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UN Expert Urges Probe of Iran 'Atrocity Crimes' in 1980s

(FILES) Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Iran Javaid Rehman listens to a statement during a special session of the UN Human Rights Council on the situation in Iran, at the United Nations in Geneva on November 24, 2022. (Photo by VALENTIN FLAURAUD / AFP)
(FILES) Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Iran Javaid Rehman listens to a statement during a special session of the UN Human Rights Council on the situation in Iran, at the United Nations in Geneva on November 24, 2022. (Photo by VALENTIN FLAURAUD / AFP)
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UN Expert Urges Probe of Iran 'Atrocity Crimes' in 1980s

(FILES) Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Iran Javaid Rehman listens to a statement during a special session of the UN Human Rights Council on the situation in Iran, at the United Nations in Geneva on November 24, 2022. (Photo by VALENTIN FLAURAUD / AFP)
(FILES) Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Iran Javaid Rehman listens to a statement during a special session of the UN Human Rights Council on the situation in Iran, at the United Nations in Geneva on November 24, 2022. (Photo by VALENTIN FLAURAUD / AFP)

A UN expert called Monday for an international investigation into "atrocity crimes", including genocide, committed in Iran against religious minorities and amid a purge of dissidents in the 1980s.

Javaid Rehman, the UN's independent special rapporteur on the rights situation in Iran, said there should be "no impunity for such gross human rights violations, regardless of when they were committed,” Agence France Presse reported.

"The Iranian regime and its leaders should not be allowed to escape the consequences of their crimes against humanity and genocide," he added.

The expert, whose mandate ends on July 31, said in a statement that the "atrocity crimes" of summary, arbitrary and extra-judicial executions in 1981-1982 and in 1988 "amounted to crimes against humanity of murder and extermination, as well as genocide."

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Taiwan Starts Annual War Games, Aiming to Closely Mimic Actual Combat

Soldiers take part in the first day of the annual Han Kuang military drills in Taoyuan, Taiwan July 22, 2024. REUTERS/Ann Wang
Soldiers take part in the first day of the annual Han Kuang military drills in Taoyuan, Taiwan July 22, 2024. REUTERS/Ann Wang
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Taiwan Starts Annual War Games, Aiming to Closely Mimic Actual Combat

Soldiers take part in the first day of the annual Han Kuang military drills in Taoyuan, Taiwan July 22, 2024. REUTERS/Ann Wang
Soldiers take part in the first day of the annual Han Kuang military drills in Taoyuan, Taiwan July 22, 2024. REUTERS/Ann Wang

Taiwan started its annual Han Kuang war games on Monday, which this year aim to be as close as possible to actual combat with no script and simulating how to repel a Chinese attack.
China, which views democratically governed Taiwan as its territory, has been staging regular exercises around the island for four years to pressure Taipei to accept Beijing's claim of sovereignty, despite Taiwan's strong objections, said Reuters.
Taiwan's drills this year have canceled elements that were mostly for show, like scripted firepower displays, while there will be intensified nighttime exercises and practicing how to operate with severed command lines.
Kicking off the exercises in the northern city of Taoyuan, outside of Taipei and home to Taiwan's main international airport, reservists gathered to get their orders as they would during a war, and civilian vans were pressed into service to carry supplies.
Later in the day the military will practice defending a major Taipei port.
On Thursday, Taoyuan airport will close for an hour in the morning for the drills, though a typhoon is expected to be impacting the island that day meaning that the exercise could be delayed.
Live fire drills will only take place on Taiwan's outlying islands, including Kinmen and Matsu which sit nestled next to the Chinese coast and were the scene of on-off clashes during the height of the Cold War.
The five-day war games will be happening in conjunction with the Wan'an civil defense drills, where the streets of major cities are evacuated for half an hour during a simulated Chinese missile attack, and test warning alarms will sound on mobile phones.