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Third Committee of the UN General Assembly condemns widespread human rights violations in Iran
On Friday night the Third Committee of the United Nations General Assembly issued a resolution condemning the gross violations of human rights in Iran. According to the (National Council of Resistance of Iran) NCRI’s statement the action came despite frantic attempts by the Iranian regime to bribe some governments into adding it to escape the international censure for its rights abuses. This is the fifty-fifth such resolution by various United Nations bodies. This year’s resolution was based on the UN Secretary General’s report on Iranian regime’s human rights violations. It expresses deep concern over the 'ongoing systematic violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms of the people of the Islamic Republic of Iran' such as 'torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment such as flogging and amputations, public executions, stoning as a method of execution, execution of persons who were below 18 years of age at the time their offence was committed, arrests of and violent crackdowns on women exercising their right to assembly, increasing discrimination and other human rights violations against persons belonging to religious, ethnic, linguistic or other minorities, ongoing and serious restrictions of freedom of opinion and expression, peaceful assembly and association, and the increasing harassment, intimidation and persecution of human rights defenders.' In addition, the resolution 'Requests an update from the Secretary-General on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, including its cooperation with international human rights mechanisms, at its sixty-fourth session.'Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the Iranian Resistance said: 'At the time when the world is witnessing the execution of juveniles and political prisoners under torture in Iran, despite the fact that the resolution covers only a fraction of the crimes committed by the mullahs’ regime, it clearly demonstrate the fact that the ruling religious fascism does not value any of the basic human rights principles and international covenants. Thus, it has no merit to be a part of international community and should be isolated.'She said, with the passing of the new resolution, it is high time to refer the Iranian regime’s dossier to the U.N. Security Council and the leaders of the mullahs’ regime to stand trial in an international tribunal for the gross violations of human rights including more than 120,000 political executions as well as its terrorist crimes abroad. The regime’s crimes in the past three decades amount to crimes against humanity.

Iranian regime opposes UN vote for death penalty ban
A majority of the world’s nations voted in a U.N. committee Thursday to signal support for abolishing executions, reported the Associated Press. The 105-48 vote in the U.N. General Assembly’s human rights committee was the second year in a row that nations have urged a global moratorium on the death penalty. Thursday’s vote marked slightly more support from the final 104-54 vote in the plenary of the General Assembly last December, with one more vote in support and fewer opposed. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has been encouraged by the trend in many areas of the world toward ultimately abolishing the death penalty, U.N. spokeswoman Michele Montas said. According to the Associated Press, Iran is among the states which opposed the UN resolution of death penalty ban.

Iran fails to halt U.N. assembly rights resolution
Reuters reported on Friday that Western nations claimed a success on Friday when a U.N. General Assembly resolution condemning human rights violations in Iran passed through a key committee more easily than in the past. Iran’s bid to halt action on the resolution in the assembly’s third committee -- meaning it would have been shelved -- was defeated by 81 votes to 71. A similar move on a similar resolution last year was stopped by just one vote.The committee then passed the resolution by 70 votes to 51, although 60 countries abstained. The resolution goes to the full assembly next month, but diplomats said the outcome was expected to be the same and the key vote was in the committee.The nonbinding resolution sponsored mainly by Western countries and put forward by Canada, expresses ’deep concern at serious human rights violations’ in Iran.It urges Iran to end alleged torture and cruel punishment of detainees, executions of juveniles, stoning to death, violent repression of women demonstrators, discrimination against ethnic minorities and members of the Baha’i faith, and restrictions on freedom of religion and belief. ’The importance of this resolution is to put the spotlight on Iran’s very poor human rights record,’ British Ambassador John Sawers told reporters.
Another execution in Iran for "drug trafficking"!!
Associated France Press reported Saturday that an Iranian man convicted of drug trafficking has been hanged in the southern port city of Bandar Abbas, a newspaper reported on Saturday. The man, identified only by his first name Majid, was hanged for smuggling more than 300 kilos (660 pounds) of morphine, Etemad newspaper said, without specifying when the execution took place. The latest hanging brings to at least 203 the number of executions in Iran this year, according to an AFP count.