Iran won’t leave US human rights claims unanswered: Iran's Judiciary Chief Ayatollah Sadeq Amoli Larijani

Iran's Judiciary Chief Ayatollah Sadeq Amoli Larijani

Iran's Judiciary Chief Ayatollah Sadeq Amoli Larijani has refuted the recent US allegations about human rights violations in the Islamic Republic, saying Tehran will not leave such claims “unanswered.”

Addressing a meeting of senior Iranian judicial officials on Monday, Amoli Larijani added that US reports against the human rights situation in Iran are based on false reports provided by members of the anti-Iran terrorist Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO).

“The US claims in this regard have no value in the eyes of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the US government must know that the repetition of such threadbare methods by using the MKO as a tool to attack the Islamic Republic will not remain unanswered,” he said.

He dismissed as routine the US Department of State’s move to level such allegations against Iran in its 2016 human rights report, which was released on March 3.

“The Americans, who are directly or indirectly involved in various anti-human rights crimes in Vietnam, Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen and other parts of the world, are not entitled to make rights claims against Iran,” Amoli Larijani said.

He called on the Iranian government to give a firm response to such claims.

The judiciary chief’s comments came after Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi said on Saturday that the United States is in no position to make any judgment about other countries’ human rights situation.

“The US government, due to its very bad and dark record of human rights, whether inside the country or at international level, is not in a position to comment on the human rights situation in other countries,” Qassemi said.

The Iranian spokesman further noted that the US government’s move to release such meddlesome reports was aimed at covering up human rights violations inside the US and distracting the world public attention from Washington’s support for regional allies that have an awful human rights record and whose war crimes against other nations in the region have become known to all.