PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release 19th December 2019
JUSTICE SOUGHT FOR IRANIAN PROTESTERS
The international committee ‘In Search of Justice’ (ISJ) has sent an urgent letter to the United Nations Secretary General – António Guterres, to raise the plight of the protesters who have taken to the streets of towns and cities across Iran in the past month, only to be ruthlessly crushed by the theocratic Iranian regime, with an estimated 1,500 slaughtered in a ‘shoot-to-kill’ policy.
In anticipation of a special meeting of the UN Security Council (UNSC) on 19th December where Iran will be discussed, the letter, signed by three international dignitaries representing the ISJ, states:
“The forthcoming meeting of the UNSC is, we believe, about non-proliferation. We understand from sight of the paper that the UNSC will also discuss Iran within this context, including a detailed discussion on the US withdrawal from the JCPOA, the resulting breaches perpetrated by the Iranian regime, the attacks on Saudi oil facilities and oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz and the shooting down of an American drone. There is a clear apprehension that the situation could get worse and the resulting proposal for action by the council suggests: “Should tensions escalate further, the Council could consider making a more formal pronouncement urging restraint on all sides.” Sadly, a formal pronouncement urging restraint on all sides will cut no ice with the repressive Iranian regime. Given that the High Commissioner for Human Rights – Michelle Bachelet – has expressed her grave concerns over the carnage in Iran, we urgently ask that you include these atrocities in your discussion.
“We sincerely believe that it would be remiss in future if any discussion on Iran in the UN failed to mention the recent nationwide uprising, which, over the course of the past month, has seen the regime and its revolutionary guards (IRGC) gun down thousands of young protesters on the streets of Iran’s towns and cities, murdering an estimated 1,500, wounding more than 4,000 and arresting over 12,000. We have already seen a list of names of 504 of those killed and know from Amnesty International and other sources that the final death toll is much, much higher. These are appalling crimes against humanity that require an immediate response from the international community, involving, at the very least, a UN fact-finding mission to establish the truth about the numbers killed and injured and to ascertain the treatment of those imprisoned. The UN must hold those responsible for these crimes accountable in the international courts of justice. There can be no impunity for those guilty of such chilling atrocities.”
Note to editors:
The full text of the letter together with a detailed report on the atrocities committed by the Iranian regime against the unarmed, civilian protesters, are attached herewith.
The letter was also copied to Michelle Bachelet, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and to all members of the UN Security Council and was signed by – Alejo Vidal Quadras from Spain, President of ISJ and former Vice President of the European Parliament from 1999-2014, Struan Stevenson from Scotland, member of the European parliament from 1999-2014 and President of the EP Delegation for Relations with Iraq from 2009-2014 and Giulio Terzi, Minister Foreign Affairs Italy 2011-2013, Permanent Representative of Italy to the United Nations in New York between 2008 and 2009 and Ambassador of Italy to the United States between 2009 and 2011.