Britain, France call for international probe of Iran postelection violence

Britain, France: Probe Iran election violence

GENEVA — Britain and France led a call Monday for an international probe into the violence that followed last year’s disputed presidential election in Iran.

The demand, which Iran swiftly rejected, came during the U.N. Human Rights Council’s first review of Iran’s rights record since the organization was founded in 2006.

Iran should invite U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to “investigate the postelection violence and independently assess the human rights situation,” Britain’s ambassador in Geneva, Peter Gooderham, said during a three-hour U.N. debate.

France, like Britain a member of the U.N. Security Council and a frequent critic of abuses in Iran, urged Tehran to accept an international panel to probe the “bloody repression” of peaceful protests and the arrests of political dissidents in the wake of the elections June 12.

Opposition groups claim the vote that returned President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to power was fraudulent.

A high-ranking U.S. official said a U.N.-led investigation could be one way of shedding light on claims that some of those arrested were tortured and killed in detention.

“I don’t think the form or the means matters as much as it does that there be some international scrutiny of what’s going on,” U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Michael H. Posner said.

Seyed Hossein Rezvani, a senior Iranian diplomat, told reporters that an international investigation was “totally out of the question” since the country’s own judicial system was capable of examining allegations of wrongdoing.

But he said Iran had issued an open invitation to all of the U.N.’s independent investigators to visit the country, something campaigners have demanded for years. None of the global body’s investigators has been able to visit Iran since Ahmadinejad took office in 2005.

One investigator, Manfred Nowak, the U.N’s expert on torture, told The Associated Press he had asked for years to visit Iran and would welcome any invitation by the government.

Posner said Tehran’s report to the 47-member council — which said any allegations of wrongdoing in Iran are being investigated — cast doubt on its willingness to honestly address claims of official abuse.

“The human rights crisis in Iran continues and it’s imperative that the U.N. find the appropriate ways to address it,” he said. The Iranian government’s account of the human rights situation was “clearly at odds with reality,” he added.

Speaking during a visit to the Gulf state of Qatar, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton earlier Monday accused Iran of becoming a military dictatorship.

Iran rejected criticism of its record, telling the Geneva-based council that the country’s Islamic constitution safeguards its people’s human rights.

Iran “has taken a genuine and long-term approach to safeguarding human rights,” said Mohammad Javad Larijani, the secretary general of Iran’s High Council for Human Rights.

Larijani, the brother of former nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani, accused Western countries of criticizing Iran’s rights record “to advance certain ulterior political motives.” He didn’t elaborate.

Posner dismissed suggestions that the U.S. treats Iran more harshly because of concerns about its efforts to develop nuclear weapons. However, he acknowledged that the recent political turmoil might raise concerns about the country’s stability.

Monday’s debate was eagerly anticipated by human rights groups, who have strongly criticized Iran’s record of executing minors, stifling free speech and restricting the rights of women and minorities.

Dozens of Iranian exiles held a rally outside the U.N.’s European headquarters to protest abuses in Iran.

Several of Iran’s allies, including Cuba, Venezuela, Sri Lanka and Nicaragua, defended Tehran’s record, citing the government’s achievements in promoting cultural, education and health care rights.

On the Net:

Webcast of council session: tinyurl.com/yll3uwp