Iran: U.S. in no position to criticize others’ human rights

Following the American President George W. Bush’s calls on Iran to free jailed journalist Akbar Ganji and allow him access to medical assistance after a month-long hunger strike, the Islamic republic said on Thursday that the U.S. is in no position to criticize any country over human rights.

"The White House talks about the violations of human rights in Iran while the world is disgusted by the breaches of human rights carried out by U.S. forces in Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib prisons, also by the wide-spread discriminations in the U.S. and minorities rights’ violations, " foreign ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi was quoted as saying.

White House spokesman Scott McClellan said in a statement on Tuesday that President Bush "calls on the government of Iran to release Mr. Ganji immediately and unconditionally and to allow him access to medical assistance."

"President Bush is saddened by recent reports that Mr. Ganji's health has been failing and deeply concerned that the Iranian government has denied him access to his family, medical treatment, and legal representation,"

"The President calls on all supporters of human rights and freedom, and the United Nations, to take up Ganji's case and the overall human rights situation in Iran," the statement added.

In 2001, Ganji was sentenced to six years over articles he wrote in which he accused senior Iranian officials, including ex-president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and former intelligence minister Ali Fallahian, of involvement in the serial murders of several intellectuals and writers.

After being granted a short period of leave on medical grounds, Ganji was re-imprisoned on June 11 then he began a hunger strike, only drinking water and munching on sugar lumps, and his wife says that he is determined to continue until he is granted “unconditional release.”

Asefi warned the United States not to interfere in Iran’s domestic affairs.

“The U.S. officials have repeatedly seen the bitterness of interfering in Iran’s internal affairs, as Iranians have responded negatively and decisively.”

About 100 people, among them prominent dissident academic Hashem Aghajari, held a small rally outside Teheran University Tuesday, calling for the release of Ganji.

Meanwhile, five deputies from the Iranian parliament plan to meet Ganji, after 33 days of hunger strike. They say that his health was "worrying".

"Ganji began a hunger strike because there has been no response to his demands. The MPs will meet with him to hear what he has to say," one of them, Said Aboutaleb, told IRNA, Iran’s official news agency.

"We are going to see him so nothing happens to him and so we can transmit his demands to the judiciary," Aboutaleb said.