Iranian political activist Nazanin Boniadi has penned a letter to US officials, urging them to walk out during the address by Iran's Foreign Minister at the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) on February 26.
"I implore all democratic member states to unite in protesting the IRI regime’s egregious abuses against Iranians & brutalities abroad via proxies," wrote Boniadi on her social media account.
The letter directly addressed to Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield, highlighting the severity of the situation in Iran. "He is the representative of a brutal and cruel regime that beats, blinds, rapes, poisons, unlawfully detains, forcibly disappears, tortures and murders its own people," the letter stated.
Boniadi emphasized the need for a unified stand against the Iranian regime's human rights violations. "You must surely recognize the inappropriateness of a representative of this brutal and criminal regime being allowed to address the UNHRC," she added.
The call for action comes after continuing repression in Iran and an increase in executions. In 2022 and 2023 the government killed around 550 citizens during protests sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini.
"More than 500 demonstrators were killed by security forces in the protests following Mahsa's death, after they were given free rein by the regime’s top officials in an attempt to quell the uprising," the letter highlighted.
