The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has called for the «immediate» release of the «thousands» of people who remain in detention in Iran for their involvement in «peaceful» demonstrations in the wake of the death of young Mahsa Amini, arrested for violating the Islamic dress code, and expressed concern about nine cases that may end in a death sentence.
The Iranian Public Prosecutor’s Office has raised the number of indictments issued in the Tehran region alone to more than 1,000, in addition to several hundred more throughout the country. The United Nations, however, believes it is time to «drop the charges» against all the detainees.
«Human rights law protects people’s rights to peaceful assembly and freedom of expression,» said a spokesman for the High Commissioner, Jeremy Laurence, lamenting the «increasing harshness» with which the Iranian authorities are responding to an «unprecedented» wave of demonstrations.
The UN is particularly concerned about the situation of nine people who have been charged with crimes punishable by the death penalty. Laurence has called for the abolition of this type of punishment and that, if it is applied, it should not concern «crimes that do not directly or indirectly result in death».
«We therefore urge the Iranian authorities to immediately impose a moratorium on the death penalty, to refrain from charging capital crimes and to revoke sentences that were not handed down for crimes that fall into the category of ‘most serious crimes’,» emphasized the spokesman.
