Iran Deplores Racial Discrimination against Minorities in US
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iran's Foreign Ministry on Sunday deplored racial discrimination in the US against minorities, black people in particular, saying that the recent protests in the country unveiled realities about human rights condition in the country.
“These conditions (protests in the US) signify a clear gap between the claim of democracy and civic participation and the realities on the ground about politics and the government in the US,” Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Marziyeh Afkham said on Monday, referring to the harsh measures adopted by the US police against the African-Americans.
She also said that the continued protests over the racial discrimination in the US shows that "chronic wounds of the US society” have remained unhealed.
Afkham further called on the US leaders and politicians to pay more attention to the human rights situation in their own country instead of raising criticism against other countries.
She went on to say that over the past decades, the US administration "has used human rights as a tool" and adopted double-standard attitude towards the issue and continuously criticize other countries.
Protests have been held in different US cities after a grand jury decided not to indict the white police officer who killed Eric Garner, an unarmed black man, on July 17.
The decision not to indict Officer Daniel Pantaleo threatened to add to the tensions that have simmered in New York City since Garner's death.
The death case drew comparisons to the fatal police shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown, another unarmed black man, in Missouri, which prompted violent protests.
As with Brown's death in the St Louis suburb of Ferguson, the Garner case sparked accusations of racist policing and calls for federal prosecutors to intervene.
