Iran rejects UN investigation into protests

DUBAI Iran will reject a newly appointed independent UN investigation into the country’s repression of anti-government protests, the Foreign Ministry said on Monday, as demonstrations showed no sign of abating.

“Iran will have no cooperation with the political committee formed by the UN Rights Council,” ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani said.

The UN Rights Council voted on Thursday to appoint an investigation into

Iran’s deadly crackdown on protests.

Mr Volker Turk, the UN rights commissioner, had earlier demanded that Iran end its “disproportionate” use of force in quashing demonstrations that erupted after the

death in custody of 22-year old Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini

on Sept 16.

Activist news agency HRANA said 450 protesters had been killed in more than two months of nationwide unrest as at Nov 26, including 63 minors.

It said 60 members of the security forces had been killed, and 18,173 protesters detained.

Challenging the Islamic Republic’s legitimacy, protesters from all walks of life have burned pictures of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and called for the downfall of Iran’s Shi’ite Muslim theocracy.

While the protests were initially focused on women’s rights – Ms Amini was detained by morality police for “inappropriate” attire – the protesters’ demands have widened to include Ayatollah Khamenei’s ouster.

The unrest has posed one of the boldest challenges to Iran’s clerical ruling elite since it came to power in the 1979 Islamic revolution, though authorities have crushed previous rounds of major protests.

Iran blames foreign foes and their agents for the unrest. Teheran has proof that Western nations were involved in protests that have swept the country, Mr Kanaani said on Monday. “We have specific information proving that the US, Western countries and some of the American allies have had a role in the protests,” he said, without giving details.

Iran summoned Germany’s ambassador to Teheran, Mr Hans-Udo Muzel, a spokesman for the German Foreign Ministry confirmed on Monday, amid a diplomatic rift over Berlin’s condemnation of the crackdown.

It is the third time since the demonstrations started more than two months ago that Teheran has called in Berlin’s representative to the Islamic Republic.

In an act of defiance, a group of Iranian actors staged a silent protest without their headscarves in a gesture of solidarity with demonstrators, a video posted on social media showed.

Separately, Iranian football legend Ali Daei on Monday said he had been targeted by threats after backing the protesters. “I have received numerous threats against myself and my family in recent months and days from some organisations, medias and unknown individuals,” Mr Daei said in a statement on Instagram.

“I was taught humanity, honour, patriotism and freedom.... What do you want to achieve with such threats?“ he added.

Iran has given no death toll for protesters, but a deputy foreign minister, Mr Ali Bagheri Kani, has said that about 50 police had died and hundreds were injured in the unrest – the first official figure for deaths among security forces.

He did not say whether that figure also included deaths among other security forces, such as the Revolutionary Guards. REUTERS, AFP