Judiciary chief: 'Big lies' in UN rights report on Iran

A new UN report criticising Iran's human rights record contains "big lies" and is biased, the chief of the Islamic republic's judicial system said on Wednesday. Ayatollah Sadeq Larijani was quoted by the website of state television slamming the "absurdity" of the UN report, which was obtained by AFP and other media ahead of its presentation to the UN General Assembly. "It has only listed the complaints of (factions) that oppose the regime and are hostile to it," he said, claiming that it compromised the neutrality of the report's author, UN special rapporteur Ahmed Shaheed. "How can a special rapporteur tasked by an international organisation prepare his report with such big lies?" he asked. "It is obvious that the human rights campaign against Iran is political and this was the reason for our opposition to allowing the special rapporteur to enter Iran," Larijani said. Larijani also said human rights principles in Iran's Islamic theocracy were at odds with Western ideals. "We cannot accept human rights (principles) dictated by the West, because we have accepted a religious regime. We decisively and of course logically defend Islamic human rights principles," he said. The UN report charges that Iran has secretly executed hundreds of prisoners, and recounts instances of alleged torture and the denial of women's rights. Human Rights Watch counted 388 executions in Iran in 2010, while Amnesty International put the figure at 252, ranking the Islamic republic second only to China in the number of people put to death last year.