News / Politics

Iran rejects ‘biased’ report by UN rights rapporteur

Thursday, 26 October 2017 7:20 PM [ Last Update: Friday, 27 October 2017 9:25 AM ]

Asma Jahangir, the UN special rapporteur on the Iran human rights situation

Iran’s Foreign Ministry has rejected a report by a United Nations rights official, calling it “politically-motivated, biased and illegitimate.”

On Wednesday, Asma Jahangir, the UN special rapporteur on the Iran human rights situation, submitted a report to the world body, condemning alleged harassment of journalists and torture.

Jahangir said she had not assessed the impact of sanctions on human rights in Iran as she was not allowed to visit the country.

In response, Bahram Qassemi, the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman, said such reports are warranted by an unfair resolution, which, itself, has been devised based on the political goals of certain countries, and are hence void of legitimacy and credit.

Hassan Nejad, Iran’s envoy to the UN Human Rights Council, also slammed Jahangir’s report, which he said portrayed “a flawed and distorted image” of Iran.

The report, he said, had turned a blind eye to illegal and unilateral US sanctions against the Iranians and 17,000 victims of terrorism in the country.

“The only determining power for support of human rights in Iran is the Iranians themselves and there is no room for outsiders," Nejad said.

He said Iran would welcome Jahangir if she wanted to visit the country provided that there were human rights rapporteurs for other 192 countries, similar to what is for Iran.

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