UN rapporteur says protests deaths can amount to crimes against humanity
The UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Iran urged an independent investigation into potential crimes against humanity in Iran, saying an existing international fact-finding mechanism could be expanded to examine the latest protest crackdown.
In an interview with ABC News Mai Sato said an emergency session of the UN Human Rights Council could be held as early as this week and could call for continuing the international fact-finding mission set up after the 2022 Women, Life, Freedom protests.
“They could be mandated to investigate this [latest] protest and the human rights impact in order to collect evidence and hold people accountable,” she said.
Asked whether crimes against humanity had been committed, Sato said it was possible but required investigation.
“Crimes against humanity [are] defined as widespread, systematic human rights violations against civilians, and that includes murder, torture, arbitrary detention,” she said. "There also needs to be intent. There [have] been so many casualties, and I have seen so many videos of security forces opening fire to unarmed civilians.
"But I think what we are seeing is extremely serious and after that I think the fact-finding mission, which is already in place, will be best placed to investigate that."
