IRI slams rights violations in Gaza

Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki on Wednesday expressed concern over the deteriorating human rights situation in the Gaza Strip calling it a "human disaster".

Mottaki made the remarks in a meeting with the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour.

Mottaki is in Geneva to attend the UN's conference on disarmament and a meeting of the UN Human Rights Council.

Mottaki also criticized the Western governments prevailing double standard policy vis-a-vis fundamental issues such as freedom of expression, dealing with religious minorities and the religious sacrilege.

Referring to that policy as "unfair," Mottaki said adoption of such policy "is against humanitarian and ethical values of different religions."

Mottaki expressed Tehran's deep concerns over cases of human rights violation in some Western countries including establishment of secret prisons, kidnapping of people and illegally monitoring their citizen's phone calls under the pretext of the fight against terrorism.

He said that such acts were blatant cases of breaking fundamental rights of every human being.

Commenting on the issue of the Human Rights Council's mechanism of Universal Peer Review (UPR), Mottaki said the new mechanism should avoid adoption of double standard policy.

The UPR, is to be conducted in early 2008. Mottaki said that the UPR is the most appropriate and efficient mechanism for examining and safeguarding the human rights in all countries.