“There is no excuse for the murder of a girl in a classroom,” UN experts say as calls for justice grow after the Minab Elementary School assault.
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Calls are growing for an independent investigation into this week’s attack on a girls’ school in southern Iran that killed 165 young students, with UN experts condemning the deadly bombing as a “serious attack on children”.
The United Nations Group of Experts said in a statement Friday that girls between the ages of 7 and 12 were the main victims of Saturday’s attack on a primary school in Minab, the first day of the U.S.-Israel war against Iran.
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“Attacks on functioning schools during school hours raise the gravest concerns under international law and need to be investigated urgently, independently and effectively, with accountability for the violations,” they said.
“A strike on schools represents a serious attack on the future of children, education and entire communities,” the experts said. “There is no excuse for killing a female student in the classroom.”
Human rights activists point to the Minab school attack as evidence of potential war crimes committed by Israel and the United States in a war started in violation of the United Nations Charter and in violation of international law.
They also say this is an example of the heavy price Iranian civilians are paying amid the conflict, with at least 1,332 people killed so far, according to the latest figures cited by Iranian state media.
Iran’s UN special envoy, Amir Saeed Irabani, told reporters on Monday that the school was “deliberately destroyed” in attacks by the United States and Israel against the country. “As a result, 165 innocent schoolgirls were martyred. I repeat, 165 schoolgirls were martyred,” he said.
Investigations released in recent days suggest that US President Donald Trump’s administration was behind the attack.
Reuters reported on Thursday, citing two unnamed U.S. officials, that U.S. military investigators believe the attack was likely carried out by the U.S. military.
The New York Times also said, using satellite imagery, verified video and official statements, that the US military “most likely carried out the attack” while attacking an adjacent naval base run by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC).
White House press secretary Caroline Levitt told reporters Wednesday that Washington is investigating the incident.
“The Department of the Army and the U.S. military do not target civilians,” she said.
“Whatever the outcome of the investigation, we hope that it will be carried out swiftly and with full transparency,” U.N. human rights chief Volker Turk told reporters on Friday.
“There was clearly a mistake and I hope that we will also take responsibility,” Turk said in Geneva, Switzerland, stressing that “accountability is absolutely important” as well as redress and compensation.
“For girls to be killed in this way is a lesson to be learned, a terrible and tragic lesson,” he said.
“We hope that all standard operating procedures will be reviewed in relation to these matters, especially the conduct of hostilities, as well as guarantees that they will not happen again.”
Meanwhile, US-based advocacy group DAWN called on Iran to grant the International Criminal Court (ICC) jurisdiction over crimes committed on its territory since the start of the war.
“Evidence is growing day by day that serious war crimes have been committed in Iran since the start of the war, from the murder of more than 150 students and teachers to the strike on a hospital full of newborn babies,” said Omar Shakir, the group’s executive director.
“Victims deserve justice. The mechanisms exist and the United States has no veto power over victims.”
