On Thursday, Iran claimed that the United States had arranged for its expulsion from a UN commission on women’s rights due to its handling of the demonstrations started by Mahsa Amini’s death.
Since the death in detention on September 16 of Amini, a young Iranian Kurd detained for allegedly breaking the nation’s dress code for women, the Islamic republic has experienced waves of protests.
Due to the street violence, which resulted in hundreds of deaths and countless arrests, Iran was expelled from the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women on Wednesday (UNCSW).
Iran blamed the United States for the action, claiming it was the consequence of its archenemy’s coordinated efforts and lacked “legal validity.”
Nasser Kanani, a spokesman for the foreign ministry, stated that “this unilateral move by the US…is an attempt to impose unilateral political demands and violate electoral procedures in international institutions.”
In addition to discrediting this international organization, removing a legitimate committee member “creates a unilateral procedure for future abuses of international institutions,” he continued.
With immediate effect, Iran, which was chosen to the organization in April for a four-year term, lost its membership.
The UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) required a simple majority to accept the measure; 29 members voted in favor of it, eight countries, including China and Russia, voted against it, and 16 members abstained.
By the UN resolution’s language, Iran’s government “continually undermines and increasingly suppresses the human rights of women and girls, including the right to freedom of speech and opinion, frequently by using disproportionate force.”
Kazem Gharibabadi, the head of Iran’s high council for human rights, claimed that the United States supported the resolution to further its objectives.
By making “false and hypocritical words and comments” against Iran, the US “only advances its inhumane and anti-human rights aims and goals,” he claimed in a tweet.
On December 3, Iran reported that more than 200 individuals, including security personnel, had perished in the protests. According to international human rights organizations, the nation’s security forces have killed more than 450 people.
In conjunction with the protests, Iran has executed 11 people. In the previous week, it carried out two executions. Campaigners claim that a dozen more individuals are charged with crimes carrying the death penalty.