Iran Blasts West's Double-Standard Human Rights Approach

Rasa - Secretary of Iran's Human Rights Council Mohammad Javad Larijani lashed out at the western states for their double-standard approach towards human rights issues in Iran and other regional states.

News ID: 435394

Date: 17 December 2017 - 22:10

RNA - "Why don't they question the human rights (violations) conditions in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, the UAE and the Zionist regime (Israel)," Larijani asked, addressing a forum in Tehran on Sunday.

"They should be questioned ten times more than us (Iran)," he added.

In relevant remarks last month, Mohammad Javad Larijani underlined that his country is suspicious of the western countries' claims about supporting human rights after witnessing their silence on crimes committed by Saudi Arabia against the war-hit Yemeni people.

Larijani made the remarks in a meeting with a European parliamentary delegation in Tehran.

He strongly blasted Saudi Arabia's crimes in Yemen and the West's silence, and said, "Saudi Arabia has killed thousands of innocent women and children in Yemen but it is still supported by the western states and the US."

"Given this double-standard policy, we become suspicious of the westerners' real intention when they speak about human rights in Iran and criticize it and we analyze them within the framework of a collection of political measures," Larijani said.

Saudi Arabia has been striking Yemen since March 2015 to restore power to fugitive president Mansour Hadi, a close ally of Riyadh. The Saudi-led aggression has so far killed at least 15,200 Yemenis, including hundreds of women and children.

Despite Riyadh's claims that it is bombing the positions of the Ansarullah fighters, Saudi bombers are flattening residential areas and civilian infrastructures.

According to several reports, the Saudi-led air campaign against Yemen has driven the impoverished country towards humanitarian disaster, as Saudi Arabia's deadly campaign prevented the patients from travelling abroad for treatment and blocked the entry of medicine into the war-torn country.

The cholera outbreak in Yemen which began in April, has also claimed over 2,200 lives and has infected 900,000, as the nation has been suffering from what the World Health Organization (WHO) describes as the “largest epidemic in the world” amid a non-stop bombing campaign led by Saudi Arabia. Also Riyadh's deadly campaign prevented the patients from traveling abroad for treatment and blocked the entry of medicine into the war-torn country.

According to reports, the cholera epidemic in Yemen, which is the subject of a Saudi Arabian war and total embargo, is the largest recorded in modern history.

Meanwhile, the United Nations has described the current level of hunger in Yemen as “unprecedented,” emphasizing that 17 million people are now food insecure in the country.

It added that 6.8 million, meaning almost one in four people, do not have enough food and rely entirely on external assistance.

A recent survey showed that almost one third of families have gaps in their diets, and hardly ever consume foods like pulses, vegetables, fruit, dairy products or meat.

More than 3 million pregnant and nursing women and children under 5 need support to prevent or cure malnutrition.

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