By Justin Dorman
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

TEHRAN, Iran – The former foreign affairs minister of the Maldives, Ahmed Shaheed, recently delivered his latest United Nations report on Iran’s human rights record. Iranian delegation leader and Iranian Human Rights Council head Mohammad Javad Larijani disputed basically all of the complaints in the report.

Shaheed stated “that the prevailing situation of human rights in Iran continues to warrant serious concern, and will require a wide range of solutions that are both respectful of cultural perspectives and mindful of the universality of fundamental human rights.”

Mohammad Javad Larijani believes that human rights are subjective and not universal. He views such U.N. reports predicated on universal principles as a cultural invasion on the Iranian way of life. Similarly, his brother, Iranian Chief Justice Ayatollah Sadegh Larijani considers Iran’s ratification of the December 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights to be a “mistake.”

Iran was charged with detaining individuals on bogus charges, torturing detainees, permitting marital rape, and systematically persecuting those of the LGBT community.

Regarding the charges and the torture, Mohammad Javad Larijani claims that Shaheed relied on the testimony of convicts who belonged to terrorist factions. Larjani insists they were given their day in court and received due process before being convicted on counts of “contact with foreign media and the office of the UN Special Rapporteur” and “propaganda against the regime.”

With respect to the treatment of those in the LGBT community, Iran in 2013 takes a similar stance to that of the American medical community prior to 1974. The official stance in Iran is that homosexuality is a disease. Larijani stated that, “we consider homosexuality an illness that should be cured. We don’t consider it acceptable to beat or mistreat homosexuals, either.”

While Iran does not condone the beating of homosexuals, the alleged “disease” is punishable by death according to the fatwas declared by Iranian clerics. Iran also has executed individuals who have been found guilty of committing sodomy. Those men who were executed were married. Unmarried men who engage in the same act may only face stern prolonged lashings. Furthermore, even the ‘passive’ recipient of the sodomy can be executed. This punishment may be received regardless of whether he was a consensual participant or one who was raped.

Besides for debating the concept of universal rights and discrediting Shaheed’s report for taking the word of terrorists, Larijani also criticizes the Special Rapporteur for taking bribes from the United States State Department. He believes that everything written in the report is designed to achieve some result that comports with the interests of the United States.

For further information, please see:

Guardian – Iranian Human Rights Official Describes Homosexuality as an Illness – 14 March 2013

International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran – Denial and Personal Attacks: Iran’s Larijani Responds at the UN – 12 March 2013

World Politics Review – Human Rights Deteriorate in Iran as Elections Approach – 12 March 2013

Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization – Ahwazi: UNHRC Condemns Iranian Delegate for Attacking UN Special Rapporteur – 11 March 2013