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UN Human Rights Council condemns Israeli human rights violations

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Geneva, Sept 30, IRNA -- The United Nations Human Rights Council on Wednesday condemned Israel for human rights violations for 'summary executions' of passengers on board the aid ships to Gaza.

UNHRC approved by a majority a Resolution endorsing the critical findings of a U.N. fact-finding mission of Israeli attack on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla in May.

The resolution, introduced by members of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, was adopted 30-1 vote, with the United States voting against it, and 15 countries, including all of the council's European members, abstaining.

The Council endorsed the conclusions contained in the report of the Mission, and called upon all concerned parties to ensure its immediate implementation. It also recommended that the General Assembly consider the report of the Mission.

Following the vote, Turkish Ambassador to U.N. Mustafa Oguz Demiralp said that the resolution represented 'consensus against those who seek immunity despite all the unlawful acts they have committed in defiance of the council.'

The Human Rights Council established a three-member committee of independent experts on June 2 to investigate violations of international law in an Israeli commando raid May 31 on the Mavi Marmara, an aid ship from Turkey, in international waters.

Nine Turkish activists, including Furgan Dogan, a 19-year-old Turkish-American, were killed in the raid.

In its 56-page report, the fact-finding mission said there was clear evidence to support prosecution against Israel.

The fact-finding mission is run by a panel of three specialists: Karl T. Hudson-Phillips, a former judge with the International Criminal Court; Sir Desmond de Silva, a former chief prosecutor of the U.N.-backed Sierra Leone war crimes court; and Shanthi Dairaim, a member of the U.N. Development Program's gender equality task force.

The panel's chairman, Hudson-Phillips, acknowledged in a statement that the terms of the report 'conform to absolute impartiality.'

'From the evidence of passengers and analysis supplied by a forensic pathologist and ballistic expert, six of the deceased were the victims of summary executions,' he said in the statement.

The panel report also cited forensic analysis indicating that Dogan was shot five times, including once in the face while he was lying on his back.

'All of the entry wounds were on the back of his body except for the face wound, which entered the right of his nose,' the report concluded.

'According to forensic analysis, tattooing around the wound in his face indicates that the shot was delivered at point-blank range.