New York City, N.Y., Oct 23, 2011 / 16:33 pm
The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Iran has spoken out against the death sentence given to Pastor Yousef Nadarkhani and numerous other alleged human rights violations carried out by regime.
“In some cases, elements of Iran’s penal code and legal practices amount to contravention of those international laws it acceded to,” said Ahmed Shaheed, the U.N.’s independent expert on human rights in Iran.
In an Oct. 19 report to the General Assembly’s third committee, which deals with social, humanitarian and cultural affairs, Shaheed noted that Iran’s policies “lack substantive cooperation with the UN human rights system.”
He said that he was “particularly disturbed” by the recent death sentence given to Yousef Nadarkhani, a Christian pastor who has been ordered to renounce his beliefs or face execution by hanging.