Iran rejects UN rights censure

Aljazeera:

Sunday 20 November 2005 Iran has rejected UN censure of its human rights record, saying it will not give in to such pressure, state television reported.

The TV newscaster on Saturday quoted the Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi as dismissing Friday's UN committee resolution on Iranian human rights as "political", and challenging Canada's credentials to propose it.

"Canada was not competent to judge about human rights. It just tried to interpret the UN mission to serve its own political purposes," Asefi said, according to the newscaster.

The UN committee had passed a resolution that deplored Iran's use of torture, degrading punishment such as flogging and amputation, discrimination against women and intimidation of political opponents.

Demand

It demanded that Iran stop executing people under 18, discriminating against ethnic and religious minorities, and intimidating defence lawyers, journalists and the opposition.

The resolution passed by a vote of 77 to 51, with 46 nations abstaining.

The television quoted Asefi as saying Iran would not give in to political pressure.

"The resolution was a part of an attempt to divert public opinion from the existing social and political realities in Iran," Asefi was reported as saying.