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HRC Press Conference - Fact-Finding Mission report on Iran - 18 March 2024
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Press Conferences , Edited News
HRC Press Conference - Fact-Finding Mission Report on Iran - 18 March 2024
STORY: Report: Fact-Finding Mission on Iran
TRT: 2:36”
SOURCE: UNTV CH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
ASPECT RATIO: 16:9
DATELINE: 18 March 2024 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
- Exterior medium shot: UN flag alley
- Wide shot: speakers at the press conference
- SOUNDBITE (English) – Sara Hossain, Chairperson of the Fact-Finding Mission: “We saw quite brutal responses. The entire state apparatus was mobilized with security forces using firearms, including AK-47 and Uzis, as we documented in some areas, resulting in injuries and deaths. Credible figures that we found of up to 551 deaths, at least 49 women and 68 children and we found that those occurred in 26 out of the 31 provinces of Iran over multiple months.”
- Wide shot: speakers at the podium during the press conference
- SOUNDBITE (English) – Sara Hossain, Chairperson of the Fact-Finding Mission: “We also found that there were mass arbitrary arrests and detentions. We found incidents of torture and ill treatment in custody of protesters being beaten even while they were being arrested. And then when they were in custody as well. We found cases of torture, particularly of sexual violence, gender-based violence. We found cases of gang rape, rape with an object, a woman being routinely groped and touched throughout the process and often spoken to in extraordinarily misogynist terms.”
- Wide shot: Camera people filming
- SOUNDBITE (English) – Sara Hossain, Chairperson of the Fact-Finding Mission:” What we found was that security forces shot at protesters and also at bystanders at very short distances in a targeted fashion, causing injuries to their heads, necks, torsos, genital areas, but particularly to the eyes. And we found hundreds of protesters had these life changing injuries, with many of them now blinded and branded essentially for life marked as dissidents.”
- Medium shot: speaker at the podium with journalists in press room
- SOUNDBITE (English) – Shaheen Sardar Ali, Member of the Fact-Finding Mission: “We recorded the highest number of deaths in a single day, with more than 100 killings committed by security forces in the so-called Bloody Friday incident.”
- Wide shot: speakers at the press conference
- SOUNDBITE (English) - Viviana Krsticevic, Member of the Fact-Finding Mission: ”The Islamic Republic of Iran is obligated to adhere to these principles and accordingly take tangible measures to redress the harm inflicted on thousands of protesters, address the ongoing violations and eradicate the root causes of those violations.”
- Wide shot, journalists in press briefing room
- Close up, journalist listening
- Close up, journalist
Teleprompter
[Other language spoken]
Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you all for joining us here at this press conference with the independent international Fact Finding Mission on the Islamic Republic of Iran, whose members are here to share with you the findings of their latest report.
As you may know, the Human Rights Council established the Fact Finding Mission in November 2022 to investigate alleged human rights violations related to the protests that began on 16th September 2022, especially with respect to women and children.
The Mission released its first comprehensive report 10 days ago on 8th March and this morning its members presented those findings to the Council.
In addition to that, the Fact Finding Mission is releasing another report, a detailed report known as the Conference Room Paper, which will be published online later today.
This report provides an extensive overview of the vast amount of information and evidence upon which the mission's findings are based.
We plan to send that out to you as soon as it's available, so please keep an eye out for that later this afternoon.
So we're very pleased to have with us all three members of the Fact Finding Mission.
First in the middle, we have the chair of the mission, Miss Sarah Hossein.
On my right is Misses Miss Shaheen Sagar Ali, and on the far right is Viviana Kristi Savitch.
The chair will start us off with some opening remarks and then which will be followed by our fellow experts and then we'll hand the floor over to you for your questions.
[Other language spoken]
[Other language spoken]
Thanks everyone for joining us, Everyone who's here in the room and everyone who's joining virtually as well.
I think many of you may have heard our presentation during the interactive dialogue this morning.
As you'll have heard after this one year of investigations, we and we faced a number of challenges.
We didn't have access to the country because the government refused, refused that.
We also didn't have cooperation in the form of meetings with the government.
We didn't get responses to the letters we sent them.
