Iran’s Foreign Ministry Slams UK Minister Over Anti-Iran Human Rights Remarks

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — During a meeting of the House of Lords on Tuesday, Anelay voiced her concerns for the family of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a British-Iraian charity worker who was convicted of national security offenses in Tehran in 2009.

"The incorrect,… provocative and interfering remarks by Ms. Joyce Anelay, which have been, as always, taken from unreliable sources, at Britain's upper house on the so-called Iran human rights issues are rejected, biased and baseless and we condemn them," Qassemi said, as quoted by FARS news agency.

Qassemi also criticized UK efforts to promote human rights worldwide, while the nation, according to the spokesman, holds its own "dark human rights record."

In April 2016, Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who was in Iran for a family visit, was arrested at Iran’s Imam Khomeini International Airport. Despite her family’s attempts to appeal to the Iranian Revolutionary Court, the court confirmed her prison sentence on Saturday. The charity worker's husband has fervently denied Tehran's allegations against his wife, and said that the conditions of her incarceration were not clear.

Zaghari-Ratcliffe is currently carrying a five-year prison sentence in Tehran's Evin prison.

The West has accused Iran of numerous human rights abuses over the last few years, including the suppression of freedoms of expression and assembly, torture of prisoners, unfair convictions during trials, and extensive use of the death penalty.