‘Wounded protesters arrested’
The six Gulf Cooperation Council countries, plus Jordan, condemned Iran’s attacks on their territories, saying they endangered regional security and civilian lives, and “cannot be justified under any pretext”.
The UN Human Rights Council was holding an interactive dialogue between nations and the council’s special rapporteur on rights in Iran and its fact-finding mission on the country.
Special rapporteur Mai Sato said Tehran’s deadly crackdown on the nationwide protests that began on December 28, in which “over 7,000 deaths have been reported by civil society”, followed a “pattern of persecution” that long predated the uprising.
“What was new and what has left a profound impression on me was the violation of medical neutrality,” she said.
“Hospitals were raided. Wounded protesters arrested from their beds. Medical professionals assaulted and arrested. A state directive instructing hospitals to provide information on injured protesters.
“The result was a healthcare system in which the injured feared seeking treatment more than the injuries themselves, and the act of saving life criminalised.”
She said that the US-Israeli strikes “remain unlawful, no matter the assumed or stated objectives of those strikes”.
She said her mandate exists for the people of Iran, and whether perpetrators are Iranian or foreign, “the people harmed are the same.”
The Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Iran has said the war in the Middle East is likely to result in worsening institutionalised domestic repression of Iranian citizens.