Iran slams head of UN rights body over “biased and selective approaches”

Kazem Gharibabadi said such approaches are detrimental to human rights and weakens public trust in rights mechanisms.

Gharibabadi made those comments in a letter to UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk.

He said France has steadily been the scene of massive protests against the policies of the country’s government and in some cases, nearly 2 million people took out to the streets, but the French government used force to disperse the demonstrators instead of listening to their demands.

Ghariabadi also referred to the protests by environmentalists in the UK, saying the country approved a bill to increase the powers of the police to deal with the ralliers, which was slammed as the “crackdown legislation” by the critics.

The head of Iran’s rights council further spoke about the German interior minister’s order that required police to deal harshly with people who block streets in protest.

Ghariabadi said what happened several months ago in Iran was in fact instigated by foreign parties and degenerated into rioting.

He said the rioters trampled on the rights of citizens to security, health, safety, etc.

He stressed that the Iranian government adopted a responsible approach to the issue and has also formed an investigative committee to assess the damage, be it physical or financial, to people during the efforts to end the riots.

Despite that, Ghariabadi noted, the US and other Western governments took a politically-motivated step by abusing the UN Human Rights Council including the formation of an inquiry body into the issue.

Addressing Türk, the Iranian official said, “Your Excellency sent several biased letters while many European countries have been the scene of protests in recent months”.

Gharibabadi said the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights is expected to perform his tasks professionally and non-selectively.