Abdorrahman Boroumand Center

The secretary of the Human Rights Council [Human Rights Head Quarter in Persian] of the Judiciary made the following remark in a speech at a special ceremony for the opening of the council's new building by the head of the Judiciary: "The West has basically targeted our regime’s Islamic identity, and leveling human rights accusations against our country is a pretext."

Defending Human Rights is a Pretext Through Which The West Is Targeting the Regime’s Islamic Identity

According to the information service of the High Council for Human Rights, Dr Mohammad Javad Larijani presented a brief report on the High Council's performance and activities in the past year and its coordination efforts domestically and internationally, including its role in coordinating human rights- related activities of the various organs of the system. Dr Larijani gave his presentation prior to a speech by [his brother] Judiciary Head Ayatollah Amoli-Larijani, at a ceremony attended by senior Judiciary officials, ministers and council members, in the new building.

Highlighting some of the motives of the West in its focus and propaganda on the issue of human rights, Javad Larijani said: In today's world there are two kinds of perceptions and activities in the sphere of human rights, brought up chiefly by the West on the international scene.

Since they have no respect for the rights of divine religions, they maintain that human rights norms, in which freedom in the sense of liberal democracy forms the basis of regulating relations, should prevail in this fantasy world

He described the first kind as a philosophical perception based on utopian visions of liberal, secular thinkers, who have always viewed the world as homogenous and with only one kind of right for citizens. And since they have no respect for the rights of divine religions, they maintain that human rights norms, in which freedom in the sense of liberal democracy forms the basis of regulating relations, should prevail in this fantasy world. After some 70 years, however, it has transpired that this illusory ideology is very unrealistic. The fact is that Western societies have become a hotbed of racist ideologies, various social and political inequities, and unimaginable acts of violence [perpetrated] within or outside [their borders].

The secretary of the Human Rights Council of the Judiciary continued: Another kind of perception on human rights issues is one which is espoused by Western politicians. In this perception human rights is merely a tool with which the West strives to pave the way for its domination of certain nations and states and to lend legitimacy to its use of force and inhuman behaviour. We have, therefore, witnessed how the human rights conduct of countries that hold the worst record in breaches of human rights, freedoms and democracy, are never scrutinized, and are, in effect, even praised, merely because they obey the West and are dominated by it. Yet a country like Iran, which is the region's biggest democracy and enjoys outstanding judicial norms, has been target of human rights accusations for 35 years purely because it has resolutely stood up against Western excesses.

Now it has become clear that the accusations levelled against the Islamic Republic of Iran have been directed at the basis of the system and the Shari'a

Noting that in the past few years the nature of these attacks in the name of human rights has been exposed, Larijani said: Now it has become clear that the accusations levelled against the Islamic Republic of Iran have been directed at the basis of the system and the Shari'a. The crux of what the West says is that we, the Iranian nation and the Muslims in general, have no right to regulate our lives on the basis of Islam. But depriving nations of that right is not only a blatant violation of their independence but is also seen as a colossal betrayal of human society because human civilizations grow thanks to the existence of such diversities which enrich the important experience of humanity. Moreover, if we allow only the Western model to prevail over the world and in a climate of repression and pressure, we will be excluding other ways of life, such as life based on Islamic style and norms. And that would be tantamount to a weakening of humanity's civil experience, whereas we should be boosting it.

Elsewhere in his speech, Dr Larijani gave a brief account of the establishment of the high Council for Human Rights. He said: The judicial system and laws of the Islamic Republic of Iran have been subjected to the harshest attacks in the name of human rights ever since the beginning of the revolution merely because they represent a clear symbol of the system's Islamic identity. And these; attacks have intensified in the recent years. Hence, our judicial system has given consideration to various aspects of human rights issues since the beginning of the revolution. A human rights nucleus was established in the Judiciary under Ayatollah Yazdi. Subsequently, the idea was expanded under Ayatollah Shahrudi. In 2005, the High Council for Human Rights was formally established under the leadership of the honourable head of the Judiciary, and all relevant authorities, including the head of the State Supreme Court, five ministers, head of the Law-Enforcement Force, head of the State Prisons, Attorney-General, and several other senior officials from bodies that deal with human rights issues, have the task of coordinating the system on matters related to human rights.

High Council for Human Rights' Various Spheres of Activity

Noting that the High Council for Human Rights deals with the treatment of the Islamic Republic's citizens inside the country as well as observing human rights issues around the world, the secretary of the High Council Human Rights outlined some of the council's various spheres of activity, as follows:

In conclusion, the secretary of the Human Rights Council thanked the head of the Judiciary for his strenuous efforts and participation in disseminating human rights theories that are based on Islamic ideology and criticizing the Western theoretical bases. He also expressed the hope that the council would begin a series of new human rights activities in the current year.