UN General Assembly Condemns Iran for Involvement in Syria

“According to its principled policy, the Islamic Republic of Iran is opposed to any instrumental and political use of human rights against the independent countries”, Hossein Jaberi Ansari told IRNA on Friday, after the UN Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) took action on a package of draft resolutions on the human rights situation in a number of countries, including Iran.

One hundred and fifteen countries voted in favor of the resolution Thursday.

The resolution condemned attacks committed by the Islamic State group, but it deplored the “continued, widespread and systematic gross violations of human rights” by the Syrian authorities and its militias.

Tehran has emerged as a staunch regional ally of the Assad government in Syria’s long-lasting conflict, saying that it would keep its “military advisers” in Syria to help the Syrian government in its struggle against militants.

Presenting the resolution, Saudi Ambassador Abdallah al-Mouallimi recalled images of three-year-old Aylan, a Syrian boy who drowned during his family’s flight from the war. “Do not kill him twice”, said the Saudi ambassador to the assembly.

He accused the Saudi regime of “decapitation and flogging in public squares, (and of) religious persecution similar to what the terrorists of Daesh are doing in my country and Iraq”.

Israel’s Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center said in a report that 53 Iranians, including elite troops and senior officers, had been killed in Syria as of November 15.

“The Iranian authorities shouldn’t think that they are getting a pass on human rights just because the nuclear accord has been signed”, said Sarah Lean Wilson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch.

The delegates of Qatar, Turkey and Saudi Arabia rejected the charges. The United Nations also called for Iran to do away with arbitrary detentions and to allow for freedom of expression, assembly, and other basic rights.

AJC called on Permanent Representatives to the United Nations to stand with the people of Iran and to support the resolution when it came before the Third Committee.

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