Iran rejects US religious freedom report as hypocritical

Iran rejects a US religious freedom report critical of Tehran as “hypocritical,” coming from a country where Islamophobia was widespread.

Washington released its annual religious freedom report yesterday, with US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson criticizing Iran for utilizing its “vague apostasy laws” to execute 20 members of religious minorities over the past year.

“Iran considers it an unrealistic, baseless, unfounded and biased report which has only been made with the intention of certain political gains,” foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi hit back on the ministry’s website.

“It is clear that religious and racial discrimination, Islamophobia, and xenophobia are a widespread and frequent phenomenon among American politicians,” Ghasemi says. “Muslims in America face violent and discriminating actions on a daily basis by state bodies like the police and security forces.”

— with AFP