Iran snubs UN investigation, blames foreign foes for unrest

The foreign ministry of Iran announced on Monday that the country will reject a newly constituted independent U.N. probe into the country’s suppression of anti-government protests, as demonstrations showed no signs of slowing down.

“Iran will have no cooperation with the political committee formed by the U.N. Rights Council,” ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani said.

The U.N. Rights Council decided to launch an investigation into Iran’s deadly crackdown on protests on Thursday.

Volker Turk, the U.N. rights commissioner, had earlier called on Iran to stop using “disproportionate” amounts of force to put down demonstrations that broke out after Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman, died in custody on September 16.

As of Nov. 26, the activist news organisation HRANA reported that 450 demonstrators, including 63 kids, had died in more than two months of countrywide turmoil. It stated that 18,173 protestors had been jailed and 60 members of the security forces had been slain.

Protesters from all walks of life have burned images of Khamenei and demanded the overthrow of Iran’s Shi’ite Muslim theocracy in an effort to cast doubt on the legitimacy of the Islamic Republic.

Amini was detained by morality police for wearing clothing that was deemed inappropriate by Iran’s Islamic dress code. The protests have primarily centred on women’s rights, but they have also called for the overthrow of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Iran has blamed the turmoil to its foreign adversaries and their agents.

According to Kanaani, Iran has proof that Western countries were participating in the nationwide protests.

“We have specific information proving that the U.S., Western countries and some of the American allies have had a role in the protests,” he said, without giving details.

Iran has not released a death toll for protesters, but Ali Bagheri Kani, a deputy foreign minister, claimed that 50 police officers had died and hundreds had been injured in the unrest, the first official count of security personnel casualties.

He did not specify if deaths among other security personnel, such as the Revolutionary Guards, were also included in that number.