Iran calls for sending Human Rights rapporteurs to US, Britain, Canada

Rasa - Iran asked the international human rights bodies to dispatch special rapporteurs to the US, Britain and Canada to investigate the dire situation of human rights in those countries.

News ID: 1926

Date: 30 December 2014 - 09:04

RNA - "Unfortunately, human rights has turned into a political tool in the hands of a number of countries which claim to support human rights," Deputy Head of Iran's Human Rights Headquarters for International Affairs Kazzem Qaribabadi told FNA on Monday.

Voicing regret about the extensive violation of human rights in the western states against minorities, Muslims and immigrants, he said the world is now witnessing the violation of human rights in Canada against the natives, in the US against the blacks and in Britain which has strenuously lobbied to omit its name from the recent US Senate report on the CIA's interrogation and detention programs.

"Why the US, Canada and Britain don’t allow a special rapporteur to compile a report on their human rights situation?" Qaribabadi asked.

In relevant remarks earlier this month, Head of the International Human Rights Center in Iran Ahmad Esfandiari said his center had sent a letter to the UN to dispatch independent rapporteurs to the US to investigate the numerous human rights violations in the country.

"We have sent a letter to the UN to ask them to provide the ground for the presence of the center's independent human rights rapporteurs in the US," Esfandiari told FNA.

Noting that the measure had been adopted to study the Americans' peaceful protests and get informed of the situation of detained protestors, he called on the Iranian foreign ministry to make more serious efforts to shed light on the human rights situation in the US.

Esfandiari also voiced pessimism about the performance of the international organizations which claim to be advocates of human rights, and urged them to show reaction to the US administration's crimes against its own people.

His remarks came after the US Senate Intelligence Committee's recent report showed that the CIA’s rendition, interrogation and detention programs were even more nightmarish than you could imagine.

Interrogations that lasted for days on end; detainees forced to stand on broken legs, or go 180 hours in a row without sleep. A prison so cold, one suspect essentially froze to death.

Earlier this month, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Marziyeh Afkham condemned the human rights violations by the CIA.

"The Late confession of US Senate to inhuman and catastrophic tortures against security suspects is an obvious sign of breaching the human rights on phony security pretexts," Afkham said.

“The contents of that shocking report reveal the undercover, aggressive, extremist nature of the American security apparatus that has become a part of its character,” she added.

Afkham said that the worrisome aspect of the matter was that those illegal and inhumane methods and the mentioned samples of behaviors in the report were still being practiced by the US security bodies and the American administration has not guaranteed to prevent the occurrence of such catastrophes from now on.

“A noticeable number of foreign countries’ citizens have been subjected to torture and it is expected that revealing of those acts will be the beginning of legal pursuance of those who have ordered and those who have implemented those criminal acts at the international scene,” she said.

Also in November, 2010, the Iranian Foreign Ministry issued a report on the violation of human rights by the US inside and outside its borders, and urged Washington to sign the international conventions which prohibit such crimes.

It was stressed in the Foreign Ministry report that the United States, as a self-proclaimed standard bearer of defense for human rights in the world, has despite the international community and the UN demand, and even despite President Barack Obama's promise, still not shut down the Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib horrendous prisons.

It is stressed in the report that the United States has not yet joined the most important convention related to the economic, social and cultural rights that is among the most important human rights documents.

The Children's Rights Committee of the United Nations, too, has announced that the United States has been one of the greatest producers and distributors of the world child pornography products, while it is now one of the only two countries in the world that have not yet joined the International Children's Rights Convention.

On January 27, 2014, Iran’s Basij (Volunteer) Force released a comprehensive report on the violation of human rights by the US inside the country and abroad.

The report was unveiled in a ceremony participated by Commander of Iran's Basij Force Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Naqdi, Esfandiari who is also the lieutenant commander of Basij Force, Parliament's First Vice-Speaker Hassan Aboutorabi Fard, Iranian Judiciary Chief Sadeq Amoli Larijani and a number of Judiciary officials and experts.

The report referred to different cases of violation of human rights by the US, including the executions, arbitrary detentions, torture of inmates, violation of people’s privacy, violation of the rights of the minorities, Muslims and native Americans, racism and US President Barack Obama’s opposition to the freedom of expression.

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