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Iran slams U.S. for religious freedom report

31 July 2014 18:12 (UTC+04:00)
Iran slams U.S. for religious freedom report

By Sara Rajabova

Iran has criticized the U.S. government over the religious situation in Islamic republic indicated in the U.S. State Department's International Religious Freedom Report for 2013.

The spokesperson of Iran's foreign ministry, Marzieh Afkham has criticized the U.S. administration calling it one of the major religious rights' violators in the world.

"Growing Islamophobia in the United States, systematic discrimination against Muslims and imposing limitations on religious minorities' freedom in the U.S. community has turned the country into one of the major violators of religious rights," Afkham said, IRNA news agency reported.

The report released on July 28 said Iran's government severely restricted religious freedom, and there were reports of imprisonment, harassment, intimidation and discrimination based on religious beliefs.

The report also stressed that Iran charges religious and ethnic minorities with moharebeh (enmity against God), "anti-Islamic propaganda," or vague national security crimes for their religious activities.

Ruling out the claims of the report, Afkham called it invalid, saying that such documents are only "instruments" intended to pile up pressure on other states.

She went on to add that the constitution of Iran explicitly calls for respecting all the divine religions and freedom to observe their rituals and ceremonies.

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