Iran has strongly condemned a recent report by a UN fact-finding mission which had said that the regime’s crackdown on 2022 protests amounted to crimes against humanity.

“The unfounded allegations in this report are based on false and biased information and thus lack legal standing,” claimed Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Nasser Kanaani on Saturday.

He accused the United States, Israel and some Western countries of “preparing” the mission’s report, adding that they try “to continue the project of Iranophobia and Iran’s defamation.”

The UN’s human rights mechanisms have turned into a plaything to fulfill the nefarious and illegal goals of these countries, Kanaani claimed.

The Fact-Finding Mission (FFM) was established by the United Nations’ Human Rights Council in November 2022, two months after the Woman, Life, Freedom protests swept Iran in response to the death in morality-police custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini.

The mission published its first report on Friday after 18 months of investigations with help from experts, witnesses and victims. The FFM concluded that the Iranian regime is responsible for the “physical violence” that led to the death of Amini.

“Credible figures suggest that as many as 551 protesters were killed by the security forces, among them at least 49 women and 68 children. Most deaths were caused by firearms, including assault rifles,” the report said, adding, “The Mission found cases of women and girls subjected to rape and other forms of sexual and gender-based violence, including gang rape, rape with an object, electrocution of genitalia, forced nudity and groping.”