Podcast 51: Executions, Due Process Violations, and Torture with UN Special Rapporteur Ahmed Shaheed

This week, United Nations Special Rapporteur Ahmed Shaheed is expected to publish his latest report on human rights in Iran. Today’s podcast features an interview with Dr. Shaheed conducted in May 2012, in which he discusses his concerns about executions, torture, lack of due process, and treatment of juvenile offenders. He also discusses the methodology for his reports, in light of Iranian authorities’ continued refusal to allow him to enter the country to monitor the deteriorating human rights situation.

In March of 2011, increased international concern about Iran’s human rights crisis led to the creation of a United Nations Special Mandate on the situation of human rights in Iran. Dr. Ahmed Shaheed was appointed to monitor and report on the ongoing abuses. Although Iranian authorities have not yet allowed him into the country to do his research, he has been documenting individual cases from afar, creating a comprehensive portrayal of the human rights crisis in Iran.