TEHRAN - Secretary of Iran’s High Council for Human Rights Kazem Gharibabadi has held a meeting with the Catholicos-Patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East, Mar Awa III, and dismissed Western-led charges of supporting terrorism, saying that it is the same Western states that have turned into a safe haven for terrorist groups.
During the meeting, he said the Iranian people are victims of terrorism as 17,000 innocent people have lost their lives in terrorist attacks across the country.
Gharibabadi said the West accuses Iran’s of supporting terrorist groups, while the United States overtly assassinated the greatest anti-terror Iranian commander General Qassem Soleimani three years ago.
He noted that the concept of human rights is rooted in monotheistic religions, adding that, “Western countries are trying to impose their own lifestyle on other countries, but we believe that it is necessary to respect various cultures.”
The senior Iranian rights official said Islam and other divine religions attach great significance to human dignity.
There are less than 200,000 religious minorities in Iran who enjoy “special rights” and are well-represented in the parliament, he added.
General Soleimani, commander of the Quds Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), al-Muhandis, the second-in-command of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), and their companions were assassinated in a U.S. drone strike authorized by former U.S. president Donald Trump near Baghdad International Airport on January 3, 2020.
Both commanders were highly revered across the Middle East because of their key role in fighting the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group in the region, particularly in Iraq and Syria.
“According to the latest statistics, there are some 400 churches for Christians in Iran, most of them are active, while it is almost impossible to build a mosque in countries that claim to defend human rights,” Gharibabadi said.
He emphasized that the majority of Iranian society consists of followers of religious minorities along with Muslims.
Pointing to the West’s oppressive sanctions against the Iranian nation, he said, “Iran is an independent country which has never attacked any country or violated the rights of any state, but Western countries have committed gross human rights violation by imposing

unilateral sanctions against Iranians.”
The ill-famed anti-Iran terrorist group of the Mujahedin-e-Khalq Organization is currently based in Europe, where it enjoys untrammeled support and freedom of activity after being delisted by the European Union and the United States in 2009 and 2012.
The MKO, which has been promoted by the U.S. and allies as “legitimate opposition group” against the Islamic Republic, has the blood of over 12,000 Iranians on its hands.
According to Albanian media reports, MKO members have been involved in various criminal activities in Europe, including human trafficking in France and drug trafficking in Italy.
The Assyrian patriarch, for his part, said human rights and freedom are not correctly comprehended in international circles, explaining that Western states have defined freedom incorrectly as avoiding God.
He added that both Islam and Christianity emphasize human dignity and human rights.
In a Monday meeting with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, Mar Awa III, commended Iran’s battle against the Daesh terrorist group to protect humanity and faith in Iraq and Syria.
He hailed Iran’s commitment to interfaith dialogue and respect for monotheistic religions.