Iran: Top Executioner Per Capita Demands World’s Appreciation for Its Achievements
The Iranian regime’s High Council of Human Rights has claimed that its human rights “achievements” should be shown to the world.
Ali Bagheri Kani, the Secretary-General of the Council, told the state-run IRNA News Agency that human rights in Iran were different from what is “claimed to be human rights in the West”, claiming that “secular and liberal lifestyles” differed greatly from the “religious lifestyle” of Iranians.
These comments not only disregard international human rights standards but also the wishes of the Iranian people who have made it very clear in repeated protests that they do not want the regime’s rule, chanting “We don’t want the Islamic Republic” and “Down with the rule of the mullahs”.
Kani claimed that Iran’s human rights were “based on religious and traditional methods” before saying that the West uses human rights “as a tool” against the regime and criticizing the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Iran for his supposed “political motives”.
He even went so far as to claim that Iran’s human rights policies in prisons set an example, with relatives having no need to worry about the “security, wellbeing, comfort, and vitality” of their imprisoned loved ones.
Of course, nothing could be further from the truth. Iran’s human rights record is abysmal at best, but Iranian prisons are especially bad. For one thing, conditions do not meet the minimum sanitary requirements under international law, prisoners are routinely denied family visits and even transferred to unknown locations without their families being informed. In September, it was confirmed yet again that the Police Criminal Investigation Department systematically tortured suspects into giving false confessions.
A recent report stated that at least 20 prisoners in northwestern Iran attempted suicide in just two weeks over the conditions they were held in. While 45 Sunni prisoners in Karaj are denied medical care or hospital transfers, even though they contracted the coronavirus in prison.
And that doesn’t even take into account the problems faced by political prisoners, who are punished much more harshly by the Iranian regime. After all, the current Chief Justice – Ebrahim Raisi – was one of the leading figures in the 1988 massacre of political prisoners and since his appointment last year, he’s sentenced dozens of political prisoners to execution.
This includes wrestling champion and protester Navid Afkari who was executed on September 12 after being tortured into confessing to a murder that he did not commit.
These comments not only disregard international human rights standards but also the wishes of the Iranian people who have made it very clear in repeated protests that they do not want the regime’s rule, chanting “We don’t want the Islamic Republic” and “Down with the rule of the mullahs”.
Kani claimed that Iran’s human rights were “based on religious and traditional methods” before saying that the West uses human rights “as a tool” against the regime and criticizing the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Iran for his supposed “political motives”.
He even went so far as to claim that Iran’s human rights policies in prisons set an example, with relatives having no need to worry about the “security, wellbeing, comfort, and vitality” of their imprisoned loved ones.
Of course, nothing could be further from the truth. Iran’s human rights record is abysmal at best, but Iranian prisons are especially bad. For one thing, conditions do not meet the minimum sanitary requirements under international law, prisoners are routinely denied family visits and even transferred to unknown locations without their families being informed. In September, it was confirmed yet again that the Police Criminal Investigation Department systematically tortured suspects into giving false confessions.
A recent report stated that at least 20 prisoners in northwestern Iran attempted suicide in just two weeks over the conditions they were held in. While 45 Sunni prisoners in Karaj are denied medical care or hospital transfers, even though they contracted the coronavirus in prison.
And that doesn’t even take into account the problems faced by political prisoners, who are punished much more harshly by the Iranian regime. After all, the current Chief Justice – Ebrahim Raisi – was one of the leading figures in the 1988 massacre of political prisoners and since his appointment last year, he’s sentenced dozens of political prisoners to execution.
This includes wrestling champion and protester Navid Afkari who was executed on September 12 after being tortured into confessing to a murder that he did not commit.