UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) has officially invited an executioner from the Islamic Regime to speak at their 37th Session!

25^th February 2018

UNHRC has sided with the executioners against people in Iran and is assisting them to wash their hands of their crimes! This must be stopped!

executioner from the Islamic Regime to speak at their 37^th Session!

UNHRC has sided with the executioners against people in Iran and is assisting them to wash their hands of their crimes! This must be stopped!

The Justice Minister of the Islamic Regime of Iran, member of the ‘Death Commission’ in massacre of 1988, responsible for torture and execution of detainees in 2009 has been invited to speak in UN Human Rights Council. He should not be allowed to speak at the UN Human Rights Council. He should be put on trial for committing crimes against humanity.

The 37^th session of the United Nations’ Human Rights Council (UNHRC) is going to be convened in Geneva from 26^th February to 23^rd March. On Tuesday 27^th February Alireza Avaee, the Justice Minister of the Islamic Republic of Iran is going to speak about human rights!!

It seems that the UNHRC has made a mockery of its organization and what stands for because there is no justification for inviting one of the well-known executioners of tens of innocent young, men and women dissidents in Iran. By doing so, the UNHRC has, in an international level, sided with the Islamic regime in Iran. This the same regime, and the same judiciary system that Alireza Avaee at its head, that in the wake of the recent uprising in Iran, has arrested and tortured more than 3000 protesters and has killed at least 6 detainees as a result of torturing them. It is outrageous that he has been invited to speak about human rights.

The record of the crime against humanity committed by Alireza Avaee, the Justice Minister, is so thick and dark that in 2011 the European Union placed (EU) included his name, together with 28 other authorities of the Islamic Regime, on the list of persons who were subjected to visa ban and asset freeze. He was put on this list by the EU for the role he has played in “intense and extensive violation of the rights of Iranian citizens.” According to the statement of the EU, Alireza Avaee, in his position as the head of Tehran justice department, has been responsible for “arbitrary arrests,” “failing to observe the rights of those in custody,” and has been responsible “increasing the number of executions.”
For many years Alireza Avaee has held key positions in the judicial system of the Islamic Republic. According to the testimony of Mohammad Reza Ashugh, among the few survivors of the massacre of political prisoners in 1988 in the ‘UNESCO Prison’ in the city of Dezful in Iran, Alirza Avaee, in the position of revolutionary prosecutor, has been a member of the “Death Commission” and had the decisive role in the execution of tens of political prisoners in the summer of 1988 in the city of Dezful.
In the wave of protests after the ‘presidential elections’ in 2009, Alireza Avaee was the head of the Department of Justice in Tehran. In this position he played a decisive role in arranging ‘show trials’ leading to execution verdicts and long term prison sentences for the protestors. When he was heading the judiciary in Tehran, three protestors, after being transferred to Kahrizak Detention Center, were killed on 9 June 2009.

Arireza Avaee has committed crimes against humanity. He should be arrested, put on trial and held accountable for the crimes he has committed. There is no justification for inviting Avaee to the UN Council of Human Rights. Such an invitation by UNHRC is slap in the face of the Iranian people who have been fighting for freedom and human rights for decades. The UNHRC invitation, knowingly and deliberately, is assisting the executioners of the human rights in Iran, with a long list of well-known crimes against humanity, to wash their hands of their crime. The UNHRC has deliberately sided with executioner against the people in Iran.

We call on all freedom loving people to strongly protest against the invitation of the Justice Minister of the Islamic Regime to the 37^th annual sitting of the UN Human Rights Council.

Show your solidarity with people in Iran by sending a message to the UN Human Rights Council on Monday 26^th February and Tuesday 27^th February to urge them to cancel Alireza Avaee’s invitation. This is your opportunity to stand up for justice.

Send your message to UN Human Rights Council:

Telephone: +41 22 917 9220
Email: InfoDesk@ohchr.org

Tweet: @UNHRC please use #ArrestAlirezaAvaee

International Committee against Execution (ICAE)

Campaign to Free Political Prisoners in Iran (CFPPI)

Free Them Now! Campaign to Free Jailed Workers in Iran

For more information contact:

Shiva Mahbobi, spokesperson for the Campaign to Free Political Prisoners in Iran (CFPPI)

+44(0)7572356661, shiva.mahbobi@gmail.com

Hasan Salehi, spokesperson for the International Committee against Execution (ICAE)

+46(0)703171102, hasan.salehi2000@gmail.com

Shahla Daneshfar- Free Them Now! Campaign to Free Jailed Workers in Iran

Shahla.Daneshfar2@gmail.com

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Rolando Gomez to Shiva Mahmbobi

Dear Ms Mahbodi,

I would like to emphasize that the Human Rights Council does not invite individuals to speak at its meetings. It is solely the responsibility of states to determine who they wish to designate to speak as their representative at the Council. It is absolutely false to state the “UNHRC has officially invited” the Iranian Minister to speak at its session.

I would appreciate if your statement could be revised to reflect this.

Respectfully,

Rolando Gomez

HRC Spokesperson

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Shiva Mahbobi to Mr Gomes

Dear Mr Gomez

Thank you for your reply.

I would like to express that whether Alireza Avaee was officially invited by UNHRC or not, it does not change the face that UNHRC has provided a platform for this executioner of dissidents in Iran to speak and this is undeniable. This is scandalous for the UNHRC as a human right organisation. You have asked me to revise my statement, however, before I do that, it is essential for us to know and receive credible factual evidences on how Alireza Avaee, an executioner of tens of Iranian activists, has been accepted to speak at the 37th session of the UNHRC.

You have mentioned in your email ‘It is solely the responsibility of states to determine who they wish to designate to speak as their representative at the Council.’ Are you stating that any state with the well-known record of abuse of human rights and freedom such as Islamic regime in Iran could designate a representative, such as Alireza Avaee who committed crime against humanity, and UNHRC unconditionally and unquestionably will provide a platform for this person to speak? Are you stating that the UNHRC does not apply any criteria for its speakers and will allow anyone with any history of abuse, repression, torture and execution to attend its sessions and be a speaker as long as their states have endorsed them?

Could you please specifically explain how Alireza Avaee, who has imprisoned, tortured and executed ten of people for solely exercising their right to freedom of expression, has successfully ended up being one of the UNHRC speakers? Could you please let me know if UNHRC applies any criteria for its speakers and under what specific condition will allow a state representative to attend and speak at its session?

To me who was a political prisoner in Islamic regime at the age of 16 and thousands of other political prisoners and their families providing platform to Avaee is same as inviting him to speak. Alirez Avaee speaks at an organisation which its mandate is supposedly to protect human rights in the world. How do you explain this contradiction? How do you explain this scandal?

We are working toward obtaining an arrest warrant for Alireza Avaee and this would be a black mark on the UNHRC report card that wold be very difficult to erase.

I look forward to hearing from you clarifying the above scandalous act of the UNHRC.

Regards

Shiva Mahbobi