"Considering oneself as the touchstone to be followed by the world is fascism," said Schulz criticizing the western approach toward human rights.
The visiting European Parliament’s President Martin Schulz made the remark in his meeting with Mohammad Javad Larijani the Chairman of the Iranian Judiciary’s Human Rights High Council in Tehran on Sunday.
"Iranians have extensively been in interaction with the world in the course of history; affecting and being affected by culture, history, and literature of the world, demonstrating the strength of their civilization," affirmed Larijani during his meeting with Schulz.
Referring to Iranian Constitution, the official held that Iranians are presenting a different experience of democracy to the world; “we have based our democracy on Islamic reasoning and while it is different from the western democracy which is based on liberalism and secularism, it is a noticeable one yet ignored or misunderstood by the west,” he stressed later.
Secretary of Iran’s High Council for Human Rights continued that the Iranian experience of democracy was not easily attained and the 8 year of war waged upon Iranians in 1980s was a piece of that price paid.
"The victorious passage of Iranians through the 1980-88 war fruited into progress of the Islamic Republic of Iran as the country is the most advanced in the region," underlined Larijani.
He kept that while the Islamic Republic of Iran is a democratic state in the Middle East formed by votes of its people, the other countries of the region are suffering from autocracies or extremism of terrorists.
"I think that different nations can put democracy in the center of cooperation to share the experience for solving the issues of the Middle East," highlighted the Iranian official.
Boasting democracy in Iran, he contrasted the fact that there are countries in neighborhood with no election in their whole history of existence. "While democracy is not an end, observing the human rights without democracy is impossible," he assured later.
Pointing to the spread of terrorism and extremism in the Middle East, he stressed that both Islamophobia propaganda in the west and violent rendering of fake Islam by the ISIL in the Middle East were against human rights and condemned all of them.
He welcomed the proposal of the president of the European Parliament to hold bilateral human rights talks and restated that as long as the mutual respect was observed, cooperation could be fruitful.
At the end of his dialogue with the European official, Larijani called for humanitarian steps preventing the execution of cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr in Saudi Arabia. Larijani asserted that after years of acquaintance with Sheikh Nimr he was sure that Nimr was just advocating the spread of democracy in the peninsula and was not a violent figure.
European Parliament’s President Martin Schulz, for his part, voiced satisfaction with his visit to Tehran and meetings he had with Iranian officials. "I feel optimistic about the future of Iran-Europe relations, as I had constructive meetings with Iranians officials," asserted Schulz.
Touching upon the years of fascism in his native country of Germany, he stated that the bitter experience of Nazism in Europe taught the whole continent a lesson that totalitarianism was doomed to failure and respect to all nations and cultures was a must.
Schulz affirmed that despite many differences and disagreements, the Europeans respected the experience of democracy in Iran and they were seeking constructive interaction with Iran rather than destructive animosity.
Later he criticized former forms of practicing human rights in Europe and annulled the idea that an entity supposes itself as a perfect example of human rights observance pushing others for adjusting. He described the model as a form of fascism and dictatorship which were proven harmful for humanity.
Schulz highlighted that the new Iran-Europe interactions would be aligned with this new understanding.
He also promised to do his best in case of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr who has been sentenced to death after voicing opposition to dictatorship in Saudi kingdom.
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