Tehran: The Iranian Foreign Ministry condemned the move by France and a number of Western countries to issue a joint statement against the Islamic Republic of Iran under the pretext of human rights, describing it as a clear instance of hypocritical deflection.
According to Islamic Republic News Agency, the Acting Director-General of the Human Rights Department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs strongly condemned the move by France and a number of Western nations to issue a joint statement against the Islamic Republic of Iran under the pretext of human rights. He described it as a repetitive tactic to evade accountability for their own roles in gross violations of human rights and international humanitarian law across various regions-including Africa and West Asia-and particularly regarding Iranian citizens.
Recalling France's dark colonial history in Africa and elsewhere-as well as its interventionist actions in certain African nations that have directly or indirectly led to the slaughter and human rights violations of millions of innocent people-Hamid Ahmadi advised French officials to reform their own racist conduct toward foreign nationals and immigrants, rather than lecturing others, and to cease their all-encompassing, unconditional, and inhumane support for the genocidal and occupying Zionist regime.
The Acting Director-General of the Foreign Ministry's Human Rights Department said that this statement by a group of Western nations regarding human rights in Iran is being issued at a time when the Iranian people have not forgotten the shameful silence of its authors-in the face of illegal military aggression by the US and Zionist regimes against the territory of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and in the face of atrocities such as the unjust killing of 168 innocent people at a school in Minab, as well as the deaths of thousands of other innocents in dozens of other crimes during the imposed 12-day and 40-day wars.
Pointing to the shameful stance taken by France, the European Union, and other signatories of the anti-Iran statement regarding the Zionist regime's occupation, genocide, and war crimes against Iranians and other regional nations-such as the peoples of Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, and Yemen-Ahmadi asserted: Undoubtedly, no one who believes in humanitarian human rights principles accepts the hypocritical claims made by these countries concerning human rights in a nation like Iran; for by providing various forms of military and political aid to the Zionist regime, France and its Western partners are complicit in the crimes committed by that regime across West Asia and must, sooner or later, be held accountable for this complicity.
Emphasizing the Islamic Republic of Iran's resolve to safeguard the rights and human dignity of all Iranians-regardless of their beliefs or views-the Head of the Foreign Ministry's Human Rights Department stated: The French regime and its European partners have forfeited their self-proclaimed standing as human rights advocates due to their dark colonial history and hypocritical stances on human rights issues. They should not imagine that, through such worthless statements, the Iranian people have forgotten the malicious conduct of certain nations among this group during the US-Zionist military aggression against Iran-nor have they forgotten how these countries, either directly or indirectly, remained silent regarding the war crimes committed by the US and the Zionist regime, and even-through ambiguous stances-emboldened the aggressors to commit further atrocities.
Ahmadi further stated that the trial and punishment of offenders in Iran are conducted in accordance with the law and in observance of the principles of a fair trial; neither France nor the European Union has any right whatsoever to interfere in Iran's internal affairs or in the administration of justice regarding individuals who have committed the gravest crimes under both international law and Iranian domestic law.
In conclusion, he condemned as shameful the political, media, and logistical support provided by France and the other signatories of the statement to terrorist elements-including harboring them to commit crimes against the Iranian people-and demanded that these countries be held accountable for their interventionist policies against Iran and their blatant violation of the rights of Iranians.