UN report on Iran biased, politically motivated: Iranian Foreign Ministry

TEHRAN,Oct.14(MNA) – In a statement issued on Friday, Iranian Foreign Ministry severely criticized the report by Ahmed Shaheed, the UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Iran, which was released on Thursday. The Foreign Ministry stated that the report contains repetitious, biased, and politically-motivated claims. In the statement, the Foreign Ministry said, “Unfortunately, the report by Mr. Ahmed Shaheed contains repetitious claims, which have always been responded to. Because the sources of his claims are opposition groups, the outcome (of his work) has become a fake report, which is far from the realities of the Iranian society.” Shaheed has avoided including the Islamic Republic’s responses to his claims in his report, and this proves the fact that he has failed to observe neutrality, the statement added. Shaheed, in his report to the UN General Assembly, said that the Iranian government has undermined press freedoms, watched some journalists constantly and detained and persecuted others unfairly. “The authorities recently banned domestic news outlets from reporting on the impact of economic sanctions imposed on the Islamic Republic of Iran,” part of Shaheed’s report read.