And we also sought noticed quite early on that there was there was significant challenges for people trying to reach the fact finding mission in terms of intimidation and harassment and, and, and threats and also interference with online communications because given the context of not being able to go inside the country, certainly remote communications with what we needed to rely on largely.
But we were able to overcome those challenges.
We got AI think quite a remarkable response to the call for submissions that we put out.
And ultimately, we were able to collect 27,000 evidentiary items and that included audiovisual material, official documents, as well as 134 in depth interviews with both women and men from inside and outside Iran.
So I'd like to just give you a brief summary of our findings.
First of all, as you'll all recall, the this protest that happened in 2022 in Iran was sparked off by the death in custody of a young woman in Iranian Kurdish woman, Gina Masa Amini, just 22 years old.
And she was arrested for alleged breach of the so-called mandatory hijab laws.
And within three days of her arrest, she was found dead in custody.
Now we found through our investigations and through analysis of of medical evidence and looking looking at patterns as well that Gina Marie's death in custody was unlawful and it was caused by physical violence in the custody of the state authorities.
After Gina Marie's death, the protests sparked right across the country.
We saw, many of you will remember, those emblematic images of women and girls removing their mandatory hijabs in defiance in the early days and continuing through the protests.
And they were joined by many others, by by young people, by men, by people from all walks of life, doctors, journalists, as acted in solidarity with them.
Lawyers came out, many artists were there and particularly minority groups from all across the country as well.
And many of them were expressing initially, of course, it was the women life freedom movement.
But they were also expressing demands for for broader social and political reform.
But the response to this process was not of communication or recognition of any of those grievances.
[Other language spoken]
The entire state apparatus was mobilised with security forces using firearms, including AK-40 Sevens and Aussies, as we documented in some areas resulting in injuries and deaths.
Credible figures that we found of up to 551 deaths, at least 49 women and 68 children, and we found that those occurred in 26 out of the 31 provinces of Iran over multiple months.
We also have noted and you heard again this morning that the government of Iran mentioned the killings of security forces and damage to property.
We've made repeated enquiries to the government to provide more information regarding these instances, but we haven't unfortunately received any of that as yet.
So we've not been able to probe that further.
One of the very distinctive features of the 2022 protests and and continuing into 2023 was the signs of mostly young people with white protective patches over their eyes.
What we found was that security forces shot at protesters and also at bystanders at very short distances in a targeted fashion, causing injuries to their heads, necks, torsos, genital areas, but particularly to their eyes.
And we found hundreds of protesters had these life changing injuries with with many of them now blinded and branded essentially for life, marked as dissidents and that means subjected to further denial of their rights within the state.
We also found that there were mass arbitrary arrests and detentions that people there was we found incidents of torture and I'll treatment in custody of protesters being beaten even while they were being arrested.
And then when they were in custody as well.
We found cases of torture, particularly of sexual violence, gender based violence.
We've found cases of gang ****, **** with an object, a women being routinely grouped and touched throughout the protests and often spoken to in extraordinarily misogynist terms.
I mean, taking the notion of woman life, freedom and distorting it and turning it on its head.
So one woman, for example, told us when when she was being attacked that her attacker said to her, this is the freedom that you wanted.
And we found these acts were committed in both official and unofficial detention facilities.
We also found that for the cases that went ahead to trial, that there were systematic violations of due process.
People didn't get people under trial, didn't get copies of their documents that didn't have access to their council.
For those who are being tried in the Revolutionary courts, they didn't have access to council of their choice.
They have predetermined lists of lawyers.
They're the only ones that you can you can engage and the most egregious of these fair trial violations we've seen as an outcome of that nine young men who were already put to death when the death penalty was carried out earlier this over the course of this.
And we still see that another 26 people are still facing death penalties today.
Perhaps most remarkably, over this entire period, what we've seen is not only a lack of recognition and a lack of reckoning with what came out of the protests and what was being demanded, but also an attempt to silence all those who are still seeking justice and to kind of erase, erase the records of what have happened as well as people's memories.
So we've seen, for example, families who are trying to remember and recall their loved ones at at grave sites and, and funeral ceremonies and subsequently at, you know, commemorative ceremonies and religious ceremonies have not been able to do that.
And they've been interrupted with their right to mourn, even denied to them.
Ultimately, our findings are that there have been serious human rights violations in connection with the protests.
