UN rights expert starts probing Iran rights abuses

A UN expert tasked with investigating alleged human rights abuses in Iran will talk to Iranian activists in France, Germany and Belgium this week after a request to visit the country itself was refused. United Nations Special Rapporteur Ahmed Shaheed will meet Iranians living in the three countries during a fact-finding mission from November 30 to December 8. "A visit to the Islamic Republic of Iran would have allowed me to gain better understanding of the situation," Shaheed said in a statement. "However I will now study a wide range of human rights issues by meeting activists within the Iranian diaspora, alleged victims of human rights violations, intergovernmental and civil society organisations," he said. The former Maldives foreign minister, appointed Special Rapporteur in June, will report back to the Human Rights Council in March next year.