UN rights council to hold emergency session on Iran, document shows

By Olivia Le Poidevin and Emma Farge

GENEVA, Jan 20 (Reuters) – The U.N. Human Rights Council will hold an emergency session on Iran on Friday, with proponents aiming to discuss “alarming ‍violence” used against protesters, a document showed on Tuesday.

An Iranian official said authorities have verified at least 5,000 deaths in the protests which are the biggest demonstrations since 2022, prompting U.N. rights chief Volker Turk to condemn the violence.

“A special session is needed because of the importance and ‌urgency of the situation, in particular due to ‌credible reports of alarming violence, crackdowns on protesters and violations of international human rights law across the country,” according to a letter written by Iceland’s ambassador Einar Gunnarsson on behalf of a group of countries including Germany ​and Britain, and seen by Reuters.

The special session will happen on Friday, the U.N. confirmed, adding that 21 countries so far ‍have supported the proposal.

Human Rights Watch ​has denounced mass unlawful killings and is asking for ​an existing U.N. probe, set up by the council in 2022 ‍after the last wave of protests, to investigate the deaths and be given extra financing to do so.

Iran’s diplomatic mission did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Diplomats said Iran had sent to missions pages of rebuttal against allegations of a crackdown, ‍saying the clashes followed armed attacks on security forces.

“The session will be a message to Iranian authorities that the bloodshed and the suppression of ‍dissenting voices must ‍stop, that they are under watch,” Glenn Payot ​from Impact Iran, a coalition of 19 non-governmental organizations ​campaigning for ⁠human rights in Iran, told Reuters.

“It will also ‌be an opportunity for the community of states to demonstrate global support for the rights of all Iranians to protest peacefully and make their voices heard without fear of reprisals or violence,” Payot added.

(Reporting by Olivia Le Poidevin and Emma Farge in Geneva, editing by Linda Pasquini, Editing ⁠by William Maclean)