They include unlawful deaths, extrajudicial executions, unnecessary and disproportionate use of force, arbitrary arrest, torture and I'll treatment, **** and sexual violence, enforced disappearance, and gender persecution intersecting with ethnic, ethnic and religious grounds.
We also found that some of these acts were conducted in the context of a widespread and systematic attack, particularly against women and girls, but also others expressing support for equality and rights.
And as a consequence, we've made a finding also of crimes against humanity having occurred.
I'll just give the floor now to my colleague, Professor Shane Sodar Ali.
Thank you, Sarah, and thank you, colleagues in the media, for coming, for taking the time and the interest to be with us today.
Let me start by underlining the fact that although the the international media no longer carries headlines of the protests and the violations and crimes that occurred during from September 2022 onwards, we cannot simply turn our eyes and attention away from them.
And the reason for this is that although the world's attention has turned turned elsewhere, the repression in Iran among women, men, ethnic and religious minorities who sought change and continue to seek justice is ongoing.
The dynamic of the protest may have changed the manner in which people are expressing their continued resistance and they're they're they're seeking justice and accountability.
That may have changed.
But the very fact that the protests are ongoing in different forms, there is no doubt about that.
In particular, we are concerned about the reprisals, continued reprisals against families, lawyers and supporters of victims.
[Other language spoken]
The other thing that I would like to share with you is the intersectionality of the violations of human rights that we found.
The death of Jina Masa, a young Irani Kurdish woman, not only resonated with the Kurdish minority population in Iran, but among Iranians of all ages, ethnicities, religion, sex and genders.
While triggered by demands for gender equality, the demands of protesters rapidly catalysed wider demands for the respect for human rights and accountability.
Minorities and other groups that have suffered long standing injustice and discrimination by the state also joined in the protests.
So we should not forget that the discrimination in law and practise was both a trigger and an enabler of the widespread and systematic violations established in our report.
Indeed, we established that in Sistan, Baluchistan Province, we recorded the highest number of deaths in a single day with more than 100 killings committed by security forces in the so-called ****** Friday incident.
In the Kurdish regions, we particularly witnessed lethal and militarised responses from the security forces to the protest which were not as intense in other parts of the country.
Sexual and gender based violence documented in minority regions was brutal and unaccompanied by ethnic undertones.
So women and girls did not only suffer within the framework of the protest.
Their experience of daily discrimination, both in law and in practise is something which stood out as we were undertaking our investigations.
For example, the latest technologies, including mobile apps, has been harnessed by the state to monitor and enforce the mandatory hijab rules.
Women cannot access schools, universities, hospitals and courts or opportunities for employment in the government without complying with these arbitrary rules on hijab.
These violations were all committed as part of an overall attempt to preserve a system of institutionalised and structural discrimination and as my colleague in the chair has just indicated, we found the state response against those that disagreed and protested against it, as persecution be on the basis of gender.
I would finally also like to bring to your attention that this is the first investigation within the UN system where child rights was placed at the centre of the investigation and we noticed that young people were at the forefront of the protest and therefore the strong focus of our mandate on children was imperative.
We found in the course of investigations that children were often detained in unofficial centres kept with adults and for example, the right to education was jeopardised to the point where we have found 22,800 students suspended and unable to continue with their studies.
I will now pass on the floor to my colleague, Miss Viviana Kristoechevich.
[Other language spoken]
Thank you very much.
[Other language spoken]
Picking up from where Professor Sarah Ali left, we saw victims consistently asking for equality, truth, justice and reparations.
The call for accountability was something that was at the forefront of what victims, survivors, witnesses brought to the fact finding mission and and that path for adequate reparations for victims of cross violations and and crimes against humanity is guided in international human rights law by a set of principles.
The Islamic Republic of Iran is obligated to adhere to these principles and accordingly take tangible measures to redress the harm inflicted on thousands of protesters, address the ongoing violations and eradicate the root causes of those violations.
These measures were outlined briefly today at the initial remarks of the Chair at at the Human Rights Council, but they should include at a minimum, the halting of all executions, the unconditional release of all persons arbitrarily arrested and detained in the context of the protests or for non compliance with the mandatory hijab laws.
As well, the Iranian authorities should cease the judicial harassment of protesters, victims and their families, their lawyers, their doctors and the journalists that cover the incidents.
