Iran Rejects UN Investigation into Repression of Protests

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani (AFP)
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani (AFP)
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Iran Rejects UN Investigation into Repression of Protests

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani (AFP)
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani (AFP)

Iran rejected cooperation with the newly-appointed independent UN committee to investigate the country's repression and crackdown on anti-government protests.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani said that Iran would not cooperate with the political committee set up by the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC)

He stressed that the hasty use of human rights mechanisms and adopting "political and instrumental" approaches toward such issues were "rejected" and failed to contribute to the human rights concept.

Kanaani indicated that Tehran "strongly protested against the interventionist and baseless statements of the German authorities."

The 47 member states of the UNHRC decided during an urgent meeting held at the initiative of Germany and Iceland to appoint a team of investigators to shed light on human rights violations during the protests crackdown in Iran.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk demanded Iran end its "excessive" use of force to quell the protests that erupted after the death of a young Iranian-Kurdish woman, Mahsa Amini, while in the custody of the morality police.

In response to the UN move, Iran summoned the German ambassador to protest "interventionist" remarks by German officials and Berlin's key role in holding a UNHRC special session on Iran.

The official IRNA news agency reported that the German ambassador was summoned to the Foreign Ministry after Berlin's initiative to hold the special meeting.

Kanaani said that Iran has evidence of the involvement of Western countries in the protests sweeping the nation.

He added: "We have specific information proving that the US, Western countries, and some US allies have had a role in the protests."

Iran did not announce an official death toll of the protesters.

However, Deputy Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani said that about 50 policemen were killed in the protests since September, in the first official death toll, without disclosing whether this number includes fatalities among the Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) or not.

Mahabad MP Jalal Mahmoudzadeh said earlier that 105 people were killed during the crackdown launched by the authorities to quell the protests.



Zelenskiy Says Ukraine Has Evidence of China Supplying Russia with Artillery

 Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy speaks at a press conference with Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever (not pictured) in Kyiv, Ukraine April 8, 2025. (Reuters)
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy speaks at a press conference with Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever (not pictured) in Kyiv, Ukraine April 8, 2025. (Reuters)
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Zelenskiy Says Ukraine Has Evidence of China Supplying Russia with Artillery

 Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy speaks at a press conference with Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever (not pictured) in Kyiv, Ukraine April 8, 2025. (Reuters)
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy speaks at a press conference with Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever (not pictured) in Kyiv, Ukraine April 8, 2025. (Reuters)

Ukraine has intelligence which shows China is supplying artillery and gunpowder to Russia, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Thursday.

"We believe that Chinese representatives are engaged in the production of some weapons on the territory of Russia," he told a press conference in Kyiv. Zelenskiy did not specify whether he meant artillery systems or shells.

The allegation is likely to upend relations between Kyiv and Beijing, already strained by Ukraine's making public its capture of Chinese nationals fighting for Russia. China has so far tried to maintain an outward perception of neutrality in the three-year war prompted by Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Ukraine has previously called on China to use its influence over Russia to push it towards peace.

"We already have facts about this work by China and Russia to strengthen their defense capabilities," Zelenskiy said, voicing his dismay as he said Chinese President Xi Jinping had promised him Beijing would not sell or supply weapons to Moscow.