US must stop torturing Iranian inmates

An Iranian rights official has called on the US government to stop torturing and mistreating Iranian inmates in the country and allow them to exercise their legal rights.

Reports suggest Iranian prisoners in the United States are held under extremely unfortunate conditions, and Tehran is seriously following up their cases, said Head of Iran’s Human Rights Headquarters in an exclusive interview with IRNA.

“The US government must allow these individuals to have access to lawyers,” Javad Larijani said.

“We have [received] reports that they have been under severe tortures, gone through long periods of interrogation, and their fate is still unclear,” he added.

Larijani — whose brothers Ali and Sadeq head the Iranian Parliament and Judiciary respectively — said Iran’s Human Rights Headquarters will utilize all its resources to secure the release of Iranian nationals from this predicament.

Turning to the authority of the United Nations, Larijani said nothing is more damaging to the UN’s credibility than Western plots and international experts urge the world body to play a “completely neutral role” in defending their nations.

“Of course we have a strong memory that over the past 30 years the UN has always acted in favor of the West,” he added.

“This means that the West has always used this organization (UN) to serve its own interests, and, hence, we are seriously determined to prevent this,” said the top human rights official.

Larijani underlined that the West, including the US, is the main sponsor of terrorism in the world, adding that “while they claim to be advocates of counter terrorism and engaged in wars in our region under the guise of fighting terrorism, their capitals are frequented by very dangerous terrorists.”

“Terrorists are killing people with the support of the US and the West and of course the soldiers of these countries are also involved in killings,” he said

Larijani pointed to the wave of “sedition” that followed the June, 12, 2009 presidential election in Iran and said, “We have conclusive evidence that this seditious [movement] was formed and imposed on the Iranian nation in coordination and collaboration with the West.”

Larijani went on to say that Iran stresses importance on issues of human rights.

“The human rights issue is a serious and very important matter for Iran,” he said.

“Iran is determined to press ahead with the human rights issue and use it to set the stage for developing cultures, especially the Islamic culture, which is the basis of our civil-political establishment today,” the senior human rights official said.

Larijani added that the universality of human rights does not mean the West can impose its secular and liberal way of thought on the world and that everyone must accept what they offer.

“Universality means all countries should be able to promote their cultures in the international arena and without confrontation,” he said.

“This requires Western countries to respect the experience of other nations,” Larijani underlined.

He concluded that Iran would stand up to the West’s “domineering disposition.”