They should provide victims with medical rehabilitation when needed, Should repeal and amend laws that fundamentally discriminate against women and girls, in particular the mandatory hijab laws.
They should disband the persecutory system of enforcement of these laws and policies and ensure that women can have a meaningful and equal participation in public and political life.
A cornerstone of reparations and accountability is the respect of the right to truth.
And as the Chair noted, we have seen a constant lack of transparency on the part of the state, an obfuscation of facts, and an interference of state authorities with those seeking the truth, including family members, journalists and lawyers.
And this conduct needs to stop.
And the human rights law.
The right to truth needs to be guaranteed for the sake of family members, victims and Iranian society.
Justice is also a key measure of reparations due to victims and is critical in preventing future crimes.
Impunity, as we have documented, has fuelled the human rights violations and crimes against humanity in Iran.
Impunity prevails, but nevertheless, we encourage the government to take appropriate steps to ensure accountability domestically.
Also, we call on the international community to exercise universal jurisdiction to provide a modicum of truth, justice and reparations to victims.
Moreover, beyond criminal accountability, Member States may grant asylum and humanitarian visas and provide medical and other life saving assistance, including to those fleeing persecution.
Finally, I wish to emphasise the remarkable courage and resilience demonstrated by the members of the Women Life Freedom Movement.
Their commitment to advocate for equality, for dignity, justice for women, life and freedom in dire circumstances and at a great risk deserves the unwavering support of the international community.
[Other language spoken]
Thank you very much.
Thank you all for those important opening remarks.
Now we open the floor to questions.
If we could just start on the left side, If you could just please identify yourself and the media outlet that you work for.
Oh, let's just start on the far left.
So I was wondering if you can tell us about the obstacles that you faced or the obstacles, especially the obstacles that the Iranian government created for you.
Well, I think I think the first problem is of course, not being able to go to the country, because it was very important for us to be able to hear directly from people inside Iran and those who've taken part in the protests.
And I think it was also important as a, you know, independent and impartial body for us to hear from government officials and from all those involved in, in in the process.
And we didn't have a chance to do that.
So that that was the first challenge.
The second was we also had hope that if we didn't get to the country, at least we'd get to meet with the Iranian government and hear their point of view.
[Other language spoken]
And as I said, we put together very detailed queries in relation to the matters that we were investigating on which we were hoping that they would respond.
We also didn't hear that.
So those were those are major challenges, but the most significant I think was in terms of not having access to the country, but also having concerns that when we were trying to reach out to victims and to witnesses and anyone who's going to come forward with information that there was a risk clearly objectively a risk for them in doing so.
I think had there not been what we know now to be quite clearly the case, that there is significant interference with communications, it meant even remote communications were very challenging.
There was also an issue that we found that those risks are not only for people inside the country.
Even when we were talking to Irani victims outside the country, their family members inside the country were often threatened or harassed.
And that was again, a very real risk for people and not only a risk, an actual fact.
[Other language spoken]
So Despite that, as I said, we've been able to conduct the investigations.
Why don't you add something else?
OK, Thank you in the back, please.
[Other language spoken]
Musa CL made in TVI have a question about the clause 120 of your reports.
This clause says some of the violations described in this report may fall within the jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice.
What does this mean exactly?
[Other language spoken]
You ask about maybe the intervention of international court.
[Other language spoken]
So we explore different avenues of accountability and given the ratification of the Convention on Racial Discrimination by the Government of Iran, there is a possibility of intervening when there are grave violations to to that convention and bringing a case to the International Court of Justice through provisional measures and eventually a case.
So this is one of the avenues that we have explored that is open for for accountability.
[Other language spoken]
In the front row, please.
Stefan Luton newspaper.
What in your opinion, what has actually the woman life freedom movement achieved so far?
And has it has it been able to to bring the the Iranian authorities to some kind of change or whatever?
And then another question about for Miss Sadar Ali, you talked about the fact that women and girls had less access to education.
And not long ago we were saying that 65% of the university students were women.
So he's very U-turn here.
[Other language spoken]
If I can take the education question first, what we are seeing in our report and and the conference room paper that you will have access to later on is the fact that traditionally and over the years they've been very **** literacy rates in Iran, both of men and women and university students and other professions have seen quite as a significant number within that.
