OHCHR demands Iran to release thousands of detainees
DAMASCUS, Syria (North Press) – Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) called on Tuesday the Iranian authorities for the immediate release of thousands of Iranian citizens who have been detained after participating in the anti-government demonstrations, following the death of Mahsa Amini for breaking strict hijab rules two months ago.
OHCHR spokesperson Jeremy Laurence said that “Human rights law protects the rights of people to peaceful assembly and to freedom of expression.”
On November 8, Iran’s prosecutor had said more than 1.000 indictments had been issued to protesters in Tehran province alone, with hundreds of others outside the capital, Laurence added.
On November 13, the first death sentence of a protester by an Islamic Revolutionary Court in Tehran took place, and according to OHCHR, “At least nine other protesters have been charged with offences that carry the death penalty.”
Jeremy Laurence added, “Crimes not resulting directly and intentionally in death can never serve as the basis for the imposition of the death penalty.”
He called on Iran to “to immediately impose a moratorium on the death penalty, to refrain from charging capital crimes, and to revoke death sentences issued for crimes not qualifying as the most serious crimes.”
Iran Human Rights, a nonprofit non-governmental organization, revealed November 12 that 326 people have been killed since the outbreak of Iran protests up until that date.