TEHRAN – An Iranian lawmaker has dismissed the fact-finding committee mandated by the United Nations as interference in Iran’s internal affairs, saying that Iran does not recognize the committee. 

Qassem Saedi said in remarks to Iran’s state news agency IRNA that the resolution adopted by the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC), in which a fact-finding mission was set up, is political. 

“This statement is a completely political statement and has no legal basis,” Saedi said. “Human rights are a tool in the hands of countries like America to advance their political goals. These countries give up human rights wherever it benefits them, and wherever their interests are threatened, they use human rights as a tool to impose their pressure.”

He added, “The question is, why did the human rights claimants keep silent about the killing of people in Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria by mercenaries and did not show a reaction to the killing of people in these countries.”

Saedi noted, “The United Nations has formed a fact-finding committee to investigate the recent events in Iran, which is a clear interference in the internal affairs of our country.”

He asserted, “We do not recognize this committee and, as I said, we consider its activity to be interference in our internal affairs.”

The UNHRC adopted its Iran resolution on November 24. The resolution called on “the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran to cooperate fully with the independent international fact-finding mission, to grant unhindered access to the country without any delay and to provide the members of the fact-finding mission with all information necessary to allow for the proper fulfilment of their mandate.” 

The resolution also requests “the immediate operationalization of the mandate, requests the Secretary-General to provide all the resources and expertise necessary to enable the factfinding mission to fulfil its mandate, and requests the Office of the High Commissioner to provide such administrative, technical and logistical support as is required to implement the provisions of the present resolution.”

Iran strongly rejected the resolution, especially the establishment of the fact-finding mission. 

The Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs strongly condemned the resolution, calling it an anti-Iran move by a small group of Western countries to impose a resolution on the Human Rights Council against Iran.

The foreign ministry also said that it is highly regrettable that the Human Rights Council has been exploited once again to serve the short-term interests of a small number of countries.

“The Foreign Ministry once again expresses regret over the bitter death of Ms. Mahsa Amini and reaffirms that all top officials of the Islamic Republic of Iran adopted a responsible approach to the pitiful incident stemming from a humanitarian view and true commitment to human rights that is rooted in religious teachings, the Islamic Republic’s forward-looking Constitution and the Iranian civilizational culture. The government, in turn, had relevant bodies form a variety of supplementary investigation teams and made the outcome of the probe and different phases of the incident available to the public opinion transparently,” it said in a statement. 

The statement added, “Simultaneously, the Iranian Judiciary’s High Council for Human Rights has, from the start, submitted various documented reports to international human rights mechanisms in Geneva and New York and to all members of the world community regularly and in different stages. This approach of the Islamic Republic of Iran is indicative of a sense of responsibility and concern among the country’s top officials, relevant bodies, and related institutions. In addition, this approach is based on a national sense of responsibility, domestic rules, humanitarian principles, and respect for and adherence to the commitments undertaken by membership in international mechanisms.”

It noted, “The guardians of the country’s security dealt with rioters with maximum restraint while tens of law enforcement forces and guardians of security were martyred and thousands of them injured, despite the fact that some protesters resorted to violent behavior and incited riots based on exploitation, organized provocations and interventions from abroad over the past two months, and in spite of acts of terror committed by some armed individuals and groups in different forms. Undoubtedly, the move by the regime in Germany and other sponsors of the special session of the Human Rights Council has been a historic mistake originating from multi-dimensional political goals.”