However, what your support they're saying now is that with the increasing repression and enforcement of the hijab, the mandatory hijab rules, that that is what is now going to hold women back.
And is has started holding women back because during the course of our investigations, we discovered that students were being suspended from universities, that employers were given instructions that where women appeared on their premises without the mandatory hijab, that they had one of two choices, that they either enforced that failing which their businesses would be shut.
So I think it's a whole raft of of enforcement mechanisms now that are directed particularly at women that we see as having a negative impact on what has been a very healthy literacy and education rate in the country.
[Other language spoken]
[Other language spoken]
We'll take a question on the far right, just about the, the movement.
My question about the movement the, the woman life and, and has that had any movement has had has that had any impact?
Well, you see, our mandate was particularly, we were confined to the, the area of the, the, the time of the protest.
But obviously the, the, the, the context.
In looking at the context, we, we didn't need to go back historically and so on.
And what we have noticed is the, there has been what, what the Woman Life freedom movement has actually done is to probably breakdown the barriers and the the fear of reprisal.
As my colleagues have indicated that women and girls and men and boys came out in the streets to express their solidarity, knowing full well that there was going to be a very **** cost that they would have to pay for expressing their solidarity in their their autonomy and for making that choice of coming out against the mandatory hijab.
So we do feel that this is 1 impact that that can be clearly seen.
The other impact that we've seen is that there was a very strong intersectionality in in this in this movement that while it started with gender equality and the mandatory hijab and women's rights and choice, very soon it resonated with a lot of disempowered constituencies in the country.
So for example, the minority populations, those who were economically disempowered, those ethnic minorities that and religious minorities that were persecuted that were, that they were discriminatory laws and policies against them.
And so they all converged under this banner and that's that's a very important impact we feel of this of this movement.
[Other language spoken]
[Other language spoken]
[Other language spoken]
Well, thank you very much.
I'm by the option from Ira International TVI totally understand that it is the business of the Human Rights Council for the mandate to be extended.
But do you think that you need more time to complete this task of documentation?
And if so, if you've given the time, do you think that Iranian regime will be persuaded to collaborate with you in the second term?
Yeah, we would definitely benefit from more time because we as, as, as we mentioned earlier in terms of all the challenges that we faced, it took quite some time for for people to come forward and for us to begin to gather the evidence.
And now we're quite on a roll, I would say.
So I think it's important to continue that.
And particularly it's important to hear the voices that are still unheard because people have come to give their testimonies at considerable personal risk and with a great commitment.
And I think belief that it's important for what they, what they experienced and what they witnessed to be recorded and for that to be addressed by the international community and and by their own fellow nationals.
So for that, I think we do need a time would certainly be very helpful to be able to do that, to look further into the issues we've already examined.
As far as cooperation is, I can't say what the government of Iran will do, but I can't can say from our perspective that we would reiterate the calls for cooperation.
Many of the states this morning that were not so positive about the findings of the fact finding mission did say that they called for constructive dialogue from the fact finding mission.
We haven't eschewed the possibility of constructive dialogue.
In fact, we've requested it repeatedly.
And I think obviously cooperation would be helpful because we're trying to investigate things that happen inside Iran.
There's information that's available to the government today.
For example, we've just we've just received information about the so-called special committee on the 2022 unrest that was set up by the President of Iran that has also released its findings, very close to the release of our findings in fact.
And it's important for us to examine what they've said and see they've released, I think a 270 something page report.
So it's important for us to see what there is there, if there is anything that we can also analyse and assess and that would assist, assist in, you know, finding redress and remedies for for the victims.
So I have a follow up question for that because have you, have you had a chance to go through all those document documentation that Iranian government released or have you tried to analyse now?
Yeah, we have actually gone through all the public documents that we've been able to access.
We've also gone through many, many public statements by government officials.
We've also gone through, there are some 41 reports that Iran's **** Council for Human Rights released, many dealing with these issues and we've analysed in detail 39 of them.
You'll see in the paper that we're releasing the conference from paper we're releasing today, which I'm afraid it's about 400 plus pages.
It will take you some time to go through it, but we have analysed and we've assessed and included information in there.
So we've absolutely, you know, another point that the government, Iran mentioned today that this is an undocumented report.
