UN fact-finding mission on Iran focuses on plight of civilians

The Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Iran confirmed that civilians in the country suffered serious human rights violations and “crimes against humanity committed by their government,” while finding "reasonable grounds" to believe that the United States committed “war crimes” in the context of its ongoing conflict with the Islamic Republic.In a report released Monday, the mission concluded that killings by security forces “occurred on a massive scale in all provinces” of Iran, during the Government's “violent crackdown” on mass protests that stretched from last year into this year. The mission also reported that at least 221 children – some as young as two years old – were killed and that security forces attacked health care facilities, “beating and arresting wounded protesters and arresting some health care workers, discouraging victims from seeking life-saving care.”The mission added that tens of thousands of people were subjected to arbitrary detention, where they faced "torture, solitary confinement and denial of legal advice, while families were left without any information about the whereabouts of their loved ones, amid circumstances that raise concerns about ...