during the nationwide protests against the Islamic Republic, more than 500 people were killed by the security forces, the Iranian regime has not yet filed a case to follow up on the massacre.
So far, several protesters have been executed on accusations of being involved in the killing of several government officials after trials that were condemned by the international community.
The fact-finding mission mandated by the UN urged Iran on Wednesday to stop executing people sentenced to death for anti-government protests that rocked the country last year.
"We call on the Iranian authorities to stop the executions of individuals convicted and sentenced to death in connection with the protests and reiterate our requests to make available to us the judicial files, evidence, and judgments regarding each of these persons," Sara Hossain, chair of the Iran Fact-Finding Mission, told the Human Rights Council in Geneva.
The mission also called for the "release of all those detained for exercising their legitimate right to peaceful assembly and for reporting on the protests".
As the case drags past its third year, Western powers are growing tired of Iran’s lack of action and are now escalating to the global legal body, the principal judicial organ of the United Nations, filing action on July 5.
The case, listed as “concerning a dispute under the Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Civil Aviation (the “Montreal Convention”), is a desperate bid to help gain justice for the families of the flight PS752 of January 8 2020, on which all 176 people on board died when it was downed by Iranian missiles.
The plane, which was en route to Kiev and transporting mostly Iranians, crashed minutes after takeoff near the Iranian capital, shot down by Iran’s air defenses amid tensions between Tehran and Washington following the US assassination of IRGC’s Qassem Soleimani in Iraq days earlier.
The regime has since been claiming to be open to talks for years since the tragedy but nothing has moved forward since other than some low level prosecutions, several of which have even since been appealed.
In a press release last week, the ICJ stated that the the United Kingdom, Canada, Ukraine and Sweden “claim that Iran has violated a series of obligations under the Montreal Convention as a result of the shooting down on 8 January 2020 of a civil aircraft in service, Ukraine International Airlines Flight PS752, by military personnel of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps”.
In the application, the joint statement accuses Iran of having “failed to take all practicable measures to prevent the unlawful and intentional commission of an offence described in Article1 of the Montreal Convention, including the destruction of Flight PS752. It also subsequently failed to conduct an impartial, transparent, and fair criminal investigation and prosecution consistent with international law”.
In a typically dogmatic response, Iran’s foreign ministry said Monday that the escalation of the case to the ICJ is only serving “political objectives”, and maintains that the country formed an independent technical group right after the incident and took necessary actions “with goodwill, transparency, and utmost seriousness” to investigate.
“Following the tragic incident involving the Ukrainian plane, the Islamic Republic of Iran has officially, in accordance with domestic laws, international commitments, and with goodwill, transparency, and utmost seriousness, taken necessary actions to shed light on various aspects of the incident,” the statement said.
However, Canda and Ukraine have repeatedly complained that Iran has stonewalled and not cooperated in allowing an independent investigation.
The recent join application reflects the growing fatigue not only for the scores of families left devastated, but for the global powers fighting for justice.
Last year, Marilyne Guèvremont, a spokesperson from Global Affairs Canada, said the issue had become futile, with inaction from Iran making any attempt at discussions in vain. She told Iran International: “We are now focused on the subsequent actions to resolve this matter in accordance with international law. We will not rest until the families get the justice, transparency and accountability from Iran that they deserve.”
