Iran, Other Countries Censure US for Its Human Rights Record

By Staff, Agencies

Iran and several other countries drew the United Nations’ [UN] attention to the long history of human rights violations in the United States, urging Washington at the UN human rights council to abandon such abuses and work instead to compensate for them.

Mohammad Sadati Nejad, who is in charge of human rights issues at the Iranian mission to the UN in Geneva, made the remarks on Monday during the Human Rights Council’s 36th Session of Universal Periodic Review that examined the human rights situation in the US.

He set forth nine recommendations for the US delegation, which was led by US Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor Assistant Secretary Robert A. Destro, Ambassador in Geneva Andrew Bremberg and Acting Legal Adviser Marik String.

Sadati Nejad said America should end its arbitrary and systematic killings using drones and bring to justice those who assassinated five Iranian citizens, including top anti-terror commander Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani, in Iraq in January.

Elsewhere in his remarks, the Iranian diplomat called on the US to take necessary legal and judicial measures towards ending systematic racism against minorities, including African-Americans.

He further urged an end to the unilateral US sanctions against other nations, which have led to serious rights breaches.

The US, he added, should also cooperate with the UN Special Rapporteur on the negative effects of its coercive actions.

Sadati Nejad also said Washington should halt the arbitrary detention of Iranians on fake charges of violating US sanctions.

The United States must end its complicity in the crimes committed by Saudi Arabia and Israel against the Yemenis and the Palestinians, respectively, and stop selling weapons to both regimes, he said.

Additionally, he recommended Washington to cooperate with the International Criminal Court [ICC] to investigate war crimes committed by US forces in Afghanistan.

The US should also end the practice of separating migrant children from their parents and putting them in cages, the diplomat concluded.

Besides Iran, other countries, including Syria, Venezuela, Russia and China, criticized Washington’s rights record.