Note: This is an unofficial summary translation of the statement, originally published in Farsi here.
The High Council for Human Rights of the Islamic Republic of Iran issued a statement in response to the Special Rapporteur's unprofessional, unfair and political report to the Third Committee of the UN General Assembly.
The text of this statement is as follows:
The High Council for Human Rights rejects and strongly condemns the presentation of a report on the human rights situation in Iran by Javid Rahman ignoring the existing facts and based on an unprofessional, unjust and politicized attitude. Today, using human rights as a tool by Western and American claimants has been exposed to the people of the world, and such political behavior is considered a real violation of human rights.
1. The High Council for Human Rights considers the appointment of the Special Rapporteur to monitor the Islamic Republic of Iran to be an unfair and politically motivated plan by Western countries especially one of the most human rights violators, Canada, and a biased view against the Iranian people and finds this report as unreal and unfair. Western countries whose black resume includes provision of chemical weapons and ground and air war tools and equipment as well as financial support for the war against Iranian people imposed by Saddam's regime, and have martyred and wounded many, can never claim human rights; especially Canada that as a result of recent excavations, has released the remains of thousands of innocent indigenous children buried in mass graves.
2. The Islamic Republic of Iran considers defending the rights of the individuals against the threat of terrorism, as its duty and condemns the coercive unilateral, illegal and inhumane acts of the United States that endanger the health of children, women and men in need of medicine and medical care. The Islamic Republic of Iran deeply regrets the reporter's inattention to this gross violation of human rights.
3. Despite repeated reports on violations of the Rules of Procedure by mandate holders of Resolution 5/2 of the Human Rights Council to the Special Rapporteur, unfortunately he continues to make false allegations and provide misinformation, and his recent report lacks legal validity.
4. In our responses to Javid Rahman, we have repeatedly made it clear that the death penalty is applied only to the “most serious crimes”, after a fair trial and in accordance with the law. We have also noted that he shouldn’t use the term "human rights defenders” for offenders who have been convicted by a court of law after a legal process, and shouldn’t misuse the term or insult true human rights defenders. But we see the reason for his inattention as satisfying the false claimants of human rights, including founders of coercive unilateral, illegal and inhumane sanctions.
5. The Islamic Republic of Iran continues its constructive interaction and cooperation with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and Human Rights Mechanisms and believes that cooperation based on mutual respect guarantees the promotion and protection of human rights in the international arena. The Islamic Republic of Iran considers such a flawed and distorted report as political use of human rights against the country.
6. Unfortunately, regardless of the nature of the allegations and accusations contained in the rapporteur's report, it has purposefully focused on the negative aspects and the efforts, measures and actions resulting in the promotion of the human rights situation in Iran have no place in it. While the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran continuously devotes all its efforts to the promotion and protection of the human rights of its citizens and significant progress and achievements have been made in this regard, such positive cases have either no reflection in the report of the rapporteur or are incompletely accompanied by deviant analysis and biased interpretations, which in itself is a gross violation of the principle of neutrality and transparency.
7. Prejudice and presumption of claims made by sources affiliated with terrorist and dissident groups, have led to the re-emergence of issues that have already been substantiated and documented in their suitable situation and time, or cases that have been closed for several years. It has also resulted in the fact that the rapporteur uses them to attribute a large volume of false and fabricated accusations to the Islamic Republic of Iran.
8. Another drawback to the method of preparing reports is that the "human rights situation" report must be prepared on the basis of available and observable facts and reliable and reviewed information, and it should be transparent and away from any ambiguity and speculation. Therefore, prejudice on the one hand and speculation and prediction about the unknown future, on the other hand, should not be included in the report.
9. The fact that the reports rely on the false information received from some terrorist groups and sects that have a dark history of killing thousands of innocent Iranian citizens and still do not shy away from any hostility to the Iranian nation and support for their enemies, also the important role of information received from some organizations affiliated with opposing states against Iranian nation, indicates the "dishonesty" and "lack of good faith" of the rapporteur and leaves no room for accepting the "Special Rapporteur's claim to independence."
10. Despite the fact that according to the statistics announced by the UN Office of High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Islamic Republic of Iran has responded to more than 70% of the correspondence of the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council in 2020 and is one of the leading countries in terms of response compared to other countries, the same allegations in the correspondence of special procedures are still observed, without considering the answers and previous clarifications of the Islamic Republic of Iran in his recent report (to be presented to the 76th session of the General Assembly). Contrary to current international custom and procedures, not only "information obtained from the relevant government" is ignored by the SR, but also out of about 150 sources mentioned in the footnotes of the recent report, only 12 were cited as domestic sources! Even in these limited cases, we see his misunderstanding of the cited news and finally trying to distort the facts.
11. Based on legal and sharia standards and deeply believing in human values and human rights, The Islamic Republic of Iran is committed to the development of human values and always strives to respect, guarantee and fulfil all human rights. The human rights progress and achievements of the Islamic Republic of Iran represents this fact, and of course we will always strive to promote security, prosperity, freedom and dignity. The serious will of the Islamic Republic of Iran in order to promote human rights and eliminate shortcomings and safeguard achievements, has led to the fact that the government always responsibly provide opportunities to review the laws, approaches and implementation in all possible areas.
12. Although Javid Rehman's report is presented under the title of the human rights situation in Iran, it has nothing to do with the real human rights situation of the Iranian people. Regardless of the deliberate disregard for the main components of human rights violations in Iran, including the cruel and inhumane sanctions that have led to the direct and indirect violation of all fundamental human rights, there is an indisputable disaster in the report that has seriously challenged the impartiality and fairness of the report.
13. Justice requires that the answers and enlightenments of the Islamic Republic of Iran be published and presented in full with the report. In practice, however, not only that, in none of the statements of the report is such a principled obligation observed, but the Special Rapporteur has violated the requirements of Article 8 (d) of the annex to the resolution 5/2 of the Human Rights Council, stating that the rapporteur must attach a written summary of the country's responses and opinions to his / her report.
14. Accepting the allegations and accusations of terrorist groups and opponents of the Iranian nation, and basing the report on these allegations, has practically reduced the report to a political statement.
15. The reporter's silence on one of the most important axes of human rights violations of the Iranian nation during the years after the Islamic Revolution, namely terrorism, leaves no room for doubt as to the bias of his report. A nation that has been plagued by international terrorism sponsored by some Western countries for more than 40 years, has not only never experienced international organizations ask to pursue them, but has even seen the use of their false claims in a report entitled the Situation of Human Rights in Islamic Republic of Iran. Accordingly, Javid Rehman should be asked whether the assassination of Iranian officials, scientists and citizens is not an example of a violation of the right to life that he has remained silent about?! What was the position of the assassination of General Qassem Soleimani in his report? The assassination of the greatest commander in the fight against terrorism and the true defender of the rights of the Iranian nation and the nations of the region, by the former president of the US regime!