Iran rejects US report on religious freedom in Iran
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi on Friday rejected a US report on the situation of religious freedom in Iran as politically motivated and unreal.
Qassemi was reacting to the US State Department’s International Religious Freedom Report for 2017, which was released on May 29, IRNA reported.
He said that US cannot present an accurate and realistic assessment of the domestic affairs of other countries, particularly of their demographic and religious conditions.
The Iranian official said that the report was baseless and biased, and was aimed at serving certain political objectives.
Qassemi said the US has “no accurate and realistic evaluation” of the situation inside other countries, stressing that this report, which presents yet another distorted picture of religious freedoms in Iran and levels untrue allegations against the Islamic Republic, is “undoubtedly unacceptable and rejected.”
The Iran section of the report claimed that “non-shia Muslims and those affiliated with a religion other than Islam” residing in the Islamic Republic faced “societal discrimination and harassment.”
Besides Iran, the report also targets Washington’s other foes, including Russia, China and North Korea.
The Iranian official said history bears testimony that the great people of Iran, from all faiths and ethnicities, have peacefully coexisted for millennia.
The freedom that the religious minorities enjoy in Iran is unparalleled in the world as the Jews and Christians can practice their religious rituals freely.
Since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, “followers of all religions have performed their religious traditions in various religious centers across Iran based on the articles of the Constitution and within the framework of law,” Qassemi said, adding that Iranian law “protects all such freedoms.”
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman also called on the United States to avoid politicizing the issue of religion, warning that offering “delusional, self-made and unfounded readings of different religions” could only lead to more interfaith clashes in the world.
The official religion of Iran is Shia Islam under the Constitution. The Islamic Republic recognizes Zoroastrian, Jewish, and Christian religious minorities, among others.
The Constitution states that “the investigation of individuals’ beliefs is forbidden,” and that “no one may be molested or taken to task simply for holding a certain belief.”