Some of the most incendiary accusations made against Iran’s government by corporate media, celebrity influencers and Western leaders in the past months are little more than fabrications. And most remain uncorrected.
by Setareh Sadeqi and Christopher Weaver
Part 6 - UN Iran expert’s imaginary ban on Kurdish names
During a November 2022 press conference at the United Nations, the UN’s Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, Javaid Rehman, falsely claimed that Iran bans Kurdish names from being registered.
In reality, the Iranian government’s online official registry of names shows at least 5686 people have registered their names as Zhina, which was Mahsa Amini’s Kurdish name. Rehman stated:
“On the subject of Kurdistan and the issue from Kurdistan, as you know, Kurdish people historically and in contemporary terms have been denied their fundamental human rights. And I will just give you one example: Zhina is a Kurdish name but she was not allowed to use that name on the national register because the state does not allow Kurdish identity or Kurdish expression in any shape or form,”
In reality, the Iranian government’s online official registry of names shows at least 5686 people have registered their names as Zhina, which was Mahsa Amini’s Kurdish name. Rehman stated:
“On the subject of Kurdistan and the issue from Kurdistan, as you know, Kurdish people historically and in contemporary terms have been denied their fundamental human rights. And I will just give you one example: Zhina is a Kurdish name but she was not allowed to use that name on the national register because the state does not allow Kurdish identity or Kurdish expression in any shape or form,”
Below is a screenshot of the directory for the official registrar of names in Iran showing that at least 5686 people have been named Zhina, and that it is still a valid name.

Why the UN still considers a name like ‘Javaid Rehman’ to be synonymous with expertise on the internal affairs of Iran is a mystery, however.
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