Interior Minister Pour-Mohammadi and Iranian Human Rights Abuses

Media Note
Office of the Spokesman
Washington, DC
October 11, 2006

The United States condemns the Iranian Government's ongoing abuse of the rights of its people. The regime's decision to send Interior Minister Mostafa Pour-Mohammadi, a notorious human rights violator, as its representative to the Tripartite Commission of Iran, Afghanistan, and United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Geneva on October 9-10, 2006 underscores the Ahmadi-Nejad Government's open embrace of repressive policies and those responsible for carrying them out. We call on the Iranian judicial system to hold Pour-Mohammadi to account for his actions.

Since he was appointed Minister of Interior by President Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad in August 2005, Pour-Mohammadi has helped orchestrate a campaign to further restrict the limited rights of the Iranian people. Pour-Mohammadi's history of human rights abuses in Iran includes his reported leading role in the 1988 mass execution of several thousand political prisoners at Tehran's infamous Evin prison, and his involvement, as Deputy Intelligence Minister, in the 1998 murders of writers and dissidents throughout Iran.

The U.S. is strongly committed to the protection of refugees globally and commends the UNHCR and others involved in the Tripartite Commission for its humanitarian work on behalf of vulnerable refugees. Choosing Pour-Mohammadi to represent Iran in international deliberations on humanitarian issues demonstrates the regime's continued disrespect for the international community and for the basic rights of its citizens.

2006/920 Released on October 11, 2006