A UN committee on human rights approved a resolution Thursday urging Iran to stop its widespread use of arbitrary detention and expressing serious concern at its "alarmingly high" use of the death penalty.
The General Assembly's Human Rights Committee adopted the resolution by a vote of 85-30, with 68 abstentions. It is virtually certain to be approved by the 193-member world body next month.
The resolution "strongly urges" Iran to eliminate discrimination against women in law and practice and expresses "serious concern about ongoing severe limitations and restrictions on the right to freedom of thought, conscience, religion or belief."
Iran's deputy UN ambassador, Eshagh Al Habib, dismissed the resolution as a "political charade," saying promoting the human rights of Iranians "is not simply a legal and moral responsibility, but a paramount requirement of national security."
"However, it is not for those who traditionally, historically and practically supported colonialism, slavery, racism and apartheid to lecture Iranians on human rights."
Alluding to the resolution's sponsor and more than 30 co-sponsors, including the United States, Al Habib said that threatening cuts in financial and development funds to get votes "further exposes the dishonesty of these self-assured champions of human rights."
Ambassador Abdallah Al-Mouallimi of Saudi Arabia, a regional rival of Iran, said, "The Iranian people continue to suffer under a regime that does not respect human rights, that denies freedoms, that persecutes religious and racial minorities."