Iran’s Raisi accuses nations of ‘double standards’ on women’s rights

United Nations, Sep 21 (EFE).- Iran’s president Ebrahim Raisi on Wednesday accused other nations of having “double standards” on human rights and particularly women’s rights at a time when his government is facing fierce protests following the death of a woman in police custody after she allegedly broke the country’s religious dress codes.

The hard-line president of the Islamic Republic did not directly mention the demonstrations in Iran but used his address at the United Nations General Assembly to point the finger at critical governments.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran rejects the double standards that some governments have for human rights,” Raisi said.

He took aim at those who criticize Iran but not the death of “dozens of innocent women” in a Western nation – which he did not name – or the discovery of the bodies of indigenous women in Canada.

He also mentioned women killed by the Islamic State terror organization, by oppression in Palestine and “those who seek liberty and asylum only to see their children locked up in jails,” in an apparent reference to the United States.

“While we have these double standards in which the focus is on one side and not all equally, we will not have true justice.”

At least six people have been killed in the protests that have erupted in Iran in response to the death of Kurdish woman Mahsa Amin, according to local authorities.

Amin, 22, died on Friday, four days after suffering a cardiac arrest at a police station in Tehran and falling into a coma.

She was reportedly detained by the country’s so-called morality police for not following the country’s obligatory headscarf rules.

Iranian authorities have denied mistreating Amin, insisting that she suffered from health issues, a claim her family has denied.

Protests tentatively began on Friday and have since spread across the country and become more violent.EFE

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