Secretary-General of Iran’s High Council for Human Rights Kazem Gharibabadi made the remarks at a meeting with Václav Bálek, the president of the Human Rights Council, in Geneva on Thursday.
He strongly condemned the desecration of the Muslim holy book and called on the Human Rights Council to take swift action to address the matter.
This act encourages violence and spreads hatred and has nothing to do with freedom of expression, Gharibabadi said.
He further criticized the prevalence of double standards within the UN human rights mechanisms and called on the Human Rights Council to uphold its core mandate.
He is leading Iran’s delegation at the 53rd session of the Human Rights Council, which started on June 19 and is scheduled to conclude on July 14.
A man tore up and burned a Quran in Sweden’s capital Stockholm last week, resulting in strong condemnation from several states.
While Swedish police have rejected several recent applications for anti-Quran demonstrations, courts have over-ruled those decisions, saying they infringed on freedom of speech.
An Islamic grouping of 57 states said collective measures are needed to prevent acts of desecration of the Quran and international law should be used to stop religious hatred.
MNA/5829198
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