Iran slams EU human rights statement

Iran’s Foreign Ministry has strongly criticized a recent statement by the European Union on the human rights situation in the Islamic Republic.

Director of Iran’s Foreign Ministry for international affairs, Mostafa Dolatyar, on Monday voiced the country’s strong objections to recent remarks by EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton.

In a meeting with Spanish ambassador to Tehran, Leopoldo Stampa, whose country holds the EU rotating presidency, the Iranian official said Ashton’s statement was “politically-motivated, biased, unreal and unconstructive.”

The EU foreign policy chief on Saturday expressed concern over the human rights situation in Iran after last year’s presidential election in the country.

“Since the presidential elections of June 2009, the human rights situation in Iran has gravely deteriorated,” Ashton had said in a statement released in Brussels.

The Iranian official also criticized EU states for voting against a resolution issued by the United Nations Human Rights Council in condemnation of Israel’s deadly attack on a Gaza-bound aid convoy.

According to Dolatyar, such moves indicate EU’s double standard policies which encourage Israel to continue its criminal acts.