ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - No Iranian officials have been invited to the Munich Security Conference (MSC) due to the Iranian regime’s human rights abuses, instead representatives of Iranian civil society have been invited, the chairman of the conference said on Friday.
“We were confronted with the question, if there is no immediate chance of an agreement regarding the threatening Iranian nuclear weaponry, if there is no dialogue, do we need to invite representatives of the Iranian regime,” Christoph Heusgen, chairman of the MSC told Rudaw’s Alla Shally.
“In the end we reached the conclusion that due to the vast human rights abuses and the unacceptable treatment of women in Iran, we decided to invite no representative of the Iranian government,” he said, adding that instead, representatives of Iranian civil society have been invited to attend the conference.
The MSC is scheduled to start on Friday, where around 150 officials from different countries will discuss the latest security developments globally and the threats to international peace.
President of the Kurdistan Region Nechirvan Barzani is scheduled to attend the MSC this year, where apart from the war between Russia and Ukraine, the security developments in the Middle East, including the fight against terrorism will also be discussed.
“We have always seen the problems in the Middle East as important, the conflicts in that region have been on the Munich Security Conference’s agenda, and this time the conflict in that region will be discussed as a topic,” Heusgen said.
The MSC chairman added that the developments in Iran will also be part of the conference’s agenda.
Iran has been subjected to heavy criticism from the international community and rights groups for human rights violations and abuses in prisons, raising concerns about poor conditions, abuse of prisoners, and the use of torture in the country’s penal system, as well as the violent crackdown on protestors.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and its paramilitary, Basij forces, have led a violent crackdown on nationwide protests sparked by the death of young Kurdish woman Zhina (Mahsa) Amini while in the custody of the morality police last September.
At least 529 protesters, including 71 children, have been killed and over 19,700 have been arrested since the protests began, according to the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) on Sunday.
The regime has also come under attack amid reports of supplying drones to Russia in the war against Ukraine.
The US, UK, and European Union have imposed fresh sanctions on Tehran over the use of Iranian drones in Ukraine. In November, Iran's foreign ministry admitted that drones had been sent to Russia, but claimed the transaction preceded the war in Ukraine, which broke out last February.
“We were confronted with the question, if there is no immediate chance of an agreement regarding the threatening Iranian nuclear weaponry, if there is no dialogue, do we need to invite representatives of the Iranian regime,” Christoph Heusgen, chairman of the MSC told Rudaw’s Alla Shally.
“In the end we reached the conclusion that due to the vast human rights abuses and the unacceptable treatment of women in Iran, we decided to invite no representative of the Iranian government,” he said, adding that instead, representatives of Iranian civil society have been invited to attend the conference.
The MSC is scheduled to start on Friday, where around 150 officials from different countries will discuss the latest security developments globally and the threats to international peace.
President of the Kurdistan Region Nechirvan Barzani is scheduled to attend the MSC this year, where apart from the war between Russia and Ukraine, the security developments in the Middle East, including the fight against terrorism will also be discussed.
“We have always seen the problems in the Middle East as important, the conflicts in that region have been on the Munich Security Conference’s agenda, and this time the conflict in that region will be discussed as a topic,” Heusgen said.
The MSC chairman added that the developments in Iran will also be part of the conference’s agenda.
Iran has been subjected to heavy criticism from the international community and rights groups for human rights violations and abuses in prisons, raising concerns about poor conditions, abuse of prisoners, and the use of torture in the country’s penal system, as well as the violent crackdown on protestors.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and its paramilitary, Basij forces, have led a violent crackdown on nationwide protests sparked by the death of young Kurdish woman Zhina (Mahsa) Amini while in the custody of the morality police last September.
At least 529 protesters, including 71 children, have been killed and over 19,700 have been arrested since the protests began, according to the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) on Sunday.
The regime has also come under attack amid reports of supplying drones to Russia in the war against Ukraine.
The US, UK, and European Union have imposed fresh sanctions on Tehran over the use of Iranian drones in Ukraine. In November, Iran's foreign ministry admitted that drones had been sent to Russia, but claimed the transaction preceded the war in Ukraine, which broke out last February.
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