Iran Death Judge Lands U.N. Seat On Human Rights
By ELI LAKE
The New York Sun
June 22, 2006
WASHINGTON - Iran's delegation to the U.N. Human Rights Council faces being isolated by the envoys of free nations this week after it emerged that its leader is one of Iran's most notorious censors and prosecutors of dissidents who the Canadians hold responsible for acquitting those who raped and murdered one of their female citizens.
The infamous Saeed Mortazavi this week led Iran's delegation in Geneva to the first session of the United Nation's newly reconfigured human rights panel on Monday, even though Iran is not a member of that panel. Mr. Mortazavi is accused by the Canadian government of playing a role in the rape and murder of a woman journalist and photographer, is credited with closing more than 100 newspapers, and was responsible not only for jailing the students who led the July 9, 1999, pro-democracy demonstrations in Tehran but of clearing the security officials accused of torturing them.
To top it off, he is the lead prosecutor in the regime's legal efforts against the Iranian dissident leader, Akbar Ganji.
Already human rights groups, Iranian oppositionists, and the Canadian government have expressed outrage at Mr. Mortazavi's presence in Geneva. A group of activists still languishing in jail following his prosecution of them in 1999 will be writing a letter to the United Nations secretary-general, Kofi Annan, according to Amir Abbas Fakhravar, who arrived in Washington last month from Tehran, where he spent time in various prisons.
At the same time, State Department spokesmen in Washington, the United Nations, and Geneva failed to respond to repeated requests for comment on Mr. Mortazavi's attendance in Geneva, perhaps reflecting the Bush administration's new emphasis on enticing Iran into negotiations over its enrichment of uranium.
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Senator Tom Coburn
Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, Government Information, and International Security
340 Dirksen Senate Office Building Washington, DC 20510
Phone: 202-224-2254 Fax: 202-228-3796
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