Ahmad Shaheed’s term as the United Nations Special Rapporteur on human rights in Iran was renewed for another year on Friday March 27 by the Human Rights Council in Geneva, with 20 votes in favour, 11 against and 16 abstaining.
Ahmad Shaheed, a former Maldives foreign minister, has served as the special rapporteur for Iran since 2011, and during the four years of his mission he has not yet been able to secure permission to visit Iran.
He has, however, released a number of reports on human rights in Iran, collecting information from sources abroad, and Iranian authorities have consistently denounced his reports as biased and unprofessional.
In his latest report, Shaheed maintains that the state of human rights in Iran has deteriorated since President Rohani took power.