Iran deal fails to address rights inside country: UN experts

GENEVA – The US-Iran framework deal agreed this week to end the Middle East war largely fails to address the situation of long-suffering Iranians, United Nations rights experts said on June 19.

The memorandum of understanding signed this week by US President Donald Trump and his Iranian counterpart Masoud Pezeshkian aims to end the war sparked on Feb 28 by the US-Israeli strikes that killed supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

A group of 18 independent UN rights experts said they welcomed the deal, but their statement warned that “any agreement that fails to address the human rights situation in Iran will be fundamentally incomplete”.

“The memorandum focuses almost entirely on military withdrawal, the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, nuclear commitments, sanctions relief and a US$300 billion (S$387 billion) reconstruction fund,” they pointed out.

“The Iranian people – who have suffered enormously from both external military aggression and internal repression – are barely visible in this framework.”

The experts, who are mandated by the UN Human Rights Council, but who do not speak on behalf of the United Nations, pointed out that the war had taken a devastating toll in Iran and across the region, with thousands of civilians killed in air strikes and millions forced to flee their homes.

In parallel, the “Iranian authorities have moved aggressively against dissent”, they highlighted.

The experts pointed out that at least 156 people had been executed in Iran since the start of the war.

Among them, at least 42 had been executed on espionage and national security-related charges, the experts said.

Thousands of others “have been detained, with many reportedly tortured, forcibly disappeared, subjected to mock executions or forced to confess on camera”, they added.

The war had also dealt a severe economic blow to Iran, they said, as had the three months of near-total internet shutdown in the country – among the longest ever recorded worldwide.

“A deal that serves geopolitical interests while leaving the Iranian people behind is not a peace agreement worthy of the name,” the experts insisted.

“The voices of Iranians – millions of whom took to the streets demanding fundamental change – must be heard in any negotiation that claims to secure their future.” AFP