Report on Iran’s human rights harms UN reputation

A senior Iranian official says the ‘unprofessional’ content of a recent report by the UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in the Islamic Republic harms the reputation of the United Nations.

Mohammad-Javad Larijani, the secretary general of Iran’s High Council for Human Rights, said on Tuesday that the report by Ahmed Shaheed echoed the ‘words of the United States and some European countries.’

The Iranian official made the remarks during a meeting with UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay in Geneva.

Larijani said that Shaheed was supported by the United States and European states and that his report contained unprofessional, unfair and completely biased material.

Larijani also praised the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights for her “firm stance” against human rights violations by the United States at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility, the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq and the Bagram Detention Center in Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, Pillay thanked Iran for its technical cooperation with the UN and expressed interest to visit the Islamic Republic.

Larijani had earlier censured Shaheed’s report in an interview with Press TV on Tuesday and said it was “baseless.” He also stated that the report ignored Iran’s cultural heritage.

On June 17, 2011, the UN Human Rights Council, under pressure from the United States and its allies, named former Maldivian Foreign Minister Shaheed as its human rights investigator on Iran.

Tehran says the appointment of a UN Special Rapporteur on Iran’s human rights situation is a selective, politically motivated and unacceptable move.