‘Review of U.S. human rights record, a litmus test for UNHRC

TEHRAN - Iranian Majlis Speaker Ali Larijani says that the UN Human Rights Council is facing a litmus test now that the time has come to study the United States’ profile on human rights.

Larijani made the remarks at an open session of the parliament on Saturday.

So many books and articles have been written on human rights violations in the U.S. that the UN Human Rights Council has more than enough data to review the human rights situation in that country, the Iranian parliament speaker stated.

Now the world expects the UNHRC to study the human rights record of the U.S., at least to “save its reputation.”

The violation of the most basic rights of individuals by arresting and torturing them, particularly at the Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib prisons, under the pretext of maintaining national security, is an example of human rights violations by the United States, Larijani stated.

He added that numerous crimes committed by U.S. soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, Washington’s cooperation with the Zionist regime, and the involvement of its intelligence agencies in assassinations and coups are other instances of human rights abuses committed by the U.S.

The United States must be held accountable for the terrorist incidents in Iraq and Afghanistan since the two countries have been occupied by that country, Larijani observed.

However, on the one hand the U.S. “shirks its responsibility for establishing security,” and on the other hand, it “chants the slogan about launching a campaign against terrorism (but) holds secret talks with terrorists,” he noted.

Elsewhere in his remarks, Larijani said, “U.S. officials must learn a lesson from the results of the recent elections in the country, which were a reflection of duplicitous and crafty moves.”

The UN Human Rights Council reviewed the human rights situation in the United States in Geneva on Friday at its Universal Periodic Review (UPR) conference, which opened on November 1 and runs until November 12


(2010-11-07/tehrantimes.com)