Iran rejects critical US human rights report as 'biased'

Iran rejected the latest US human rights report as hypocritical on Saturday, saying it was "biased by political objectives".

"Iran considers the annual report by the US State Department and in particular allegations raised about human rights in Iran as absolutely biased by political objectives, which depicts a distorted and unrealistic image of our country's situation," said foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi in a statement on the ministry website.

He said the United States was "recognised as one of the biggest violators of human rights in the world" and "supports well-known violators of human rights" including Israel and Saudi Arabia.

Among the accusations made in the US human rights report were that Iran has high rates of execution without fair trial, disappearances by government agents, torture, hundreds of political prisoners and severe restrictions on freedom of expression, association and religion.

"It would be better for America, instead of interfering in other countries' internal affairs... to take necessary measures as soon as possible to support human rights inside the United States and react to its foreign allies' widespread violation of human rights," said Ghasemi.

International rights groups also criticised this year's State Department report, saying it had been stripped of reporting on women's and reproductive rights.