Iran Must “Stop Misrepresenting Human Rights Record”

According to the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, “Iranian authorities should stop misrepresenting their human rights record in order to deflect international criticism and justify widely reported illegal detentions.” The statement came after Mohammad Javad Larijani, a top Iranian official and head of Iran’s High Council for Human Rights, told the United Nations press corps that opposition leaders Mir Hussein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi have been charged with incitement to violence, amongst other crimes, and that Abdolfattah Soltani, a leading human rights lawyer, has been detained due to alleged connections with terrorist groups.

Additionally, Reporters Without Borders condemned the continued arrest of journalists in Iran and called for an end to the harassment of the families of detained journalists, speaking out against the arrest of Hassan Fathi, the foreign editor of the Iranian daily Ettelaat, Kuwaiti TV reporter Adel Al-Yahaya, and cameraman Raed Al-Majed, who were all arrested in Iran last week. A group of Iranian dissidents also called for the Iranian government to suspend uranium enrichment, in an open letter.

Meanwhile, Iran’s embassy in Syria stressed that Tehran has not held any talks with Syrian opposition, saying “contact with the political opposition of the Syrian ruling system is not on the Islamic Republic of Iran’s agenda.” Iran’s Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi also denounced the Arab League’s decision to suspend Syria as a “hasty move,” adding that the Arab League has “adopted an attitude that will adversely affect security in the region.”