I'm not sure what on what basis that remark is made because there's a lot of documentation and we've also put together a lot of documentation that can be seen by everybody.
[Other language spoken]
[Other language spoken]
[Other language spoken]
The top five by Reuters news agency.
I'd like to ask about not just Mohammadi because the special rapporteur this morning mentioned her saying he had received information according to which she suffers from severe health issues, including serious heart and lung conditions, placing her at a great risk.
Just wondering if the mission had any information about the conditions in which she's being held.
[Other language spoken]
We we haven't looked in greedy to let Miss Mohammed these the charges against her because they were not initially pertaining to the protest.
But we are aware that during this time period also that she was denied medical access because she did not have the mandatory hijab on and she refused to put it on.
And to that extent, we, we have looked at her situation, but we've, we've looked quite a bit at her.
And then she's also expressed solidarity, of course, with the protesters of the Women Life Freedom movement.
But we put out a call, you heard my colleague also say that, you know, calling for release of all of those arrested in connection with the protests and an end to judicial harassment in general for for people.
And to that extent, certainly we would, you know, speak about Miss Muhammad's situation as well.
OK, let's take a couple questions from those online and come back to the room if you could.
We have one from Laurence Ciero from the Swiss News Agency.
[Other language spoken]
Yeah, thank you for taking my question.
You, you said at the beginning of the press conference that both the repression and the protests even and the other forms are ongoing in Iran.
So have you received any indication on the violation that might have taken place in the weeks before the recent elections?
And what do you think will be the consequences of that elections on the situation of human rights in Iran?
[Other language spoken]
We, we've been investigating pretty much up till now.
So we're continuing to receive reports.
As far as the, as far as the election is concerned, I understand.
So from the figures that we have so far that the number of women elected has already been reduced.
But I don't think we have any indication so far that there will be a different approach taken in relation to the response to the protests.
[Other language spoken]
Jamie Keaton from The Associated Press.
Thank you, Todd, and thank you for the your presentation.
I would my question is for Madame Hussein, please.
It has to do with you mentioned the harassment and various other difficulties, obstacles that you faced in pulling together this report.
I wanted to know if you could tell us a little bit since the report has been issued, what, first of all, what kind of response have you gotten from the Iranian government in particular?
And what is your response to their response, including from the from the, the official that we heard today in the Human Rights Council and in have you received any threats or other negative reactions since the publication of this report?
[Other language spoken]
I'm very glad to say that I don't think any of us have received any threats and we have been personally able to carry out this work without any any restriction on ourselves.
But of course, that is saying that's not the case for the people who we're trying to speak to.
And I think our concern is really about the threats that they face and the threats that Iran is inside and outside Iran face when they speak about human rights violations in Iran.
So we have been fortunate not, not face that ourselves, they'd be quite clear about that.
But at the same time, I think we're a little surprised, or perhaps not surprised, but certainly disappointed to hear the government of Iran say this morning again that they felt that we were biassed and politically motivated and acting at the best of certain governments.
We've really been in great pains to make it clear that we are acting in a wholly independent capacity.
There are three of us from three different countries, from Argentina, myself from Bangladesh and Professor Sardar Ali from Pakistan.
We are all lawyers or legal academics.
We, we do have one bias, I think, which is we work on women's human rights and we believe in human rights and we work on human rights, if you can call that a bias.
But every member state that is in the Human Rights Council is at least formally affirming its adherence to human rights norms.
You'll see there's an interesting exhibition actually going on in the Human Rights Council.
I commend it to all of you on Iran and multilateralism and that talks about the long history of Iran as a nation and engaging with the making of international law.
So I think we just simply can't have this kind of double standard.
You can't speak about making international law, applying it in the Human Rights Council and they're not respecting it's norms as they apply to you.
This is true for every member state and it's it's true for Iran as well.
So I think to that extent, it was very disappointing hearing ourselves being called out for bias, etcetera, which we really firmly ****** that accusation.
And we think that our work speaks for itself.
We think we should look at the documentation we've produced and the processes that we followed.
And we would, you know, really welcome detailed engagement with the government of Iran on what we've produced rather than, you know, this kind of name calling, which I think isn't beneficial for this process.
[Other language spoken]
Did you have a question in the back?
