UN Chief Meets Iran’s President, Raises Human Rights Issues

Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi arrives at a press conference in New York on September 22, 2022. (AFP)
Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi arrives at a press conference in New York on September 22, 2022. (AFP)
TT

UN Chief Meets Iran’s President, Raises Human Rights Issues

Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi arrives at a press conference in New York on September 22, 2022. (AFP)
Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi arrives at a press conference in New York on September 22, 2022. (AFP)

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres met with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in New York on Thursday and raised human rights issues, a UN spokesman said on Friday.

The UN is concerned "about reports of peaceful protests being met with excessive use of force leading to dozens of deaths and injuries," spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters.

"We call on the security forces to refrain from using unnecessary or disproportionate force and appeal to all to exercise restraint to avoid further escalation," he said.



Meloni Discusses With Trump Case of Italian Journalist Detained in Iran

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni met with President-elect Donald Trump (center), accompanied by Sen. Marco Rubio (right) and Rep. Michael Waltz (left) at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, on Saturday (EPA)
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni met with President-elect Donald Trump (center), accompanied by Sen. Marco Rubio (right) and Rep. Michael Waltz (left) at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, on Saturday (EPA)
TT

Meloni Discusses With Trump Case of Italian Journalist Detained in Iran

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni met with President-elect Donald Trump (center), accompanied by Sen. Marco Rubio (right) and Rep. Michael Waltz (left) at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, on Saturday (EPA)
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni met with President-elect Donald Trump (center), accompanied by Sen. Marco Rubio (right) and Rep. Michael Waltz (left) at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, on Saturday (EPA)

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni surprised on Sunday her allies, both local and regional, after her plane landed at Miami International Airport from where she headed to the Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida, to meet President-elect Donald Trump before his inauguration on Jan. 20.
Trump greeted her warmly. The two leaders met for an hour in the presence of Trump’s close aide Elon Musk, who has a close relationship with the Italian visitor.
Sources in the delegation that accompanied Meloni said the PM raised the case of detained Italian journalist Cecilia Sala, who was arrested in Iran last month on charges of espionage.
Meloni is trying to exchange the release of Sala for detained Mohammad Abedini, an Iranian businessman, who was arrested at Milan's Malpensa airport on a US warrant for allegedly supplying drone parts that Washington says were used in an attack last January that killed three US service members in Jordan.