West’s deafening silence on terrorist attacks behind global scourge: Iran’s top rights official

Iran’s top human rights official has censured Western countries and international organizations for remaining silent on a recent deadly terrorist attack in the country’s southeastern Sistan and Baluchestan province.

In a letter sent to UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk on Wednesday, Kazem Gharibabadi, the secretary of Iran’s High Council for Human Rights, criticized international organizations and Western countries for the global scourge of terrorism, three days after terrorists opened fire on a traffic police vehicle on the road connecting the towns of Khash and Taftan, killing four officers.

“The defeating silence of international organizations and self-styled Western human rights advocates in the face of the sinister phenomenon of terrorism, as well as their double standards toward the matter and classification of terrorists into good and bad, are the reasons behind the persistence of terrorism across the world, including the recent terrorist attack in the Islamic Republic of Iran,” Gharibabadi said.

He also blasted certain governments that supported last year’s riots in Iran, which were sparked by the death of young woman Mahsa Amini at a hospital in the capital Tehran three days after she collapsed at a police station.

The governments “that hypocritically portrayed themselves as the supporter of the Iranian people and backed the rioters … with the aim of creating chaos and violence have now remained silent on the terrorist incident,” the rights chief added.

“The governments that have turned their countries into a safe haven for terrorists by granting them immunity are definitely causing the spillover of terrorism globally and have an international responsibility in the face of these crimes,” he added.

Gharibabadi further emphasized that Iran’s capability and will to fight against terrorism should not provide an excuse for governments and international bodies to abdicate their responsibility to counter the scourge.

“It is crystal clear that inaction on this crime runs contrary to the international ‘principle of neutrality,’ strengthens the wrongful idea of the legitimatization of terror and will spread extremism and encourage terrorism,” he noted.

On Sunday, terrorists ambushed a traffic police vehicle when it was patrolling the Khash-Taftan road, killing three policemen on the spot. The fourth officer succumbed to his injuries hours later.

A judicial order has been issued to arrest the perpetrators of the crime.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kan'ani extended condolences to the bereaved families and the police, saying “the terrorists cowardly shot the defenders of the country’s order and security.”

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