Iranian lawmaker Mansour Haqiqatpour says countries that have imposed sanctions against the Islamic Republic of Iran are the biggest violators of human rights.

The deputy chairman of Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Commission on Sunday described human rights as a tool for the US to advance its objectives in the world.

Commenting on a recent report by Ahmad Shaheed, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Iran, Haqiqatpour said these rapporteurs do not have the courage to reveal the realities of the international community.

“Sanctions threaten the lives of some Iranian patients,” Haqiqatpour said, adding that the West is responsible for a decrease in production in Iran and the unemployment of workers in the country by stopping the sales of certain products to Iran, which is the most vivid instance of human rights violations by the West.

In a statement issued on Saturday, Iran’s Foreign Ministry dismissed Shaheed’s report as politically motivated, biased, and without any legal basis.

“Ahmad Shaheed’s report contains repeated claims, which the Islamic Republic has dismissed several times. In addition, his claims are based on accounts by Iran’s enemies, resulting in an unsubstantiated report that does not reflect the realities on the ground in the country,” the statement said.

On June 17, 2011, the UN Human Rights Council, under pressure from the United States and its allies, named former Maldivian Foreign Minister Ahmed Shaheed as its human rights investigator on Iran.

Tehran insists that the appointment of a UN special rapporteur on Iran's human rights is a selective, politically-motivated and unacceptable move.
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