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Iran: Killing of Black teacher an example of US hypocrisy concerning human rights

Wednesday, 18 January 2023 9:33 PM [ Last Update: Wednesday, 18 January 2023 11:09 PM ]

Frame grab from the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kan'ani's interview of January 18, 2023 with Press TV.

Iran says the US police's recent brutal murder of an African-American teacher reflects Washington's hypocritical approach towards the issue of human rights.

Speaking to Press TV on Wednesday, Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kan'ani said such instances of violent behavior "against citizens, especially the people of color" were happening "frequently" across the United States, describing the unwelcome development as "totally inhumane and hideous."

"That's a clear sign of a contradiction between actions and words," he added, referring to how the US would host such incidents on a recurrent basis, at the same time as it seizes on every opportunity to preach the rest of the international community on the subject of human rights.

"The US cashes in on minor incidents around the world, especially in the countries that are under Washington's political pressure," the spokesman noted, stating, "Washington uses the human rights issue as a tool to pursue its political interests and goals and to exert pressure on independent nations."

According to reports, the American schoolteacher was repeatedly tasered by Los Angeles police officers and heavy-handedly restrained following a traffic accident earlier in January.

In a 13-minute body-cam footage released by the Los Angeles Police Department, Anderson was seen begging for help as multiple officers were holding him to the ground and one officer was pressing his elbow along with his body weight onto his neck.

"They’re trying to George Floyd me. They’re trying to George Floyd me," Anderson could be heard saying in the footage, in reference to the US police's killing of Floyd in May 2020 in Minneapolis in an incident that triggered racial justice protests around the world.

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Kan'ani had also reacted to the recent grisly murder in a tweet earlier, reminding that the incident had coincided with the day that marks the birth of Martin Luther King Jr., the legendary American civil rights leader, who dedicated his life to the realization of equal treatment for the United States' African-American community.

۲/...با گذشت بیش از ۵ دهه از ترور مارتین لوترکینگ، هنوز هم رویاهای او در برخورداری سیاهان آمریکا از حقوق مدنی برابر با سفید پوستان تحقق نیافته و همچنان رنگین پوستان در معرض تضییع شدید حقوق اولیه انسانی و برخوردهای نژادپرستانه قرار دارند. pic.twitter.com/25LGbegzmb
— Nasser Kanaani (@IRIMFA_SPOX) January 17, 2023

The murder, the spokesman had tweeted, indicated that "despite the passage of five decades following Luther King's murder, his dreams of the Black Americans' equal entitlement to civil rights...has not been realized."

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.ir