Written statement submitted by United Nations Watch, a non-governmental organization in special consultative status

          
          United Nations A/HRc/13 Go/l 17
          Distr.: General
          General Assembly 26 Febmary 2010
          English only
          Human Rights Council
          Thirteenth session
          Agenda item 4
          Human rights situations that require the Council's attention
          Written statement submitted by United Nations Watch (UN Watch), a non-governmental organization in special consultative status
          The Secretary-General has received the following written statement which is circulated in accordance with Economic and Social Council resolution 1996/31.
          [ 16 February 2010]
          * This written statement is issued, i.medited, in the language(s) received from the submitting non-govemmental organization(s).
          GE.10-1 1489 P1encre cyc1e
        

          
          A/HRC/13/NGO/117
          50 Iranian rights activists urge U.N. rights chief to issue call for special session and inquiry
          Iran's most famous torture victim appeared before the U.N. Human Rights Council in
          September 2009 to present an appeal, signed by 50 leading Iranian activists, urging U.N.
          Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi
          Pillay to issue a call for a U.N. Human Rights Council special session and a commission of
          inquiry into allegations of Iran's mass arrest, rape, torture and killing of post-election
          demonstrators.
          Ahmed Batebi was imprisoned in 1999 for appearing at a Tehran student demonstration,
          and tortured for 9 years. The Economist magazine published the iconic photo of Batebi,
          holding the bloodied t-shirt of his injured friend, on its front cover, making him one of the
          world's most famous political prisoners, and provoking retaliatory abuse from the Iranian
          prison authorities.
          Batebi appeared before the Council together with Nazanin Afshin-Jam, founding president
          of Stop Child Executions, a group advocating for children on death row in Iran.
          The joint appeal, which has yet to be answered, follows below.
          Appeal of Iranian Human Rights Defenders for U.N. Human Rights Council Special
          Session and Independent Investigation on Human Rights Violations in Iran
          16 September 2009
          Dear Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon,
          Dear High Commissioner for Human Rights Navanethem Pillay,
          Shocked and anguished by the tyranny, oppression, and gross human rights violations
          perpetrated by the Islamic Republic of Iran since the fraudulent June elections;
          Recalling that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights guarantees the right to life,
          liberty and security of person, freedom of opinion and expression, freedom of peaceful
          assembly, and the democratic right to participate in genuine elections;
          Recalling further that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights prohibits torture and
          cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, arbitrary arrest and detention,
          Reiterating the July 2, 2009 call by Iranian and intemational human rights activists for the
          U.N. Secretary General to name a Personal Envoy for Terhan to investigate the post-election
          violence in Iran, to complete his report on the human rights situation in fran, due at the 64th
          session of the General Assembly;
          We hereby call upon you to lead the United Nations and the intemational community in
          convening an urgent and immediate Special Session of the U.N. Human Rights Council on
          the grave violations of intemational human rights law in Iran since the fraudulent June
          elections, and, in that context, for the Council to establish an independent, intemational and
          impartial commission of inquiry to investigate:
          The complicity of Iran's senior leadership, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali
          Kahmenei and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, in perpetuating massive election
          fraud, followed by the brutal arrests, beating and killing of peaceful demonstrators by
          the Basij and other govemment forces, including the deadly June 20, 2009 shooting of 27-year-old Neda Agha-Soltan;
          2
        

          
          A/HRC/13/NGO/117
          • Torture and abuse of defendants following their anest, with credible reports of rape
          of women and male detainees by security officials, including the rape and killing of
          Taraneh Mousavi and the rape of Ebrahim Sharifi;
          • Specific allegations of gross abuse raised by Mehdi Karroubi and others conceming
          the Kahrizak detention center, which have been partially acknowledged by Iranian
          Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei;
          • The show trials of more than 100 Iranians designed to delegitimize the mass and
          peaceful protests following the June elections;
          • Secret burials of dead protesters in Tehran's Behesht Zahra cemetery and other
          locations;
          MindfUl of the precedent shown by former Secretary-General Kofi Annan in 2006, when he
          successfully led the intemational community in calling for a special session of the Human
          Rights Council on Darfur, we now look to your moral leadership to give hope to the
          millions seeking human rights, freedom and justice in Iran.
          Sincerely,
          • Ahmad Batebi, Human Rights Activists in Iran
          • Nazanin Afshin-Jam, Stop Child Executions
          • Dr. Fatemeh Haghighatjoo, Former Iranian MP
          • Professor Payam Akhavan, McGill University Faculty of Law
          • Hassan Zarezadeh Ardeshir, Committee for Defense of Political Prisoners
          • Mina Ahadi, Intemational Committee Against Stoning and Execution
          • Dr. Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, Iran Human Rights (www.iranhr.net)
          • Dr. Saeed Ganji, National Union For Democracy in Iran
          • Kawa Ahangari, Kurdistan Democratic Party
          • Lida Sherafatmand, World Citizen Association
          • Darab Ganji, Organization for Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms for
          Iran
          • SharifBehruz, Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan
          • J Jonroy Avani, Filmmaker and Activist
          • Hamed Sepebri, Human Right Committee of Iranian Constitutionalist Party
          • Sameem Monzaviyan, Stop Discrimination Against Baha'i Students in Iran
          • Roya Teimouri, Stop Executions Committee
          • Kazem Alamdari, Society for Human Rights in Iran
          • Azad Moradian, Society for Human Rights in Iran
          • Maryam Fakhar, Women's Freedom Forum
          • David Etebari, Stop Child Executions
          • Vanecha Roudbaraki, Artist
          • Pastor Kouroesh Barani
          • Davoud Rastgou, Actor
          3
        

          
          A/HRC/13/NGO/117
          • Arezou Shokoufandeh
          • Atoosa Shokoueian
          • Mehrtash Rastegar
          • Khosro Chavoshi
          • Sepideh Rouhani
          • Hossein Khorram
          • Adrian Hjelmslund
          • Mandana Mehrtash
          • Benjamin Ramm
          • Omid Afkhami
          • Cyrus Marvasti
          • Minoo Homily
          • Behrooz Nikoo
          • RezaPardisan
          • Roxanne Ganji
          • Soheil Parhizi
          • Maryam Reissi
          • Azarin Sadegh
          • Famaz Fanokhi
          • Aram Khatibi
          • Fara Askari
          • Taraneh Irani
          • Azarin Sadegh
          • Sofia Beiki
          • Shiva Irani
          • RofiBei
          4