TEHRAN – Iran has strongly reacted to the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) that voted on Thursday for a resolution to create an independent fact-finding mission to investigate alleged human rights abuses in Iran, particularly against women and children.

The resolution backed by 25 countries, including the United States and some European, Latin American, Asian and African nations, was put forward by Germany and Iceland. However, six countries - China, Pakistan, Cuba, Eritrea, Venezuela and Armenia opposed the move. 16 others abstained.

Khadijeh Karimi, deputy of Iran’s vice president for Women and Family Affairs, criticized the Western effort as part of a “politically motivated move of Germany to distort the situation of human rights in Iran.”

“The Islamic Republic of Iran deeply regrets that the Human Rights Council is abused once again by some arrogant states to antagonize a sovereign UN member state that is fully committed to its obligation to promote and protect human rights,” Karimi said.

She pointed to the Iranian government’s efforts to foster the role of women in the workplace. Karimi acknowledged the “unfortunate decease” of Mahsa Amini and said “necessary measures” were taken afterward, including creation of a parliamentary investigative commission. She also accused Western countries of stoking riots and violence by intervening in Iran’s internal affairs.

Karimi also said instrumental use of human rights is “disgraceful”.

FM Hossein Amir Abdollahian describes the West’s claims of solidarity with Iranians as “farce”.In series of tweets, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian also defied Germany’s claims of support for human rights in Iran, saying Germany was the “main provider of chemical weapons” to Iraq’s Saddam Hussein in his war against Iran in the 1980s. 

Hossein Amir Abdollahian also lambasted Germany for joining the U.S. in imposing “inhumane” sanctions on Iran.
“The regime in Berlin, as the main provider of CWs to Saddam, and other opportunists have conducted massive human rights violations through unjust and inhumane sanctions,” Amir Abdollahian wrote.
 

The foreign minister also stressed that Iran is fully committed to human rights and will not allow foreign interference in its domestic affairs.

Amir Abdollahian said Germany and its allies are now using human rights as an excuse to pretend solidarity with the protestors.

“Now, they are abusing human rights mechanisms to perpetrate more human rights violations, all in the name of a farce ‘solidarity’ with Iranians,” the chief diplomat remarked.

The foreign minister added Germany and other countries that voted for the resolution are using claims of support for protestors for “domestic” use. The minister went on to say that Iran as a “stable and strong country” is committed to human rights. 

 “Even worse and more shameful, they're doing this for cheap domestic games. Iran, as a strong and stable country, is fully committed to human rights, but won't allow foreign meddling in its internal affairs,” he added.

Iran urges Germany to end its “deceptive” policy toward human rights

Likewise in a series of tweets on Thursday, Iran’s human rights chief Kazem Gharibabadi said, “FM of the German regime made a deceptive statement before the HRC today. Germany is the very country that equipped Saddam’s regime with chemical weapons, thereby killing over 13,000 Iranian citizens and injuring 100,000, including women and children in Kurdish city of Sardasht.” 

Gharibabadi who also said Germany is an accomplice in the assassination of Iranian anti-terror legend General Qassem Soleimani called on Berlin to end it “deceptive” policy in regard to human rights.
“German regime which still violates human rights of Iranians through inhumane unilateral sanctions and its dark record as an accomplice in assassination of Gen. Soleimani, should end its deceptive and forgery policy in the field of human rights.”

He added, “While the rights of Iranians have widely been violated by the U.S., UK, Germany, and France due to the imposition of UCMs and provision of support to, and hosting of terrorists who assassinated 17000 innocent Iranians, holding a special session on Iran, is deceptive and fraudulent.”

“Multifaceted political goals”

The Iranian Foreign Ministry also released a statement on Thursday strongly condemning the resolution, saying “multifaceted political goals” are behind these anti-Iranian measures.

“It is a source of regret that the UNHRC is being misused by few countries to pursue their short-term interests,” read the statement by the Foreign Ministry.

“Undoubtedly, the measure adopted by the German regime and other founders of the UNHRC special meeting was a historic mistake originated from multifaceted political goals,” it highlighted.

Riots broke out in Iran after Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman, fainted at a morality police station in Tehran on September 13 and pronounced dead at hospital three days later. An official report by the Forensic Medicine said Amini’s death was caused by a chronic illness rather than alleged blows to the head or other vital body organs.

“Maximum restraint”

Voicing regret over the tragic death of Mahsa Amini, the ministry said the government has already established fact-finding committees and the results of investigations have been shared with the public as well as with human rights mechanisms in Geneva and New York.

“Despite some protesters’ resorting to violence and causing riots based on foreign-organized abuses, provocations, and interventions in the past two months and adoption of terrorist measures by few individuals and armed groups, defending forces of the country’s security have dealt with rioters with maximum restraint as tens of police and security forces have been martyred and thousands more have sustained injuries,” the ministry added, according to Press TV.  

The statement reminded that the activities of the UN Human Rights Council should be based on dialogue and aim to help governments to promote human rights, adding, “Despite many selective, unfair, and even biased behaviors of a group of countries in the council, Iran has always emphasized constructive participation and deeply believes that the international community members can only help promote human rights by dialogue, cooperation and exchange of experience.”

 “Strategic mistake”

“The German government and some other contributing Western countries to this resolution have made a ‘strategic mistake’ based on wrong calculations and under the pressure of specific political lobbies and the fake news of some anti-Iran media,” the ministry said, adding, “Time will show that this political short-sightedness will be to their detriment.”

Pointing to the Western-back media provocation of violence in Iran, the statement said the resolution passed in Geneva was a “direct result of using wrong information to pursue anti-Iran goals in by few Western states.”

Persian language networks such as the Saudi-funded Iran International, BBC Persian, Voice of America (VOA), and the Persian-language Deutsche Welle website have been fanning the flames of unrest in Iran through a disinformation campaigns.

The Foreign Ministry statement said Iranian authorities have shown maximum restraint towards arrested rioters, especially with regard to women, however, “the German regime and its aligned governments raised provocative and false claims about violation of human rights and the rights of women and children.”

“The Islamic Republic of Iran was opposed to the special meeting and considered it inconsistent, abnormal, and unnecessary based on grounds for holding 34 previous special meetings about different countries and issues in the past years and hence, completely rejects the resolution passed in the meeting,” it added.

Referring to the establishment of a special committee to investigate the death of Mahsa Amini and another one comprised of lawyers and independent representatives to study the recent developments in Iran, the Islamic Republic “considers the creation of any new mechanism for probing issues of the past two months as unnecessary and a violation of the country’s national sovereignty and will not recognize the assigned mission,” it concluded.  

The rioters have been going on a rampage in the country, attacking security officers, resorting to vandalism and desecrating religious sanctities.

A few weeks back Iran’s Intelligence Ministry said the United States and Britain were “directly” involved in the riots, adding that dozens of terrorists affiliated with the Zionist regime and anti-revolution groups have also been detained in the unrest.

Since the start of riots in Iran, German officials, in tandem with their American masters, have adopted a harsh anti-Tehran stance and accused the Islamic Republic of what Berlin labels as “brutal violence” against protesters.