The appointment of Iranian Ambassador Ali Bahreini as the new president of the UN Social Forum for Human Rights is a blow to the credibility of the Glass Palace. The nomination of the Tehran felucca was a few months ago. It was on May 10 last year when the head of the UNHCR, Vaclav Balek, announced that he had nominated Bahrainis from a shortlist made up of candidates selected by regional groups. The embarrassing circumstance had therefore been known for a long time, but international diplomacy was unable to prevent an unprecedented crash. To tell the truth, someone tried to oppose Balek’s decision: the denunciation campaign launched by the non-governmental organization UN Watch, accompanied by a petition signed by over 90,000 people, fought until the last available day. The spokesman of the battle was the director of the NGO, Hillel Neur, who had said more than once: “Bahraini’s appointment can be canceled by a special session of the Council.” Provided it happened by the opening day of the UNHCR Social Forum, i.e. yesterday.
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As if that were not enough, activists have often criticized the line of Josep Borrell (EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs), stating that “the Asian group, which includes Iran, has held this position four times in the last six years and rotations denied.” to several other regional groups. Perhaps someone at the United Nations and beyond could have taken the trouble to check the statistics on death sentences sought by Tehran before handing Bahrain the presidency.
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In October 2023 alone, at least 78 prisoners were killed in Iranian prisons, a 65% increase compared to September, when 27 executions were recorded. According to the human rights organization Hengaw, most of the dead prisoners were accused of drug offenses (35), while another 33 people were charged with murder, four with rape and six with unknown circumstances. Without forgetting the suppression of protests following the murder of young Mahsa Amini and Armita Garawand. And since October 7 last year, the Ayatollah regime has again come under the microscope of much of the international community for its complicity with Hamas in the attack on Israel. “I hope that the European Union will abandon the initiative as a sign of protest,” said Lega Nord MEP Anna Cinzia Bonfrisco, referring to the ongoing UN forum in Geneva. Even more powerful was the comment by Nicola Procaccini (FdI), who described Tehran’s presidency as “inhumane”.
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