Official: West Using Human Rights as Pretext to Target Islamic Identity of Iran
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – The allegations raised by the West against Iran's human rights condition are nothing but a pretext for targeting Islamic identity of the country, a senior Iranian judiciary official said today.
"The West has basically targeted the Islamic aspect of the Iranian (political) system and the human rights allegations are merely a pretext," Secretary of Human Rights Headquarters of the Iranian Judiciary Mohammad Javad Larijani said on Tuesday.
He described Iran as "the greatest democracy" in the region, and added that Iran is unique in the Middle East regarding judicary norms, civil and political freedom.
Larijani further noted that the West has targeted Iran for 35 years (since the victory of the Islamic Revolution) because the country has confronted the western states' expantionist ambitions.
On March 24th, 2011 a resolution establishing the mandate of a Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, adopted by the Human Rights Council.
On June 17th, 2011, President of the Human Rights Council appointed Ahmed Shaheed, former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Maldives, was named as the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran. Mr Shaheed officially assumed responsibility for the mandate on 1 August 2011.
Mr. Shaheed’s reports to the UN Human Rights Council ever since then have been prepared based on dissident Iranians’ reports and the accusations of such terrorist groups, and are thus devoid of the most basic needed element in such reports, the sheer truth, which has led to the Iranian officials’ refraining from permitting the Special Rapporteur to visit the Islamic Republic of Iran thus far.