[Other language spoken]
I have many questions, but I start with one of them.
That Iranian delegation today they mentioned that your report, it wasn't based on human rights and it was based on political issue and you didn't mention their opinion of Iranian government.
I want to know about your opinion and another thing that some of the family of victim in Havaran, if you know about mass grave in Tehran, it's name Havaran and it was the issue is that their family didn't have the permission to visit this grave.
And even today, even yesterday and it's but it's a situation ongoing in Iran during this protest.
Also, this is the same place that the government put Bahais and Percher to pressure, sorry pressure to great day.
They loved one there and they asked why you didn't mention the issue in your report.
And the last question is about gender apartheid.
The Mr Javid Rahman today in his report mentioned ongoing gender apartheid in Iran.
I want to know your opinion and if you do you think your report's going to help women activists and Afghanistan activists who focus in on women issue.
They can use this they can they can benefit from this report to go fight for submitting about gender apartheid in Iran or not.
Thank you for your question.
I mean, we'll probably split it amongst ourselves because it's quite a rich 1.
You, you are you said that the Iranian government this morning did say that our our report was not based on facts and that all we can say is that we are very clear that we are international independent, impartial professionals who for us, our credibility and our impartiality and professionalism has the highest importance and significance.
And I think we have conducted ourselves to the best of our abilities in that direction, meeting those standards.
And if anyone was to pick up the report and read it, they would see that we have tried to include all aspects and assessments of any evidence that has come before us.
[Other language spoken]
We, we would, we would really appreciate and welcome the engagement of the Iranian government, of the authorities, the the various institutions and organisations and we would welcome an interactive dialogue with them.
So for us, we've never shut the door.
And so whatever we had, despite the fact that we have not received that whatever was in the public domain, we have actually assessed, analysed and included in our report.
[Other language spoken]
And just on the question of gender apartheid, you know, we didn't apply the concept of gender parties.
It's not, as you know, a concept in international law and we are applying international human rights law and International Criminal law.
But we noted the fact that many activists and and academics and and scholars increasingly.
Grappling with this concept and also trying to obtain its recognition within international law.
So we've mentioned that we've said it's as a concept, you know, it's it's being considered, but it's not something we've applied directly and about family or victim of hover on their family of victim of there was massacre in 1988 in Iran and all the bodies was there.
And now during this past year, even during the protest, the government that have more pressure on their families even now.
So, and this is the comment that they want you to hear about the situation.
Well, we, we haven't dealt with issues but before 16 September 2022, except to a limited degree in terms of looking at structural and institutional issues.
And that's probably why we haven't addressed that in the report is ongoing right now.
Yes, if anyone's facing intimidation, threats, anything else, anything is ongoing now in the context of what's happened on 16 September and afterwards, then we're still functioning and they should certainly reach out and we will do our best to respond.
Dialogue is at half two.
We can take the last question.
[Other language spoken]
We'll take one last question from the from the back.
[Other language spoken]
The fact that the report found that all the crimes, serious human rights violations that were committed were crimes against humanity.
And as a team, do you think the international community has responded adequately to the report?
Do you think they could do more than just calling for your extension?
They could do more than that.
So it's it's for a student from there and she's 22 and she's asking this, right.
[Other language spoken]
Thank you for reeling her message and and thank her on our behalf, please.
I think, I think it's a process.
We've done the investigations till now.
The report is just out.
In fact, another report is coming out today.
I think it's important to give an opportunity to respond to that and to see what are we've.
We've repeatedly said that avenues for justice need to be explored by the international community and support for the victims needs to be provided on an urgent basis.
For those who are, who have fled Iran, who need asylum elsewhere, that's of the utmost importance.
But avenues for justice definitely have to be explored.
And I think that we hope that our report will provide some some possibility of doing that.
And I think that I want to, you know, I think just again to thank your the person who's raising the question for you.
That's what the questions have to keep being raised based on the evidence there is.
And I think there's there's more information that has to come forward that also needs to go forward.
We need to sort of move it, move it forward in every possible Ave that there is every possible space.
[Other language spoken]
[Other language spoken]
Thank you very much.
So that brings us to the end of this press conference.
[Other language spoken]
If you have any further questions, please contact us.
We'll we'll try to get those answered for you.
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