{"id":1234,"date":"2018-02-27T17:47:45","date_gmt":"2018-02-27T17:47:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/?p=1234"},"modified":"2018-03-01T17:55:29","modified_gmt":"2018-03-01T17:55:29","slug":"iran-seals-its-egregious-rights-record-with-toxic-pick-for-top-spot-on-human-rights-council%e2%80%8b","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/?p=1234","title":{"rendered":"Iran Seals Its Egregious Rights Record With Toxic Pick For Top Spot on Human Rights Council\u200b"},"content":{"rendered":"

Selection of Avaei Shows Culture of Impunity For Human Rights Violators Will Continue in Iran<\/p><\/div>\n

February 27, 2018\u2014The Iranian government\u2019s decision to name Minister of Justice Seyyed Alireza Avaei as its representative to the United Nations Human Rights Council\u2014a man with an appalling human rights record that spans decades\u2014reflects the Iranian government\u2019s complete disregard for human rights violations.<\/p>\n

The Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) urges the Member States of the Human Rights Council to register their profound concern at Iran\u2019s selection of an individual who is on the European Union\u2019s (EU) list of individuals sanctioned for gross violations of human rights.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>According to the\u00a0Council of the European Union<\/a>, Avaei was \u201cresponsible for human rights violations, arbitrary arrests, denials of prisoners\u2019 rights and an increase of executions.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWith the selection of Avaei as their rep to the UN Human Rights Council, Iran is telling the world that human rights violators can not only commit their abuses with impunity in Iran, they will be rewarded,\u201d said Hadi Ghaemi, CHRI\u2019s executive director.<\/p>\n

Avaei, a prosecutor in 1988, was a member of the so-called\u00a0Death Committee<\/a>\u00a0in Khuzestan Province. Such committees were established throughout the country and sent thousands of political prisoners to their death by hanging after Inquisition-type judicial proceedings.<\/p>\n

In 2009, when millions took to the streets in Tehran to peacefully dispute the results of Iran\u2019s presidential election, Avaei was Tehran\u2019s chief justice as the state launched a brutal crackdown, arresting thousands of protesters. CHRI\u00a0documented<\/a>\u00a0the systematic denial of due process in the ensuing judicial proceedings\u2014violations that were condemned by many other human rights organizations.<\/p>\n

During this time, numerous detainees were held at the Kahrizak Detention Center, where at least three people died. CHRI documented via eyewitness reports and interviews with released detainees that torture was rampant in the facility and those who died did so due to beatings. Yet when questioned, Avaei defended the integrity of the system.<\/p>\n

CHRI calls on EU member states to condemn the appointment of an individual to a UN Human Rights body whom the EU has assessed to be a major human rights violator.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Iranian Judiciary, which reports directly to Iran\u2019s supreme leader Ali Khamenei, and Iran\u2019s Foreign Ministry, which reports to President Hassan Rouhani, share responsibility for the selection of Avaei as minister of justice, and his appointment to head the UN\u2019s Human Rights Council.<\/p>\n

CHRI urges the authorities in Iran to select individuals for human rights positions who are not themselves internationally designated as \u201cmajor human rights violators.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cAt a time when we are seeing egregious human rights violations in Iran, with no judicial oversight, investigation or remedy, the appointment of Avaei bodes poorly for any progress toward accountability,\u201d Ghaemi added.<\/p>\n

For interviews, contact:
\nHadi Ghaemi
\n+1-917-669-5996
\nhadighaemi@iranhumanrights.org<\/a><\/p>\n

Visit our website:\u00a0www.iranhumanrights.org<\/a><\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

February 27, 2018\u2014The Iranian government\u2019s decision to name Minister of Justice Seyyed Alireza Avaei as its representative to the United Nations Human Rights Council\u2014a man with an appalling human rights<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[391,390],"class_list":["post-1234","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-human-rights","tag-alireza-avaei","tag-seyyed-alireza-avaei"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1234","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1234"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1234\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1235,"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1234\/revisions\/1235"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1234"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1234"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1234"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}