[JURIST] The UN Human Rights Committee [official website] Friday passed a resolution criticizing Iran for human rights violations, especially in the aftermath of the controversial reelection [JURIST news archive] earlier this year of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad [JURIST news archive]. The committee flagged detentions, arrests and the disappearance of individuals for exercising their freedoms of assembly and expression as areas of particular concern [JURIST report]. The committee resolution, which passed 74-48, will go before the UN General Assembly for approval in December. The Iranian government immediately downplayed the significance of the committee action, insisting that the majority of the General Assembly does not support it.

Last week, an Iranian court sentenced [JURIST report] five people to death for protesting the election result. Iran began trying some of the arrested protesters [JURIST report] in August. In July, Iranian officials announced [JURIST report] a plan to either press charges against or release most of those held after the riots. Also in July, the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran (ICHRI) [advocacy website] reported that the number of deaths that occurred during the election protests exceeded governments reports [JURIST report].