Iran rejects UN draft resolution on human rights

Tehran, Nov 21: The Iranian government has rejected a UN General Assembly committee's draft resolution about the violation of

in the Islamic Republic.

The Islamic republic "strongly rejects the definition and content of this resolution," reported Xinhua, quoted foreign ministry's spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham on Wednesday.

Itan accuses UN of politicizing human rights in independent countries.

Iran condemns politicisation of human rights against independent countries and expresses regret that the UN human rights mechanism and tools are playing into the hands of Western governments for their political objectives, said Afkham.

The resolution has been drafted based on the websites run by Western governments and infamous and affiliated terrorist groups, she added.

The Canadian-drafted resolution on rights situation in Iran was approved by the UN assembly's Third Committee on Tuesday with 83 voted favouring it, 36 opposing and 62 abstaining.

In his report released last month, which is the first after moderate President Hassan Rouhani took office in August, Ahmed Shaheed, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in Iran, charged Iran with high cases of execution and restrictions on freedom of speech.

The report said that there has been "no sign of improvement" in Iran's human rights situation.

IANS