Gharibabadi: Iran not to allow ‘false and hostile’ Western narrative about riots to distract countries

Iran’s top human rights official says the Islamic Republic will not allow the “false and hostile" narrative of the United States and western governments regarding recent riots in Iran to divert the attention of the other world countries. 

Kazem Gharibabadi, secretary of Iran's High Council for Human Rights, made the remark on Saturday upon his arrival in New York to participate in the meetings of the Third Committee of the United Nations General Assembly and to hold bilateral and multilateral consultations with various judicial heads of states.

“Regretfully, nowadays, [the issue of] human rights is politicized more than ever before. We are witnessing that the countries which consider themselves the flagbearer of rights advocacy, specifically the United States and some Western countries, blatantly violate human rights in their own territories or in other countries,” Gharibabadi told reporters in New York.

“These countries have no jurisdiction whatsoever from our point of view to be a flagbearer in the field of human rights.”

Pointing to the recent western-provoked unrest in Iran after the death of a young Iranian woman of Kurdish descent in the capital Tehran, Gharibabadi said, “Recently, following the riots that took place inside Iran, these countries have again voiced their support for the human rights of the Iranian people.”

The top Iranian rights official stressed that the purported support comes as “thousands of our innocent people lost their lives during the coronavirus pandemic due to the lack of vaccine and medicine at the beginning of the disease over illegal, cruel and unilateral sanctions and lack of money transfer through financial channels.”

Gharibabadi added that the Islamic Republic has 17,000 terror victims by the same terrorists currently living in European countries and the US, residing in the "safe haven of the West."

He noted that, “We are in New York…to present a correct narrative of the human rights situation in the Islamic Republic of Iran and the recent riots and the destructive role of some countries to authorities, and not allow the false and hostile narrative of the Western countries and the United States to distract the minds of the world countries.”

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The official said 40 security forces were killed by rioters during the recent unrest, and more than 1,200 facilities, cars, motorcycles, public and emergency vehicles, such as ambulances, were set on fire and destroyed.

Gharibabadi also said over 80 people affiliated with various Kurdish terrorist groups and more than five people linked to Daesh have been arrested.

He noted that the Iranian Judiciary will refer to law and evidence for passing judgment on the detained rioters and that, “Our judicial system will have a very fair treatment” toward them.

Riots broke out in Iran in mid-September after the death of Mahsa Amini. The 22-year-old fainted at a police station in Tehran and was pronounced dead three days later in hospital. An official report by Iran’s Legal Medicine Organization concluded that Amini’s death was caused by illness rather than alleged blows to the head or other vital body organs.

Rioters went on rampage across the country, brutally attacking security officers and causing massive damage to public property as Western powers, especially the United States, provided support. The European Union and some western countries have imposed sanctions on Iran over its approach toward the recent riots.

Earlier in the month, Iran’s Intelligence Ministry said the United States and the United Kingdom were “directly” involved in the unrest, adding that dozens of terrorists affiliated with the Israeli regime and anti-revolution groups have also been detained in the unrest.

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