GENEVA: The UN yesterday extended the mandate of its special rapporteur on human rights in Iran for another year, lamenting Tehran’s lack of cooperation in granting access to the country or information.
With 26 votes in favour, two opposed and 19 abstaining or not voting, the 47-member UN Human Rights Council agreed to extend the mandate of Ahmed Shaheed, a former Maldives foreign minister who was named Iran monitor in 2011.
Tehran has so far refused to let Shaheed visit the country to assess the rights situation there and has responded to only a handful of official requests for informations.
Iran’s ambassador to the UN in Geneva, Seyed Mohammad Reza Sajjadi, slammed the resolution, which he said was “counter-productive” and “politicised”.
He accused the council of selectivity and applying “double standards” in its choice of country-specific resolutions, blasting the “true nature and hidden agenda” of some countries’ approach to human rights issues.
AFP
