As I write this, we are on the 25th day of Joe Biden’s hostage crisis. Like the Jimmy Carter hostage crisis before it, Iran’s fingerprints are ALL over this.
One aspect of the conflict in Israel that is barely noticed — even as activists in America take glee in ripping down posters featuring people taken hostage by the terrorists who triggered this war in the first place — is the fact that American citizens have been killed and held hostage as part of the attack.
The hostage crisis is one more data point in the list of ways that Biden is matching or even going far beyond the worst failures of the Jimmy Carter presidency. The common denominator in both crises is the culpability of Iran in the kidnappings of Americans.
If this is Iran’s track record, why does the UN entrust them with a responsibility like this one?
Martina Navratilova opposed Iran’s appointment as the chair of the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) social forum, scheduled to take place on Thursday, November 2.
In May, Vaclav Balek, the president of the UN Human Rights Council, announced that Ali Bahreini, Ambassador and Permanent Representative for Iran, would chair the forum, which aims to highlight the contribution of science, technology and innovation to the promotion of human rights. — MSN
Seriously? In what possible world does it make sense for the world’s largest state sponsor of terrorism to chair the UN Human Rights Council?
Even if you didn’t assume these attacks or sponsoring of terrorism was disqualifying. How about this:
Iran is carrying out executions “at an alarming rate,” putting to death at least 419 people in the first seven months of the year, the United Nations chief said in a new report. That’s a 30% increase from the same period in 2022.
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in the report to the U.N. General Assembly on the human rights situation in Iran that seven men were executed in relation to or for participating in nationwide protests sparked by the September 2022 death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who was picked up by the morality police for her allegedly loose headscarf in violation of Iran’s Islamic dress code.
In all seven cases, information received by the U.N. human rights office “consistently indicated that the judicial proceedings did not fulfill the requirements for due process and a fair trial under international human rights law,” Guterres said. “Access to adequate and timely legal representation was frequently denied, with reports of coerced confessions, which may have been obtained as a result of torture.” –AP
Not only are they executing people at an ‘alarming rate’ — do you know who is languishing in their prison? New Nobel laureate Narges Mohammadi.
The investigator, appointed by the Geneva-based U.N. Human Rights Council, also recommended that Khamenei and Iranian authorities undertake prompt, independent investigations into the killings of protesters and “immediately end all forms of violence, including sexual violence and harassment of girls and women protesters.”
In the aftermath of the protests, Rehman said, Iranian security forces arrested at least 576 civil rights activists, including teachers and advocates from labor unions and minority groups.
“The arrests and attacks appear to be aimed at punishing and silencing human rights defenders and civil rights activists, in particular in relation to women’s rights and those calling for accountability for the death of Ms. Amini,” he said, adding that human rights lawyers also continue to be imprisoned for their work.
“Human rights defender Narges Mohammadi remains in prison serving a 16-year prison sentence,” Rehman said, singling her out by name. [Emphasis added.]
He added that “innumerable reports” he received “establish that the rights to freedom of opinion and expression and to participate are under serious threat” in Iran.
His report also cited “significant reports” of arrests and threats against journalists for their independent reporting, including on the protests. — USNews
Cross-Posted With Clash Daily
