TEHRAN, March 9, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - Tehran on Saturday strongly condemned a UN 
report on the Islamic republic's response to mass protests in 2022, 
denouncing Western countries' "Iranophobia".

The report was built on "baseless claims" and "false and biased information, 
without a legal basis", foreign affairs ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani said 
in a statement.

International experts said the repression of mostly peaceful protests 
beginning in September 2022 and "institutionalised discrimination" towards 
women and girls have led to "crimes against humanity".

The UN Human Rights Council mandated the experts' investigation -- in which 
Iranian authorities refused to take part -- following massive protests which 
shook the Islamic republic after the death in police custody of Mahsa Amini.

A 22-year-old Iranian Kurdish woman, Amini had been arrested by the morality 
police in Tehran for an alleged breach of the country's strict dress code for 
women.

"Not only did the expert committee not establish the truth, but it also 
deliberately distorted the facts," Kanani said.

The report, he said, "was prepared by the Zionist regime (Israel), the United 
States, and some Western countries", who were "continuing a project of 
Iranophobia and defamation of Iran".

These countries were "angry at the failure of their interventions during the 
riots", Kanani said, referring to the protests.

Iranian authorities say the "riots" were fomented by the "enemies" of the 
Islamic republic, especially the United States.

The spokesman said a special committee charged by Iranian President Ebrahim 
Raisi with investigating the protests had "recently sent its final report to 
the president", without giving details on its findings.

The UN experts said "no less than 551" protesters were killed by security 
forces, who "used unnecessary and disproportionate force".