Larijani says human rights used as political tool

Iran’s Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani said Saturday that the issue of human rights is being used as political leverage by world powers.

In a meeting with the Congolese Parliament speaker, Larijani said outrageous actions by the United States Army personnel in Abu-Ghraib and Guantanamo prisons have never been condemned by human rights organizations.

The remarks came after the powers, in a recent meeting of the UN Human Rights Council, accused Iran of human rights abuse in the country.

Mohammad Javad Larijani, the secretary general of Iran’s High Council for Human Rights, told the council that the country is an open democracy where free speech and justice are guaranteed.

“Iran is becoming one of the prominent democratic states in the region,” he said.