Iran rejects UK Foreign Office human rights report
Iran’s Foreign Ministry has denounced a recent report by the UK Foreign Ministry on human rights situation in Iran as biased.
Criticizing the report on Friday, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham said Iran has a good cooperation on improving human rights across the world, and stresses on respect for other nations’ cultures and values.
On Thursday, UK Foreign Secretary William Hague launched the report dubbed, “Human Rights and Democracy: The 2013 Foreign & Commonwealth Report”, raising human rights concerns in 28 key countries.
Rejecting the report as repetitive and biased, the Iranian spokeswoman stated that certain countries are using human rights as a political tool for their own interest.
Afkham also referred to the murder of a disabled Iranian man in Bristol last year, who was burnt to death on false accusations.
“The routine violation of the rights of minorities, Muslims and immigrants are clear evidence that the British government cannot claim to be a human rights defender,” she said.
The report highlights the so-called UK’s human rights concerns in 28 key countries including Saudi Arabia, Libya, Iraq, Iran, Syria, Yemen, Sudan and South Sudan.
In its report, Britain has criticized Iran for what it describes as Tehran’s failure to improve democracy and rights situation in the past months.
Meanwhile, the UK-based advocacy organization CAGE has criticized the report for the absence of human rights violations committed by Britain.
"It was only last week that former Prime Minister Tony Blair admitted he had full knowledge of the CIA's secret interrogation and rendition program where individuals were flown around the world to be abused and tortured often with the help of British agents,” said Amandla Thomas-Johnson, a CAGE spokesperson.
Source: presstv.com
