Envoy: Rights allegations against Iran by those depriving Iranians of basic rights ‘sheer hypocrisy’

Iran has strongly slammed some countries' claims to be advocates of Iranian people’s human rights while, on the contrary, depriving Iranians of their basic rights, including through imposition of unilateral sanctions.

Ali Bahraini, Iran’s permanent ambassador to the United Nations Office in Geneva, made the remark on Monday while addressing a meeting of the UN Human Rights Council.

He said the conduct of those who deprive the Iranian nation of their basic rights while alleging to be advocating their human rights is nothing but “sheer hypocrisy.”

“It is a sheer hypocrisy that the perpetrators of crimes against Iranian people advocate for the human rights of Iranians and table draft resolutions against Iran while depriving the same people of their basic rights to health, to education, and to life,” Iran’s ambassador said.

Bahraini also slammed false reports prepared on the human rights situation in Iran, including by UN Special Rapporteur Javaid Rehman, who also addressed the Monday session of the council before the Iranian envoy’s speech.

Iran’s ambassador said such biased reports ignored the realities on the ground in Iran, adding that Rehman refrained from mentioning the foreign-backed terrorist attacks in the country, which led to the deaths of dozens of security forces and innocent people.

Elsewhere in his remarks, Bahraini touched on the role of the foreign-backed media in inciting terrorism in the country.

Iran’s ambassador said hundreds of foreign-based TV and radio channels as well as social networks encourage violence in Iran by providing tutorials on how to make weapons and engage in armed conflict.

Iran was hit by foreign-backed violent riots following the death of a young woman named Mahsa Amini. She was pronounced dead at a hospital in Tehran days after being taken into police custody.

Western governments and media seized the opportunity to allege that Amini had died as a result of grievous bodily harm inflicted on her in a police van.

The CCTV footage, however, showed the young woman collapsing after a conversation with a female police officer inside a police station.

Foreign-backed rioters brutally attacked security officers and caused massive damage to public property. Dozens of people and security personnel were killed in the process across the country, including in the capital Tehran. 

In a post on his Twitter account earlier this month, Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian dismissed reports that the Islamic Republic arrested "peaceful protesters" during the months-long riots, stressing that only "trouble makers" were arrested over rioting and violence.

Iran FM: No 'peaceful protesters' arrested during recent riots

Iran

"No one was arrested in autumn’s peaceful protests," Amir-Abdollahian tweeted.

Bahraini’s remarks came after Rehman presented his report to the council, claiming that Iran's authorities have committed violations in recent months that may amount to crimes against humanity, including by cracking down on foreign-backed violent riots that swept the country for three months.

The Iranian ambassador said Rehman’s allegations were imaginary and Iran was being singled out and targeted in the council.

"They try to portray their imaginations as the reality of the situation in Iran," he said.

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