Public executions in Iran are often witnessed by children and are meted out for offenses such as homosexuality and drug possession. (Courtesy: Iran Human Rights)
Iran lashed out at critics of its abysmal human rights record at a U.N. hearing Friday, blaming the West for Saturdays execution of a woman who killed her attempted rapist, and receiving support from a host of countries with dubious records of their own.
The Islamic Republics rebuttal of a damning report from the U.N. special rapporteur on human rights in Iran came during a three hour review in Geneva of the U.N. Human Rights Council of Tehran's record. The debate was part of the U.N. council's examination of every member state's record every four years.
This idea of, the West and the rest, only the West has good things, this is wrong, Mohammad Javad Larijani, chief of human rights in Irans government, told the world body panel. Please accept the idea that others have a good way of life. Western lifestyle isnt only way of doing things.
Larijani, secretary general of Iran's High Council for Human Rights, a part of its judiciary, lashed out at what he called attempts to "impose your lifestyle under the banner of human rights," including gay rights.
But the panel also heard from Ahmed Shaheed, the world body's special rapporteur on human rights in Iran, who filed a report charging 852 people were executed in the Islamic Republic over the last year, mostly for drug offenses, homosexuality and alleged crimes against sharia law. Western diplomats were appalled at Irans persecution of Christians and disregard for due process.
- Sepideh Pooraghaiee, Iranian dissident
"There are continued reports of government harassment towards members of religious minorities. Journalists have been arrested, detained or prevented from doing their work," U.S. ambassador Keith Harper said in a speech.
Harper urged Iran to release Jason Rezaian, a Washington Post reporter detained since July, "to demonstrate its commitment to freedom of expression."
Rezaian, a dual Iranian-American national, has worked in Tehran since 2008. This month Iran released his wife, an Iranian journalist, on bail after more than two months held without charge
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Iran defends human rights record at UN panel