The president of the U.N. Human Rights Council has announced the members of an independent international fact-finding mission tasked with investigating Iran’s deadly crackdown on peaceful protesters.
Argentine Ambassador Federico Villegas, who heads the 47-country Geneva-based Human Rights Council, said in a statement Tuesday that Bangladeshi lawyer Sara Hossain will chair the three-person commission, which also includes law professor Shaheen Sardar Ali of Pakistan and Argentinian human rights lawyer Viviana Krsticevic.
In a special session on November 24, the council condemned Iran's repression of peaceful demonstrators following the death of Mahsa Amini in mid-September and voted to create an international fact-finding mission to investigate the deadly crackdown. The 22-year-old student died in police custody after the so-called morality police detained her for improperly wearing her headscarf. Her death has set off more than three months of demonstrations.
The three female commissioners are mandated to investigate alleged human rights violations in Iran related to the protests, “especially with respect to women and children.” They are also authorized to collect, analyze and preserve evidence. They will report back to the Human Rights Council in June 2023 with an oral report and present their full findings in March 2024.
