Iranian political prisoner and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi has called for the extension of a United Nations investigation into human rights violations in Iran, including gender apartheid and crimes against humanity perpetrated by the government.
In a statement delivered by Mahmoud Amiri-Moghaddam, the director of the Iran Human Rights organization, at a UN Human Rights Council meeting, Mohammadi stressed the urgent need for continued international scrutiny.
Mohammadi has been convicted fives times since March 2021 -- three times for activism carried out while she was imprisoned -- and has been sentenced to over 12 years in prison during that period.
She was already serving a sentence of 10 years and nine months on charges of acting against national security and propaganda against the state before the more recent convictions.
Amid unrest within the country, Mohammadi stressed that the Iranian regime's violent suppression tactics were not only intensifying but also broadening in scope, affecting not just political dissidents but women, religious minorities, and ethnic groups indiscriminately.
The call for action coincided with a meeting of the UN Human Rights Council, where Javaid Rehman, the special rapporteur on human rights in Iran, criticized the Islamic republic for its discrimination against minorities and the enactment of repressive laws targeting women and girls.
Rehman advocated for the creation of an international mechanism to hold the Iranian government accountable, highlighting the long-standing impunity enjoyed by the regime.
Mohammadi, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2023, has been campaigning for human rights in Iran for decades and has been in and out of prison for the last 20 years.
Concerns were also raised about the well-being of Mohammadi herself, who is currently imprisoned and facing serious health issues, including heart and lung conditions that pose a significant risk to her life.
In November 2022, the Geneva-based UNHRC formed a fact-finding committee to investigate human rights violations amid a violent crackdown on anti-government protests that erupted over the death of Mahsa Amini.
The resolution provides for an independent investigative mission to document human rights violations in Iran in the context of the crackdown on the protests, which erupted in mid-September after Amini died after being arrested for allegedly wearing a head scarf improperly.
In a report presented earlier this month by Sara Hossain, head of the UN's Independent Fact-Finding Committee, the Iranian government was directly implicated in the physical violence leading to Amini's death, with the committee describing such government actions against women as "crimes against humanity."
However, Kazem Gharibabadi, the secretary of the Human Rights Council of Iran, accused the UN's Fact-Finding Committee of bias and a lack of independence.
Despite these accusations, 43 human rights organizations specializing in Iranian and international affairs have issued a joint statement urging the UN Human Rights Council to renew the mandates of both Javaid Rehman and the Fact-Finding Committee, emphasizing the critical nature of their missions in safeguarding human rights within Iran.