‘No Joke’: The Baffling Silence by The Biden Administration, UN and EU on Iran’s Human Rights Abuses

by Majid Rafizadeh, GATESTONE  •  June 10, 2023


Just days after Iran was rewarded by being appointed chair of the United Nations Human Rights Council 2023 Social Forum, the regime on May 19 executed three more men for having participated in anti-regime protests. Pictured: A public execution Mashhad, Iran on December 12, 2022. (Photo by Mizan News/AFP via Getty Images)

  • [J]ust a few days after the regime executed two young men, Yousef Mehrad and Sadrollah Fazeli Zare, for “blasphemy,” Iran was rewarded by being appointed chair of the United Nations Human Rights Council 2023 Social Forum, as well as being handsomely compensated by the European Union.
  • “Iran human rights role ‘like granting Bin Laden a Nobel Peace Prize’.” — The Telegraph.

  • As if to underscore this triumph, right after the UN appointment, Iran’s regime on May 19 proceeded to execute three more men — Majid Kazemi, Saleh Mirhashemi and Saeed Yaghoubi – for having participated in anti-regime protests.
  • “[Iranian] Authorities Execute Over 60 People in Past 2 Weeks.” — Human Rights Watch, May 12, 2023.
  • “The Iranian authorities’ dramatic escalation of executions in recent weeks is a serious violation of the right to life and should bring international condemnation… Since late April, the Iranian authorities have executed at least 60 people, including an Iranian-Swedish national on alleged terror-related charges. Many were executed after unfair trials or for charges, such as drug offenses as well and two executions for ‘blasphemy,’ that under international law should never result in the death penalty.” — Human Rights Watch, May 12, 2023.
  • So, Germany, which preaches about human rights and its “feminist foreign policy”, has actually increased its business with Iran….
  • “We believe it is time to hold the leadership of the Islamic Republic of Iran to account for its crimes…. We urge your nations to stand with the Iranian people in their quest for change and to take decisive steps against the current regime. This includes blacklisting the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) and holding regime officials accountable for their crimes against humanity.” — Letter signed May 23, 2023 by former Vice President Mike Pence and 107 other former world leaders. Fox News; May 23, 2023.
  • It is abhorrent and unacceptable that the EU and the UN keep propping up a regime that is a world leader in executions and violations of human rights — and that will not hesitate to use its nuclear weapons capability as well as the threat of it.

Not only have the Biden Administration, the EU, and the UN have been silent in the face of the Iranian regime’s increasing human rights violations, but just a few days after the regime executed two young men, Yousef Mehrad and Sadrollah Fazeli Zare, for “blasphemy,” Iran was rewarded by being appointed chair of the United Nations Human Rights Council 2023 Social Forum, as well as being handsomely compensated by the European Union.

The grotesque move prompted The Telegraph to headline, “Iran human rights role ‘like granting Bin Laden a Nobel Peace Prize.'”

As if to underscore this triumph, right after the UN appointment, Iran’s regime on May 19 proceeded to execute three more men — Majid Kazemi, Saleh Mirhashemi and Saeed Yaghoubi – for having participated in anti-regime protests.

“The world should be enraged over #Iran’s executions of #MajidKazemi, #SaeedYaghoubi & #SalehMirhashemi,” the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee tweeted.

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June 10, 2023 | Comments »

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