Iran opposed to UN human rights rapporteur's visit to country

Secretary of Iran's Human Rights Bureau, Mohammad-Javad Larijani, said Sunday that his country was opposed to any visit to the country by Ahmed Shaheed, the UN special rapporteur on human rights situation in Iran, due to his " invalid" reports, Press TV said. Larijani said Shaheed's reports about the human rights situation in the Islamic republic are based on "anti-Iran websites and are thus invalid." In his latest report in March, Shaheed charged Iran with cases of execution, arrest of journalists, confessions under duress, and denying religious, ethnic and sexual minorities of their basic rights, according to Press TV. On Sunday, Larijani said Shaheed's March report is professionally "flawed," adding that Shaheed gives references to mere allegations. Shaheed has demanded a visit to Iran to find out about the realities of human rights situation in the country, which has been refused by the Islamic republic. Iran has dismissed several times the reports by the UN human rights institutions, saying that they did not reflect the realities on the ground in the country.