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    October 19, 2011

US Accuses Iran of 'Unabated' Brutal Repression

   VOA News

   The U.S. State Department says Iran has continued "unabated" a brutal
   repression of its citizens, despite international condemnation and the
   country's increased isolation.
   State Department spokesman Mark Toner made the comment Tuesday in a
   statement in which he welcomed a report from a U.N. special
   investigator.
   Special rapporteur Ahmed Shaheed cited alleged human rights abuses,
   including prolonged detentions of political dissidents and unlawful
   executions, in an interim report that is being presented to the U.N.
   General Assembly this week.
   The U.N. Human Rights Council voted in March to create the special
   investigator position for Iran, amid reports of the arrest and
   imprisonment of hundreds of political opposition leaders.
   However, Tehran rejected the probe and has refused to allow Shaheed to
   enter the country.
   The report and U.S. reaction to it have come at a time of heightened
   tensions between Washington and Tehran, following an alleged Iranian
   plot to kill the Saudi ambassador to the United States, Adel al-Jubeir.
   The U.S. Justice Department announced last week that it had broken up
   the suspected plot. However, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
   accused the U.S. of fabricating the incident in an attempt to cause a
   rift between his country and Saudi Arabia.

   Some information for this report was provided by AFP and Reuters.

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