TEHRAN -- President Ebrahim Raisi on Monday strongly condemned Western countries for pursuing double standards on human rights violations by certain countries.
His remarks came after the kingdom executed 81 inmates, mostly jailed on political grounds and for exercising their right to freedom of expression.
“We condemn application of double standards by Western countries and their instrumental use of human rights as well as the silence and inaction of countries that claim to be advocates of these rights,” Raisi said.
This “reveals the hypocrisy of these countries that exploit the concept of human rights in the service of their own political goals and against independent governments”, he added.
Raisi said international organizations, the free media and concerned international bodies must end their silence on the barbarian move.
A senior advisor to Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei said the silence of the so-called international rights organizations paved the way for such a massacre.
“This overt massacre has shed more light on the true nature of Saudi statesmen and such a brazen crime will undoubtedly go down in history. Those who ordered and carried out this crime despite their apparent claim to advocating human rights, are condemned by freedom seekers of the world,” said Ali Akbar Velayati, who is also the secretary general of World Assembly of Islamic Awakening.
Velayati touched on the silence of the international organizations and so-called rights bodies on the ongoing oppression of and crimes against Muslim people in the region.
“Despite all these crimes, which are being committed at the behest of the global arrogance and conspirators whose goal is to weaken the regional Muslim countries … the silence of international organizations and so-called rights bodies has provided the necessary ground for further aggression and more crimes, including the overt massacre in Saudi Arabia. This issue must be vociferously condemned,” he said.
Iran’s foreign ministry has condemned the execution as a “violation of basic human rights principles and international law”.
“This inhumane act was in violation of basic principles of human rights and international law, and contrary to human principles and accepted legal procedures,” a ministry spokesperson said.
A senior Iranian Judiciary official said Saudi authorities must be held accountable for the latest execution, adding the kingdom must make clarifications on the charges leveled against those put to death.
Kazem Gharibabadi, the Judiciary chief’s deputy for international affairs and secretary of the country’s High Council for Human Rights, raised questions about the judicial process under which the people were tried and sentenced to death, noting that the death penalty might have been carried out actually because of the political opposition and dissent of the defendants.
“The double standards of human rights organizations and international bodies are very destructive. The question is: Are the so-called advocates of human rights sincere in their claims or not?” he said.