TEHRAN - Secretary General of Iran’s High Council for Human Rights Kazem Gharibabadi has censured France’s double standards vis-à-vis human rights, slamming the French government’s crackdown on protesters as it is “violently silencing” the voice of dissent.
“France’s heavy-handed crackdown on peaceful protesters proves the extent of its disregard for human rights,” Gharibabadi said in a post on his Twitter account.
He said the French government violently silences the voice of dissent, asking, “Double standards vis-à-vis human rights have taken a new turn or what?”
Widespread protests started in the French capital on Friday in the wake of a deadly shooting in Paris by a “racist” gunman. The shooting attack claimed three lives at a Kurdish cultural center and a nearby café.
It also drew Kurdish groups and their supporters onto the streets of Paris, with some of the protesters waving flags of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which is viewed as a terrorist organization by Turkey and its Western allies.
The French police arrested a 69-year-old suspect who the authorities said had recently been freed from detention while awaiting trial for a saber attack on a migrant camp in the capital last year.
Iran has urged the French government to respect the rights of protesters.
In a Saturday statement, Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kan’ani urged the French law enforcement forces to exercise self-restraint while dealing with peaceful protesters.
Kan’ani said the French government has a track record of dealing with protesters violently and a background of adopting discriminatory policies towards minorities and migrants.
Kan’ani also on Tuesday, hit back at certain European governments that have accused Iran of violating human rights, and said smearing the Islamic Republic won’t help the fake advocates of human rights hide their nature.
In a post on his Twitter account, Kan’ani said, “Certain regimes that level false accusations against Iran have themselves committed and still commit all of them against their own nations and people in the most outrageous manner in practice throughout history and in recent history.”
The spokesman added that the attempts to blacken the Islamic Republic of Iran’s reputation will not hide the true face of the fake advocates of human rights.
“Hypocrisy until when?” Kana’ani asked the Europeans in a sarcastic question.
The spokesman attached three photos of police crackdown on peaceful protests in France.
One of the photos depicts the French riot police arresting a woman in Paris in November 2015 during a demonstration at the Place de la République related to the climate change conference.
Another photo shows violent crackdown against French protesters during a demonstration in Bordeaux in May 2016.
The third one dates back to May 2018, when a French riot police officer kicked a female bystander during a demonstration against the French government’s labor code reform.