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GENEVA -The Human Rights Commission Friday adopted a resolution against Iran that mixed condemnation with encouragement.
Some 23 countries voted for the EU-sponsored initiative, with 16 against and 14 abstentions.
The resolution took Iran to task for abuses that included a high number of executions, cases of torture, and inhuman treatment including sentences of stoning and public executions.
The use of national security laws to deny the rights of the individual was on the list while Iran was faulted for continued discrimination against women and religious minorities, particularly a worsening pattern of persecution against the Baha'is.
[Commenting on the UN censure, NCRI President Massoud Rajavi described the vote as an "acknowledgment by the International community that contrary to Khatami's hollow rhetoric about the 'rule of law' and 'civil society,' nearly two years after his election, nothing has changed…"
Mr. Rajavi noted that the resolution,
the 44th UN censure of the medieval dictatorship, is more testimony
that the clerical regime in its totality is incapable of reform. Experience
has shown that any attempt to play the "doves and hawks game" "paves the
way for the mullahs to evade accountability before the international community,"
he added, concluding that the time had come for the issue of human rights
abuses in Iran to be referred to the UN Security Council for binding decisions.
Mojahedin Deny Allegations of Clashes Between Their Fighters and Forces Affiliated with Mullahs in Southern Iraq, Iran Zamin News Agency, April 25
In response to a "totally bogus report, published yesterday in Al-Hayat daily," a Mojahedin spokesman categorically denied any clashes in southern Iraq between forces belonging to the Mojahedin or the National Liberation Army of Iran and "the Badr Corps' forces," "those of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq" or other agents and operatives of the mullahs' religious, terrorist dictatorship.
The spokesman added that the source cited for the report, allegedly "senior Iraqi opposition sources," was actually none other than the mullahs' anti-human regime and its Intelligence Ministry.
The spokesman warned that disseminating such lies and linking the
Mojahedin to Iraq's internal affairs are ploys to pave the way for terrorist
assaults against the bases of the Iranian Resistance on Iraqi territory.
Head of Mullahs' Judiciary Target of Assassination Bid, Reuters, April 24
TEHRAN -- The grandson of a prominent ayatollah and several of his followers have been arrested for trying to kill Tehran's judiciary chief, a senior official said on Saturday.
The commander of the Revolutionary Guards ground forces, Brigadier General Mohammad Ali Jafari, identified the main suspect as Hassan Milani, describing him as the grandson of Ayatollah Mohammad-Hadi Milani, a Shi'te Moslem leader who died before the 1979 Islamic revolution.
The general told the official IRNA news agency that the young Milani headed a 30-member group of religious extremists called "Mahdaviat."
The attack on the judge was one of a series against senior officials and political personalities in the Islamic republic in recent months. The latest revelations confirm the growing propensity for violence by religious extremists.
In January, the country was stunned
to learn that a group of intelligence ministry officials had been arrested
for a spate of dissidents murders last year.
Spanish Authorities Deny Mullahs' Lies About Anti-Mojahedin Stance, Iran Zamin News Agency, April 22
In response to inquiries by the NCR's Foreign Affairs Committee, Spanish authorities denied that the Foreign Ministry had taken any position against the Mojahedin and the Iranian Resistance or against the punishment of Sayyad Shirazi.
According to an NCRI statement, the officials reiterated that there has not been any official statement coming from the Spanish Government and that the Spanish authorities know that the Iranian Resistance always acts according to international conventions (Geneva, Vienna, etc.) in not targeting civilians.
The Inquiry was made after allegations by the regime's news agency, IRNA, on April 12, that the Spanish Foreign ministry had strongly condemned the Mojahedin for their actions.