UN rights body to hold urgent session on Iran amid crackdown

GENEVA (AP) — The U.N.’s top human rights body will hold a special session on Iran in the wake of the government’s violent and deadly crackdowns on protesters, threats against journalists and other alleged human rights violations in the Islamic republic. The Human Rights Council will meet on Iran in the week of Nov. 21 following a diplomatic push led by Germany and Iceland. Demonstrations that have swept Iran this fall have become one of the boldest challenges to Iran’s ruling clerics since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Security forces have sought to quash dissent.