Judiciary Chairman Sadeq Larijani surprisingly didn’t mince any words, but just flatly rejected admitting the UN rapporteur for Iran, Ahmad Shaheed of the Maldive Islands. Shaheed has now resigned as foreign minister of the Maldives and is now working full time as the UN representative.
Larijani was expected to waffle and be critical of Shaheed’s appointment without outright rejecting him and barring his entry to the Islamic Republic. But instead, Larijani went surprisingly for full frontal confrontation with the UN secretary general, who named Shaheed last month.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehman-Parast was similarly forthright in saying Shaheed would not be allowed into Iran.
Mehman-Parast said Iran would refuse a visa to Shaheed to protest the negligence of he UN Human Rights Council in dealing with the US human rights affronts to black Americans and US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that he said have killed “millions” of innocent people since 2001.
The UN investigator will not be stopped from doing his job by being unable to visit Iran. He will interview Iranians in exile and worked with others outside Iran to paint a picture of Iranian policies. That may actually produce a document far more critical of Iran than would result if he were allowed into Iran and could talk with Iranian officials who would then have the ability to respond to criticisms Shaheed will collect.
Shaheed is a Muslim and his selection appeared to be an effort to counter Iran’s argument that international human rights standards ignore Islam and reflect Western rather than Islamic values.
Larijani spoke about Shaheed in a television interview. He said Iran was willing and eager to cooperate with the United Nations on human rights issues but that it would not accept any human rights investigator named by the UN.
“In the discussion of human rights,” he said, “we will certainly interact with the United Nations, but within a logical framework, not as a tool against our country.” Reading between the lines, Larijani appeared to be saying that Iran was willing to discuss human rights in other countries, but not in Iran.
Larijani complained that the topic of human rights had been “politicized” and was being used as a political tool with which to flay Iran.
He said there were human rights failures in other countries of the region, but if those countries kowtowed to the West, then “there is no talk of human rights.” Actually, the UN Human Rights Council makes a point of reviewing human rights in every country. And the annual US human rights reports are highly critical of human rights failures by its allies, including Saudi Arabia.
“We know of countries where even the minimum consideration of human rights is not being adhered to,” Larijani said. “However, no public fuss is made about those countries.”
Larijani was actually mild in his remarks. Brigadier General Masud Jazayeri, the spokesman for the military, was far more heated. He demanded that a UN human rights rapporteur be sent to the United States “because, according to available statistics and data, the greatest crimes against humanity are being organized and carried out in America.… Currently, the United States is home to dozens of illegal prisons where one can witness torture, the violation of the most basic rights of human beings, the physical abuse of citizens and racial discrimination.”
But Larijani had a point when he argued that human rights issues are being used more critically of Iran than of many other countries. However, the Islamic Republic acts as if Iran is the only country targeted by the UN. Actually there are UN investigators for nine countries, including Palestine, despite Israeli opposition. The nine states with UN investigators are: Burundi; Cambodia; Haiti; Myanmar; North Korea; Palestine; Somalia; Sudan and now Iran.
Investigators for Cuba and Belarus were dropped a few years ago. The nine remaining investigators cover countries with which the United States is hostile (North Korea) as well countries with which the United States has close relations (Haiti).
The spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Rupert Colville, responded by saying Iran had nothing to be concerned about if it has a good human rights record.
“The role of the special rapporteur is not simply to criticize,” he said. “It also has a constructive role, to help states see whether human rights [policies] are dead or alive and to suggest actions to remedy them. So, there should be nothing to be afraid of if the human rights situation in a particular country is good.”
Shaheed is now in Geneva, arriving the last week in June, and has started working on Iran. The position of special rapporteur is unsalaried, but the UN pays for travel, staff and all administrative overhead.